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Incoming BSP chief Espenilla says farmers’, fishermen’s lack of access to credit hinders growth

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‘Boost PHL agri sector’

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By Bianca Cuaresma

armers’ and fishermen’s limited access to lending and other financial services is curbing the growth of the country’s agricultural sector—the sector that employs about a third of the country’s working population, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

In a recent speaking engagement, Deputy Governor for the Supervision and Examination Sector and incoming BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. admitted that there is more to be done in terms of creating a regulatory environment that will allow lenders to be able to reach out more to the agricultural sector in the countryside.

Espenilla noted that agriculture remains the primary source of income for 31 percent of the country’s work force, and about 32 percent of the country is rural, agricultural land.

However, despite the size of area and volume of workers in the sector, the share of agriculture to the country’s GDP has been lagging behind other sectors. Worse, it has been declining over the past four years—from about 10 percent in 2013 down to about 9 percent in 2016.

Risky

In an effort to push funds into the agriculture and fisheries sector, the agri-agra law was enacted about seven years ago with the aim of promoting the “rural develop-

ment by enhancing access of the rural agricultural sector to financial services and programs that increase market efficiency and promote modernization in the rural agricultural sector.”

The law mandates all local banks to set aside a total of 25 percent of their total loanable funds for the agriculture and fisheries sector; 10 percent for agrarianreform credit; and 15 percent for other agricultural credit.

However, banks have been consistently failing to meet this quota,

31%

The percentage of the working population whose main source of income is derived from agriculture in a country where 32 percent is rural, agricultural land

Continued on A2

Amid rising consumer demand for pork, govt aims full eradication of hog diseases

Raising ‘healthy’ pigs he government is setting its sights on the total eradication of hog diseases in a bid to further spur the growth and development of one of the most vital agricultural sectors in the country.

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), said there is a need to boost production output to keep pace with the continuous rise in demand for pork.

Citing data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Hog Industry Roadmap 2017 to 2027 noted that the per-capita consumption

of pork in the Philippines is increasing at 5 percent annually.

Annual per-capita consumption is projected to reach 15.6 kilograms by 2022, from the 2015 baseline of 14.9 kg.

Still FMD-free

And one way to boost local hog production is by eradicating perennial diseases that have haunted the sector, according to the Hog Indus-

PESO exchange rates n US 49.9330

try Roadmap 2017 to 2027, which was prepared by the BAI.

“While we are free from footand-mouth disease [FMD] for the past few years, there are still other diseases that occur from time to time. There is a need to eradicate the notifiable diseases, like classical swine fever [CSF], pseudo-rabies virus [PRV] and porcine epidemic diarrhea [PED], among others, since these diseases will continue to hamper the growth of the hog industry,” the road map read.

The road map indicated that the eradication of CSF, PED and PRV would be one of the priorities of the local hog industry.

“One action program identified is the eradication of CSF and control of other diseases, like PRV and PED, by 2020. A P100-million funding is suggested for the eradication of CSF,” it read.

“Hog diseases that are endemic per region must be identified and Continued on A2

n japan 0.4386 n UK 64.3686 n HK 6.4106 n CHINA 7.4940 n singapore 36.4966 n australia 36.8306 n EU 54.2372 n SAUDI arabia 13.3144

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Source: BSP (12 May 2017 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, May 13, 2017

‘Boost PHL agri sector’ Continued from a1

with other banks preferring to pay penalties than to actually lend to the agriculture and fisheries sector because of the risks involved.

In the first half of 2016, in particular, the local banking industry was only able to allot P29.12 billion at the end of June 2016 for agrarian-reform credit. This is only a 0.97-percent compliance versus the 10-percent compliance required for agrarian reform.

The number is driven largely by universal and commercial banks’ hesitance to lend to the sector, with only 0.67 percentage of compliance versus the mandated 10 percent. Thrift banks were able to allot 1.45 percent of their loan portfolio to agrarian-reform credit, also significantly short from the mandated allotment.

Buck the trend

Contrastingly, rural and co-

operative banks exceed the mandated allocation, with 16.73 percent of their total loan portfolio going to agrarian-reform credit.

For agricultural and fisheries credit, meanwhile, the banking industry had 13.18 percent of its total loan portfolio to the agriculture sector, versus the 15 percent needed, amounting to P374.5 billion, in end-June 2016.

Broken down, universal and commercial banks allotted 13.09 percent of their portfolio to agricultural credit, while thrift banks at 9.92 percent.

Bucking the trend again are the rural and cooperative banks, with 30.79 percent of their total loan portfolio allotted to agricultural credit.

Unmet demand

With this, Espenilla recently noted that there is still an estimated credit demand of more than P300 billion

that is unmet in the country.

“We note that there still remains a huge unmet credit demand for priority agricultural commodities, which is estimated at P364 billion, according to a study done by the ACPC [Agricultural Credit Policy Council],” Espenilla said.

“My hope is that the banks and other financial institutions will see the ACPC figures as an invitation to study the agricultural sector closer and to recognize the business opportunities and growth potential that they can offer,” he added.

Espenilla said the ACPC notes that only more than half, or about 53 percent, of farmers take their loans from formal sources.

Earlier this month the BSP, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, talked to various stakeholders about creating important value chains for the agricultural sector, in an effort to rev-

olutionize lending to the industry and move away from the mandated lending strategy.

“Developing agriculture value chains is a promising approach to provide smallholders the means to leverage on effective farming technologies and methods, and participate in high-value markets—thereby uplifting their living standard and productivity, and ensuring their business sustainability,” the BSP said.

This, in turn, improves their risk profile and creditworthiness from the perspective of the financial institutions. Value chains enable the financial institutions to develop products that can efficiently and viably serve the financing needs of the various actors in the chain, particularly the smallholder farmers and fisherfolk. Agriculture value chain can, therefore, catalyze sustainable private-sector financing in the agriculture sector,” it added.

Raising ‘healthy’ pigs Continued from a1

placed in a database. This is to determine which top diseases that should be prioritized by the government in [the] crafting of disease-eradication programs,” it added.

The government should also strictly implement quarantine laws and policies in ensuring the health quality of hogs produced in the country.

Keeping track

“There is also a need to enforce and monitor other regulatory policies, like the Administrative Order 8, Series of 2004 that targets to register and license all the han-

dlers of livestock, poultry and its byproducts, and to accredit the transport carriers in the Philippines,” the road map read.

“The regulation somehow monitors the movement of animals, thus, in the event of disease occurrence, strict implementation of this regulation will enable the government to easily track and contain the disease,” it added.

The road map also indicated that the private sector should observe the proper implementation of veterinary drug order in improving the animal-health status of the country.

“It would also be of great help if they strictly cooperate with the government by allowing their entry to farms for inspection,” it said.

How much?

The road map indicated that the government must shell out a total amount of P611.40 million for the years 2017 to 2022 in order to accomplish the abovementioned targets in relation to hog diseases. It added that the government would need an additional P740.85 million to sustain the intensified nationwide hog program from the years 2023 to 2027.

It could be recalled that the local hog industry was hit by PED in the latter part of December last year, resulting in the shortage of pigs this year. The shortfall in production caused pork prices both in the farm and retail level shooting upward.

Complacency risk

For his part, Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. President Edwin G. Chen said the government should not be complacent with the country’s status as FMD-free.

“The government should allocate funds in controlling FMD.

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In an earlier study, the ACPC also said the government should consider minimizing transaction costs involved in loans application, such as lessening the number of requirements and shortening the time for approving the loan to entice smaller farmers and fishermen to shift to the formal sector when it comes to borrowing funds.

“Since interest rates are already lower in formal lending compared to informal lending, which increases the probability of an informal borrower to borrow from formal sources, easing access requirements may entice those small farmers who are relatively better producers [with better characteristics] to source their funds from formal lending institutions,” said the ACPC study, entitled “Cost of Agricultural Credit and Interest Rate Sensitivity of Small Farmers: An Empirical Study”.

The study further said that

We are not anymore applying vaccine because we are FMD-free, but we still have to be prepared,” Chen told the BusinessMirror in an earlier interview.

“What if FMD suddenly enters the country and affects the industry? So the government should set aside a budget for us to have reserve FMD vaccines as insurance if ever the disease hits us,” Chen added.

Chen said if the government would be successful in eradicating CSF in the country, then it would allow hog raisers to export pork to nearby countries, such as Japan.

more flexible payment schedules for formal credit facilities should be implemented and more rural infrastructure should be developed to increase the probability of formal loan uptake.

“Better roads and more food terminals closer to farms would not only make it easier to sell farmers’ produce, it will also increase access to formal credit facilities. Given that access to credit increases productivity and eventually farmers’ income, enhanced rural infrastructure development would have definite positive income effects,” the ACPC said.

“Based on the results of the regression analysis, the type of farming activity is an important factor to be taken into consideration when crafting government credit programs, as it has been shown that interest sensitivity and borrowing behavior vary from one sector to another,” it added.

“Cholera is endemic, meaning it’s present in our country. We must vaccinate all the hogs and when all of them are vaccinated against the disease, then all of them will have immunity and the virus will be gone,” he said.

“It should be really all the hogs to be vaccinated then after a year, we can now start to export, say for example, exporting to Japan,” he added.

Chen added that the government must implement a massive vaccination to all hogs in the country, particularly those owned by backyard farmers, in order to eradicate the disease.

“The backyard farmers are not vaccinating their hogs, because they don’t have access to such, so the government must provide. If all the hogs will be vaccinated after a year, then we can stop the vaccination afterward,” he said.

Quality

Asked about if the quality of pork produced by local Filipino hog raisers could meet the standards of Japan, Chen said: Yes. Our hog quality is okay, the only problem we have is this CSF. I hope we can work together as an industry in addressing this issue.”

“Like before, the Australian government provided funds many years ago, and we implemented a massive vaccination against FMD. Since then, we are FMD-free without vaccination,” he added.

The road map said the country’s total hog population in 2016 was only at 12.47 million heads, 64 percent of which came from commercial farms.

“The hog stakeholders targeted that the population of hogs in the Philippines should increase by at least 10 percent, from the present inventory of 12.47 million to 13.72 million in 2027,” it read.

The government also aims to help the hog industry increase its sow productivity by 6.2 pigs sold per sow per year to 25 pigs per sow per year by 2020.

To sustain the increase in output, the BAI said it is targeting to cut hog mortality rate and help hog raisers bring down the cost of production by P10 per kg to P80 per kg by 2022.

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Saturday, May 13, 2017

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Brexit imperils London’s claim as banker to the planet

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ONDON—From a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, the once-bustling cluster of docks transformed into a global banking center, traders at Citigroup’s regional headquarters move unfathomable sums of money around the planet. They are exploiting London’s unrivaled connections to the intricate plumbing of the international financial system.

Now the flow of money is in doubt, imperiling London’s fortunes. Many of the transactions Citigroup oversees here are dependent on Britain’s inclusion in the European Union.

Italian banks tap London’s vast pools of money to strengthe n t at t e re d b a l a nc e s he e t s .

German manufacturers borrow funds for expansion. Swiss money managers ply their fortunes.

Citigroup and other global banks manage much of this activity, executing trades, and ensuring that money lands where it is supposed to, leaning heavily on their London operations.

In March, Prime Minister Theresa May set in motion Britain’s pending divorce from the European Union, starting talks with Europe to resolve future dealings across the English Channel. The negotiations come with a twoyear deadline. If no agreement is struck—an outcome that cannot be discounted—Britain’s relationship with the European marketplace would be thrown into chaos.

That prospect was seemingly enhanced this week as France elected as its next president Emmanuel Macron, who has vowed to ensure that Britain emerges the weaker from negotiations.

He has promised to fight any agreement preserving access to Europe for London-based financial services companies, while openly calling for bankers to decamp for Paris.

“It’s the British who will lose the most,” Macron said in a preelection interview with the global affairs magazine Monocle. “The British are making a serious mistake over the long term.”

If a rupture across the channel results, global banks like Citi stand to feel significant consequences.

Somewhere between one-fifth and one-third of London’s financial undertakings involve clients based in Europe. Much of this business is dependent on passports that give financial firms in one EU nation permission to operate in the others. Free of a deal preserving the essentials of passport rights, many of these trades would be effectively illegal. The rules and regulatory proclivities of 27 remaining EU nations would have to be satisfied.

“I wouldn’t even be able to ser vice some clients, theoretically, once the UK exits,” said Jerome Kemp, a New Yorker who is Citi ’s global head of futures, clearing and collateral at its London headquarters. “If the client driving the order is sitting in the European Union, then we’ve got a problem.”

Brexit has jeopardized London’s status as banker to the planet. London will surely retain its credentials as one of the world’s most important financial centers.

Yet, it is likely to surrender stature to European competitors exploiting Brexit as an opportunity to capture spoils. It risks losing ground in its obsessive rivalry with New York.

On a recent afternoon at Citigroup’s headquarters, traders sit at banks of computer screens watching prices in markets scattered from Shanghai to São Paulo. One

trader monitors the price of crude oil, eyeing a deal for a US refinery in Brazil. Another seeks to divine how stock markets in South Africa and Indonesia will react to higher US interest rates.

A Swedish trader helps a money manager in Paris place a complicated bet that German government bonds will fall.

“There’s about 10 questions that immediately come to mind as to whether we could execute that trade in London after Brexit,” Kemp said.

Those questions stand to become more abundant as the European authorities mull whether to require that clearing—settling up the money—on trades involving the euro currency take place within the European Union.

Clearing is a crucial part of the work Kemp’s team handles in London. Trades of derivatives worth about €850 billion a day ($928 billion) are now cleared d a i ly i n L ondon, or rough ly three-fourths of the total for the globe.

Like every bank with a regional headquarters in London, Citi cannot just wait in the hopes that politicians will strike a deal preserving its access to Europe.

Banks are already configuring plans to move significant numbers of people to other financial centers within the EU, ensuring that trading can continue without a hitch after Brexit is complete.

This is a historic reversal for a city that has for centuries functioned as a central artery for finance.

As the seat of a colonial realm stretching from the Americas to Asia, London financed enterprises attendant to empire. Banking operations established by pioneers like Nathan Mayer Rothschild extended credit to shipping ventures that brought back treasure from distant shores.

In modern times the deregulation of London’s financial markets attracted an influx of overseas banks. As globalization eroded international borders, money washed in from every shore.

Today, nearly one-fifth of global banking transactions are booked in the United Kingdom, most of them in London. About $2.4 trillion in foreign currencies is traded here daily, according to the Bank of England.

The industry employs more than 1.1 million people in Britain, while generating annual revenues reaching £205 billion (about $265 billion).

New York is bigger by some measures, but much of its business caters to the American market. London has become the ultimate international financial marketplace.

Sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East manage investments here. Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes park fortunes here. China looks to London as a promising place to handle transactions involving its currency.

Brexit will not touch most of this activity. At least one-third of London’s financial industry revenues involve business inside Britain. Another third is tied to the world outside Europe.

But disruption to the European

A morning meeting on the trading floor at Citigroup in Canary Wharf, a financial district of London, on March 9. Britain’s abandonment of the European Union jeopardizes London’s status as the leading hub of international finance. Andrew Testa/The New York Times

business carries risks. Between 15,000 and 80,000 finance jobs could depart over the next two years, according to various studies. As transactions move, regulators in the new venues are likely to demand a heavier presence of humans—people to hold accountable should matters go awry. As bankers move, so could accountants and lawyers.

“Everyone is preparing for the worst,” said Davide Serra, CEO of Algebris Investments, a hedge fund he cofounded in 2006. “You will see the emergence of Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin, Luxembourg, Madrid.”

“To the world, London now matters more than New York,” he added. “In 10 years’ time, New York will matter more.”

The rise of the city

Looking out from the headquar ters of Rothschild & Co., L ondon’s pa st a nd potent i a l f uture are effectively laid out on display.

The building sits on land that once held the home of the founder Nathan Mayer Rothschild.

Conference rooms look down on the Bank of England. Across the River Thames, a 95-story, glassfronted pyramid known as the Shard punctuates the view. It was erected by a consortium of investment funds from Qatar.

Within the original city of London—the heart of the finance industry, known as the Square Mile—cranes sit atop a half-dozen new skyscrapers in various stages of completion. Who will occupy them once Britain leaves Europe?

Rothschild saw the beginning.

Born into a Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt, Germany, he landed in the English mill town of Manchester at the end of the 18th century, intending to buy patterns for his family’s textile business.

He soon sniffed out a better opportunity in the city of London, the warren of streets laid down by the Romans at the lowest crossing point of the Thames.

The bounty of empire was landing on the docks—tea from India, silk from China, cotton from the American South. Trade required credit. Rothschild carved out a niche. He negotiated terms at the Royal Exchange—today, a shopping mall full of Italian

luxury goods.

As the Duke of Wellington confronted Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, Rothschild worked on behalf of the crown, quietly amassing gold and silver to pay the troops.

Napoleon succumbed.

T he Rothschild bank soon helped other governments finance operations by borrowing from British merchants.

By the middle of the 20th century, Warburg, another London bank, was selling bonds for the Italian highway network, raising $15 million in American currency.

This was the first issue of Eurobonds, those raised in foreign currency—now a mammoth business.

The mid-1980s brought the run of deregulation known as the Big Bang. Financial firms gained the freedom to set their own commissions, and to speculate and advise clients. Overseas companies could now acquire British banks.

In the foreigners came—especially the Americans. The rule of law prevailed. The English language sufficed. A banker waking up in London could trade in Asia in the morning, then across Europe, catch the opening of markets in New York, and still make it home for dinner at some palatial spread in a leafy neighborhood.

London finance had previously operated by gentlemanly code.

“I used to catch the 5-to-9 tube,” recalled Robert Leitão, who spent the 1980s at Morgan, Grenfell & Co., one of the oldest banks in the city, and who now counsels clients on mergers for Rothschild. “We were reliably in a bar by 5 o’clock.”

Yet as investment banks like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley swept in, they began poaching clients. “We had to get up earlier,” Leitão said.

He recalls his first brush with an American bank during a telecommunications merger in the early-1990s. “ We’ d go in w it h ou r l it t le b l a c k- a n d - w h it e d o c u m e nt s a nd Gold ma n Sac hs ca me in w it h what was t he f irst l a ndscape - color present at ion we’ d ever seen,” he sa id. “I remember one of my col leag ues saying to me as we ca me out of t hat meet ing , ‘Oh my God, t he world ’s c ha nged.‘ ”

As trading swelled and buildings required rewiring for highspeed Internet, the global banks outgrew the city. Many established headquarters in new skyscrapers in Canary Wharf.

Much of what was taking place now had little to do with financing business. Money was arriving to avoid tax collectors in other jurisdictions. Traders were wagering via exotic, lightly regulated instruments known as derivatives—creations that would play a leading role in pulling the world into the financial crisis of 2008.

Paul Woolley worked in the asset management industry. He watched pension funds flood in from around the world, as local managers concentrated more on collecting fees than doing right by retirees. He saw London refashioned into a playground for hedge fund billionaires.

“I’m in favor of free markets,” said Woolley, now a professor at the London School of Economics, where he oversees the Center for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality. “But the whole thing has ballooned into a complete monster.”

The channel widens

For Kemp, Citibank ’s globa l head of futures, histor y is rolling backward. In 1987, when he landed in Paris, working as a broker at a French bank, ever y nation was effectively its own fief. Buy ing a bond in Spain meant having to go through the local trading desk.

But as Kemp jumped to JPMorgan Chase and more recently to Citi, these institutions increasingly concentrated people in London.

More than $1 trillion in foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives change hands in the city every day, nearly three times the volume in New York, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

“It just made perfect sense to focus everything in a UK entity,” Kemp said. “Now, we are looking at unwinding that ball of string that we’ve worked so hard to put together over the last 20 years.”

Banking executives have urged the government to keep Britain within Europe’s single marketplace. But that requires that Britain accept Europe’s rules, including the right of people to

move freely. The Brexit vote was, in one sense, a primal scream against unlimited immigration.

In January, May acknowledged the choice and declared that her government would limit immigration. Within finance, the message was unmistakable: Prepare to move jobs.

“Anything involving sales and trading in European currency or to European customers is exposed,” said William Wright, founder of New Financial, a London-based research institution.

Some British leaders express hope that Europe will assent to a deal that allows finance to carry on, even as Britain leaves the single market. But Europe confronts existential threats to its union.

Leaders are intent on ensuring that Britain absorbs a blow to discourage other countries that might leave.

Frankfurt, Dublin and other European cities are courting financiers. Macron—a former Rothschild investment banker—is keen to win finance jobs for Paris.

All of this enhances the prospect of no deal, and the beginning of a new era for London.

Two decades ago Serra, the hedge fund manager, arrived here from his native Italy, landing as a researcher at UBS, the Swiss financial services giant. “ You couldn’t get a decent espresso,” he recalled. “I remember the first Lavazza machine I wanted to put in my bank, and the compliance and IT came. They felt, because it was a non-UK machine, it had a risk of burning the place down.”

Two de c ades l ater S er r a’s fund manages about $7 billion worth of holdings. His office in the upsca le neighborhood of Mayfair boasts a top-of-theline espresso machine.

For his company, Brexit is just a minor nuisance, he said. He must merely open a small subsidiary somewhere in Europe.

But one thing could prompt him to abandon London—limits on who can live here. His team hails from Hungary, Bulgaria, India, China, Spain, the United States, Ireland, Australia and Britain.

“If their immigration policy will curb my capacity to hire the best talent,” he said, “then I’ll move.”

New York Times News Service

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Saturday, May 13, 2017

The World BusinessMirror

China’s Silk Road forum latest effort to boost Xi’s stature

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EIJING—China will seek to burnish President Xi Jinping’s stature as a world-class statesman at an international gathering centered on his signature foreign-policy effort that envisions a future world order in which all roads lead to Beijing.

The Belt and Road Forum opening on Sunday is the latest in a series of high-profile appearances aimed at projecting Xi’s influence on the global stage ahead of a key congress of the ruling Communist Party later this year. All feed a fundamental yearning among ordinary Chinese: to see their country’s prestige and status rise.

“Xi is now seen as a world leader with a lot of influence and respect internationally, and that will definitely boost his domestic appeal,” said Joseph Cheng, a longtime observer of Chinese politics now retired from the City University of Hong Kong.

Leaders from 28 countries are set to attend, including Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.

The most prominent attendee from the West will be Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Other Western nations, including the United States, will be represented by junior officia ls. Washington is sending a delegation led by Matt Pottinger, special assistant to the president and senior director for east Asia at the National Security Council. Britain, Germany and France are to be represented by finance officials.

That’s partly because of developments at home, but also is a ref lection of concerns that C h i n a m ay be e x por t i ng it s standards on human rights, the environment and government transparency, while leaving poor countries w ith unsustainable levels of debt.

Yet, the forum is as much about promoting Xi’s image at home as it is about pushing his vision abroad.

Chinese state media outlets have linked Xi inextricably to the two-day gathering in Beijing, which will revolve around Xi’s plan for a vast network of ports, railways and roads expanding China’s trade with Asia, Africa and Europe.

Xi has even popped up in a series of English-language promotional videos produced by the official China Daily called “Belt and Road Bedtime Stories.”

“He’s showing vision. Leaders have to be visionary. He’s showing hope in their economic future by proposing a very significant economic plan,” former US ambassador to China Max Baucus told The Associated Press (AP). “I think it’s going to help him very much ahead of the next party congress.”

The party will hold its twice-adecade congress this fall at which Xi will oversee an infusion of fresh blood in leading bodies, most importantly the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. Xi rose to the top of an intensely competitive system riven by factions and rivalries to take the reins of the party in 2012, and has steadily accrued powers well beyond those of his predecessors in areas such as defense, internal security and the economy.

He’s also fallen back on the hallowed tradition of political campaig ns and sloganeer ing, preaching the “Chinese Dream” of prosperity and national rejuvenation, pushing a sweeping anticorruption campaign and cracking down on the infiltration of “Western” democratic values that could threaten party control.

In the international sphere, he’s presided over bot h t he Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum and the G-20 meeting of industrialized states, both of which were attended by former President Barack Obama.

In January Xi sought to portray himself as a champion of globalization and free trade at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in contrast to President Donald J. Trump’s protectionist rhetoric.

On an entirely different level though is his signature initiative formally known as “One Belt, One Road”.

In this May 11 photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping (center left), and his wife Peng Liyuan arrive for a welcome ceremony for Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. AP/Mark Schiefelbein

It aims to reassert China’s past prominence as the dominant power in Asia whose culture and economy deeply inf luenced its neighbors as far as Africa and Europe. It speaks deeply to Chinese pride in their country’s explosive economic growth and political clout after a century of humiliation at the hands of foreign powers that formally ended with Mao Zedong’s communist revolution in 1949.

The initiative also furthers the Xi administration’s reputation for muscular foreign policy.

Under Xi, China has strongly asserted its claim to virtually the entire strategic South China Sea and established the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank as a global institution alongside the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund.

And unlike Apec and Davos, it involves the disbursal of potentially trillions of dollars in contracts, expanding both China’s economic reach and Xi’s personal authority as holder of the purse strings. The ADB says the region, home to 60 percent of the world’s people, needs more than $26 trillion of infrastructure investment by 2030 to keep economies growing.

“China has not just the resources now, which is key, but also the vision and desire and strategy to push its engagement outside its borders,” Afghan Ambassador Janan Mosazai told the AP. A ra i l- c a rgo l i n k bet ween

China and Central Asia across the northern Afghan province of Balkh opened last August and the country is discussing possible Chinese investment in rail, hydropower and fiber-optic networks.

Yet, the initiative also comes with significant risks to Xi’s stature and legacy.

So far, it’s been loosely defined and appears to be including more and more projects of peripheral importance and questionable value. Since so many of the states involved have weak economies and limited capacity for growth outside of mining, the potential for waste and corruption is high, raising the possibility of small returns on the vast sums being spent and massive losses for the Chinese state banks funding the projects.

The initiative could also set back the goal of establishing a domestic economy centered on consumption rather than investment, warns political commentator Hu Xingdou.

“China’s investment priority should be at home, not abroad,” Hu said, adding that such forwardleaping overseas investments “may delay domestic development”.

Already, there is much discussion of Chinese foreign-policy failures and economic losses in places such as North Korea, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, said Cheng, the Hong Kong scholar.

“It’s easy to just give out money,” Cheng said. “China has to prove that these projects are sound and they have the management expertise to carry them through.” AP

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Explaining Comey’s firing challenges White House advisers

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A S H I N G T O N —T h e White House’s explanation of President Donald J. Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey has been a moving target.

Since the explosive decision was announced Tuesd ay, t he president’s advisers have struggled to come up with a consistent timeline and rationale. They said Trump was prompted by a scathing memo written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, only to acknowledge Trump had been planning to fire Comey regardless of the recommendation.

They’ve distanced the decision from the FBI probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 campaign, only to later suggest Comey’s firing would aid the investigation.

“I think we were absolutely given the information that we could have at that time,” said White House Spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders of the evolving statements. “It was a quick-moving process. We took the information we had as best we have it and got it out to the American people as quickly as we could.”

“Our story is consistent,” she said. Here’s a look at some of the contradictions uttered over the last several days:

Thursday: “Oh, I was going fire regardless of recommendation ... he made a recommendation, he’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy, the Democrats like him, the Republicans like him, he made a recommendation but regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey,” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.

Whose idea was the memo?

When did Trump decide?

Tuesday: “It was a l l him.

No one from the White House.

That was a DOJ decision,” White House Spokesman Sean Spicer said, laying the impetus for the memo building the case for Comey’s firing on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Wednesday: “He did have a conversation with the deputy attorney general on Monday where they had come to him to express their concerns. The president asked that they put those concerns and their recommendation in writing, which is the letter that you guys have received,” Sanders said, describing the president’s instructions to Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

What role did it play in Trump’s decision?

Wednesday: “People in the Justice Department made a very strong recommendation, the president followed it and he made a quick and decisive action to fire James Comey. He took the recommendation seriously. And he made a decision based on that,” Sanders said in an interview with MSNBC.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pauses during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington on May 11. AP/Evan Vucci

Wednesday: “No,” Sanders said, when asked if the president had already decided to fire Comey on Monday when he asked Rosenstein for the memo.

Thursday: “He had already made that decision. He’d been thinking about it for months, which I did say yesterday and have said many times since....the recommendation I guess he got from the deputy attorney general just further solidified his decision and, again, I think, reaffirmed that he made the right one,” Sanders said in the White House briefing.

Was this about the fbi’s Russia investigation?

Tuesday: “This has nothing to do with Russia,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told CNN. Thursday: “We want this to come to its conclusion, we want it to come to its conclusion with integrity,” Sanders said of the Russia probe. “And we think that we’ve actually, by removing Director Comey, taken steps to make that happen.” AP

South Korea’s new leader to take on family-owned business empires

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EOUL, South Korea—South Korea’s new president is taking on a challenge that has defied all of his predecessors: reforming the big familycontrolled conglomerates that dominate the economy.

While jobs are a top priority, strong public pressure following a corruption scandal that toppled his predecessor, Park Geun-hye, leaves him with little choice about going after the chaebol, as they are called.

“A s I promised dur ing my campaign, I will take care of the employment issue first. At the same time, I will take the initiative in reforming chaebol,” Moon Jae-in said in his inauguration address on Wednesday.

“Under the Moon Jae-in administration, the word meaning cozy relations between political and business circles will completely disappear,” he proclaimed.

Moon knows firsthand that the job won’t be easy. He served as a top aide in the administration of the late president Roh Moo-hyun’s, whose efforts to

rein in the chaebol yielded disappointing results.

Conglomerates, like Samsung and Hyundai, play a huge role in South Korea and their founding families have complicated stock ownership structures, nonprofit charity foundations and other arrangements to preserve their wealth and managerial influence.

Many view close, murky ties between politicians, bureaucrats and those big businesses as the reason corruption has thrived.

The public mood following former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment over alleged influence peddling and bribery may give Moon a bit of a honeymoon.

“I’d like to hope that this government will be different,” said Kim Seong-jin, a lawyer at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, one of the largest civic groups in South Korea. “This is an essential task that the citizens are watching closely.”

Moon has promised to empower South Korea’s fair trade reg u l ator to impose ha rsher punishments on companies that

meddle in regulatory investigations and decisions. To do so he must drum up support from other parties. Passage of needed revisions of commercial and fair trade laws would require 60 more votes than the 120 out of 299 legislative seats controlled by his Democratic Party.

Luck ily for Moon, apar t f rom t he conser vat ive Liber t y Pa r t y, t hree ot her sma l ler op posit ion pa r t ies bac ked chaebol refor ms du r ing t he recent p r e s i d e nt i a l c a m p a i g n . His presidency comes at a time of growing recognition that South Korea needs to end the chaebolcentered growth model that has been in place since the era of former President Park ’s father, who ruled from 1961-79.

Pa rk C hu ng-hee, a n a r my genera l-tur ned-dictator, gave cheap loans and trade protection to chaebols while quashing unionized labor. That enabled the conglomerates, and South Korea itself, to recover quickly from the devastation of the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.

That top-down business model, largely driven by exports, is wearing thin as job creation and increases in wages slow. For decades, businesses and capital investment were prioritized at the expense of workers’ rights and social welfare.

Now consumer spending is suffering as families feel the pinch of job insecurity and lagging incomes.

South Koreans, who in the past may have viewed the chaebol as national champions, now increasing consider them elites who are hogging wealth while crushing small businesses and stif ling innovation.

There are limits to how far reforms can go

Most of the country’s smalland medium-sized companies depend on business from the chaebol, as suppliers or subcontractors, though they complain of not getting fair prices for their work. And jobs at chaebol like Samsung and Hyundai are considered the most desirable, g iven t he u ncer t a i nt ies a nd poorer conditions of employ-

ment in most smaller companies.

St i l l , i nst a nces of chaebol founding families using elaborate schemes, often unethical and sometimes illegal, to preserve or build their wealth and managerial influence are adding to public outrage.

Millions of South Koreans took to the streets for months in peaceful but vehement demonstrations to protest over allegations that Park, the former president, was colluding with a close associate and allowing her to meddle in government affairs, brought Park was impeached and arrested in March and faces a trial later this month that could send her to prison for life if she is convicted. Meanwhile, Samsung Vice chairman and chaebol heir Lee Jae-yong is facing trial, charged with using Samsung funds to bribe Park and her friend.

One other way to push for reforms is to have the powerful national pension fund, the biggest investor in many chaebols with $530 billion in assets,

advoc ate more forcef u l ly on behalf of minority shareholder and public interests.

So far, the pension fund has refrained from voicing criticism over corporate mismanagement.

Former pension fund executives are among those facing trial in the current corruption scandal.

The tendency of chaebol companies and other institutions to favor founding family interests over those of ordinary shareholders in publicly listed companies is so ingrained that many global investors say they routinely impose a “Korea Discount” on investments in South Korea.

“This election proves there is strong public support for a better system of governance,” said Kwon Young-sun, an economist at Nomura Securities.

“If corporate governance of Korea Inc. were to improve meaningfully with the passage of the economic democracy reform bills and adoption of a Stewardship Code by the National Pension Service, we would become more bullish on the market.” AP

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Saturday, May 13, 2017

A5

Warriors’ Brown blending style into Kerr’s foundation O AKLAND, California—They often hear him arrive at work from upstairs in the Warriors executive offices, the thundering vroom of his Harley Davidson a telltale sign.

Mike Brown rolled in on his Bay Area bike—he has another in Cleveland—one day last week, and since the practice he was leading between playoff games would be short, he never bothered to change out of his beige Harleylogo T-shirt and dark jeans.

Somehow, the veteran National Basketball Association (NBA) coach filling in for the Warriors has found a way to beautifully blend being his distinctive self with carrying on the way reigning NBA Coach of the Year Steve Kerr would do it if he were here and healthy.

Brown still works out Draymond Green daily on a court in the far corner of Golden State’s practice facility, almost as if nothing has changed in his position.

“It’s a tough balance,” two-time reigning Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry said. “Obviously, Coach Kerr has set up an atmosphere and a way of doing things here that’s worked and been successful. When he hired Coach Brown, Coach Brown aligned right with that kind of idea. Coach Brown’s done a great job so far just, respectful is a word, but taking ownership of the opportunity right now to get over this next challenge. He obviously has coach in his ear all the time, and that’s how it should be, but he’s got to have confidence in himself and in his own mind and what he sees out there to make decisions on the fly and push the right buttons in games and make the right adjustments.

“He’s done a great job of that ever since Game Three in Portland. I’m sure that will continue.”

The 2009 NBA Coach of the Year with the Cavaliers, Brown has embraced getting another shot on the bench

Meralco takes on Ilocos in Vigan City

O

PENING-DAY winner Meralco Manila goes for the early 2-0 as it hosts Ilocos United in the Philippines Football League (PFL) today at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Meralco’s first home game of the inaugural tournament fires off at 4 p.m.

The Manila-based team will try to bring the momentum of its electrifying 5-1 victory when it visited Stallion Laguna last week.

Meralco Coach Aris Caslib is again expected to lean on captain James Younghusband and brother Phil, as well as on Curt Dizon, Tahj Minniecon and Milan Nikolic. They scored a goal each in their first match.

Ilocos United, on the other hand, settled for a 1-1 draw with the Davao Aguilas last Sunday at the Quirino Stadium in Vigan.

On Sunday JPV Marikina and Davao Aguilas shoot for their first victory at the Davao del Norte Sports Complex in Tagum City.

JPV Marikina lost its first match also last Sunday against Global Cebu, 1-2, in Biñan City.

Lance Agcaoili

TaylorMade sold for $425 million

N

EW YORK—TaylorMade Golf Co., which has signed Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to equipment deals this year, has been sold to a private equity firm after being shopped for a year by parent company Adidas.

The agreement announced on Wednesday means KPS Capital Partners will acquire TaylorMade for $425 million, about half of that paid in cash.

Carlsbad, California-based TaylorMade was founded in 1979 by Gary Adams, who specialized in metal woods. Adidas bought the company in 1998.

The company has equipment deals with Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and McIlroy, three of the last four players who have been No. 1 in the world ranking. It signed Woods in January, shortly before he stopped playing because of more back problems that led to a fourth surgery.

with an uber-talented team like Golden State—and wow has he coached some of the game’s biggest stars along the way, from LeBron James to Kobe Bryant to now Curry and Kevin Durant.

As the unbeaten Warriors prepare for the Western Conference finals against either Houston or San Antonio, this is a moment Brown knows won’t last. Kerr, who

had another procedure last Friday for a spinal fluid leak, could come back before the postseason ends.

But he might not.

The 51-year-old Kerr missed the first 43 games during last season’s run to a record 73 victories, including an NBA-best 24-0 start as now-Lakers Coach Luke Walton guided Golden State to a 39-4 record in his absence. Brown and Kerr talk and text regularly to plan practice or scout opponents.

“Steve has done a fantastic job laying a great foundation down culturally and X’s and O’s basketballwise,” Brown said. “We have a great staff. The staff has helped out tremendously and [GM] Bob Myers and his group, the leaders on the team, the veterans that we have.

Everybody has kind of pitched in to help us keep heading in the right direction

during this time.”

Brown has learned not to get too high or too low. He has been through the ringer losing his job in Cleveland

MIKE BROWN still works out Draymond Green daily on a court in the far corner of Golden State’s practice facility, almost as if nothing has changed in his position. AP

only to come back, being let go by the Lakers and even facing a frightening situation last May putting out a kitchen fire in his home that left him scarred from all the burns.

Brown could end up coaching against the Cavs in the NBA Finals after guiding them to the playoffs in all five seasons during his first stint there from 2005 to 2010.

Each day at Golden State headquarters, there is Brown going about leading Green through his postpractice individual work.

“It’s extremely important. I still have a role to do,” Brown said on Wednesday.

“Steve’s the head coach. So I’m going to keep doing it.

That’s not going to change for me.”

Everyone figures just anybody can coach this star-studded roster, right?

Not quite that simple. But to withstand the absence of a head coach in the heart of a championship chase, it sure doesn’t hurt to have an experienced group of coaches and veteran players. That has helped make this such a seamless transition for everybody involved, and allowed Kerr to take all the time he needs to seek answers and healing, as he deals with debilitating symptoms that stem from complications following a pair of back surgeries nearly two years ago after the team’s 2015 title run. AP

ORNAMENTAL PRESENCE

By Scott Cacciola

New York Times News Service

S

AN ANTONIO—Manu Ginobili is not a young man by professional basketball standards. He is 39. He is bald. He tweets about reading his young children bedtime books, including one written by his friend and former teammate Boris Diaw.

With the San Antonio Spurs this season, Ginobili has been—and forgive the suggestion—an almost ornamental presence. He is a link between eras, the team’s swingman emeritus, more instructor than player.

He shot 39 percent from the field during the regular season. When the Spurs faced the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs, Ginobili collected 14 points in a series that went six games.

All of which is to say, Coach Gregg Popovich no longer leans on Ginobili the way he once did. The explosion, the lift, the quickness, the energy—those are physical gifts that belong to the past.

But occasionally there are still nights, like Tuesday’s at AT&T Center, when Ginobili, with a dunk and a block, reached back to resuscitate the Spurs in their Western Conference semifinal series against the Houston Rockets.

“He was a stud,” Popovich said after the Spurs’ 110-107 overtime victory, which gave them a 3-2 lead in their best-ofseven series.

First, there was the dunk, which Ginobili described as a sort of out-of-body experience: a wrong-footed, soaring slam as he sliced between defenders late in the first half. Nobody saw it coming. Not the Rockets, who took halfhearted swipes at the ball as Ginobili traveled to the rim in his time machine.

Not the Spurs’ Danny Green, who called the dunk “one for the record books”. And not even Ginobili.

“That was very unexpected,” he said. “I don’t know.

I just wanted to go hard at the rim, and I found myself pretty close. So I went for it. But I didn’t expect to see one of those in the playoffs.”

From that point forward, Green said, he could sense that Ginobili was “locked in”, that he had been sipping some sort of magic potion that his teammates call Grandpa Juice.

Sure enough, Ginobili remained engaged through the final possession of the game, when he preserved the win by blocking a three-point attempt by the Rockets’ James Harden.

As Harden rose for the shot, Ginobili reached over the top with his left hand and stripped the ball away.

“I tried to bother him as much as I could, and I found myself very close to the ball, so I went for it,” Ginobili said. “It was a risky play, but it was also risky to let him shoot.”

MANU GINOBILI is 39. He is bald. And he tweets about reading his young children bedtime books, including one written by his friend and former teammate Boris Diaw. AP

Ahead of Game Six on Thursday night in Houston, the Spurs held themselves together with a combination of duct tape and chewed gum. They lost Tim Duncan to retirement before the start of the season. They lost Tony Parker, their starting point guard, when he ruptured his left quadriceps tendon in Game Two against the Rockets. And they lost Kawhi Leonard, their do-everything forward, to an ankle injury late in Game Five. Leonard watched overtime from the bench.

“He didn’t want to come out, obviously,” Popovich said of Leonard. “We let him play a little while, just to see what it was like, but it was obvious that he couldn’t go.”

Leonard’s status for Game Six is unclear. He said he was planning to play, but even if he does, his effectiveness is likely to be diminished.

That will be playoff game No. 12 for the Spurs, who are rapidly shedding parts. The Golden State Warriors, meanwhile, needed only eight games to advance to the conference finals after sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz in the first two rounds.

But the mistake, as always, is to underestimate the Spurs, to take their resolve for granted. On Tuesday, as they worked to slow an opponent with a plutonium-fueled offense, they proved it again.

Consider the Spurs’ hodgepodge lineup in overtime.

LaMarcus Aldridge (a five-time All-Star) was joined by Green (a second-round draft pick), Patty Mills (a secondround draft pick), Jonathon Simmons (undrafted) and Ginobili (the oldest player left in the playoffs).

Green scored the Spurs’ final seven points. Simmons came on in relief of Leonard to defend Harden, who finished with nine turnovers. And Ginobili had the game-saving block.

“Manu’s one of the great all-time competitors and winners,” Popovich said. “He helped us do it again.”

At his postgame news conference, Rockets Coach Mike D’Antoni seemed to wear the hollowed-out expression of someone who had seen a ghost and, perhaps, that was understandable. Years ago, when D’Antoni was coaching the Phoenix Suns, he had three meetings with the Spurs and Ginobili in the playoffs. Three times, the Suns lost. On Tuesday Ginobili was back at it. Little had changed.

“I figured that Manu would at least have one or two good games,” D’Antoni said. “You knew that was going to happen. That’s why he’s a champion. He’s great. He’s been great his whole life.”

Ginobili had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes—the most minutes he had played in a game since 2014.

“I don’t feel like I had a huge game,” he said. “I felt better than the previous ones, for sure. But I guess the standards are a little lower.”

He was right, of course. The standards are different now.

No one expects Ginobili to be a savior anymore. But the Spurs still expect to compete and succeed, no matter the obstacles.

For one night, Ginobili was there to carry them across the finish line. Just like the old days.

Water Defenders seek win No. 4 vs Perlas gals

B

ALIPURE guns its fourth straight victory when it takes on Perlas today in Premier Volleyball League (PVL) women’s tournament at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The Water Defenders stake their perfect 3-0 win-loss record at 1 p.m.

Despite being a team composed of collegiate players, BaliPure made a big splash in its first three matches and demolished a veteran Air Force side, a young Power Smasher crew and defending champion Pocari Sweat.

The Water Defenders’ Head Coach Roger Gorayeb thinks that the key to their hot start is the chemistry his players has developed despite the fact that they came from different schools.

The team is composed of Grethcel Soltones and Alyssa Eroa from San Sebastian College; Jasmine Nabor, Risa Sato, Aiko Urdas and Jorelle Singh from National University; and Jerrili Malabanan from Far Eastern University.

“We have a good teamwork,” the multititle coach said. “This 3-0 is really good for us. It gives the players more confidence and that’s what my players need.”

Perlas, on the other hand, tries to boost its 2-2 record to remain in second place.

Former BaliPure players Dzi Gervacio, Amy Ahomiro, Jem Ferrer, Ella de Jesus, Sue Roces and Mae Tajima are now with Perlas.

They will try to beat their former team and bounce back from a 19-25, 19-25, 19-25 lost to Pocari Sweat on Tuesday.

In men’s action, Cignal (2-0) tries to tighten its grip on the solo lead when it faces its struggling defending champion Air Force (0-2) at 10 a.m. Lance Agcaoili

A6 Saturday, May 13, 2017 | Editor: Mike Besa

Equipment Review: Odyssey O-Works #7

The Microhinges are readily visible here.

The feared 17th—a watery graveyard of golf balls

PHOTOS BY MIKE BESA

O

dyssey is the No. 1 putter company on the planet. Regardless of what you think of their inserts and how they feel, they are at the pinnacle of their industry because of one simple reason—their putters help golfers make more putts.

One reason for this is their fascination and commitment to putters with inserts. Synthetic inserts are great for putters as they enable designers to save weight in the center of the club and move it to the heel, toe or further back to make the club less resistant to twisting on off-center strikes. When just a degree of face angle can cause a miss, this is a big deal. However, inserts just don’t sound and feel the same as a putter with a solid metal face and that’s the trade-off.

Callaway’s White Hot insert has led the way for years and manages to give enough firmness to be one of the best faces of all time. To add even more firmness, Odyssey has put a metal mesh over the top of the White Hot insert to create their Fusion RX insert. This resulted in a bit more firmness but did not improve forward roll significantly.

Enter Odyssey’s newest and most innovative insert ever, the Mircohinge, which uses upside-down L shaped stainless steel hinges on the face that are embedded into the Thermoplastic Elastomer Feel Layer of the insert.

These flex a little at impact to impart 70 rpm of top spin on to the ball to get it rolling more quickly and stop it jumping, which is a major cause of it starting off line. To validate their work, Odyssey installed the insert on a putter with the hinges upside down.

The resulting putter created backspin when it struck the ball so Odyssey was sure they had something special here.

My putter of choice, the O-Works #7 Putter, is a modified mallet weight weighted alignment wings, a double-bend shaft, high contrast Versa alignment, Microhinge Face Insert, sole weighting, full-shaft offset and a Superstroke grip.

The O-Works #7 is based on the smaller version of the #7 head and it looks ideal when set behind the golf ball. This version of the

Versa Alignment System is, in my opinion, the best version they’ve produced to date. The contrasting colors with the red accents make it nearly impossible to improperly align the putter, giving you all the confidence you need to make that putt.

The feel at impact is still quite soft, but with a faint metallic sensation. Just firm enough to sway those more inclined to play a solid faced putter but with enough softness to appease the faithful. The ball rolls beautifully off the clubface without any perceptible skidding or bouncing. The only time I saw the ball leave the ground with the O-Works #7 was on a long, uphill putt that I had to strike quite hard. Other than that, the Microhinge insert certainly works as advertised.

The Odyssey O-Works putters come with a Super Stroke grip. The version on the O-Works line is a thin pistol grip design that feels much like a traditional pistol grip with just enough of the original Super Stroke material and feel to make it appreciably better.

Results with the O-Works #7 were as expected. It is fabulous. It sets up very naturally to the ball and Versa helps you see the line immediately. Distance control is natural but I noticed that because the ball rolls so well off the Microhinge insert that you might need to allow for less break in certain situations. Also, I’m slightly disappointed that Odyssey didn’t spec an all-black shaft on the O-Works like they did on the Big T line. That would make it perfect in my eyes.

With that one caveat, Odyssey’s O-Works line of putters are Odyssey’s best putters to date. They are easy to get (and keep) on line, they roll the ball better than anything that I have in my current arsenal and they feel great. I had always wanted a #7 and this version might be the best one yet. A definite must-try! Mike Besa

Luisita Golf and Co

The Versa Alignment System makes short work of lining up your putt

The stylish sole of Odyssey’s O-Works #7

THE TOUR PLAYER PUTTING PROCESS

By David MacKenzie

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS AND PRACTICE

Whatever your level of play, you’ll need to work on your “process” if you are going to take your putting to the next level. The stroke is only part of a well-executed putt.

In fact, it could be considered the result of a well-executed process. This is why the process is the true measure of success of your putts, not whether the ball went in or not. If you can learn a good process, and make that the goal, you will hole more putts.

WHAT PROCESS WILL DO FOR YOU

Your process is going to provide the structure and have you feeling as confident as possible when you’re over the ball. It’ll make sure your focus is on the things that are going to help you most (instead of thinking about the outcome and what the putt will do for your score). There are fundamentals in a putting process, but beyond that it’s about focusing on the senses that help you most. This is what my GSOM Putting System is all about—helping you put together a process that will help you access your best, on a consistent basis. In this lesson, we’re going to cover a very important part of this process, a fundamental if you will, perfecting putting alignment, so you get the ball started on the right line.

PUTTING ALIGNMENT: 3 WAYS TO GET THE PUTTER SQUARE TO YOUR START LINE, EVERY TIME.

Experiment with these and see which gives you the best results.

SPOT PUTTING

Many Tour players concentrate on “rolling” the ball over a spot about 6 to 12 inches in front of the ball. They still see the whole putt and visualize it going in, but they use their spot to get aligned and get the putt started on the right line.

HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR “SPOT”?

Once you’ve read the green and determined the line of your putt (need putting tips on green reading?), you will know which direction the ball needs to move in the first 2 to 3 feet. For the putting alignment phase of your routine, this should become be the focus as (with the long game too) it’s a lot easier to align yourself to a spot close to your body that way out in the distance.

Spot putting is the method I use. I like to do my rehearsal strokes across the line while looking down at the line. This way I can match the intended line with the intended pace and at the same time, figure out the line the ball needs to start on.

HOW TO FIND YOUR SPOT

1. Read the green and (if it’s not a straight putt) find the “apex” of the putt. This is the furthest point outside the hole—where the ball starts to turn in the other direction.

2. Check out the diagram below (courtesy of Aimpoint Technologies) and you’ll see that the putt needs to start on a line that is outside the apex of the putt. One of the reasons that a

The grand at her bes

lot of amateurs “under-read” putts, is because they assume the putt is straight to the apex and don’t play it outside far enough to get it to that point. This putting alignment technique will fix this.

3. Hold your putter (vertically) out at arms-length and close your nondominant eye.

Next move your focus (along the shaft of the putter) to about 6 inches in front of the ball and find your spot. This could be a discolored piece of grass, a spike mark or whatever you can pick out. If you the roll the ball over that spot, you will be hitting the ball on the line to take it over apex and if the speed is right, you have a high chance of making it.

Note: The reason I like to do my rehearsal strokes before I find my spot, is because if I did them after, I could lose sight of my spot and I’d have to start the routine over.

OTHER WAYS TO ALIGN TO YOUR START LINE

n USING A LINE ON THE GOLF BALL

Some players prefer the putting alignment technique of a line on the ball. You can do this with a Sharpie or these transfers

Story & photos

by Mike Besa

from Golf Dotz. Make sure you use your nondominant eye to line up the line on your ball to the start-line that is outside the apex. n JUST “EYE-BALLING” IT

Some players, such as Bubba Watson, don’t use spots or lines at all, they just use their imagination and feel to sense the pace and direction needed. Spots and lines would feel restrictive to such a player. n HOW TO PRACTICE STARTING THE

BALL ON THE RIGHT LINE This is also a good drill to see how square the face is at impact.

1. Choose a putt that has a little break to it, and put a ball marker behind the ball (a flat one), so you can putt from the same place each time.

2. Putt a couple of balls without a spot and get a feel for the line and pace 3. Now place another flat ball marker down (6-12 ins in front of the ball) marking the your spot the ball need to roll over to get it on the right line 4. Now putt 25 balls, getting it to roll over your spot. If you find the spot is in the wrong place, adjust it until you get it right.

5. Repeat on a different location of the green.

David MacKenzie is a performance coach and the founder of Golf State of Mind.

Throughout David’s playing career, he learned quickly how attitude, self-belief and mental toughness affect performance in golf.

David now works with players of all levels (and coaches), and has had a huge amount of success with his system. His mental coaching system is taught one on one (in person or remotely), in groups, and via his mental game training products. The system develops mental toughness, improves emotional control and teaches golfers how to stay focused on what’s most important.

L

uisita Golf and Country Club is one of our great heritage courses. Finished in the late-1960s, Luisita was one of the pioneers of the modern park land design. It is the only work of the legendary golf architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. in Asia and, with his passing, will remain thus for eternity. It was the first golf course of modern construction in the Philippines.

Courses at the time had small greens that were elevated and tilted to one side or other to facilitate drainage. Think about Wack Wack’s East Course, which was completed about a decade before. Luisita’s greens, by comparison, are more generous than any other golf course constructed in the country at that time. The bunkering was unique as well, and has more in common with today’s golf courses than those built in the same period.

At 7,042 yards from the black tees, Luisita Golf and Country Club

comes in at the minimum standard for a championship golf course these days, but remember this course was completed in the 1960s, when golfers then played tiny blades and woods made of, well, wood. Translated into the modern idiom, Luisita probably played like it was 7,400 yards back then.

Compared to the other golf courses of the day, Luisita was revolutionary and heralded the arrival of modern golf-course construction in the Philippines.

Luista was the first Philippine golf course to make use of modern turf grasses. The fairways are Tifton and the greens original tifdwarf. What is remarkable is that these greens survive to this day in their original state. Tifdwarf does have a tendency to mutate back to its original form but that clearly has not been the case here.

The big knock on Luisita was that it was so intensely private that it was nearly impossible to play unless you knew a member that could accompany and sponsor you to the club. So, the club faded into

Bright outlook on and off the

By Josh Burack Asian Tour CEO

I

t has been a busy and rewarding year for the Asian Tour in 2017, thus far, and my team and I have embraced the challenges to sustain what we have seen as positive growth in the last few months.

Our talented players and staff members are truly excited with the recent announcement that we will return to China after an eight-year hiatus.

We are now working extremely hard to stamp our return by staging Asian Tour events along

with our partners, the China Golf Association, in the Middle Kingdom once again. Hopefully I will be able to share more details with all of you in my next column, so stay tuned.

I’m delighted to reveal that we are on the verge of announcing a new Tour Partner. It will be a very exciting partnership that will enhance the earning opportunities of our membership, which is one of our key objectives as an organisation.

In my last column I wrote about the landmark announcements which will see the Asian Tour breaking fresh ground at the Fiji International later this year. In March we also

www.pinoygolfer.com

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Saturday, May 13, 2017 A7

The majestic clubhouse of Luisita Golf and Country Club.

The view from the veranda

ountry Club 2017

d dame st a semi-mythological state with Pinoygolfers; everyone knew about it, wanted to play it and knew it was something special, but it was too much trouble to play.

As with most golf courses, Luisita changed over the years. Eager to keep their course cool and green, the club planted more trees around the golf course. This created a couple of problems. First, the turf grasses used on golf courses like sunlight, copious amounts of it. The shade created by the new trees affected the turf’s health.

The other issue was the new stands of trees covered up the water features of Luista, which Robert Trent Jones Sr. had meant to define the character of the golf course. Neither was good for the club and both needed to be addressed. But that was not destined to happen until Martin Lorenzo, in a landmark arrangement with the Cojuangcos, acquired a majority stake in Hacienda Luisita.

The new team Lorenzo put in place, headed by Jeric Hechanova,

was tasked with restoring the health and beauty of the golf course to what it was when it was first built. The first order of the day was to nurse the golf course back to peak health.

The original tifdwarf greens have proven to be remarkably hardy and resistant to disease. It didn’t take much to bring the greens back to peak condition, and once that happened, the club was able to get them back up to speed.

The issue with the trees took a bit longer. Consultations with the architect’s son, Robert Trent Jones Jr. validated the plans to cull the number of trees. So, the work began in the identified areas.

The work was so seamless that we barely noticed it our first time back. We knew something was different, but were hard-pressed to put our collective fingers on it.

The results of these efforts were spot on. Luisita is back. All the way back.

The aesthetics are easily appreciated, but it is the condition of the golf course that is truly

amazing. I’ve been coming to Luisita for over 10 years, and I have never seen it in such good shape. We had occasion to play it over the Easter weekend.

The club was in the midst of preparations for the ICTSI Men and Ladies tournaments so the course wasn’t in the very best of shape, but what we saw was most impressive.

The greens were immaculate.

They were rolling at 9.5 and didn’t look stressed at all. The ball turned over nicely with nary a bump or skip. The pros were in for a treat.

The rest of the course was also up to par. The bunkers were raked, and for the most part were very consistent. The others were in the midst of repair, so it will be a matter of time before the club gets around to them all. The fairways were firm making it easy to trap the golf ball.

I have NEVER seen the course in better shape.

Some of the holes retain their brutal nature. The finishing corner

e course had 10 Asian Tour members featuring for the first time in the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open, an event which we hope to fully sanction from next year onward with the PGA Tour of Australasia.

I’m happy to add that we will be launching new events on our 2017 Schedule very soon, and this will create even more playing opportunities to our talented members. These are indeed exciting times for the Asian Tour, and I’m glad to be a part of it!

The commercial outlook for the game in Asian and the Asian Tour looks very positive,

is one of the best and potentially, most dramatic in local golf. Sixteen seems a straightforward par 5 until you get to the green. It’s got water on three sides, making going for it in two shots dodgy at best.

Everyone secretly dreads the seventeenth.

214-yards from the tips and just 20-yards shorter from the next set of tees, this is the most difficult of the par 3s.

When the wind is up, she’s a beast. There is nowhere to miss, but shorter hitters can lay up to an island where the forward tees are located. The hole is much more manageable from there.

The tee shot on eighteen from the tips is daunting. There’s Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia

which mirrors the great performances of our members in recent months.

I’m sure many of you watched the TV broadcasts or closely followed the Hero Indian Open on www.asiantour.com and our social media platforms and joined us in celebrating S.S.P. Chawrasia’s stunning victory in March.

The Indian star brilliantly retained his title in sensational style, winning his National Open by a whopping seven shots. His victory was lauded by golf fans in Asia and also by his peers.

While Chawrasia hogged the limelight, Gavin Green of Malaysia also made his mark

in his blossoming career. The 24-year-old former amateur star finished second in India, which was enough to secure his Asian Tour card for 2018.

What’s interesting to note is that Green is among seven players in the top-10 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit still in their 20s, while Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand, who is ranked third, is only 17 years old. How amazing is that?

In April we welcomed the first Major tournament on the golf calendar, and I would like to congratulate Sergio Garcia of Spain for

winning the Masters Tournament. Sergio has been a strong supporter of golf tournaments in Asia where he has competed regularly in the region and, in fact, has won tournaments in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam over the years.

It is still our hope and dream to witness more Asian golfers challenging for a Major trophy and emulating Y.E. Yang’s historic triumph at the 2009 PGA Championship. Asian golf is on a rise, so don’t be surprised if this happens sooner than you think.

nothing but water in front of you. There’s a bailout area to the right, but that lengthens the hole considerably. Miguel Tabuena showed us how to play the hole in the recently concluded ICTSI Luisita Championship. In the playoff with South Africa’s Mathiam Keyser, Tabuena, playing first, hit a towering 320-yard drive over the trees to wedge distance.

Those of us less endowed will have to make to with a more conservative approach.

In spite of the gains that they’ve made, Martin Lorenzo and his team continue their work to improve and refine the golf course at Lusita Golf and Country Club. It is this ethic that assures their success. We continue to be impressed by the golf course, and look forward to enjoying the improvements they make in the future. May they impress us all.

A8 Saturday, May 13, 2017 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

OurTime BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Cavite’s ‘Masa’ programs benefit nearly 8,000

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RECE Martires City, Cavite— The provincial government of Cavite disbursed more than P28 million for medical, burial and various assistance that benefited 7,772 socially disadvantaged Kabitenyos, a first quarterly disbursement summary report disclosed on Monday.

Provincial Social Welfare Development Office (PSWDO) officer in charge Ma. Felipa R. Servanez said the disbursements were in pursuit of Cavite Governor Jesus Crispin Remulla’s various programs to uplift the lives and well-being of Cavite’s children, youth, senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs).

“The provincial government programs ‘Mula sa masa-para sa masa’ [from the people, for the people] are to give back to the people the service they deserve,” Provincial Social Welfare Officer IV Darylvy Avila said.

Cavite province, which ranks eighth among the country’s top 10 high-performing provinces has embarked on its “6-17 Challenge” thrusts to put up vital and necessary social infrastructure to help meet and satisfy the needs and requirements of the prospective 6 million Caviteños by 2017.

Burial assistance for senior citizens topped the list of disbursements, with P2.321 million that benefited 1,203 senior citizens.

For the highest number of people who were afforded help, the assistance for individuals in crisis

garnered the highest, with more than 2,500 persons.

PSWDO said under the social-protection program for displaced families, individuals in crisis are those living in hazardous places or victims of fire, delivery of “food to work” for disaster-related activities/events.

This category also includes other development services or special cases like the abandoned women and children, or children who have problems with the law.

Other “help” programs include medical assistance in the form of cash or medicines and livelihood training in the food or nonfood categories.

PSWDO also provides business start-up kits under its self-empowering assistance for those who wish to open a sari-sari store or a feasible business in their barangay.

Assistance for children are categorized based on their rights.

For the “survival” category, assistance is in the form of supplemental feeding, food for growth projects and nutritious-food training to parents.

The PSWDO first-quarter report said the development assistance includes access support to Alternative

Learning Training System, financial and capability development assistance for out-of-school youth, capability development for child development workers and financial assistance for child laborers.

Children who are in conflict with the law are given protection assistance and various projects, such as the governor’s “give-a-gift”, children’s month event and the children’s congress that is held annually.

PWDs are extended educational or learning advancement “sulong-dunong” and capability building trainings and seminars, not only for students, but also, their teachers.

“Applicants may walk in anytime and per the governor’s directive, these various forms of assistance are open to all Kabitenyos,” Avila said.

The amount of financial assistance the applicants can avail themselves of depends on the evaluation and recommendation of the social worker assigned to the case, Avila said.

The processing time takes one to two weeks, and all financial assistance is distributed en masse at the Provincial Gym every Tuesday, Avila added.

Gladys S. Pino/PNA

Macao prepares to embrace rapid aging of local population

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ACAO—Macao’s statistic department on May 6 published the detailed results of 2016 population by census carried out in the special administrative region (SAR), showing an accelerated population growth coupled with continued population aging in the last five years.

The Statistics and Census Service said the population of Macao totaled 650,834 in August 2016, up 17.8 percent from 552,503 in the 2011 Population Census, attributable to a surge in nonresident workers living in Macao and a rebound in birth rate.

The average annual-growth rate of the Macao population between 2011 and 2016 reached 3.3 percent, the highest in the past 20 years. Local population, excluding nonresident workers and foreign students living in Macao, totaled 537,018, up by 10.7 percent compared with 2011.

The result also showed the SAR population continued to age. The elderly population aged 65 and older increased substantially by 48.6 percent from five years ago to 59,383, accounting for 9.1 percent of the total population, up by 1.9 percentage points.

Moreover, the percentage share of the elderly population to the youth population under 14 rose by 15.6 percentage points to 76.3 percent. Population aged 55 to 64 took up 13.5 percent (87,583) of the total. The pace of population aging is expected to accelerate further in the next decade.

The by census found the female population outnumbered the male population. Females and males totaled 336,816 and 314,018, respectively, accounting for 51.8 percent and 48.2 percent of the total. The gender ratio was 93.2, corresponding to 93.2 males per 100 females. As regarding the local population, the gender ratio dropped from 92.7 five years ago to 90.2, and the surplus of females over males was more apparent.

The number of households totaled 188,723, an increase of 10.5 percent compared to five years ago. The average household size was 3.07 persons, a slight decrease from 3.08 persons in 2011. Analyzed by the household size, three-person households predominated, accounting for 24.5 percent of the total households, up by 1.3 percentage points from five years earlier. By contrast, the proportion of four-person households fell by 1.6 percentage points to 21.4 percent. Xinhua

GRANDPA’S CONTOUR FARM Despite his age, farmer Cornelio Sebastian still manages an organic tomato farm right at the border of the OceanaGold Sustainable Agro-forestry Inc. central nursery in Tucod Village, Cabarroguis, Quirino. He believes mining and agriculture can coexist.

LEONARDO PERANTE II

Mayor inaugurates new building for senior citizens, PWDs in Bacoor City

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ACOOR CITY, Cavite—Bacoor City Mayor Lani MercadoRevilla led the inauguration of a new building for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) on Monday at the Bacoor Government Center, Bayanan.

Mercado-Revilla officiated the ribbon-cutting rites with the PWD group President Jerwin Bautista, who is also the Panapaan village chief, and Office of Senior Citizens Affairs

(Osca) Head Bayani de Leon.

The Rev. Father Erickson Santos consecrated the new facilities as city officials, councilors and beneficiaries toured the facilities.

The two-story building has six offices that will attend to various services for the city’s Osca and PWD group’s 66,000 members.

The city mayor also thanked the Osca and PWDs who serve in their respective communities despite their

age and physical disability.

She also reiterated her support for them, who are provided funds by the city government for their free admission to movies in all theaters in the city every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

She said Bacoor City is the only local government so far that provides free admission to movie houses for the elderly and PWDs four days a week. PNA

Are grandkids safe when grandparents raise them?

A

LMOST 3 million grandparents in the US are raising their grandchildren, but outdated health practices and myths may be putting some of those youngsters at risk, new research contends.

“When grandparents step up to the plate, it can be wonderful for grandchildren, but can also pose challenges in terms of lifestyle, finances and mental and physical health to a somewhat older or elderly cohort,” senior investigator Dr. Andrew Adesman said. He is chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

More than 600 grandparents raising their grandchildren completed a questionnaire for the study. Their answers revealed that 44 percent mistakenly believed “ice baths are a good way to bring

down a very high fever.” But ice baths can cause hypothermia.

The study also revealed nearly onequarter of the grandparents didn’t know that “infants should be put to sleep on their back, not on their stomach or side” to reduce the risk of sudden infant-death syndrome.

In two related studies surveying nearly 800 grandparents, the same research team found that one in 10 grandparents raising their grandchildren didn’t have any support systems, and another 12 percent said their support system didn’t meet their most important needs.

Also, 71 percent of those grandparents said their grandchild responsibilities restricted their ability to socialize with friends. Nearly one-third said raising their

grandchild had negatively affected their spouse or relationship.

Many of the grandparents were interested in receiving counseling (43 percent) or joining a support group (61 percent), and those without an adequate support system were less likely to report feeling generally happy (54 percent versus 86 percent).

“In their questionnaires, a fairly large sample size of grandparents felt they were doing a good job, but acknowledged they didn’t have the support they often needed and that their role could be alienating in terms of their own peer group,” Adesman said in a Northwell Health news release.

Pediatricians can help grandparents raise their grandchildren by updating them on current health care and parenting methods, he said. New York Times News Service

The ethical dilemma of aged care in PHL Marc A. Daubenbuechel

The Age of Eldercare We are starting a column on Eldercare this week, authored by Marc Daubenbuechel who has been based in the Philippines since 2006. He is an expert in elderly care and assists in developing the geriatric sector in the Philippines through international projects.

Marc earned a bachelor of arts degree in international business management from the Cologne Business School. He worked for 4 years with the Sozial Betriebe Köln, an operator of nursing homes and homecare services in Germany, and has in-depth experience in running restaurants, hotels, spa and wellness institutions.

From 2009 to 2016 Marc was the executive director of the Retirement and Healthcare Coalition, a project of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

Since 2015 Marc has been an independent health-care consultant for various companies interested to get involved in the Philippine geriatric market and for Philippine institutions wanting to learn more about geriatric care and education in Germany.

A

COMMON statement when I bring up the topic of nursing homes, home-care services or geriatric-care services is “We do not need any of these facilities or services. Our tradition is to look after our own elderly.”

I have heard the comment in different ways a few hundred times over the last 10 years in the Philippines. Almost every time, there is a fierce reaction from some people in the crowd when I talk about the necessity of nursing homes. This might be due to the fact that I am a foreigner, but the same reaction can be seen when fellow Filipinos bring up the same topic. So what is leading to this denial?

Why is it okay to have seniors for several months in the most expensive hospitals of the country (which ruins families financially for years)? But the moment you bring up the possibility of transferring your parents to a nursing home, you are criticized for “giving your parents away”, or for “disposing those that loved you all your life”.

This common perception and judgment of society is the cause for many emotional conflicts among families and suffering for the elderly in need of professional care. On one hand, families are in desperate need for help, but on the other, they fear to seek for help as family members, community and society might blame them for not being able to “love and take care of their parents as they are supposed to do”.

Where is geriatric or aged care in the Philippines headed? What are the measures taken to come up with services for local seniors? Have we ever asked ourselves why there is a national government agency mandated to attract foreign retirees to the Philippines, but there is no national agency looking after the welfare of Filipino seniors and their families?

We can argue the Department of Social Welfare and Development is mandated to do so. Yes, but only after the elderly who are “poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals”, leaving seniors and their families who are not “poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged” without anyone to turn to.

To show the urgent need for action, let us look at the statistics from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The number of senior citizens is increasing faster than the growth of the total population in the Philippines. In 2000 there were 4.6 million senior citizens, (6 percent of the total population). By 2010 this grew to 6.5 million seniors, or about 6.9 percent of the total population. The PSA projects that by 2030, older people will make up around 16 million, or 11.5 percent of the total population.

The issue of aging previously merited only little attention in the country. For example, it was only since 2014 that Philhealth was mandated to cover senior citizens. Prior to this, no health-care coverage was available.

Sadly, up until now, most of the private insurers do not cover senior citizens, putting families under tremendous financial pressure.

While improvements are happening, the speed in which the Philippines is aging demands faster action and more geriatric services to ensure dignity in growing old.

I visited places for abandoned seniors, and I saw the pressure on the system. Whatever the reasons—family conflicts, financial constraints, fear of judgement and “burned out syndromes” among the family members—seniors from all classes of society are being abandoned at a rate faster than new facilities can be established. Other families hide their “difficult” seniors at home because dementia is still a topic of shame, and families do not know who to turn to for help. Thankfully, this is still the exception, but if you visit or volunteer in a place for the abandoned, you can see it with your own eyes.

Today, nursing homes in the Philippines are associated with the negative perception that only seniors “given away” by their families are living there. Many people do not consider the possibility that nursing homes can be happy places. A home away from home. Places where specialized geriatric nurses, caregivers and dedicated doctors give their loving care to seniors. Some seniors are entirely alone at home as all members of the family are working. Others are stroke victims, have a form of dementia or just simply need assistance in performing the most basic activities of daily living. In some instances, it is simply not possible to age at home.

Some seniors also prefer to age in a nursing home to keep the “burden” off of their families.

Without a doubt, most of us prefer to grow old in our own homes together with our family. So do I. This is, however, not always possible. Rapid urbanization, increased cost of living, the fact that 10 million Filipinos are living abroad, are proofs of the burden the traditional family systems are under. To make matters worse, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and dementia are on the rapid rise.

We should start to consider that aged-care services in their various forms are a much-needed service and a direct response to the rapid rise of aging of the Philippines.

I do not claim that nursing homes and geriatric-care services are the ultimate solution. Rather, they should be seen as an option for those in need of health-care services for the elderly. After all, we wouldn’t refuse health-care services for our children. How much more to our seniors?

news.businessmirror@gmail.com

The Millennials BusinessMirror

Saturday, May 13, 2017

A9

Young couple eyes ‘corner’ market T

Story & photo by Vernon Velasco

above benchmark and advertising agency standards.”

HE best time to put up a business is when you have saved enough money to afford it, and you have worked long enough as an employee in a corporation and have made enough mistakes.

It is okay to make mistakes, but not with your money. Thus said longtime couple Andi Riel Wong and Rodrigo Ang Escobar. Wong, 26, and Escobar, 25, quit their corporate jobs and put up a business with the money originally earmarked for their wedding.

A coffee business wasn’t necessarily according to plan nor was it a passion project. And even if it was carved out of the perennially loaded word, they believe that passion is not really profitable sometimes. So they thought differently and started where the money is and, in the process, turned their venture into a passion.

T he original business idea was a hole in the wall serving all things Bicolano, Escobar said.

But a coffee shop would be more befiting a corner you go to when all you want is peace and quiet,

Wong added.

“The idea behind the concept is that everybody has a corner. All of us have this one confined space we can call our own. The place, the brand name, everything about it is the physical manifestation of that mind-set,” Escobar said. “It may not be the most comfortable space, but it’s a space where you can have the liberty to, say, write everything on the wall.”

Thus, Sulok (Tagalog for corner) Café was born.

Easy find

ALLEY-ISH, the space is wee and narrow, something you would find wedged in street corners. But in this age of Uber and Facebook, Sulok Café is never so hard to find. Personal touches make up the whole nine yards, the walls punctuated by palochina planks.

Going digital

Sulok Café makes its props from beans that originated from the highlands of Benguet and Sagada, as well as ingredients sourced from the backyard, like malunggay, in the wonderful one-of-a-kind café’s best-seller pasta brainchild of a chef who once worked in the culinary side of MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

At Sulok Café, Wong and Escobar work at the coal face, doing something they don’t equate to work. “It’s rather more like comparable to a baby you can’t wait to go home to when you’re stressed,” Wong said. “We’re here every day, but we’re slowly letting go of the operational tasks and looking for ways to delegate because if you

Coach’s $2.4-B Kate Spade deal aims at weak middle of fashion market

want to grow the business, you ought to let it go.”

What the couple does more is to push the marketing envelope even farther by making sense of their corporate experiences. Escobar worked in the field of digital advertising and Wong in e-commerce.

Both have upped the ante in the 10-month-old business’s online social engagement.

“My former job in an advertising agency was to study my client’s competitors, and I did it with Sulok Cafe,” Escobar said. “I did a digital scan of all the brands, of all the competitors of our brand and figured that we stand out at least on a digital level, considering the reception of people online that is way

ACCORDING to Escobar, most of the customers who have visited the space and religiously go back said they first came across Sulok Café on Facebook.

In less than six months of operations and being active online, the brand has had a whopping following of 9,000, a media exposure mileage that one can only achieve in a scandal, Escobar said.

Digital is the order of the day and Sulok makes visibility and impressions by maximizing the influence of the online platform, shying away from how businessmen who want to scale up do advertising.

“Tri-media is super expensive and, unlike digital, it doesn’t produce as much solid results,” Escobar said.

“Yet, not a lot of people believe in digital and many of our competitors still print flyers.”

“Even though some of our competitors have been around for like three to five years, the fact that even before food has become a lucrative business here in Antipolo, they’re here already, some of them hardly have a Facebook page, or, even if they do, they have a very limited number of followers,” he added. “They post content on an annual basis and they don’t engage

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We try to help them by giving them a platform at a minimum cost so that they can test out their products and see how the consumers react to the specific style or color of their product. Our main goal isn’t just giving them a space but a platform to grow through sales, awareness and opportunity.

Do you offer special discounts/ rates to young entrepreneurs?

What is your objective for Fifth Rack?

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Multibrand

“THE acquisition of Kate Spade is an important step in Coach’s evolution as a customer-focused, multibrand organization,” Victor Luis, chief executive of Coach, said in a statement on Monday.

“We believe Coach’s extensive experience in opening and operating specialty retail stores globally, and brand building in international

markets, can unlock Kate Spade’s largely untapped global growth potential,” he added.

Coach, which offered $18.50 a share in cash for Kate Spade, a premium of 9 percent on the closing price on Friday, said it expected to generate about $50 million in savings from the deal within three years.

The company grew out of a wallet manufacturer in 1961 to produce handbags used by all manner of women, from full-time mothers to professional women.

But it has fallen on harder times in recent years, struggling against heightened competition, its own discounting of products and a bloated store network.

Those difficulties mirror the challenges facing the retail sector in North America and beyond. While outlet stores have become more popular in recent years—Coach operates several hundred—department stores cannot attract the crowds they once did, and traffic to malls has slowed as people hunt for bargains online.

With its ubiquitous presence in shopping malls and department stores across the country, Coach has not been spared.

Pioneering

THIS month the company, which pioneered the sale of luxury handbags at relatively affordable prices, announced that department-store revenue had fallen 40 percent in the most recent quarter, a sign of how heavy discounts, falling foot traffic and other troubles have seeped into the brand.

“Coach stuff was just so ubiquitous, and the brand had become a bit devalued, and no one wanted to pay full price for it,” said Neil Saunders, a retail analyst with GlobalData Retail, a research firm. The constant discounting had diluted the brand’s luxury appeal, and the company, under the direction of Luis, looked for ways to cut back on the

discounts—including closing a significant number of its locations within department stores, known as “shop-in-shops”.

“If you want to be a premium brand, you can’t really be too strongly associated with some of the mainstream department stores like Macy’s,” Saunders said.

Kate Spade has also relied on heavy promotions. But the company has been busy remaking itself into a lifestyle brand, one that could benefit from Coach’s broad distribution channels. As of July, Coach operated 228 retail locations and 204 outlets, along with 552 Coach-operated shop-in-shops, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

Millennials

THE Kate Spade acquisition is the latest step in an ambitious turnaround plan that Luis has been leading.

In 2014 he hired a new creative director, Stuart Vevers, who transformed the brand into a celebration of cool—a Route 66-inspired strain of Americana intended to appeal to millennials. (A coming handbag collaboration with the pop star and actress Selena Gomez also will not hurt.)

Luis also closed or renovated underperforming stores, reexamined Coach’s pricing strategy and began a crusade to persuade customers to once again pay full price for its wares. But crucial to his strategy was the ambition to build a multibrand luxury conglomerate.

Coach bought the American footwear brand Stuart Weitzman in 2015.

Analysts have speculated about whether Coach would buy Burberry, Britain’s biggest luxury brand by sales. And just this month, Coach was tipped as the favorite to buy Jimmy Choo, the British accessories label, when it was put up for sale just three years after being listed on the

SULOK Café is beyond what’s written on a black-and-white 90-character copy.

It’s not just a place you go to when you need a spike of caffeine: the couple built a personality behind it. This they did when most brands market themselves like a brand.

“Sulok Café is marketed like an actual human being. The brand voice is something our market can identify with, like that of, say, an angry netizen who is part of [President] Duterte’s mob,” Escobar said.

“It falls on the sweet spot between sarcasm and being honest because that’s how every person on the Internet typically posts online.”

By building a personality behind it, people become more interested in what Sulok Café is about, instead of what it sells, Wong added. This interest developed with the challenge of putting up a store that has a unique selling proposition and how to stand out when it is a constant that everybody who comes in is serving good food.

fashion entrepreneurs through Fifth Rack?

@brownindio

IEL Villamor fell in love early in life. At 28, Villamor followed her heart and put up Fifth Rack, a lifestyle concept store business because she loves fashion.

The BusinessMirror sent Villamor questions via electronic mail and asked about her experiences as an entrepreneur.

OACH and Kate Spade have long been the affordable luxury brands of choice for the aspirational shopper. From Coach’s embossed logo and leather handbags to Kate Spade’s kitschy, colorful accessories, their products lured buyers who wanted a taste of fashion without the sharpest edges—or the highest cost. But in recent years, those customers have gravitated to brands at more extreme ends of the style spectrum, toggling between e-commerce giants, like Amazon, fast-fashion brands like H&M and Zara, and luxury houses like Gucci.

Now, Coach has decided that its best path to growth is spending $2.4 billion for Kate Spade, hoping that expanding its portfolio of brands will help carve new territory in the crowded market. Its acquisition of Kate Spade, announced on Monday, confirms months of speculation on Wall Street, and is the latest in a series of purchases by the company, which aims to build a luxury group in the vein of European groups, like LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Kering, with two major differences: an identifiably American aesthetic and price.

Coach’s handbags sell for $285 to $3,000, while Kate Spade’s retail for $100 to $500.

(Louis Vuitton’s are priced from $970 to $15,800.) The two companies also offer a combination of menswear, ready-to-wear fashion, accessories, fragrances and homeware.

Being different

Millennial Entrepreneur takes the Fifth Rack up

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

Inside the Kate Spade store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, on May 8. Coach, the American maker of high-end accessories, said on Monday it would buy the rival fashion house Kate Spade in a $2.4-billion deal, the latest in a series of acquisitions aimed at building an accessible luxury group. Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times

their audience.”

Moreover, Escobar said when it comes to selling, it’s always the push method, like some vendors do most of the time.

“It’s always traditional. It’s always TVC type. It’s always ‘Come, we got good coffee’.”

We offer half slots for P4,500 ($90.10) and whole slots for P8,500 ($170.19) a month.

I want to make Fifth Rack a by word in the business in the next few years.

Did you dream of becoming an entrepreneur?

When I was a kid, I did not entertain (any thought) of becoming an entrepreneur. But it just sort of happened. I always wanted to do something that is fashion-related. I loved fashion, dressing up and putting things together. So, working with different brands that have their own unique aesthetic is really interesting.

Please describe the beginnings of your business.

It all started when I had a small online store for women’s wear and later I joined a bazaar. I recalled I had a difficult time selling my pieces because they were priced in the mid-range level. So I decided to create my own type of bazaar because I knew the market was looking for one such concept. That is when the ROW 101 pop-up store, which is a curated bazaar with different local brands, was created. I made sure that start-up brands would get the best platform they could get when (they) join my pop-up (store).

Two years later, that is when I created Fifth Rack Lifestyle and Concept Store. It is basically the same concept as my pop-up but this is a little more permanent. We lease out shelves, half a shelf or a whole module to different brands that need a place to test and sell their products. As much as possible, we try to help brands create a better relationship with their customers at a minimum cost.

How were the first months of business?

VILLAMOR

It was difficult. Everything was always a bit challenging, especially in the start. But you just have to carry on.

What were the challenges that you experienced and how did you overcome them?

Dealing with different personalities was tough. Nevertheless, ever since ROW 101, I have met a lot of great and amazing entrepreneurs.

The best thing to do is just to do your best, be kind and be solutionoriented if things do not go your way.

How do you think your company is different from its competitors?

Fifth Rack is the first curated fashion and lifestyle concept store.

We make sure to get quality local brands and designers in one roof.

What are the biggest challenges in this business?

Do you offer exclusives for designers whose items are only available at Fifth Rack?

Some designers and brands make special collection just for Fifth Rack. It really depends on the brand partner.

How do you choose start-ups that wish to lease at Fifth Rack?

Well it is really more of their product. We try to curate the items that join and also try to find brands that have different aesthetic from each other so that there is more variety for the customer and less competition for the brand partner.

Describe how items are merchandised, size of space, etc.

We have whole slots available, which gives you your own signage, and half slots for the accessory brands or brands that do not need much space.

Are all the items Filipino-made?

The majority of the products are local. However, we have also foreign brands.

There are many difficult things in this business, such as operations, managing people and competition.

But one of the most difficult things is just starting it and getting the ball rolling even if you aren’t sure it will work.

Are customers allowed to “haggle”?

What is the fulfillment do you get?

Our target market ranges from young professionals to mothers and middle-age women. As cheesy as it sounds, we try to have something for everyone from women’s wear, men’s wear, kid’s clothes home items and beauty products.

It is most fulfilling when clients and customers appreciate what you have done to promote their products.

How are you helping young

Customers can’t haggle because we cannot give a discount; only the brand partner can because it is their merchandise.

What is your target group?

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, May 13, 2017

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PLDT says to play bigger role in financial inclusion

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

P

@brownindio

LDT Inc. is going to play a bigger role in promoting financial inclusion particularly to the unbanked population of the country, according to one of the telecommunication firm’s executives.

Lito Villanueva, director of Fintqnologies (Fintq) Corp., said the PLDT and Smart Voyager subsidiary will take the lead role in providing the financial tools to people belonging to the lower bracket of the population. “ We a re t a rget ing t he u nba n ked sector nu mber ing 69 percent of t he popu l at ion.

T hat is why we a re foc using on prov id ing t hese t y pes of tec hnolog y in using mobi le phone,

because it is the most ubiquitous tool in the countr y r ight now,” V i l l a nue v a sa id i n a n inter v iew w ith the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the launching of its medicine loan ser v ice program w ith United L a b or at or ie s ’s R it e Me d a nd Land Bank of the Philippines on May 10 in Manila.

“We will be seeking more partnerships in the same setup,” Villanueva pointed out.

Since it is now considered biggest financial technology company in the country under PLDT, Villanueva said his firm has the capability to reach out to millions of Filipinos who cannot avail themselvesof financial services because they are located in the far-flung areas of the country.

Right now, Villanueva said 30 banks have actually adopted Fintq’s digital platform called “Lender”, which he said has been approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“It is easy for us to offer the services to financial institutions and non-other financial institutions,” Villanueva said.

“We were exclusively created for this particular initiative on digital banking, lending, savings, insurance and disbursements, among others.”

He said using the digital platform is one of way promoting financial inclusion, especially to the marginalized sector is

harness the potential of mobile technology.

With mobile technolog y, Villanueva said banks do not need to develop a brick-and-mortar setup to satisfy customer requirements.

The TxtMed medicine loan service leverages the LandBank Mobile Loan Saver (LMS) as a digital platform to provide borrowers the option to allocate a portion of their approved net loan proceeds to purchase medicines.

A first in the countr y, the medicine loan ser v ice a l lows employees from the government and private sector with payroll accounts with LandBank, including overseas Filipinos, to electronically order and purchase medicines through their mobile phones without the hassle of outright cash payment. It is available to all telecom providers.

RiteMed will offer a range of maintenance medicines at special prices through TxtMed where the medicines will be delivered free.

With new Echo speakers, Amazon lets you ask Alexa to phone mom

By Brian X. Chen & Nick Wingfield New York Times News Service

S

AN FR ANCISCO—With an Amazon Echo speaker today, you can talk to Alexa, the virtual assistant that powers the device, and ask it to play songs, order diapers and even turn on your air conditioner.

Now Amazon wants you to do more than talk to Alexa. It also wants you to call friends and family through Echo speakers—and it is even putting a screen on one of the devices so you can see them while talking to them.

On Tuesday Amazon introduced the latest model in its expanding family of Echo products, the Echo Show, which has a 7-inch touch screen and a video camera that let people place video or voice calls to each other over a Wi-fi connection. In a move that could have broader impact, Amazon also said it would release a free software update this week that brings voice-calling features to existing Echo devices.

The changes, which thrust Amazon into the crowded landscape of Internet communicat ions tool s, l i ke Mic rosof t ’s Sk y pe, Apple’s FaceTime and Google’s Hangouts, underline the company’s ambitions for the Echo. In a way, the new communications functions turn the speaker into something like a traditional landline telephone, which many people have given up in favor of smartphones. Rather than pulling a phone out of their pockets, people will be able to simply command their Echoes to call someone.

First-mover advantage

THE goal is to make the Echo, and Alexa, even more of a fixture inside people’s homes—a system that can help you shop online, control your home’s temperature and now, converse. And it allows Amazon to once again chart a path ahead of others with how it is using the speaker.

“Amazon now has a huge firstmover advantage,” said Werner Goertz, an analyst at Gartner, the technology research firm.

Amazon said it plans to release the Echo Show in late-June, with a starting price of about $230 for a single device, or two for $360.

The Echo was an oddity when Amazon released it in late-2014, a time when smartphones and touch-screen devices seemed to

be elbowing other devices out of the way. But since then, the products have remained top sellers on Amazon’s site, though the company would not say how many it has sold.

Rivals have scrambled to come up with their own smart home devices that have voice controls at their core. Google released its Home device last year. On Monday Harman International, the audio gear maker owned by Samsung, announced the release of its own smart speaker, Invoke, powered by Microsoft’s Cortana intelligent assistant.

Still, many have struggled to catch up to Amazon. The company is projected to have 70 percent of the voice-enabled speaker market in the US this year, according to an eMarketer study published on Monday. Google Home is estimated to have about 24 percent of the market, with the rest split between smaller players.

Obvious limitations

ACCORDING to eMarketer, more than 35 million Americans will use a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month this year, more than double the number from last year.

All of this is a turnabout for Amazon from a few years ago.

At the time, the company was

f loundering in the market for devices, battered by the failure of a smartphone that never made a dent against Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s family of devices. Amazon’s breakthrough came when it figured out a way to package technologies, like voice recognition and artificial intelligence, in a device for the home that could be commanded without having to look at a screen.

Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president for devices, said its Echo products were part of a category of “ambient computing”—devices that can be controlled in a communal setting, like inside a home or a car, primarily with voice.

“You shouldn’t be compelled to go a nd i nterac t w it h t he screen—you should be able to do it with your voice,” Limp said in a product briefing. “It’s very different from traditional computing as we’ve known it for the last three decades.”

Yet, there are obvious limitations to devices that rely entirely on voice interfaces, which the Echo Show is intended to address.

Fits in kitchen

THE screen on the device adds the ability to stream videos, show lyrics while playing music, and display calendar events and voice-

dictated text messages to other Echo users. Displaying movie showtimes and other lists on a screen, as the Echo Show can, is more convenient for users than Alexa reading them.

“I think Echo Show fits very well in the kitchen,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies.

The catch is that for now, the only people an Echo user can call are other Echo owners, or anyone with an Alexa app on an iPhone or Android device. Limp said there was no technical limitation that would prevent Amazon from connecting a phone number to an Echo device that would allow them to be reached by people with telephones. But he declined to say whether Amazon intended to offer that capability.

Because the Echo can be used only as a speakerphone, it also is not likely to be used for private calls when others are present in a room. Milanesi said she was skeptical about whether Echo could supplant smartphones for voice calling.

“We’re so used to using our phones,” she said. “Finding a reason to use Alexa for that is harder.

They need to give you something more specific and interesting and different than other platforms we’re engaged with.”

OLX touts platform as ‘environment-friendly’

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ID you know that buying and using secondhand items from online classified platforms, like OLX, helps reduce carbon footprint?

The platform claims so.

“The idea is quite simple,” according to OLX. “When you buy secondhand items, you lessen your carbon footprint since you extend the life of that product as opposed to buying a new item.”

Because of the growing buy and sell community, OLX is able to share the idea that anyone can do their part in saving the environment. Ever y time you purchase a preowned item, you lessen the demand for manufacturing new items—thereby lessening what would have been thrown at landfills.

“New products require burning fossil fuels and energy. They also come in special packages and are shipped from elsewhere. Every time a new product is produced,

new materials are needed, fossil fuels are burnt and energy is used up,” Jem Baldisimo, an environmental scientist for the Marine Science Institute at the University of the Philippines, was quoted by OLX as saying.

Whether you’re a seller or buyer of secondhand items, buying secondhand products is a good exercise in helping through waste management and reducing overall carbon footprint.

“Living in a generation of purpose-seekers spells excitement for our brand. We want to encourage our buyers and sellers to continuously take part in strengthening a community that works collectively toward helping the environment,” OLX Philippines Marketing Head Jean Magboo said. “Through the simple act of repurposing goods, we allow our community members to involve themselves in a cause that transcends a transaction’s utility.” Rizal Raoul Reyes

BusinessMirror

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Ayala telco taps Ashoka for start-ups search tack

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LOBE Telecom Inc. announced on May 9 it has partnered with Ashoka Philippines to develop an ecosystem of social innovators using information and communications technology (ICT).

“Globe and Ashoka both have the same goals—to create positive societal impact by enabling social innovators with digital

technology to drive social development in the Philippines,” Globe Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications Ma.

Yolanda C. Crisanto was quoted in a statement as saying. Crisanto added the firm is banking on Ashoka’s help to identify startups for the telecommunications firm’s program for small ICTbased companies.

According to Crisanto, the firm is looking for individuals or groups with at least “a working prototype of their solution to issues on health and well-being, learning and education, climate change, and peace and security in response to UN Sustainable Development Goal 9”.

The latter calls for investment in infrastructure and innovation to find lasting solutions to both economic and environmental challenges.

Ashoka Board Chairman Rico Gonzalez was quoted in the statement as saying they believe “collaboration is the key to create an enabling ecosystem for social innovation in the Philippines”. “ We know that technolog y plays a key role in our future in its ability to connect people and increase access to information,” Gonzalez added. Rizal Raoul Reyes

Geniuses Wanted: NASA challenges coders to speed up its supercomputer

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Jazz up with Cherry Mobile Flare J1

T

HE year 2017 is all about going bigger, better and bolder. While you’re planning to tick off goals from your bucket list, going beyond your safest zone, or living the life you’ve always wanted, make sure to jazz up with the latest upgrade of Cherry Mobile Flare J1 2017.

Carrying a price tag of P2,699 ($54.13), t he C her r y Mobi le Flare J1 2017 is a 5-inch mobile device equipped with a 1 gigabyte (GB) random access memory (R AM) and 8GB internal storage, which can be expanded to 32GB via microSD. It has an 8 megapixel (MP) rear and 5 MP front cameras.

By Jacey Fortin

New York Times News Service

A

RE you a computer programmer with an eye for aeronautics? Get in touch with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). They could use your help. To improve the performance of one of the world’s biggest supercomputers, the agency is crowd sourcing some new ideas about an old coding language.

And if the prestige of Nasa is not enough of a draw, there are cash prizes to be had, totaling up to $55,000.

Here is the agency’s online pitch: “Nasa is looking for qualified people who can download the FUN3D code, analyze the performance bottlenecks and identify possible modifications that might lead to reducing overall computational time.” In particular, the aeronautics division is interested in improving its work in “computational fluid dynamics”.

Got all that?

Decades old

PUT more simply, a supercomputer called the Pleiades has a program that creates simulations of complex things, like the airflow, through the spinning blades of a helicopter, and Nasa wants it to run more efficiently. But the program’s predominant coding

language, Fortran, is decades old.

Researchers sometimes have to wait days or even weeks to get an output from the Pleiades, said Michael Hetle, a Nasa executive who works on aeronautics research.

With better code, the computer might be able to spit things out more quickly. “This is the first time we’ve had a challenge like this,” Hetle added. “And so far, we have quite a bit of interest.”

The contest is a cost-effective way for Nasa to solve a problem, said Allen Downey, an author and computer science professor at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. “You can get a lot of people to effectively contribute a lot of time,” he said.

“And they can end up being very inexpensive for the person who runs the project.”

There are two separate contests on the table. One calls for big-picture, strategic ideas to re-envision the code, with prizes up to $20,000. The other calls for tactical changes that might increase efficiency, with up to $35,000 in cash prizes on offer.

Self-taught

DANIEL Merlino, 30, is going for both, and he is willing to put in some long hours whether he wins. He likes a challenge, he said.

Last week Merlino, a computer science student at the University

of North Texas, came across a BBC News story about the Nasa request. He said he does not know Fortran yet but has taught himself other programming languages in the past.

“It’s our responsibility as students to continuously search for these types of situations,” Merlin said. “And stagnation in the technology industry doesn’t really work for you, so you always have to push forward.” Nasa has used crowdsourcing before. It asked members of the general public to come up with ways for astronauts to exercise in space in 2015, and do laundry in microgravity in 2010.

Last year it even held the Space Poop Challenge, which sought a mechanism for astronauts to take care of important business without shedding their spacesuits.

But this new challenge stands out, Hetle said, because it requires in-depth knowledge of programming codes and algorithms. The winning entry could revolutionize the way scientists use the Pleiades. The supercomputer in question does not look that glamorous.

Found inside the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, it consists of rows and rows of units that look a lot like high-tech vending machines.

Powerful computer

BUT in fact, the Pleiades—named

for one of the more conspicuous star clusters in the night sky, which was, in turn, was named for seven sisters in Greek mythology—is one of the most powerful computers on earth.

And while it does its numbercrunching just fine, it could stand to go a little bit faster. That means improving FUN3D, a software program that uses the Fortran coding language first developed in the 1950s.

Though it is old, the Fortran code used by the Pleiades has gone through several versions over the decades, getting more sophisticated each time. And the Fortran language remains popular in some circles, especially among scientists, because it is uniquely suited to work with algebraic algorithms of the sort that apply to physical motion, Downey said.

Merlino, the computer science student, is more familiar with newer languages, like SQL and Python.

But he said this challenge would be a useful learning experience, for the applicants and for Nasa itself. “Gaining other viewpoints and perspectives can be very useful for any type of programming project,” he said. Coding enthusiasts who want to try their hand at the challenge have until June 29 to apply, though they must be US citizens over age 18. The winners will be announced in August.

The Flare J1 2017 is also fitted with a 2300 mAh removable battery. Rizal Raoul Reyes

This photo, courtesy of Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Laguna, shows students Jasmine Pearl Raymundo, Christian Lou Cepe and Rochel Reyes from (fourth, fifth and sixth from left, respectively) from LPU Laguna, during the recent awarding ceremony of the Microsoft Imagine Cup Southeast Asia Finals. The students, called Team Opticode, will represent the Philippines in the global leg of the contest.

Team Opticode to represent PHL in global leg of Microsoft’s contest

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IN an undated handout photo, the Pleiades, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) supercomputer— isn’t working as quickly as it could. So Nasa is offering cash prizes to programmers with fresh ideas. Dominic HartNASA via The New York Times

A11

HE local office of Microsoft Corp. has announced three students of Lyceum of the Philippines University, Laguna, will be representing the Philippines at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2017 World Finals to be held in Seattle this July.

The three, known as “Team Opticode”, are Christian Lou Cepe, Jasmine Pearl Raymundo and Rochel Reyes. As second runner-up in the Southeast Asia Finals, Team Opticode qualified for the World Finals with their mobile app “Minerva”, which was designed to improve the quality of life of those with visual impairment.

Using various cognitive services running on Microsoft Azure, Minerva identifies objects in the immediate environment of users. After pointing their smartphone cameras at a box of cereal, for instance, the app will describe this aloud using the phone’s speakers.

“The country is full of bright young minds, and Team Opticode represents the best of our present crop of budding technologists,” Microsoft Philippines Managing Director Karrie Ilagan was quoted as saying. “With this level of talent, we’re confident that the Philippines will emerge as a leading example of how digital transformation can be used to improve the people’s lives and provide better social opportunities.”

This latest milestone comes alongside an accelerating adoption of digital technology in both the public and private sectors in the Philippines. Following the establishment of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the government announced a “cloud-first policy” for all national and local government offices.

Team Opticode will be joined at the global rounds by Team CIMOL from Indonesia and

Team HeartSound from Singapore, who were awarded as champion and first runner-up of the Southeast Asian leg, respectively. They will also be joined by four other student teams from across the region, all of whom were recognized for their efforts to push the boundaries of human invention.

Team CIMOL won for their Hoax Analyzer Web-based app, which aims to combat the proliferation of fake news. The app is capable of identifying if certain contextual information can be categorized as hoaxes or not.

Team HeartSound invented the S3, a smart-wearable device that combines the function of a stethoscope and an electrocardiography machine. The device actively monitors the wearer’s heartbeat and flags any abnormality wirelessly to a doctor so that patients can receive further checkups or treatment without delay.

The Imagine Cup World Finals will gather more than 50 students teams from all over the world, all vying for the top prize of $100,000 (P4.986 million), mentorship opportunities with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, as well as Azure grants and credits to bring their winning solution to the market.

In all, Microsoft will sponsor a total of seven teams to bear the standard for Southeast Asia at the World Finals this July, putting the breadth and depth of creativity and innovation in Southeast Asia youth on full display in front of the world.

“It’s been a long road for Team Opticode in getting to the World Finals, but their accomplishments in the local and regional legs show that Filipino students stack up very well against the best in the world,” Ilagan said. Rizal Raoul Reyes

briefs

Samsung’s unlocked S8 makes it easier to switch wireless carriers

NEW YORK—Samsung is making it easier for consumers to switch wireless carriers by offering an unlocked version of its Gala x y S8 phone. Phones sold by carriers are sometimes locked to a carrier’s network, meaning it might not work when customers switch to a rival or get a separate phone plan when traveling abroad. Another advantage with having an unlocked version: The phone won’t come cluttered with carrier-specific apps, many duplicating functions available elsewhere. Samsung is selling the 5.8-inch S8 phone for $725 and the 6.2-inch S8 Plus for $825. AP

Microsoft: 500M Windows 10 devices, half of 2018 goal

SEATTLE—Microsoft says a half-billion devices are now running Windows 10, its latest operating system. That’s up from 400 million disclosed last September, but far short of a goal of 1 billion by 2018. Microsoft has already acknowledged it won’t hit 1 billion in time. Getting halfway has taken nearly two years. Windows 10 represents a comeback for Microsoft after a disastrous Windows 8 launch and heav y competition from phone systems, such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. AP

Facebook says it found faster way to translate through A.I.

NEW YORK—Facebook says its researchers have found a new way to use artificial intelligence (AI) to translate material on its social network faster and more accurately. This could mean Facebook users eventually seeing ever ything translated immediately into their preferred language, not just post but videos too. AP

BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, May 13, 2017

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Advocate downplays foreign biz’s role in PHL telco sector

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

I

@brownindio

NSTEAD of allowing foreign telecommunications players to operate with a 100-percent ownership in the country, an information communications technology and civil-rights group urged the government to push for open-access to help improve the services in the country.

Pierre Tito Galla, cofounder and coconvener of Democracy.Net.Ph, cautioned the public that allowing 100-percent equity to foreign players is not going to be the so-called silver bullet to solve the numerous challenges being faced by the industry. Furthermore, Galla pointed out that the new players do not need to enter the market offering the whole package of services.

“The idea of 100-percent foreign ownership as the magic bullet to entice new players is related to the trap of thinking of a telecommunications entities to be large, vertically integrated giants that

are too big to fail,” Galla told the BusinessMirror. “This is why we support and promote the concept of open access, where new players need only to compete in their chosen telecommunications segment, e.g., backbone, middle mile, last mile or content, rather than having to compete across the board.”

Galla added his group supports the opening up of the telecom industry to more competition, because it can deliver good things toward increasing service quality, increasing accessibility, reach, and penetration and lowering cost of access and service. The activist-engineer reiter-

ated Democracy.Net.Ph supports initiatives such as the open-access bill, spectrum refarming, reallocation, dynamic spectrum management and periodic franchise reviews to promote competition.

“With an open-access bill, a new player would not need such a large amount of investment, and 100-percent ownership could even be irrelevant, because with such a law the new player could choose to compete only in a segment and not enter as a vertically integrated giant,” Galla said. “Should the open-access bill be enacted into law, a new player with $10 billion would have so large a war chest to compete, so much so that it would be more than enough.”

A leading executive of a major telecommunications and network provider recently said the Philippines might benefit from two companies operating, because this allows them to generate sufficient revenues to develop colossal capital expenditures for developing infrastructure.

Sean Gowran, president and country manager of telecommunications network operator Ericsson Philippines, said the presence of a duopoly is good enough to compel to continuously upgrade their infrastructure and services as they seek to dominate the market.

Furthermore, Gowran also expressed concern on the financial

challenge of a third player entering the market. He said a third player will have to invest around P500 billion just to keep pace with the two local telcos, “and take a respectable market share”.

Galla said the government must also advocate the use of TV white space, as well as other technologies, like satellite broadband, mesh networks and so on, to provide broadband access in unserved and underserved areas where the two dominant players refuse to provide service. “In fact, not only should the government push for it, but also push for widespread use of the general public of unlicensed spectrum, mesh networks and other community-based connectivity solutions, so that if the duopoly will not provide service, ordinary citizens will be empowered to create access opportunities for themselves,” Galla pointed out.

Meanwhile, Prof. Jan Carlo Punongbayan said the economic provision of the 1987 Constitution limiting foreign ownership to 40 percent must be amended to entice more investors to enter the country.

“There are certainly some sectors for which foreign restrictions are more understandable,” Punongbayan said in a Facebook message. “But, in general, as a rule, the restrictions shouldn’t be too stringent.”

In this May 5 photo, a Ziosk tablet displays an appetizer a customer can order at a Chili’s restaurant in Andover, Massachusetts. Restaurant chains are making it easier to order food with a few taps of the screen, so much so that you may lose sight of how much you’re spending. AP

Restaurants use technology to nudge us into spending more

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EW YORK—Restaurant chains are making it easier to order food with a few taps of the screen—so much so that you may lose sight of how much you’re spending.

The convenience that technology offers may make us less vigilant about how much we’re buying. Digital ordering also lets companies better track our spending habits, and may lead to increasingly personalized offers that are more likely to catch our attention.

Digital ordering helps you find more of the things you want, but it’s worth understanding the other side of the equation: Sometimes, technology is an opportunity to get you to spend more.

Domino’s

ABOUT 60 percent of Domino’s orders now come through the chain’s web site, app and other digital channels. And people tend to order more online than over the phone, said Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre—likely because they can browse the menu and take their time deciding. That can result in people getting another pizza topping, or adding sides. “They tend to upsell themselves,” McIntyre said of online customers.

Domino’s also has prompts during the ordering process. Once a pizza is ordered, for instance,

people might be asked if they want to “cheese it up,” or add drinks near checkout. Employees taking orders by phone are also encouraged to suggest extras—a tactic known as “upselling” or “suggestive selling.” But McIntyre says the human attempts aren’t as consistent. “The computer never feels rushed, the computer never feels rejection personally,” he said, noting that some employees might be shyer than others.

Chili’s, Olive Garden

TABLETOP tablets being used at some sit-down restaurants, which let people order food and pay for their meals, can have a similar effect. Ziosk, the company that makes the devices available at chains including Chili’s and Olive Garden, said restaurants see more orders of dessert and appetizers with Ziosk devices. Dessert orders also tend to have more coffees attached to them, Ziosk CEO Austen Mulinder said.

“The Ziosk will always remember to ask, ‘Do you want to add coffee to that?’” he said.

Most restaurants that use Ziosk devices use them to let people order appetizers, desserts and drinks. With entrees, Mulinder said it makes more sense for a server to take the order, rather than having people passing around a device. AP