DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY
2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
www.businessmirror.com.ph
n
Sunday, May 5, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 207
2018 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
Lawmakers scramble to check what’s wrong with the network of power players that unscheduled outages can simply disrupt the national life after the Department of Energy has guaranteed a stable supply and supposedly planned disruptions. A crucial, parallel inquiry that’s keenly awaited is: did the GenCos collude in violation of the country’s competition laws?
T
By Lenie Lectura
HREE weeks after widespread brownouts hit Luzon, various groups from the government and private sector await the results on the investigation of possible anticompetitive practices of power generation companies (GenCos).
Last April 22, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said it had started a probe into allegations of collusion among power firms amid a series of power-plant shutdowns, which allegedly caused spot-market prices to shoot up. The PCC said it will assess whether the recent power plants’ outages are manipulated to increase electricity prices or are valid unplanned breakdowns that affect
supply conditions. Under the Philippine Competition Act, the PCC has the mandate to prohibit anticompetitive behavior to ensure consumer interest is not put at risk. Separately, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is verifying whether the reasons for the forced outage provided by the power firms match the findings of the agency. The unscheduled outages
had caused a huge outcry because they came just as a big part of Luzon was also reeling from the water crisis caused by Manila Water’s inability to supply the needs of the East Zone customers. And anyone knows how the lack of both electricity and water can make people angry—especially at the peak of summer. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Energy started on April
KJRSTUDIO - DREAMSTIME.COM
FORCES OF DARKNESS? 26 an inquiry into the power outages experienced by several towns and cities in Luzon. Not only are the GenCos being investigated, but also the Department of Energy (DOE) for its alleged inaccurate electricity forecast for the summer months. “Definitely, ERC has the knowledge and experience in terms of power. In terms of anti-competitive Continued on A2
China’s mass surveillance more sophisticated than thought
A
By Blake Schmidt | Bloomberg News
MOBILE app used by police to track citizens in China’s far west region of Xinjiang shows how some of the country’s biggest technology companies are linked to a mass surveillance system that is more sophisticated than previously known, according to a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW). The app uses facial recognition technology from a firm backed by Alibaba Group Holding to match faces with photo identification and cross-check pictures on different documents, the New Yorkbased group said on Thursday. The app also takes a host of other data points—from electricity and
smartphone use to personal relationships to political and religious affiliations—to flag suspicious behavior, the report said. The watchdog’s report sheds new light on the vast scope of activity China is monitoring as it cracks down on its minority Muslim Uighur population in a bid to
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.8200
SECURITY cameras are mounted to poles near a mosque, center, as artists work on their paintings in a street in Kashgar, Xinjiang autonomous region, China, on November 8, 2018. BLOOMBERG
stop terrorism before it happens. The US State Department says as many as two million Uighurs are being held in camps in Xinjiang, a number disputed by Chinese authorities even though they haven’t disclosed a figure. HRW said that so-called data doors at checkpoints may be vacuuming up information from mobile phones from unsuspecting citizens. Some Xinjiang residents who suspected their phones were being used as monitoring devices even buried them in the desert, a move that could later hurt them if the system loses track of their phone, according to Maya Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The political reeducation camps are one pen, but then you have a series of bigger pens that are like virtual fences,” Wang said. China’s State Council Information Office did not reply to a request for comment sent by fax. Continued on A2
n JAPAN 0.4648 n UK 67.5577 n HK 6.6075 n CHINA 7.6946 n SINGAPORE 38.0274 n AUSTRALIA 36.2740 n EU 57.9399 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.8179
Source: BSP (May 3, 2019 )
NewsSunday BusinessMirror
A2 Sunday, May 5, 2019
www.businessmirror.com.ph
FORCES OF DARKNESS? Continued from A1
behavior, PCC has the knowledge. So, let’s merge these two expertise. ERC will take the lead but PCC should work very closely with ERC,” said committee chairman Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian during the second public hearing held on Thursday afternoon.
Nine out of 22
THE ERC has inspected less than half of the power plants that went on forced outage. It said that a total of 22 power plants were in the list, but only nine had so far been inspected by the agency. In a list obtained by the BusinessMirror, the agency has conducted site inspection of the following plants: GN Power Mariveles coal plant of AC Energy Inc. and Aboitiz Power Corp.; SCPC (San Miguel Consolidated Power Corp.) Limay coal plant; SLTEC 1(South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation); Sta. Rita power plant of First Gen Power Corp.; SLTEC 2; SLPGC 2 (Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp.); Pagbilao 3 of Team Energy Corp. and Aboitiz; state firm’s Malaya 1; and Sual 1 of Team Energy. “Boiler tube leak” was the reason provided by the owners and operators of GN Power Mariveles and SLTEC 1 for the outage. Pagbilao 3 experienced “boiler slagging” while Sual 1 reported “boiler circulating pump piping leak.”
A “motor boiler pump trouble” was reported by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which operates the Malaya plant. SCPC Limay coal plant experienced “high furnace pressure.” A “gas line vent valve trouble” was reported by FGEN Sta. Rita. A tripping of the manual turbine was experienced at SLTEC 2 plant. Meanwhile, SLPGC 2 blamed “primary air fan, high stator winding temperature and primary air fan B high motor bearing vibration” as the cause of the outage. All nine plants have resumed operations. ERC spokesperson lawyer Rexie Digal, in an interview, clarified that inspections were conducted on the nine plants. “This is not yet the investigation. The technical inspection team validated the cause of the outages propelled by the power plants. We cannot yet say when the results of the investigation will come out as we have yet to conclude inspection of all the power plants.” The DOE, which inspected the Sual plant, said it has no expertise to conduct a technical evaluation. “It’s not the DOE that investigates. The investigation is with the ERC and PCC, but we are coordinating with them. In fact, I have scheduled a meeting with PCC next week,” said Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. Gatchalian said that it was
within the powers of the ERC to sanction violators, if any. “The ERC has started its probe. Next, we await the results if they will find any anomaly. What is important now is all the facts are collated and have it analyzed very well. ERC is just asking for more time since this is very complicated,” added Gatchalian. Digal, however, clarified that the reports that will be handed in by the agency’s inspection team will still have to be evaluated. “It’s not because they were inspected there will be findings of violation,” she said. Asked if the ERC has sanctioned any power firms involved in past incidents of forced plant shutdown, Digal said, “I can’t remember any recent violation.”
Task force
THE PCC, meanwhile, proposed the creation of a task force among DOE, ERC and PCC in order to focus on the issues concerned. “We sent a formal request [to] the DOE and ERC for a close coordination and possible creation of a task force for sharing of data and to avoid duplication of work. We want to also pursue a MOA [memorandum of agreement] among agencies concerned. We need their assistance,” said PCC executive director Kenneth Tanate. The PCC is seen to facilitate the investigation and adjudication of alleged collusion among GenCos. The PCC, the antitrust author-
ity in the country, has warned power generation companies against engaging in anticompetitive or collusive behavior which is punishable by the competition law with fines of up to P250 million, and imprisonment of responsible officers of up to seven years. In its statement, the PCC noted that the recent spate of scheduled and forced outages in Luzon by different power plants has reportedly reduced power reserves. These outages, PCC said, have caused calls for red or yellow alerts, and induced rotating brownouts, which in turn sparked complaints from the public. The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 mandates the ERC to monitor and penalize, motu proprio any act that constitutes market power abuse and/or anticompetitive or discriminatory behavior by any electric industry participant. The PCC of 2015 or RA 10677, on the other hand, mandates the PCC to implement and enforce the said national competition policy in order to ensure the promotion and protection of the competitive market by prohibiting anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions.
‘No collusion’
EMMANUEL V. RUBIO of Aboitiz Power Corp. said they welcomed the probe on power firms. This move, he said, will ensure that the company is not hiding anything. “We welcome it. It will definitely put an end to speculations,” he said in a text message. Rubio had said the capacity lost during forced outage was replaced by buying from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). However, they do not pass on to consumers the higher spot market prices. “Only when the plant is running [do] we make revenues because that’s the only time we can sell power to consumers. We’re
losing money because 200MW was out. We are contracted beyond the capacity we operate. We rely on some of our facilities, we rely on WESM. The WESM price hit P9 but we sell P3 to our customers,” Rubio said. Team Energy, which operates the 20-year-old Sual power plant, also said that the plant’s output is fully contracted. “It is not in our best interest if the plant is on shutdown. Revenue is lost and at times we sourced replacement energy from WESM,” said company representative Froilan Gregory Romualdez. The Philippine Independent Power Producers Inc. (Pippa) has given assurances that its member generators are working doubly hard and exerting best efforts to supply and produce enough electricity. “All our member generators, especially those who are encountering technical difficulties, are fully transparent and in constant coordination with the lead agencies with the submission of realtime data and updates in order for these agencies to predict and come up with an adequate energy supply and reserve,” it said. DOE officials explained that collusion happens when thinning power reserves prompt industry players to buy power from the WESM, which sells at higher prices that are passed on to consumers. “What we are looking at for example are those GenCos with conglomerates of plants,” said DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella. “Plant A is on scheduled shutdown. Plant B is on forced outage. We will then look at the behavior of Plants C, D and E if they are coming out with a strategy to recover the losses from their other plants which are on shutdown and if these are being passed on to the consumers,” Fuentebella explained. Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) President Vic Dimagiba said consumers deserve an explanation.
“The results of the probe are very important. Everyone must be transparent. We want to know the truth,” he said in a text message.
Directive to GenCos
THE DOE, in a memorandum to all GenCos, directed power firms to submit a report to the DOE within 24 hours from actual outage due to unexpected shutdown or derating of the plant’s capacity. “Considering the strict mandate to ensure reliability, quality and security of supply or electric power under Epira, DOE shall not tolerate activities which amount to anticompetitive behavior or noncompliance with said law and its issuances,” it said. The agency issued the order in the wake of the yellow and red alerts in March and April. Cusi said what occurred from April 10 to 12 was “extraordinary” as more than 1,500MW was shaved off from the grid, owing to the forced outage of power plants that are operated and maintained by major players. Cusi said the rotating brownouts were “deeply regrettable” and that the power industry stakeholders “must share collective responsibility.” “Based on the figures, we were supposed to have sufficient power supply that week. Regrettably, what could not have been forecasted were the simultaneous unplanned outages of several power plants. “Despite having an excess of 1,131MW over peak demand, the unfortunate unforeseen shutdowns of several plants at the same time resulted in 1,502MW loss of available capacity,” Cusi had said. “The entire industry must share collective responsibility over what happened. This includes the DOE, the NGCP, the ERC, the DUs, and the generating companies,” said Cusi.
Surveillance… Continued from A1
The government has said the surveillance measures in Xinjiang are necessary to prevent terrorism and grow the region’s economy. HRW said information in the report is based on reverse-engineering the police app, which communicates with a database known as Integrated Joint Operations Platform, or IJOP. The group said it enlisted Berlin-based cyber security firm Cure53 to conduct a technical assessment of the app after finding that it was publicly available online last year. IJOP is mainly a tool for data collection, filing reports and prompting “investigative missions” by police. The report called for China to shut down the database behind the app, and for foreign governments to impose targeted sanctions such as visa bans and asset freezes against leaders in Xinjiang. HRW said the mobile app was developed by a unit of state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corp, a Fortune 500 company known as CETC with $30 billion in revenue and 169,000 employees. The group has expanded its various operations abroad, from developing smart city solutions in Tehran to a cooperation agreement with German engineering group Siemens. CETC did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. The app uses facial recognition technology developed by Beijing-based Megvii under the brand Face++. The company, which sells licenses to use Face++
facial recognition in mobile apps, said in January it’s considering an initial public offering to raise as much as $1 billion in Hong Kong. Megvii said it doesn’t have any relationship with the IJOP database nor knowledge of why its technology appeared in the police app. It said it has a contractual relationship with CETC for a Face++ license related to the use of e-government services such as paying bills or unlocking a mobile device. “Megvii does not host any third-party data nor does it have any access to the IJOP platform or the national ID database,” the company said in an emailed reply to questions, adding that Human Rights Watch didn’t provide access to the full report before it was published. Megvii’s investors include Alibaba Group Holding—co-founded by China’s richest man, Jack Ma—and its affiliate Ant Financial Services, as well as Sinovation Ventures and Foxconn Technology Group. Alibaba and Ant declined to comment, while neither Sinovation or Foxconn responded to requests for comment. Beyond collecting data and tipping off the police, the IJOPlinked app has a range of other functions. It provides a system for officials to communicate across voice, email and telephone calls, uses Baidu map functionality for geolocation, and allows officials to search for information about people using their name and various other inputs.
Baidu declined to comment. The HRW report provides insight into what type of behavior puts Xinjiang’s citizens on the radar of authorities. Those particularly at risk include people who move in or out of a registered residence, download certain software or content on mobile phones, or have links to people who are abroad. The report includes screenshots of the app, which prompts authorities to choose whether data collection is happening in home visits, on the streets, in political education camps, during registration for travel abroad, or when dealing with Xinjiang residents living in the mainland. Higher-level officials with administrative rights also have a sixth choice: collecting information from foreign nationals who have entered Xinjiang. Officials are then prompted to log on and input data ranging from a person’s height to blood type and political affiliation. Another page examined by HRW shows 36 “person types” that attract special attention, including people who don’t socialize with neighbors or those who use “an abnormal amount of electricity.” The app also uses the central IJOP system to send instructions for officers to investigate certain individuals, prompting them to collect identifying information such as vehicle color and type and log whether they use one of 51 “suspicious” internet tools like WhatsApp or Virtual Private Networks.
The World BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Sunday, May 5, 2019
A3
China military expanding reach into Arctic region, Pentagon says C HINA is accelerating activities in the Arctic as part of its “Polar Silk Road” and trying to promote itself as a “near-Arctic state,” the US Defense Department said. A growing fleet of icebreakers and civilian research stations in Iceland and Norway could support a strengthened People’s Liberation Army (PLA) presence in the polar region, the Pentagon said on Thursday in its annual report on China’s military. The department cited the potential deployment of nucleararmed China submarines to the region as one area of US concern. The report described a Chinese military that was rapidly expanding its reach and capabilities as part of President Xi Jinping’s push to complete a modernization drive by 2035 and build a “world-class” force by 2049. That included efforts to establish an aircraft carrier fleet, with the country’s first domestically built vessel expected to join the PLA Navy
this year, and the successful test of a hypersonic glide vehicle in August. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing didn’t immediately respond on Friday to a faxed request for comment. China continued to improve its ability to conduct complex joint operations to counter what its leaders view as an increasingly confrontational approach by the US, the report said. Last year, Beijing focused efforts to acquire sensitive, US dualuse, or military grade equipment, including dynamic-random-access memory, aviation technologies and antisubmarine warfare technologies.
Spratly missiles
CHINA placed anti-ship cruise missiles and long-range surface-to-air
missiles on the disputed Spratly Islands in South China Sea, the report said, despite Xi’s 2015 statement saying the country “does not intend to pursue militarization” of the vital sea lane. The US withdrew China’s invitation to a large-scale international naval exercises in response to the deployment last year. Arms sales supporting China’s broader foreign policy goals continued to increase, including sales of armed-unmanned-aerial vehicles and precision-strike weapons, the report said. Cai Hong series drones have been sold to “Burma, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates” because China “faces little competition for these sales,” it said. Still, wary of provoking the US, its allies or regional governments, Chinese leaders “employ tactics short of armed conflict to pursue China’s strategic objectives through activities calculated to fall below the threshold of providing armed conflict,” the report said. Beijing continues to use “persuasion and coercion” to limit the growth of pro-independence senti-
ment on self-rule island of Taiwan, the report said. Meanwhile, the Hong Kongbased South China Morning Post reported Friday that the US Navy has conducted 92 transits threw the strategic Taiwan Strait since 2007 to assert free-navigation rights. There have been four such operations so far this year, suggesting the Navy was on pace to exceed its annual average of about seven transits.
China stealth fighter
CHINA may declare its first stealth fighter operational this year as it also develops long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, part of a regional buildup by Beijing that the US is closely monitoring, according to the US Air Force’s Pacific commander. General Charles Brown, the head of Pacific Air Forces, said the stealthy J-20 fighter could “possibly” be operational this year, a move he said would signal “greater threat, greater capability” for China in the Pacific. He went on to emphasize that US efforts to counter those developments
include rising deployments of nextgeneration F-35 jets and continuing overflights of strategic areas such as the South China Sea. “My sense of the way the Chinese operate is somewhat incremental,” Brown said in an interview this week at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “They’ll continue to push the envelope to figure out does anybody say or do anything—if you don’t push back it’ll keep coming.” Fielding the J-20 would add to what’s already the region’s largest air force and world’s third largest, with more than 2,500 total aircraft including 1,700 combat fighters, strategic bombers, tactical bombers and multimission tactical and attack aircraft, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said in a report earlier this year. In its annual report on China’s military, the Pentagon said that “the J-20 may have begun active service in small numbers, possibly with a testing and training unit.” “Chinese engineers report successful testing of a solid-fuel ramjet missile engine, and they suggest this will enable the J-20 to carry future Mach 5, 300 kilometer-range
air-to-air missiles,” according to the report published on Thursday. China’s J-20 fighter is part of a modernization effort that’s been “closing the gap with Western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities, such as aircraft performance, command and control and electronic warfare,” according to Defense Intelligence Agency report. Brown also said he thinks China is moving to develop dual-use bombers that would be “similar to our bombers” in terms of being able to carry nuclear weapons and non-nuclear precision-guided weapons. “I don’t think it would be too far off the mark to say they could do that as well,” Brown added, without indicating whether China may have a stealth bomber capability. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, in a news statement issued on Wednesday for the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said a Chinese long-range bomber “if successful, would make it only one of three nations” to “possess a nuclear triad” of land, sea and air-based nuclear capabilities. Bloomberg News
Faith A4
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Sunday
Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph
May for Mary’s queenship By Corazon Damo-Santiago
M
ary is the queen of M ay— t he mont h of flowers and new growth. The ancient Greeks dedicated the month of May to Artemis, the goddess of virginity, chastity, childbirth and fertility, among others. The Romans honor Flora, the goddess of flowers. May, during the medieval times, is the end of winter, and the start of new growth. If Greeks and Romans honor their important women, the Catholics, too, honor the most important woman—Mary. Pope Francis’s first day as the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church was spent at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. He entrusted his pontificate under the patronage of the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He venerated the famous icon of Our Lady—Salus Populi Romani, believed to have been painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist.
Mary—the ‘Theotokos’
Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle of Manila, president of the Catholic Biblical Federation, greets Pope Francis on April 26 at the Vatican during a special audience marking the federation’s 50th anniversary. CNS/Vatican Media
Pope: Reading, praying with the Bible is ‘best vaccine’ against selfishness
V
ATICAN—Reading the Bible and praying with it is “the best vaccine” against Catholic communities closing in on themselves or focusing only on self-preservation, Pope Francis said. God wants “a church that does not speak from itself or about itself but has in its heart and on its lips the Lord and draws daily from His word,” the pope told members of the Catholic Biblical Federation. Greeting 200 federation members from 68 countries last week, Pope Francis said that when Christians basically proclaim themselves instead of Jesus, they transmit nothing to the world. “It is the word of God, not our own,” he said, and “it removes us from being at the center, saves us from self-sufficiency and triumphalism and calls us continually to go out.” The Catholic Biblical Federation, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, was founded to make the Bible more accessible to Catholics and to highlight “the central role of the Word in faith and mission,” Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio
Tagle of Manila, president of the federation, told Pope Francis. The teaching of the Second Vatican Council, reaffirmed by then-Pope Benedict XVI in his 2010 exhortation Verbum Domini (Word of the Lord), Cardinal Tagle said, asks individual Catholics and the whole church if the word of God really inspires and guides their view of the world, pastoral priorities and use of resources. “If the word of God does not inspire all of these ecclesial actions, then where does the inspiration come from?” the cardinal asked. “It’s not a rhetorical question.”
We cannot do without the word of Jesus, the only word of eternal life.”—Pope
3rd Sunday of Easter: ‘John 21:1-9’
Apostle, like fishing
Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE
T
he Gospel narrative today is about how the apostles recognized the Risen Lord by the miraculous catch of fish, performed through their hands at the command of Jesus. The Risen Lord gave them instructions from the shore. Perhaps they recalled that other time, when Christ had not yet died, and Christ told the tired Peter to try catching again after a fruitless night. At that time, Peter
Agreeing, Pope Francis said, “it would be beautiful if the word of God increasingly became the heart of every church activity, the beating heart that gives life to the members of the body.” As Ephesians says, “The word of God is life,” the pope reminded the federation members. “It neither dies nor even grows old,” and when it is the foundation for all the church says and does, it keeps the church young, too. “The Bible is not a beautiful collection of sacred books to be studied; it is the word of life to be sown, the gift that the risen Lord asks us to welcome and distribute so that there would be life in His name,” the pope said. The Bible gives the church a constant and necessary “injection of life,” he said, which is why homilies based on the Scripture readings at Mass are so important. “Preaching is not a rhetorical exercise or a collection of wise human ideas,” he said. Rather, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it is a sharing of “the
was hesitant, but he did what he was told, and they made such a haul of fish that the nets began to break. This time, they made an even bigger haul, “through there were so many, the net was not torn” (John 21:11). Considering that Christ referred to Peter as a “fisher of men,” we can see this incident as a kind of symbol of the apostolate. Just as all Christians are called to be
saints, they are also called to be apostles. The apostleship is an activity incumbent upon all the followers of Christ, and not only on those who are consecrated to God for that task, such as priests and religious figures. The apostolate of the ordinary Christian consists of bringing those people around him close to God, and thereby ensuring their eternal salvation and happiness. “Charity begins at home.” And the first object of the apostolate should be those persons whom God has brought close to us by the natural bonds of family, society and profession. At the same time, it should extend out to all men. Just like the apostles, the effectiveness of the apostolate depends on obedience and fidelity to the instructions of Christ. The apostles obeyed the word of Christ, and so the miraculous haul of fish took place. If we want to do an effective apostolate,
divine word that touched the heart of the preacher.” “So many words pour into our ears each day, transmitting information and giving us multiple inputs, so many—perhaps too many—that they often surpass our ability to take them in,” he said. “But we cannot do without the word of Jesus, the only word of eternal life,” the pope said. God’s word, he said, should not leave people serene, but should cause them to question and to seek. And “a church that lives by listening to the word is never content with its own security. It is docile to the unpredictable newness of the Spirit.” A church enlivened by the word, he said, “never tires of proclaiming, never gives into disappointment and never tires of promoting communion, because the word calls people to unity and invites each one to listen to the other.” Pope Francis prayed that in sharing the Bible with others, federation members would be filled with the enthusiasm of the disciples immediately after the Resurrection. “They all run: the women, Peter, John, the two on the road to Emmaus—they run to encounter and proclaim the living Word.” Cindy Wooden/Catholic
News Service/CBCPNews
we must be faithful to the substance and methods established by Christ. Otherwise, after tiring ourselves out in a hundred activities, we shall find our hands empty. In the reading today, the nets did not break. Christ Himself has the power to forgive sins. But the bishops and the priests, who are the successors of the apostles in this sphere, do not arrogate it. It was freely given by Christ. Yes to a human being, but through the divine power. If Jesus Christ used clay and saliva to manifest His divine power and give sight to the blind through the application of simple mud, why can he not make use of human beings to exercise His power to forgive sins? When the priest absolves us of our sins in confession, he does not do it in his name or by his own authority, but in the name, authority and in the person of Jesus Christ Himself.
When the parents of mankind fell into sin, Mary was chosen to restore peace and salvation. And her fiat made it possible: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She willed to be the Mother of the Redeemer, she knew what it meant from the beginning and kept it all in her heart. At the foot of the cross, Jesus gave His own mother to be mankind’s mother, too. Since then, her only desire, as mother of the apostles and disciples and Holy Mother Church is the salvation of man. Through the centuries, the Ble s s e d Mot he r b e c a me t he Mediatri x of all Graces. A nd as Theotokos, the “cause of our joy.” It is a Greek term for Godbearer, or Mother of God, from Theos, meaning God, and the tokos meaning bearer, a title ascribed to Mar y in the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. Mary is the most beautiful work of God. Her role in the history of salvation is closely linked to the life of Christ and the church that Jesus Himself founded. Thus, she is also the Mother of the Church. She is above all creatures but subordinate to Mother Church. Saint John Paul II, made known her love for Mary with his motto “Totus tuus [totally yours].”
Devotion to Mary
The practice of honor ing Mar y w it h f lowers or ig inated in monaster ies a nd convents in Med ieva l Eu rope. Saint Fiacre, patron saint of Ireland for gardening, was cited as the first who tended a garden around a chapel of Our Lady in a famous hospice for the sick and the infirm in France during the seventh century. In the 11th century, a 30-day devotion to Mary in the month of May started in Italy. Mary’s Queenship as Mother of Christ the King was emphasized. Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), in his Encyclical on Sacred Lithurgy, cited the pious practice of honoring Mary in May. “Mediator Dei, although not
belonging to the Sacred Liturgy, nevertheless is of special import and dignity, and may be considered in a certain way an addition to the liturgical cult,” he said. On April 29, 1965, Pope Paul VI in his Mense Maio (the month of May) encyclical, enjoined Christians in “churches and their homes to offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration.” He said that May is the month when “greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s throne.” In 1815 Pope Pius VII granted partial indulgence to the faithful who honor Mary. Pope Pius IV in 1859 granted plenary indulgence. In 1966 there was a decreased emphasis on indulgences. In the Enchiridion of Indulgences, devotion to Mary was a partial indulgence. “To the faithful, who, in the performance of their duties and in bearing the trials of life, raise their mind with humble confidence to God even if only mentally,” partial indulgence is granted.
Crown of flowers for Mary
Parishes, families and children continue to honor the Blessed Mother in May through liturgical, catechetical, pastoral initiatives and pilgrimages. Children are encouraged in parishes to attend catechetical instructions and offer flowers to Mary at the start of lessons. On assigned dates, specific groups are assigned to crown the Lady with flowers amid Marian chants and songs. Block rosaries are also held, where the Blessed Mother is transferred from one house to another. She stays in every house for seven days where she is honored with prayers and songs. Marian pilgrimages, local or foreign, are also initiated by church or lay organizations. The capstone of May celebration in the Philippines is the Santa Cruz de Mayo, or Santacruzan, a ritual to honor the Blessed Mary as the Queen of May. The entire entourage of saints represented by children and ladies revolve around Saint Helena, who is credited with the discovery of the true cross of Jesus Christ. She is escorted by her only son Constantine, who remained faithful and devoted to her. A ritual procession, it is dubbed as the queen of Filipino festivals that starts on the first day of May and ends on the last day of the month. This May Flower Festival features the statue of the Blessed Virgin on a float decorated with flowers and lights. Introduced by the Spanish friars, the Santacruzan has become a favorite festival among Filipinos. Saint Louis Marie de Montfort cited a crown of heavenly flowers that never fades—the rosary, which means crown of roses. Damo-Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.
Vatican meet warns of dangers of resurgent nationalism
V
ATICAN CITY—The Vatican is hosting a conference on the resurgence of nationalism around the world, warning of the dangers of economic protectionism, xenophobic antimigrant rhetoric and weak international institutions to the democratic world order. The conference, “Nation, State, NationState,” opened this past week at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a Vatican think tank. German Cardinal Walter Kasper, an ally of Pope Francis, said in a keynote speech
that 20th-century nationalism produced two World Wars. He said that international institutions created in their aftermath to promote peace had distanced ordinary citizens from decision-making power. He warned that the resulting insecurities and fears fueled populist and neonationalistic ideologies “closed inside walls of isolation.” Francis has denounced such isolationist trends, focusing in particular on the global responsibility for the environment and the plight of migrants. AP
Sports BusinessMirror
Editor: Jun Lomibao • mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph
CROMWELL High School transgender athlete Andraya Yearwood (right) braids the hair of teammate Taylor Santos during a break at a track meet at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut, in February. Yearwood, a 17-year-old junior at Cromwell High School, is one of two transgender highschool sprinters in Connecticut, transitioning to female. AP
Saturday, May 4, 2019
A5
A6
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Science
BusinessMirror
Sunday
Alzheimer’s shows a mimic
W
ASHINGTON—Some people told they have Alzheimer’s may instead have a newly identified mimic of the disease—and scientists say even though neither is yet curable, it’s critical to get better at telling different kinds of dementia apart.
DR. Peter T. Nelson, in this April 29 photo, inspects a section of brain in the neuropathology lab at the Sanders-Brown Center for Aging in Lexington, Kentucky. MARK CORNELISON/UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY VIA AP
Too often, the word dementia is used interchangeably with Alzheimer’s when there are multiple types of brain degeneration that can harm people’s memory and thinking skills. “Not everything that looks like Alzheimer’s disease is Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Julie Schneider, a neuropathologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. And among all the known dementias, this newly ident if ied k ind “ is t he most striking mimic of Alzheimer’s,” she added. It’s not clear how many people have this particular type, which an international team of scientists defined this past week in the journal Brain. But there could be a sizeable number, said Dr. Peter Nelson of the University of Kentucky, the paper’s lead author. T he dementia was dubbed “LATE,” an acronym chosen in
part because the oldest seniors seem at greatest risk. Here’s a look at various dementias in the confusing Alzheimer’sor-not mix:
Scientists stumbled onto newest disorder
ALZHEIMER’s is the most common form of dementia, and autopsies have long found its telltale signs in the brain: sticky plaque from an abnormal buildup of amyloid protein, and tangles of another protein named tau. Only recently have scientists developed special, pricey scans that can measure that buildup in
D
Another toxic protein found
IT turns out another protein, named TDP-43, also can run amok in the brain. Scientists knew it plays a role in a completely different disorder, Lou Gehrig’s disease. T hen, they linked TDP- 43 buildup to severe shrinking of the hippocampus, a brain region key for learning and memory. Nelson said about a quarter of people over age 85 have enough abnormal TDP-43 to affect their memory or thinking abilities. For now, it takes an autopsy to spot—the symptoms seem like Alzheimer’s until a specialist can peer inside the brain. “What is now clear is that a lot of dementia is caused by gloppy proteins. We used to think it was just two gloppy proteins, amyloid and tau,” Nelson said. The next step: Finding better ways to measure abnormal TDP43 and diagnose LATE. (It stands for an unwieldy scientific name— Limbic-predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy.) “Our ultimate goal is to test people hopefully in a very noninvasive way,” said National Institute on Aging dementia specialist Nina Silverberg. That’s key to eventually developing treatments.
Other culprits also are overlooked
n Strokes, sometimes small “silent” ones, can trigger what’s called vascular dementia, something scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIA) think
Not everything that looks like Alzheimer’s disease is Alzheimer’s disease.”—Schneider
Rice scientist and academician appointed as new Searca director R. Glenn B. Gregorio has been appointed as new director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) for a three-year term. He assumed office on May 1. Gregorio is the 11th to hold the top Searca post since its establishment in November 1966 by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (Seameo). Searca is an intergovernment treaty organization hosted by the Philippine government on the campus of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), Gregorio is an academician at the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the Philippines and is currently a professor at the Institute of Crop Science of the UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Science. A distinguished rice scientist, he served the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for almost 30 years, including a five-year stint as IRRI’s rice breeder in Africa based at Africa Rice Centre station at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria from 2004 to 2009. Throughout his career, he has bred more than 15 rice varieties, most of which are salt-tolerant varieties that have greatly helped farmers in Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and the Philippines. He also led efforts to develop micronutrient-dense rice varieties to address anemia and malnutrition in Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. But rice breeding is not Gregorio’s only forte. Prior to his appointment as
living brains. Then, studies with those scans found about a third of people with Alzheimer’s symptoms lack amyloid buildup—ruling out Alzheimer’s, said Schneider, senior author of the paper. What else could cause their dementia?
Searca director, he also served as Crop Breeding manager for Corn at the EastWest Seed Co. Inc. from 2015 to 2018 where he was the global lead of the sweet corn and waxy corn breeding programs for South and Southeast Asia, the Latin Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Outstanding Young Scientist Award (OYS 2004) and Outstanding Publication Award given by NAST; The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM 2004) in the field of Agriculture-Plant Breeding and Genetics; the Ho Chi Minh Medal Award for great contribution to the cause of agriculture and rural development in Vietnam; Ten Outstanding Youth Scientists (TOYS 1981) of the Philippines given by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines; Honorary Scientist, Rural Development Administration (RDA), Korea; and other awards for his outstanding research and research management achievements. He has authored and coauthored at least 90 articles published in various scientific journals, chapters on rice breeding in 14 books and five scientific manuals and bulletins. He mentored and supervised 20 PhD and 27 MS graduate students and more than 40 BS students in plant breeding and genetics at UPLB and other universities in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America; and he continues to hone scientists and future scientists as a mentor and teacher. Gregorio obtained his PhD in genetics, MS in plant breeding and BS in agriculture at UPLB.
might be prevented with better blood-pressure control. n Lewy body dementia, named for clumps of still another abnormal protein, can cause Alzheimer’s-like symptoms along with movement and other problems. n Frontotemporal dementia often triggers changes in personality and tends to strike at a younger age than Alzheimer’s, yet can still be misdiagnosed. Many older patients probably have “mixed dementia,” several brain changes that combine to cause trouble, Dr. Walter Koroshetz, head of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told a recent meeting about non-Alzheimer’s dementias. T he paper about T DP- 43 caused disease adds to the complexity, said Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer Maria Carrillo, who wasn’t involved with the new research. “We must learn more about each contributing cause of dementia so we can understand how these changes begin and interact and co-occur, and how to best diagnose, treat and prevent them,” she said.
Why is it important to tell one dementia from another?
CURRENT treatments for A lzheimer’s and other dementias temporarily ease symptoms. But there are other reasons for a precise diagnosis. A list of medications common for seniors can harm people with Lew y body dementia, for example. Knowing the specifics also can help people plan care, as some types of dementia worsen faster than others. And it’s critical for developing better dementia treatments. Testing a treatment that targets, say, the tau tangles or amyloid plaques of A lzheimer’s won’t stand a chance if patients who only have TDP-43 are allowed into the study. “If you have a dementia percolating in your brain, the only hope we have right now is to participate in a clinical trial to try to stop it,” Nelson said. AP
Soybeans and eucalyptus are next high-end car seat
C
ARBON fiber used to be the ultimate tell when it came to showing just how much money you could throw at your car’s interior. An expansive dash, custom-carved door panels, a $1,000 steering wheel in that unmistakable black crosshatch—and the Nappa leather seats that often pair with it—telegraphed to anyone who cared to look that this was an expensive, sporty and unique whip owned by someone who was possibly important, and at least interesting. But now it’s time for plants. “Fifty years ago a leather couch was the height of luxury,” says Massimo Frascella, Land Rover’s creative director and a practicing vegan. “Now in the best hotels and homes you’d never see that. It’s a similar process with cars. Going forward, sustainable design is providing the framework for change.” Frascella arrived in Manhattan during the New York International Auto Show, which began on April 19, to unveil Land Rover’s new line of leather-free and fully vegan materials developed to outfit its 2020 Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Jaguar I-Pace SUVs. “There are a growing number of people who are concerned with the provenance of the textiles and materials in their vehicle,” he says. The new interiors are meant to attract those consumers for whom the highest form of luxury aligns with their eco beliefs. The marque’s proprietary Eucalyptus Melange, for example—a textile produced from eucalyptus fibers—uses significantly less water than traditional materials, such as plastic and Alcantara, and can be dyed to match any color of the spectrum. It also uses a durable wool blend, from textile company Kvadrat, that feels like a soft wool sweater. Dinamica Suedecloth is a flameproof and extremely durable, suede-mimicking microfiber made from recycled plastic bottles—53 per vehicle, on average, according to Land Rover. Taken together, they provide a vegetarian, if not fully animal-product-free, option for the conscientious affluent. Other carmakers are also adding eco-conscious options to interiors. Volvo has said at least 25 percent of the plastic-like surfaces in its vehicles will come from sustainable materials, as opposed to oil, by 2025. Toyota Motor Corp. makes seat-cushion material that uses glycol from renewable sugar cane rather than glycol derived from petroleum. Hyundai Motor Co. sources ground-up volcanic rock to form the support pillar coverings for its sedans.
Ford Motor Co. developed a seat foam from soybeans; and Faraday Future has toyed with using rock fibers and cotton from discarded garments to line its cars. Luxury brands have intensified the allure. In the heady world of $250,000 SUVs and six-figure hybrids, it’s only fitting that the interiors are both plush and sustainable. In this arena, the medium is the message. “This is part of a bigger global trend that we see continuing to grow,” says Filip Brabec, Audi AG’s vice president for product management.“It has to do with consumers understanding more and more the implications of how we inhabit the environment, and how and what we eat.” Synthetic leather alone will make up a $45-billion industry by 2025, according to business consulting firm Grand View Research, with automotive applications predicted to be the second-largest use for renewable textiles, after home furnishings. In this landscape, “responsibly sourced” and “premium alternatives” are the biggest buzzwords. Audi has developed sustainable and even carbon-neutral materials for its electric vehicles. The seats of the Q4 e-tron SUV are made from recycled plastic, and the e-tron GT offers an interior option of synthetic leather and recycled microfibers, including a deep-pile Econyl yarn floor carpet made from used fishing nets. The entire car is vegan. In its Aicon concept, Audi presented seat covers made from Climatex, a dual-layered fabric with a polyester top and pure wool bottom. It was developed in a way so the two layers could be separated by type and recycled at the end of the vehicle’s life. Although it isn’t going into production, these sorts of solutions indicate the way Audi foresees the future of interiors. “We have had some nice firsts,”Brabec says. “We see this as a big opportunity for us, and we are busy developing even more.” That’s not to say there isn’t still plenty of business to be had in the old-fashioned world of burled walnut and buckskin. Just ask the folks at Bentley. But Land Rover is anticipating a larger change in consumer tastes. It’s introducing eco-conscious textiles in the Evoque, a model that, though not the company’s biggest seller (that would be the long-popular Range Rover Sport), takes the lead in marketing Land Rover as an upscale, aspirational addition to the garage. Last year it sold 9,917 of them in the US, when the Evoque was introduced, 85 percent of customers who bought one were new to the brand altogether. Bloomberg News
Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph
When is dead really dead?
THE Miracle of Saint Justus, a painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens. After he was beheaded, Justus picked up his severed head and continued to speak. Justus is one of the legendary cephalophores, the saintly “head-carriers,” who miraculously continued to speak or move despite being decapitated. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
F
OR the longest time, “death” used to be when the heart stopped beating and breathing stopped. Then, machines were invented in the 1930s that enabled people to receive air even if they could not take in the air themselves. In the 1950s, machines were developed to help sustain heartbeat. But no machine could bring back an irreversibly brain-damaged patient to have a functioning brain. As a result, the concept of “brain death” was introduced as an additional definition of death to complement death by heart-lung failure. The concept of brain death, while legally adopted in the US and in large parts of the world, has remained an area of ongoing discussion. It often centers on how someone can be dead when the heart is beating and the body is warm, even if this function is entirely reached through artificial support. Brain death also is more difficult to conceptualize, as it is a less visible form of death. And isn’t it so much easier to believe what we can see? On April 17, a study published in Nature that showed signs of activity in pig brains after they were killed added more fuel to the discussion. I am a neurologist specializing in neurocritical care, with both clinical and research interests in acute brain damage, and broad exposure to catastrophic brain injury and brain death. My analysis of the study is that it reinforces much of what we already know, that death is a continuum. When pigs die, can their brains be revived? In the study, scientists took brains from pigs that had been slaughtered at US Department of Agriculture-regulated facilities, connected them to a machine that pumped an artificial blood-like nutritional fluid through the brains four hours after their “death,” and measured activity of brain-cells. They found that even hours after death, blood circulation—or circulation of the artificial blood—and certain brain-cell functions could be restored in this experimental setting. The conclusion was that demise in the brain after the heart stops beating follows an extended process rather than occurring at a defined moment in time, and that perhaps our brains have a better capacity to heal than is currently known. Is this news? Yes, on a scientific level—that is, under the microscope, because an experiment like this has not been done before. But have we not known for a long time that death does not occur within the blink of an eye? Historic accounts of decapitated bodies vividly describe decapitated bodies taking a few steps or even running. That means that such a body was not immediately dead. And, conceivably, if one hooked up such a body to blood supply and healed the wounds, most people could likely imagine that it could continue to be maintained with living body parts or cells. Can a head still be alive after decapitation? Even worse to imagine: Could the decapitated head still be conscious for a bit? Perhaps yes. After the heart stops beating, we consider that someone has died. But after the heartbeat stops, we also know that sometimes, the heartbeat can come back by itself. This is called autoresuscitation. In this case, someone that appeared dead for a few minutes may not have actually died. But the situation is different for the brain than
for the heart. When there is a lack of blood flow in the absence of a heart that pumps it, or when there is intrinsic brain injury and blood cannot get in, the situation is tricky. Brains are very sensitive to being deprived of oxygen and energy supply, and various degrees of brain injury occur. Depending on how long the energy fuel to the brain is absent, brain function can remain alive to various degrees and be rekindled to a degree we neuroscientists do not yet fully know. We know that brain function is seriously disturbed, with variable permanence of function loss depending on how long the brain has not had energy. The end result of how functional such a damaged brain will come out is one of the biggest challenges we have to learn more about. After an injury, a whole sequence of consecutive processes occurs that is called secondary brain injury and is triggered by the insult to the brain in the first place. And these processes often cause tremendous damage, and sometimes more than the actual first injury. For example, a hard blow to the head can result in a bruise or bleeding in the brain, which can be removed by surgery in certain cases. Despite the bleeding being stopped or removed, however, the surrounding brain will sometimes start swelling and bruising even more over the subsequent days, like a big bruise on the thigh goes through stages and color changes. There is not yet a preventive therapy for this, but we know that some factors can make this process worse, such as blood pressure that is too low or lack of oxygen to the brain during the healing phase. Imagine a broken bone: The cast is just the first step, and there is swelling, pain and weakness for weeks to come. In the brain, the process is more granular. And in neuroscience, we are just now beginning to understand this cascade of events.
What to learn from the pig study
THE study of revived pig brain cells does not even come close to touching on this much bigger picture. It is limited to showing that the time span and spectrum of nerve-cell function that can persist and at least partially be restored is longer than had been shown so far. Hence, it supports the idea that dying is a process, and puts an additional piece of data on the length of this process. But it does not show that these brain cells were able to function as a nerve-cell network leading to higher brain function, such as consciousness or awareness—the features that set us apart as humans. It also just looks at the immediate restoring of cell function, and not at how these brains do days out, when the continuing processes of secondary brain damage set in. To summarize, in the absence of blood flow, the brain, including all its individual cells will die— eventually. And this study has perhaps expanded the understanding of “eventually.” Death is a process, and not a moment in time. It is the human desire to put things in categories of black and white, and to have definitions that let us operate in daily life. Death—this is becoming more and more clear—is a large gray zone, and we will have to expect that this gray zone grows as science progresses. Katharina Busl, University of
Florida/The Conversation/AP
Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror
Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua
Sunday, May 5, 2019
A7
YOUR SUMMER GETAWAY SPOTS IN CLARK
M
Story & photos by Celine Murillo
ILITARY bases, imported goods and hackneyed educational tour destinations from my image of Clark.Where it is exactly has also been a source of great confusion to me. I’ve often used it interchangeably with Subic, and once thought that it was a town in Pampanga. But that says more about my knowledge of geography than anything else.
Getting oriented
IT turns out Clark is in Pampanga, but also in Tarlac. The Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone, as it is officially known, spans the towns of Angeles, Mabalacat and Porac in the former, and Capas and Bamban in the latter. It was once a US military reservation base until the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, a.k.a. RA 7227, made it a hub for businesses and other industries. Clark now has an international airport, several aviation establishments, shopping districts and a slew of tourist spots.
Heritage City
IN the city of Angeles, for instance, one would learn about history and culture. Birthed by a not-so favorable comment on an online article, the Heritage Park is a modern marvel. Just like any city in the country, electrical wires and cables ran like cat’s cradle across Angeles’s airscape—not a good thing when you want people to appreciate the architecture. But by getting telcos on board, the lines were rerouted, and in 2014, the Plaza was free of unsightly wires. It made way for better appreciation of key structures like the Holy Rosary Church—one of the country’s most important landmarks as cited by the National Museum. Another prominent building in the city is the Museo ng Kasaysayan ng Panlipunan ng Pilipinas, a.k.a. the Pamintuan Mansion. A
former office of General Arthur MacArthur and General Antonio Luna, the house best showcases the architectural style of the period. It also contains cultural articles like pieces of indigenous clothing and traditional household implements.
TRYING out the Octopus Racers with some friends
AQUA Planet has almost 40 water slides.
Agricultural hot spot
Meanwhile, when you venture into the fringes of Angeles, you’ll find Tibby’s Farm—the only EAT (Education, Accommodation and Tourism) facility this side of Clark. Featuring aquaponic facilities, organic gardens and farm-to-table dining, the place promotes sustainable farming and serves as a venue for learning. Tibby’s Farm is the brainchild of Atty. Angelo Valencia who believes that the country’s future lies in the countryside. By educating individuals and groups about proper land management, and linking them to each other, the place encourages inclusive growth and cooperation in all sectors.
Year-round water fun
CLARK is also home to the Philippines’s largest water park: Aqua Planet. After taking some time off to polish its operations, the place is back with bigger and better services. It’s located in the town of Mabalacat and is open daily until 5 p.m. With a total land area of 10 hectares, the park has roughly 40 slides along with a slew of amenities that would make for a fun, adrenaline-filled day out. There’s the rainbow-colored Octopus Racers. The Sky Shuttle where you and three of your friends will be blasted off at an alarmingly steep platform. There’s also the Flow Rider where
EL KABAYO’S glamping is perfect for barkadas
THE Holy Rosary Church is considered one of the most important landmarks in the Philippines.
you can experience how it feels to surf a wave. But perhaps the most intense of all the rides is the Aqua Loop, which features a 90-degree drop! Be warned: There’s a slight chance of getting stuck in one of the loops. Trust me, I am speaking from experience. Not to worry though, the place is ready for such things, and you’ll be safely hauled out of the slide in no time. If these rides are too much, you can always grab a buoy and laze your way across the “river.” There are also many food options to choose from inside the premises. Cabanas are
THE Pamintuan Mansion is one of the highlights of the Angeles Heritage Park.
available for rent, while the many tables and chairs around the park are free to use.
Cowboy camper
I’VE never considered Clark as an “outdoor” destination, but you can certainly have such an experience here. In El Kabayo Stables, one can rough it out without sacrificing modern comforts. Popular for its Western-themed facilities, El Kabayo offers glamorous camping, a.k.a. “glamping.” You get to stay in a tent, sleep under the stars, but still have access to a
A celebration of Laguna’s pride at Anilag Festival By Gelyka Ruth R. Dumaraos
L
Photos by Teddy Pelaez
AGUNA is a province undoubtedly bursting with rich culture and tradition, culinary surprises and off-the-beaten-path destinations one can readily go back to any time in a year. As the province’s way of thanksgiving for abundant resources sprawled in its six cities and 24 municipalities, the weeklong Anilag Festival was celebrated by highlighting its distinct products and the people who produce them. For Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 4A OIC-Director Marites Castro, Anilag Festival, which means ani ng Laguna (Laguna’s harvest), is the grand culmination of all festivals in Laguna where each town gets to showcase what it has to offer. She says, “Anilag Festival show-
cases the various attractions in Laguna, which encourage thousands of people visiting, whether they are local or foreigners, to get to know each place, its natural wonders, as well as its delectable cuisines.”
Agri-industrial and tourism products
THE event’s is trade show featured the products of 12 local government units (LGUs). Among the standouts are: the tilapia harvest and its seven lakes of San Pablo; geothermal energy of Bay; the handcraft footwear industry of Liliw; the barong of Lumban; the coffee of Cabuyao; and the woodcraft of Paete and Pangil. Tourism stakeholders, including travel and tour operators, hotels and resorts, and farm and food establishments, also had their own respective booths and kiosks. There are also tourism information hubs on top-notch Laguna destinations
ANILAG Festival kicks off with a street dance competition.
for prospective visitors. Aside from the year-round tourist spots such as the hot-spring resorts in Majayjay, Los Baños, Calamba City and Nagcarlan, adventure tours also await in the popular Shooting the Rapids in Pagsanjan Falls and trekking to Magdapio Falls of Cavinti. Castro also underscores the development of the Paguil River Eco-Park trails and the Mount Makiling camping grounds. When it comes to agritourism, Dr. Rosauro A. Sta. Maria Jr., head of Laguna Tourism, Culture, Arts and Trade Office (LTCATO), puts the spotlight to Costales Nature Farms in Majayjay that has etched Laguna in the agritourism map of the world. “Starting small, Costales Nature Farms had gone into being mentors for the whole of Southeast Asia in terms of organic farming,” Sta. Maria proudly says, adding Liliw, Kalayaan, and Calauan to the list.
SAN Pablo showcases its tilapia farmed in several lakes.
People of Laguna
MORE than the products, Sta. Maria says that Anilag Festival is also a celebration of the province’s people. Ani is not just about the products of Laguna,” he explains. “We are proud of our citizens. We’re proud of our national hero, Jose Rizal, who hailed from the province.” Sta. Maria also mentions the Laguna locals of the old days who had made their marks in the music industry such as composer and church musician Marcelo Adonay from Pakil and Soprano and sarswela star Maria Carpena of Santa Rosa. Laguna also takes pride as the home province of pageant beauties Ms. Universe-Philippines Ariella Arida and celebrity actor Alden Richards, among others. “Anilag Festival is also a campaign to promote our people. We are always proud of the people of the province as we ourselves are also the ‘harvest’ of Laguna,” Sta. Maria concludes.
proper toilet and have a sumptuous meal. The setup includes a roomy tent with mattresses, beddings and toiletries. There’s also a “grazing table” whose spread can be customized based on your preferences. Archery and horseback riding can also be included. El Kabayo’s glamping is perfect for big barkada or groups looking for some time to spend outdoors but don’t want to make the “full commitment” to actual camping. Should you be interested, you’d need to make an arrangement at least one week before your preferred date to
allow for ample prep time. Check out elkabayostables.com for more information.
Something different
CLARK may be best known as a former US military base and has gotten a bad rap in the past, but while you’d think the place is littered with decommissioned tanks and US expats, it’s variety of tourist destinations surprise you with a number of unique experiences. From historical walks to good ol’ swimming pools, Clark is definitely worth knowing better.
Coca-Cola partners with Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force for environmental stewardship
T
HROUGH the World Without Waste vision, the Coca-Cola System in the Philippines once again demonstrates its firm commitment toward environmental preservation and stewardship by providing a top-of-the-line cleaning machinery to the municipality of Malay, Aklan, which aims to service and help the community in their thrust for a continuous responsible care of Boracay’s beaches. The partnership strives to be among the perfect examples of the private sector and the public sphere coming together for the responsible stewardship of the nation’s natural resources. “The collaboration with the Boracay InterAgency Task Force [BIATF] attests that we are a staunch partner of the government in looking for opportunities to further the country’s goals toward environmental preservation,” says Gareth McGeown, chief executive and president of Coca Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the Philippines. “This endeavor also reaffirms our dedication to attaining the vision of a World Without Waste, and we are committed to working with all stakeholders toward realizing this goal. We are grateful for this opportunity to join hands and work earnestly with like-minded institutions in government.” Together, CCBPI and the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines held on March 28 a ceremonial turnover of the equipment to the Municipal Government of Aklan and to members of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF), represented by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, and Tourism Undersecretary Edwin Enrile, to further pursue environmental stewardship via a sustainable and holistic plan that begins with the introduction of the Surf Rake. A signing of the Memorandum of Agreement will be held at a later date with Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat. “This interagency, intersector collaboration is a significant development that we hope will go a long way in addressing an urgent concern
regarding one of the Philippines’s most beloved beaches,” says Cecile Alcantara, president of the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines. “The CocaCola System is proud to be part of this endeavor, which is testament to the possibilities realized by strong, genuine partnerships between stakeholders with a common goal.” The Surf Rake by H. Barber and Sons, manufactured in the USA, is the most popular tractor-towed beach cleaner in the world— this is because it is the fastest and most efficient beach- cleaner in the market. Operated by an individual from the seat of a towing tractor, the Surf Rake provides safe, fast and efficient beach cleaning. Close coordination with the local government of Malay, Aklan, will be undertaken to ensure the proper and efficient use of the Surf Rake, toward a genuine multistakeholder collaboration for the benefit of our environment. Coca-Cola will also work with the DOT and the local government of Malay to further establish a holistic and sustainable environmental preservation plan that will also enjoin both locals and tourists to take action, and do their part in the solid-waste management efforts in the island. In all, the introduction of the Surf Rake, as part of this plan, complements the national government’s aims for the preservation of our world-famous beaches—and it also ties in with Coca-Cola’s global vision of helping create a World Without Waste. “We recognize that there is a global waste problem and, like every one, we have a responsibility to help solve it,” says McGeown. “As the bottler, our presence and deep foundation in the communities where we are present places us in a unique position to fully understand the waste management and recycling situation at a local level. This then enables us to help advocate for new solutions that can help address the specific needs of the communities we serve—making the vision of a World Without Waste more accessible and possible for everyone.
FULL-TIME NURSE NOW RUNS A FARM, E-I-E-I-O
MANASES EVASCO (left) tries out a gamefowl, which he plans to raise on his coconut farm. Story & photos by Oliver Samson Correspondent
A
ND on his farm, Manases Evasco has pigs and chickens among coconut trees. The 34-yearold Evasco also has a shop selling hog feed. It all began three years ago on a farm in Barcelona, Sorsogon, in the southern Philippine province of Bicol. That time Evasco has already been working as a nurse for seven years.
He started with ten piglets. He bought all 10 and sold these when the piglets reached more than three months. The profits prompted him to gradually increase the number of pigs he grew. He acquired breeder hogs to produce his own piglets and grow them for the local market of live hogs. In the fourth quarter of 2018, he grew the number of his hogs to more than 120, leading him to seek more farmhands. He has eight sows and three gilts. He currently provides livelihood to seven farmhands at his piggery. Evasco also saw the demand for hog feeds among backyard and small hog raisers in Barcelona. In September 2017, he opened a hog feed retail store, initially catering to back-
2 BusinessMirror
yard hog raisers in a few barangays as his market. “During the first months [of operating] we sold nearly nothing in a day,” he said.
Hogs, feeds IN the early part of the second quarter of 2018, the number of hog feed bags that Evasco sold increased. “The piglets consume much of the feeds in the entire process of growing hogs,” he said. “As the backyard breeders produce more piglets, I sell more feeds.” He also observed that the price of piglets rose after he began buying piglets across town, benefitting backyard hog breeders who constitute the majority in the local hog raising industry. A piglet sells in town for P2,300 on the MAY 5, 2019
average, according to Evasco. He also buys piglets from backyard breeders while producing his own piglets using breeding materials acquired from different sources. “I also take piglets as payment from backyard raisers for the feeds they borrow from me,” he said. Currently, he sells an average of 520 bags of hog feeds in a month. His market now includes hog breeders and growers in the municipalities of Barcelona, Gubat and Bulusan.
Broilers, coconuts ASIDE from hogs, Evasco also grows broilers. Last summer, he grew over a thousand heads. He has been growing broilers in the Continued on page 7
BusinessMirror
MUSIC
MEET JAPAN’S BEAT BAHNHOF
OPENING ACT FOR PUT3SKA REUNION by Rick Olivares
B
EFORE famed Philippine ska band Put3ska storms the Music Museum stage on May 24, the honor to get the crowd skanking and dancing when the show begins goes to a band from the Land of the Rising Sun: Beat Bahnhof. The Japanese ska band, formed in 2012, combines classic Jamaican sound as developed by the Skatalites to the 2-Tone Movement in Great Britain that brought ska into the mainstream and Third-Wave sensibilities. Beat Bahnhof previously
performed in the Philippines as part of the Philippine Ska Fest of 2018. Their performance caught the eye of Put3ska’s Emelee Nicart, who helped organize the reunion of her band. The opening gig, in more ways than one, is special for Beat
Bahnhof vocalist and guitarist Ace-K. While on a trip to Los Angeles back in 1998, he checked out Amoeba Music looking for ska albums to buy. He spotted the compact discs of four different bands: American ska crews Undercover Ska, Magadog, Ruska Bank, and as fate would have it, one from Southeast Asia: Put3ska. “I actually had no idea how to pronounce their name,” recalled Ace-K. “The album cover was in black and white which every ska fan can understand. And I couldn’t wait to play the album. The moment it played, I said, ‘Wow! This is Madness, plus Bad Manners, plus the Selecter!’ These are some of the finest bands of the 2-Tone era, and I became interested in finding out more about the ska scene in the Philippines.” So when Nicart invited Beat Bahnhof—akihiro.o on bass, Masaki on the organ, Thomas on trombone, Wada on drums,
Makoto on guitar and Len on saxophone—to open for Put3ska, it was a no-brainer for the rest of the Japanese seven-piece. “I love Put3ska’s music. I’ve had their CD for over 20 years now, and I still play it,” gushed the Beat Bahnhof frontman. “We were all excited when we got the invite and immediately said ‘Yes!’ We also owe it to Noel Salonga of Skabeche who opened [us] up to a Filipino audience. And we hope this will not be the last time for us to perform in the Philippines.” Beat Bahnhof has this goal of “Skanking Around the World.” To date, the Japanese ska group has released an album in 2013, "Dear Passengers," and participated in a split vinyl EP in 2017 along with Swedish ska band The Liptones. They have performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, Korea, Hong Kong, China and this coming June, in Russia. Continued on page 6
4
Sound BusinessMirror
MAY 5, 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com
MUS
IS ‘K-MEDIA’ THE NEW by Selva Rani Thiyagarajan, LLB, Hons, Lond, CLP, UM (NOTE: Filipino VIPs [fans of BIGBANG] saw him last January in “The Great Seungri Show” in Manila. Days after, they were diligently following headlines covering Seungri and a number of controversies he’s embroiled in. The fiasco involving the Korean star began on January 28 when a CCTV footage was released to the public by South Korean media that captured a certain Kim Sang-Kyo being manhandled by security personnel at the Burning Sun club in Gangnam, allegedly owned by Seungri (aka
A
S a woman, and as someone with a legal background, I take great pride in my career. I have not trampled on my rights as a woman to succeed in the profession. However, looking at Seungri’s trial by media, I believe he is not being given a right to defend himself from these allegations. One of the first things I noticed is that there are certain words used to trigger an emotional response from the general audience. Words like prostitution, drugs and rape were associated to BigBang’s Seungri, as if he had committed those hideous crimes, even if there is no genuine evidence to prove those allegations thus far. There is a legal element forgotten when connecting Seungri to these allegations - that is “causation link.” Causation has been defined as a causal relationship between the defendant’s conduct, and the end result. Based on the facts involving the allegations against Seungri, no causation link has been established. Meaning, there is no connection with Seungri’s act to the end result; for example: the molka chat, the rape, the prostitution soliciting and the assault allegation. Can guilt be determined from a rumor or an allegation? Can it be determined by a trial by media? Then what is the point of having a court of law, a judge, a prosecutor, or police authorities in a country? If only a media’s spin-off can deem someone guilty overnight? Typically in a criminal case, a
Lee Seung-Hyun). This was followed by a media release of a chat group screenshot that discussed drugging, drunken women and sexual assaults being recorded by hidden cameras (molka), where allegedly Seungri is a part of. Following this, a barrage of other allegations came implicating Seungri of drug abuse, impersonating a police officer, police bribery and collusion, prostitution mediation, and tax evasion and embezzlement of corporate funds and violating the Food Health Act. In response, Seungri released a statement denying all the allegations, signified his willingness to “actively
participate in the inquiries” by police authorities and apologized to the public. He also submitted petitions for a thorough investigation and to postpone his entry into military service. To facilitate his defense and in cooperation with authorities, he cancelled all his concert dates and related activities and, ultimately, announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on March 11. To date, after more than three months, 17 days and more than 50 hours of police interrogation, with some of the allegations already cleared (drug abuse, police impersonation and bribery as well as
collusion), no warrant of arrest or any formal charges has been filed under his name. While his legal culpabilities are still to be determined—if there’s any—Seungri’s reputation as an idol celebrity who’s popularly known worldwide had already been seriously undermined with every issue being stamped with his name and image. This three-part commentary deals with the manner South Korean media and authorities, as well as netizens, played out in what could be the biggest K-pop scandal to date. The author is a law-degree holder and carries a certificate of legal practice based in Malaysia.)
guilty verdict is handed down by a judge/jury in a trial after presenting all evidence and hearing all the witnesses in a court of law. All individuals’ rights to a fair trial is protected under Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is stated here as follows: “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.” Shouldn’t Seungri be given the same rights as everyone else? Why is his guilt determined by Korean Media? Before a court of law can determine guilt, there are two mechanisms that need to be present: 1) Burden of Proof is the burden of proving a claim. In criminal cases, the burden of proving a defendant’s guilt is on the prosecution. They must establish that charge beyond reasonable doubt. 2) Beyond Reasonable Doubt pertains to the level of certainty and the degree of evidence necessary to establish proof in a criminal proceeding. This would be the yardstick applied on when showing the proof. Now, beyond reasonable doubt sets a very high standard which would mean the prosecution would need to prove it. If we were to talk about in percentages, it should be close to 97 percent to 99 percent. To simplify it, the group chat (depending on authenticity) would be at 10 percent to 30
percent, Seungri’s confession at 60 percent to 80 percent, witness accounts (credible or not) at 10 percent to 30 percent, and expert witness accounts at 40 percent to 50 percent. All these pieces of evidence will be calculated, and this will determine if the case will be proven beyond reasonable doubt. The evidence—none thus far—will not be able to prove Seungri committed any of the offense. We hope (our readers) can understand how important Seungri’s confession is. We should commend him for holding out this long in the interrogation. It would not have been an easy feat. Other elements that need to be considered before a guilt of a person can be determined are authenticity and primary/secondary evidences.
course of its ordinary use. The reason for this is that digital documents are easy to be tampered with; therefore, the standard of proof is higher. Mere accusations from the media and netizens carry no weight in the authenticity of the said group chat.
Authentication of evidence
BUT first, for the general public, what is authenticity? Why are those pieces of evidence need to be authenticated? On Black’s Legal dictionary website, authentic document has been defined as follows: “The validity of a document or record. The document is kept in its original form with no tampering.” For an electronic evidence (chat group) to be accepted, it must be established that it is a document produced by a computer. There is also a need to show that the document was produced by a computer in the
Primary/secondary evidence
EVIDENCE can be categorized into primary and secondary evidence. The group chat, as primary evidence, cannot be authenticated because the original messages from 2015 to 2016 have been deleted from the server after every two to three days. This was a decision made by the company in 2015 to protect the privacy of its users. Now, to confirm that the screen shots, or the files in spreadsheet format from a flash drive of the said group chat are authentic, they would need to find a secondary evidence, or indirect evidence to confirm the primary evidence. The raid on the Arena Club, the investigation of people that are supposedly in the group chat, the search warrant and seize on Seungri is to find secondary evidence in his laptop, computer and electronic storage that would confirm the group chat. Without the secondary evidence to confirm the primary evidence, it will be hard to prove allegations against Seungri.
d trip
soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | MAY 5, 2019
5
SIC ON PRINT
W JUDGE ON SEUNGRI?
Defamation
BY constantly publishing falsified news, the media has defamed Seungri. These news are then republished by international media as well. The effects of these publications have trampled over his legacy, reputation and future dreams. At first, it may appear like the Korean media was able to publish any type of news without any repercussion. However, there is a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, as criminal defamation—a right given under the South Korean Penal Code—is there to punish those who defame and allege false facts in public. The criminal defamation will only be prosecuted upon a complaint made by
Seungri. Articles 307-312 of the South Korea’s Penal Code describe various “crimes against reputation,” including defamation, defamation through printed materials and insult. If found guilty, media outlets will be punished either by imprisonment, suspension of qualification, and fines. However, the Article does give a defense of justification for those who defame others; where they need to prove that the news articles are “true and solely for the public interest.” However, on the present facts, it will be difficult to prove the element of truth in the news that was published. It will help to understand some of the principles in evidence law as well. Guilt
PHOTO BY KIMBERLY LUMAGUE
cannot be determined by media, as there are so many other elements involved. So, please
don’t be quick to judge Seungri, as Korean media is definitely not the new judge of South Korea.
Welcome to Sunnyland Philippine tour Mayday Parade live in Cebu and Manila
T
HERE’S a reason Mayday Parade has always been among the Philippines’ crowd favorites—it’s rare for a band to make a connection with their fans, no matter where in the world they’re from, that’s strong and genuine enough to last more than a decade. It’s an even rarer sight when you see that connection grow ever stronger through the years, with every show and with every album release. On June 15, 2018, Mayday Parade released their sixth album, Sunnyland, and opened a new chapter in their incredible journey as a band. “We just write the best songs we can,” bassist Jeremy Lenzo has shared with PULP Magazine in an exclusive interview, talking about their latest offering which was released through Rise Records. “I think a lot of those songs this time around just happened to be recounting memories from when we were younger.”
Sunnyland, after which the album was named, was an old, abandoned psychiatric hospital that somehow provided the backdrop to experiences from their youth that inspired songs on the album. The hospital has long been demolished, but Mayday Parade is able to take us back to that certain point in time with songs like “Never Sure,” “It's Hard to Be Religious When Certain People Are Never Incinerated by Bolts of Lightning,” and “Piece Of Your Heart”—new anthems to take to heart from a band that fans have literally grown up with these past years. Just last 2017, Mayday Parade brought their A Lesson in Romantics 10th Anniversary Tour to Manila, and we celebrated a decade of their classic, enduring anthems—songs that still resonate to this day. It was their biggest show in Manila yet, perhaps owing to everyone’s gravitation
towards nostalgia. But unknown to most was that in the middle of the #ALIR10 World Tour craze, the band was also already working on fresh tunes. Here they were, celebrating a decade of a pivotal album in the band’s history in such a grand manner, all while planting their feet firmly in the present. It’s riveting how Mayday Parade can take us back to Sunnyland with the way the stories are told in these songs, and then take us back to the present with an album that sounds like a combination of all the things they’ve done before—a nice blend of all that we’ve known of Mayday Parade’s music that has a familiar sound, but still sounds new. Old tales in new tunes—this is what makes this band so timeless. The Philippines has had the pleasure of seeing them more times than any other country in Southeast Asia, yet fans are always eagerly waiting for
PHOTO BY ANNE LEE
the next show. And every time Mayday Parade came back, they would play to a crowd larger than the last. This 2019, Mayday Parade is sure to see even more of their Filipino fans on the Welcome Continued on page 6
6
MAY 5, 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com
Sound trip BusinessMirror
MUSIC ON PRINT
Ms. U titlists, celebrities amplify HIV advocacy M ISS UNIVERSE 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray and Concert King Martin Nievera will lend their voices to this year’s Love Gala: Courage Amplify on May 11 at the ABS-CBN Vertis Tent in Quezon City. Wurtzback will launch a new advocacy campaign that promotes HIV treatment-asprevention method, while Gray will offer words of courage in the 2019 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial ceremony to commemorate all those who lost their lives to the epidemic. Meanwhile, Nievera will serenade audiences to show his support for the HIV/AIDS advocacy. Suklay Diva Katrina Velarde, Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2 Grand
Star Dreamer Laarni Lozada,World Champions of Performing Arts winner Rhap Salazar, Prince of Ballads Gerald Santos, Jeffrey Hidalgo, Ana Ramsey and more will also lend their voices for the cause. In addition, Zeus Collins of the Hashtags, AdLIB Dance Company and Hiraya Dance Company will gracefully lend their moves to support the advocacy. The second Ripple Awards will also be conferred at the Love Gala. This is given to individuals, organizations and initiatives that have greatly contributed to the HIV/AIDS advocacy. Esteemed panel of judges from World Health Organization, UNAIDS and other international and local institutions rigorously screened the awardees.
The charity-gala promises to be a memorable evening of exquisite music, worthwhile fundraising, and heartfelt recognition of movers in the HIV cause. For those who want to be part of this special night, tickets are available at www.lovegala.org. Love Gala is hosted by LoveYourself and UNAIDS. LoveYourself is a nongovernment organization that provides free HIV education, testing and counseling, as well as treatment services, among others. Meanwhile, UNAIDS is leading the global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of its Sustainable Development Goals. Love Gala is supported by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, World Health Organization,
Bahnhof...
from page 3
“It’s a dream to perform in all these places,” confessed Ace-K. A return to Manila in the meantime has the band furiously counting down the days on the calendar. “It is driving us mad,”
Sunnyland...
from page 5
To Sunnyland Tour. Mayday Parade will be playing two legs of the tour in the Philippines, presented by PULP Live World: MANILA, and, for the very first time, CEBU! The first show is on May 3, 2019 (Friday) in Cebu, happening at the Sky Hall Seaside Cebu. The second leg follows on May 5, 2019 (Sunday) in Manila, at the New Frontier Theater, Cubao. It’s no secret how much Mayday Parade appreciates their Filipino fans, and it’s no surprise that this time around, they’ve decided to reach more of their fans in the country. “There’s a certain kind of enthusiasm and energy that the crowds here [in the Philippines] have that’s pretty much unmatched everywhere else you go,” vocalist Derek Sanders told PULP Magazine in 2016, in recognition of the warm reception they’ve always experienced in the Philippines. Tickets to Mayday Parade’s Welcome To Sunnyland Philippine Tour will go on sale on February 1, 2019 (Friday), 10AM. For the Cebu show,
Department of Health, PhilHealth, Save the Children Philippines, Philippine National AIDS Council, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. and Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations ; copresented by ABS-CBN Corporation, Durex, Camber by Hetero, Cape Lupe, Hairdressers Against AIDS by L›Oreal Philippines; and sponsored by Gilead Sciences, TELUS International, Victoria Court, SIP, Inspi Philippines, Absolut & Olmeca, Okamoto Philippines, Maquillage Professionnel School of Make Up Artistry, Vicks, Downy, BusinessMirror, Digital Out of Home with contributions from Mont Albo, Shopee, Cognizant, Rotary International D3780, MASS TV & F1 Hotel Manila.
enthused Ace-K. “I think this is fate… destiny. After buying that Put3ska CD, we get to perform with these legends of the Philippine music scene. We want to get to Manila as soon as possible to share our music [with] Filipinos. This is a great way to strengthen the international ska scene.” tickets will be available through SM Tickets outlets nationwide and online (www.smtickets. com), while tickets to the Manila show will be available at Ticketnet outlets and online (www.ticketnet.com.ph). Tickets for the CEBU show are priced as follows: PULP Royalty—P6,000 (includes VIP A Ticket, Priority Entrance and Meet and Greet with the band), VIP A—P3,500, VIP B—P2,500, and General Admission— P1,500. Tickets for the MANILA show are priced as follows: PULP Royalty—P6,000 (includes Exclusive Royalty Pit and Meet and Greet with the band), VIP Orchestra A—P3,500, VIP Orchestra B—P2,500, Loge— P2,000, and Balcony—P1,500. Ticketing charges apply. Doors open at 6:00PM and the shows start at 8:00PM. For the PULP Royalty package, send an e-mail to royalty@pulp.ph or call 727-4957 for assistance. Stay tuned for updates by following our PULP Live World social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and visit www.pulp. ph for more show information.
FULL-TIME NURSE NOW RUNS A FARM, E-I-E-I-O
MANASES EVASCO (center) poses with friends, on a time off from his work as a nurse in Mandaluyong and his farm in Sorsogon. Continued from page 2
past one year. The number of broilers produced by local growers is short to meet the demand for dressed chicken, he said. Two years ago, Evasco and his fiancée, who works abroad, also acquired a morethan-1-hectare rice field that yields no less than 150 cavans in a single harvest. This year, the couple also bought a coconut farm that measures four hectares in land area. The natural spring in the farm, which can supply swimming pools with water, gave Evasco an idea they can develop a part of the coconut farm into a resort in the future. The coconut trees can also be intercropped with cacao trees, he added. “Cacao farming is also a profitable industry,” he said. “Cacao has a sure market as the global demand suggests.” The cacao tree starts to bear fruits three to five years after planted, he explained.
He also opened a meat shop in the first quarter of this year becoming a start-up player in the local meat shop industry.
Meat shop, gamefowl SINCE Evasco sells most of his pigs to local buyers, he supplies his meat shop with pigs slaughtered by buyers of his hog feed store. One pig is butchered daily and two every Sunday to supply his meat shop with pork. Currently working as a nurse at a religious community of Capuchins in Mandaluyong, Evasco goes home at least once in a month to oversee his business. Arguably, Evasco was the first hog breeder and raiser in town who buys piglets in volumes from backyard hog breeders while producing his own. He also saw a market in breeding gamefowl in the growing number of local aficionados. He attributed it to the increasing accessibility of gamefowl knowhow and skills.
7 BusinessMirror
In the past, the cockpit held shows once a week only on Sundays. But in the last three years, the cockpit holds games three times a week, suggesting more demand for gamefowl. He saw the coconut farm and its terrain ideal for breeding and raising gamefowl. According to the Games and Amusement Board, a town could operate one cockpit per 100,000 population. A town with 200,000 inhabitants could operate two at a time. Evasco may initially breed and raise gamefowl in partnership with an overseas Filipino worker and long-time friend, and produce a hundred roosters during their first breeding season. “We will produce more once the bloodlines are proven,” he said. They eye aficionados in Barcelona and neighboring municipalities as initial market. Evasco saw gamefowl getting increasingly becoming a commodity not only in MAY 5, 2019
Barcelona, but also nationwide. “One million of gamefowl are needed in one month across the country,” he said.
Hands-on farming EVASCO loves farming. And he sees the general condition in his town conducive to farming. “Farming is a long-term business if properly managed,” he said. Investing in agri-business also generates employment or means for locals to make a living as farm helpers. As he spends most of his time in Manila working as a nurse, Evasco saw honesty and dedication to work of farmhands playing a crucial role in the success of a remote farmer. Everything is audited every three months, he said. “But the best way to engage in farming is by becoming a hands-on farmer,” he said.
Rap music, free food used by South African banks to entice millennials
SOUTH African banks compete with free burgers, gas and hip-hop. BLOOMBERG NEWS
F
ROM free burgers and ride-hailing services to hip-hop concerts and discounted gasoline: South African banks are going all out to win customers as competition hots up. The biggest lenders are facing an onslaught of entrants for the first time in 12 years. They’re responding before the newcomers find their feet by pushing loyalty programs, revamping digital offerings for technology-savvy millennials, targeting existing customers with extra products and services and cutting fees. The challengers—some of whose founders or senior staff cut their teeth in the banks they’re now up against—couldn’t be coming at a worse time. Most lenders are reducing costs, retrenching staff and closing branches to cope with an economy that hasn’t expanded above 2 percent a year since 2013 and a move toward the increased use of digital services. Tax increases, higher utility costs and stubbornly high unemployment are squeezing consumers, who are not only looking to cut their expenses but also want more convenience. “Banks are becoming more client-centered—many new players are entering the space offering a basic-banking account at
competitive prices, so they have to create stronger relationships with existing clients,” Nolwandle Mthombeni, an analyst at Mergence Investment Managers in Cape Town, said. “Technology has become the biggest expense item for some of the incumbents as they try to compete with new entrants that don’t have any legacy systems.”
Biggest lever FIRSTRAND Ltd.’s First National Bank, Standard Bank Group Ltd., Absa Group Ltd. and Nedbank Group Ltd. are using credit as their biggest leverage over new contenders, according to Jan Meintjes, a portfolio manager at Denker Capital. Central bank data shows that term loans jumped almost 15 percent in the 12 months through February after contracting the prior two years, while the value of credit-card debt increased 9.2 percent from 4.7 percent a year earlier, after shrinking in 2017. Lenders are turning to different approaches to snag customers. Nedbank got local rapper Ginger Trill to launch an offering that gives university students a cheap account, credit-card facility, as well as fast-food restaurant and ride-hailing vouchers. It also added a digital personal assistant and concierge offering to its app that links to a network of 350,000 product and service providers.
Crowd out “WE’RE trying to amplify our brand’s resonance,” Managing Executive for Consumer Banking Mutsa Chironga said. Nedbank,
8 BusinessMirror
known for targeting affluent customers, also plans to revamp its loyalty program and digitize its platforms. First National Bank tries to get eyeballs to its app by connecting business customers with retail clients, or home buyers to sellers so they can do deals without a realtor. FNB is also digging deep into its client data to find cross-selling opportunities. “Where we see a transactional relationship with us, but a credit relationship elsewhere, we try to crowd” out competitors, said CEO Jacques Celliers. FNB rewards cardholders filling up at stations owned Engen Petroleum Ltd., the country’s biggest fuel distributor, through its eBucks program. “Our growth in insurance and the exciting opportunities we see in investments will be key avenues for growth.” Bank Zero, co-founded by former FNB CEO Michael Jordaan, plans to start a digital offering later this year that will be among at least five institutions, including Old Mutual Ltd. and African Bank Ltd., taking on traditional banks. Discovery Ltd., South Africa’s largest health-insurance administrator, wants to gradually add customers to the bank it recently opened, starting with the 350,000 credit cardholders it shared with FNB through a joint venture that ended last year. The company plans to tap into the 4.4 million lives it reaches through insurance, wealth management and its Vitality loyalty program. The bank will follow the same concept as Vitality, which rewards clients who eat healthy MAY 5, 2019
and exercise with discounts on flights, gym and meals or Apple Watches at a fraction of the price if they meet fitness targets. “They’re going to make an impact,” Meintjes of Denker Capital in Cape Town said. “Whether they’re going to make money is a separate question.”
Tyme throwback BILLIONAIRE Patrice Motsepe’s TymeBank, which uses kiosks in Pick n Pay Stores Ltd.’s grocery outlets to open accounts with no monthly fees, signed up 210,000 clients within two months. To break even, the lender will need 2 million. To get this done, it’s sending mobile teams and a portable kiosk to transport hubs, university campuses and big employers—a throwback to a technique Absa used in the early 2000s to reach rural customers with briefcases packed with equipment able to sign people on. The Big Four knows the price of ignoring the competition. Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd. started as an unsecured lender in 2001 to grow to a full-service offering with a marketleading 11.4 million customers. The stock has gained 59 percent over the past 12 months, outperforming all the members of the FTSE/ JSE Africa Banks Index, which is down 0.4 percent over period, as well as Investec Ltd. “It’s only when Capitec started evolving and entering into transactional banking that they saw the threat,” said Mthombeni of Mergence. “Banks are forced to respond differently to competition now.” Bloomberg News