Businessmirror May 25, 2019

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SEA OF CONTROVERSY EVEN AFTER LAUNCH, ISSUES CONTINUE TO SWIRL AROUND THE NAVY’S P18-B FRIGATE ACQUISITION PROJECT

SEEN behind a Philippine flag, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson anchors off Manila during a five-day port call along with guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy on February 17, 2018. AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

By Rene Acosta

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others say, may have precipitated the relief of the top Navy official from his post.

The issue centered on the Combat Management System (CMS) to be fitted with the BRP Jose Rizal and its sister ship BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) upon delivery in 2020 and 2022, respectively, at a cost of P18 billion—with their weapons systems as part of the whole package.

A CMS is considered as the “brain” of a military ship. It is at the heart of any naval vessel as it integrates the warship’s systems, including its weapons, sensors, communication and navigation, among others, which in the case of BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Antonio Luna are inferior, as Navy officials had originally held, thus impacting on their overall quality, capability

HE military may have inched closer to having its own brandnew and missile-capable frigates for the first time following Thursday’s launch in Ulsan, South Korea, of one of the two warships of such type that it had ordered from a South Korean contractor.

But as the warship, christened in advance as BRP Jose Rizal (FF150), touched water last week at the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the momentous

event, ironically, reignited a controversy that was supposed to have been settled last year—an issue confined to the halls of the Palace and the defense department that,

THE BRP Jose Rizal launched in South Korea, the frigate that is being built by Hyundai Heavy Industries for the Philippine Navy. PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE NAVY

and reliability.

PHL’s choice

WHILE acknowledging the “misunderstanding” on the systems for the frigates, Sam H. Ka, president and chief executive officer of HHI, tossed back the issue to defense and military officials, saying it was the Philippines that picked Hanwha’s CMS systems for the two warships and not the contractor.

“You just mentioned there was a misunderstanding. That was correct. I mean the description of the situation, because as far as I understand, there were two vendors on the master’s list in the CMS system,” Sam told journalists in a briefing in South Korea for BRP Jose Rizal’s launching. A transcript Continued on A2

Japan begins experiment of opening up to immigration

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Bloomberg Opinion

HILE in Tokyo earlier this month, I couldn’t help but notice how the city has changed. Where once it was rare to hear any language other than Japanese spoken on the street, now it happens constantly.

Most of this is due to the huge tourism boom—more than 30 million people now visit Japan every year.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.5220

YURYZ | DREAMSTIME.COM

By Noah Smith |

But obscured by that vast influx of guests is a longer-term trend. Tokyo is becoming a much more ethnically diverse city. I encountered black store clerks from the Netherlands and Africa, Chinese waiters at traditional Japanese restaurants, South Asian students staffing convenience stores, a white waitress at Starbucks, a Korean restaurant run by Southeast Asians.

These are anecdotes, but there’s data to back them up.

In 2018, 1 out of 8 young people turning 20 in Tokyo wasn’t born in Japan. That doesn’t even count the people who were born in Japan but aren’t ethnically

Japanese. Although Tokyo isn’t close to becoming a multiracial metropolis like New York City or London, the word “homogeneous” no longer fits the city.

Tokyo is an early harbinger of changes that are coming, albeit more slowly, to the rest of Japan.

The capital city’s diversity is in large part the result of Japan’s increasingly open stance toward immigration. Japan’s foreign-born population is still small compared to most other rich countries—a legacy of the highly restrictive attitudes and policies toward immigration that prevailed in past years. But since Shinzo Abe became prime minister Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4793 n UK 66.4823 n HK 6.6916 n CHINA 7.5991 n SINGAPORE 38.0815 n AUSTRALIA 36.2349 n EU 58.7248 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0066

Source: BSP (May 24, 2019 )

News

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A2 Saturday, May 25, 2019

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SEA OF CONTROVERSY Continued from a1

of the interview was provided to the BusinessMirror.

“We have dual vendors, we just recommended Hanwha to the clients in the Philippine side, and then finally, of course, some discussions [were made]. Finally, Hanwha was [chosen] by the Philippine side,” he added.

Sam said he does not see any “worse controversial issues between the client and the builder.” Instead, he said, the issues and arguments are on the HHI side, or on the two Korean companies; the other one is Hanwha, also a South Korean firm.

The “contract process was in the legally, right process,” he assured.

The statement of the HHI executive revived the question on the CMS—the choice and its supposed inferiority as compared to the other military systems available in the defense market— which was supposed to have been settled, highlighted by the decision to stick with Hanwha’s systems and, consequently, the relief of retired Vice Admiral Joseph Mercado from his post.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana relieved Mercado as chief of the Navy at the height of the controversy last year. He was allowed to retire from the service eventually.

Lorenzana charged Mercado with insubordination and pointed to him as the one blocking the frigate-acquisition project by pushing for and sticking to his “own preference” of CMS systems—that of the systems of the Dutch company Thales Tacticos.

Thales Tacticos vs Hanwha

WHEN the project’s contract was pushed by the HHI in 2017 up to last year following its signing in 2016, the Navy, under the leadership of Mercado, went for and defended Thales Tacticos’s CMS, the other vendor for the systems of the two warships.

Other than being the end user, the Navy had already evaluated the CMS being offered by Hanwha as the preferred contractor of HHI for the two frigates that it would build, and supposedly saw its weakness and its “inferiority” against the proven systems of the Dutch contractor, which is being used by modern navies around the world.

Thales Tacticos’s systems are being used and have been on board for years in every vessel—from small patrol craft to state-of-theart frigates and destroyers—in at least 23 navies in Asia, Europe and Latin America, including the US Navy. In contrast, Hanwha’s Naval Shield Integrated Combat Management System (NSICMS) is barely in operation with the South Korean Navy.

The Dutch systems are also compatible with the TDL (Tactical Data Link) 16, which is a C4ISTAR (command, control, communications, computers, information/in-

A DRAGON dance welcomes Wuhu, a Type 054A guided missile frigate, as it docks at Manila’s South Harbor for a four-day port call on January 17, 2019. Two other ships from the Chinese Naval Task Group, Handan, also a guided missile frigate, and Dongpinghu, a replenishment or supply ship, arrived with Wuhu in the second such visit of a China People’s Liberation Army Navy or PLAN, under President Duterte’s administration. The visit comes a few days after US and British warships conducted its first joint naval exercises near the contested Spratlys Group of islands in the South China Sea. AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

telligence, surveillance, targeting acquisition and reconnaissance) requirement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, while Hanwha’s NSICMS reportedly lags behind.

The South Korean company, however, said last year it was working to sport the tag.

Mercado and Navy officials held the view that without the TDL 16 mark, the two frigates would be nothing but sailing “white elephants” entailing an additional cost to upgrade even in their brand-new status.

The importance of the TDL in military warfare cannot be overly emphasized as it provides the fastest means of communication among interoperating forces—be it on sea, air and land or as a whole.

In pushing for Thales Tacticos’s systems, Mercado and other Navy officials believed that if the Navy has to be modernized, or to be upgraded in its capability, it has to get the best available product in the market, given the government’s support and the availability of money.

The officials said then that the Navy must not squander its chance to modernize by getting the best equipment available, noting that in the past, the military missed its

opportunity to modernize for lack of money, misplaced priorities and flawed planning, not to mention corruption issues.

Option

WHY Hanwha’s NSICMS ended up in the two frigates despite the strong objection of the Navy then under Mercado, thus delaying its implementation, was a murky issue. In the view of Magdalo Partylist Rep. Gary Alejano, however, it also happened because of HHI’s alleged “machinations” that were “tolerated by the government.”

He said that when HHI bagged the contract, it offered the Navy two choices for the CMS, that of Hanwha and Thales Tacticos. The Navy picked the latter.

When HHI and the Navy met in September 2016 for discussions on the finalization of the contract, building specifications and the vessels’ general arrangement, both parties also agreed to include in the technical specifications that the CMS “shall be compatible to Tactical Data Link 16.” At that time, Mercado was still the commander of the Armed Forces Western Command based in Palawan.

Over that period and up to the signing of the contract in October

2016 and even up to the unceremonious axing of Mercado, the Navy insisted on getting Thales Tacticos and for the systems’ compatibility with TDL 16.

However, when the contract was signed, HHI had attached a document to the contract, containing a “disadvantageous provision,” which said that “the final selection of the maker to be shipbuilder’s sole right as long as the equipment/system shall fulfill the owner’s requirements in building specifications and other design and build aspects.” This, according to Alejano.

The attached document was signed by two HHI representatives, but lacked signatures from the Navy or any other Filipinos involved in the project.

The Navy perhaps knew then that being the project proponent or the end user, “it should dictate what it wanted and not the other way around.”

The Navy called the attention of the HHI on the provision, but it was told it has been consummated through the contract’s signing.

When Mercado became the Navy chief, the Navy’s position on the CMS issue did not change, thus stalling the start of the proj-

ect. This, Alejano said, prompted HHI to go to Malacañang through then presidential aide Christopher “Bong” Go. The latter had denied allegations of meddling and was promptly cleared by some legislators.

Everything then followed, including the relief of Mercado.

No corruption

DISMISSING any hint of corruption over the issue of CMS, the HHI said that had the Philippines expressed its preference for the systems of Thales Tacticos, then being the contractor, it would have considered it.

“Frankly speaking, you know what? If the client, even your government or the Department of Defense, or your Navy…told us that you like this, we could consider [that]…. But as I told you by the contract, we have a dual vendorship and we recommend to get approval from [the] buyer. That is normal process and I was told that it was done in that way,” Sam said.

The top executive of HHI said there had been “some cases in the Korean Navy” where Hanwha’s systems were supplied and were proven to have been “very good system and [of] good quality.”

“So according to the contractor, we have dual vendor(s), we just recommended Hanwha to the client in the Philippine side,” Sam said.

Proven builder

SAM said the capability of HHI as a builder of military vessels could not be questioned and its ships could not be even considered inferior to Chinese sea assets, if that would be a benchmark. In fact, he said, HHI has been building Aegis destroyers for the South Korean Navy.

“I saw the modernization program of our navy for long…we already built two Aegis destroyers for our navy and we are trying to build more units of a more updated Aegis destroyer, and we have been building some submarines, frigates, corvettes, many other different types of navy ships,” he said.

In closing, Sam said the quality of HHI’s ships is very close to the standards of the US Navy, and not Chinese Navy ships.

After all that has happened, Filipinos can only hope that beyond this sea of controversy, the frigates will perform as expected and thus give the military a badly needed boost in its long, difficult march to modernization.

Japan begins experiment of opening up to immigration Continued from a1

at the end of 2012, the number of foreign-born people working in the country has expanded steadily.

The government reckons that there are now about 2.73 million foreigners living in the country— a 6.6-percent increase over the previous year, even as the overall population shrinks rapidly.

In recent years, the Abe administration has adopted major changes that will probably sustain the influx of immigrants. In 2017 Japan implemented fasttrack permanent residency for skilled workers. In 2018 it passed a law that will greatly expand the number of blue-collar work visas, and—crucially—provide these workers with a path to perma-

nent residency if they want it.

These changes thus represent true immigration, as opposed to temporary guest-worker policies (despite the common use of the term “guest worker law” to describe the new visas). In time, it will mean a more ethnically diverse Japanese citizenry. Permanent residents are allowed to apply for Japanese citizenship after five years. Some foreigners will also marry Japanese nationals, and their children will thus be citizens as well. Since the new law prevents visa holders from bringing families with them to Japan, many of the new workers will likely be single people looking for spouses, making them more likely to marry locals.

While this new immigration will help keep Japan’s economy

and pension system afloat, it will inevitably introduce social strains. Unlike the US, Canada and other nations whose populations are mainly a hodgepodge of the descendants of recent immigrants, Japan has little history of mass immigration. The one major recent episode of immigration was the movement of Koreans to Japan during the Japanese colonization of Korea and later during the Korean War. Due to Japan’s lack of birthright citizenship, the descendants of those immigrants have become a racialized minority, speaking no Korean but bearing Korean passports. Discrimination against these people, sometimes called Zainichi Koreans, was severe for decades, and though it has decreased substan-

tially in recent years, a far-right fringe has emerged to persecute and slander the Zainichi.

Abe, despite being a conservative on foreign policy issues, has not tolerated these groups.

In 2016 Japan passed its first law against hate speech, which is now being used to prosecute members of this group.

But the episode shows that Japanese society probably won’t be immune to the waves of nativist populism that have rocked Western countries in recent years.

If even ethnic Koreans—who are generally physically indistinguishable from ethnic Japanese people—face persecution, people of visibly different racial groups may encounter even more.

An early sign of such tensions

emerged in 2015, when a beautypageant winner who was ethnically half Japanese and half black became the center of an online controversy, with some criticizing her for not being Japanese enough and others leaping to her defense.

For now, the racial purists have generally been shouted down, and a half-Indian woman won the Miss World Japan pageant in 2016 with little backlash. But as the number of mixed and minority people in Japan becomes more prominent, the rightists can be expected to return with fresh rage.

More generally, Japan’s institutions are not used to coping with foreign and minority residents. Unlike in the US, where English as a Second Language classes are widely available, Ja-

pan has few classes to assist non-native speakers to catch up in Japanese fluency. Nor do Japanese cities have many official celebrations of immigrant culture or contributions.

So Japan is beginning a major and unprecedented exercise, similar in some ways to the experiments embarked on by many European countries. Japan is still far from being a diverse country, but it’s no longer quite right to call it homogeneous. The next two or three decades will reveal whether the country’s culture and institutions will be able to learn from Europe’s experience and manage a smooth transition, or whether immigration will spark a nativist backlash that closes the country off once again.

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US-listed Chinese stocks tumble at fastest pace since 2008 crisis

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HE worsening trade war is driving the steepest sell-off in Chinese shares traded in the US since the global financial crisis.

The S&P/BNY Mellon China ADR Index has plunged 15 percent in May, putting it on track for its worst monthly performance since October 2008. Social-media firm Weibo Corp., online media company Sina Corp. and Internet search firm Baidu Inc. have all declined more than 30 percent. Losses aren’t confined to the US—in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese firms is down almost 10 percent, the worst performance among major global benchmarks.

The scale of the rout shows how tainted Chinese assets have become since the Trump administration stepped up pressure against Beijing this month by imposing tariffs and taking steps to limit the country’s access to key technologies. Just three weeks ago the S&P/BNY Mellon’s ADR index was nearing a ninemonth high, while the Shanghai benchmark’s first-quarter rally was its best start to a year in a decade.

The timing of the slump is bad news for investors who track MSCI Inc.’s global benchmarks. The index compiler is increasing weightings of Chinese mainland-listed companies in its gauges, which are already heavily dominated by overseas-traded Chinese firms.

Chinese companies have contributed to more than a quarter of this month’s declines on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, led by Tencent Holdings Ltd. A slumping yuan is adding to investor pain by reducing the value of Chinese company earnings when converted into dollars. The onshore Chinese currency is down 2.5 percent this month, while the offshore rate is 2.8 percent lower.

There is so far little sign that things will get better quickly. China blamed Washington for wrecking trade talks and insisted the US must alter its “wrong practices” before negotiations can resume.

“China’s stance on the talks has been clear—if the US wants to resume talks, they should show sincerity and correct their wrong practices,” Ministry Spokesman Gao Feng said in Beijing on Thursday.

The same day, President Donald Trump described China’s Huawei Technologies Co. as “very dangerous,” even as he said it could be included in some kind of trade deal with Beijing.

His administration also proposed tariffs on goods from countries found to have undervalued currencies, which could broaden Trump’s trade salvos.

The Hang Seng China gauge is on track for its worst monthly drop since January 2016, with selling momentum at its most intense in 11 months.

Among the laggards is Air China Ltd., down more than 20 percent in May. China Tower Corp Ltd.—a key player in the country’s next-generation telecom networks—has lost 18 percent.

The race for 5G supremacy has also been a contentious factor in China’s relationship with the US. Bloomberg News

Deadly Jakarta riots revive fears of religion-fueled killing Sluggish growth

A FORMER furniture salesman, Jokowi’s hands-on approach and public engagement won over Muslim and ethnic groups. But the president’s failure to deliver the 7-percent economic growth rate he promised and the rise of increasingly assertive Islamic groups put a strain on the country’s motto, “unity in diversity.”

“It’s an election year, and that alone could cause chaos in any country, but it is unfortunately the case in Indonesia that it has used religious issues for political pandering,” said Gayle Manchin, vice chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The issue came to a head in 2017 when Jokowi’s ally, Christian Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was found guilty of insulting Islam, drawing thousands of hard-liners to the court. He was sentenced to two years in jail.

The Jakarta riots in pictures

IN a country where 90 percent of the nearly 270 million population is Muslim, Prabowo tapped discontent within the religious community during the election campaign, cultivating his image as a pious Muslim and offering protection for those with the extreme views. He attacked Jokowi for his pluralism.

“Prabowo has made an already polarized community exposed—there’s some elevation of hostility between the two groups that has not been seen before,” said Achmad Sukarsono, a senior analyst at Control Risks.

Muslim interests

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PROTEST in Jakarta on May 22 DIMAS ARDIAN/BLOOMBERG

NDONESIA’S capital, Jakarta, was returning to normal on Friday as traffic returned to the center following two nights of deadly clashes between protesters and police that left seven dead and hundreds injured.

The subdued mood in what is normally a frenetic and noisy urban sprawl of more than 30 million people belies a polarization in the country that has been building steam for years.

The pressure boiled over on Tuesday night in a wave of political violence that hasn’t been seen in the city in decades.

The trigger was the reelection of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who defeated his archrival Prabowo Subianto for a second time.

Underlying the face-off between the two are tensions over religion, the military and the distribution of money and power that have racked Indonesian politics for decades.

Tens of thousands of police and soldiers remain on high alert three days after the election commission declared Jokowi winner of last month’s election with 55.5 percent of the votes in a process observers say was free and fair.

That wasn’t enough to stop Erny Pra satyawaty from traveling more tha n an hour from the suburb of Depok to join thousands of others on the street in support of the defeated opposition candidate.

“There is no justice and honesty,” said

Prasatyawaty, 47, secretary-general of Wanita Militan Indonesia, a volunteer women’s group that supports Prabowo. “Massive fraud occurs.

We only demand that the system be run fairly, democratically.”

Stoking discontent

PRABOWO—a one-time army general and former son-in-law of former dictator Suharto—won nearly 70 million votes, many from traditionally conservative Muslim areas. He set the stage for discontent among supporters when he declared earlier this month that the election was fraudulent. He’s expected to follow that up on Friday with an official appeal to the Constitutional Court, something he tried unsuccessfully after his 2014 loss.

“He has this audibility to turn the dial up, but not to dial it down,” said Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Southeast Asian politics. “Prabowo’s coalition was broader than just his onus. There are a lot of people in that crowd who really believe Prabowo won the election.”

Modi surges to victory in India polls on Hindu-first platform

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Saturday, May 25, 2019 A3

EW DELHI—Charismatic but polarizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi surged to a landslide victory in Indian elections, propelling his Hindu nationalist party to back-to-back majorities in parliament for the first time in decades.

With most of the estimated 600 million votes counted by early Friday, Modi’s reelection mirrored a trend of rightwing populists sweeping to victory, from the United States to Brazil to Italy, often by promoting a tough security stance and protectionist trade policies. India’s elections were seen as a referendum on Modi’s Hindu-first politics, which critics say have bred intolerance, as well as his muscular stance on archrival Pakistan, with whom India nearly went to war earlier this year.

“India wins yet again,” Modi exulted in a tweet.

Election Commission data by Friday morning showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party winning 287 out of the 525 seats in the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of Parliament,

well beyond the simple majority to form a government. Top rival Indian National Congress won 50 seats but lost one held by party President Rahul Gandhi, the scion of modern India’s most powerful political dynasty.

The All India Trinamool Congress led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee won 19 seats. Results were not in for 42 seats, and the final tally was not expected until later Friday.

Addressing thousands of party workers celebrating the outcome, Modi urged the world to “recognize India’s democratic power.” He attributed the party’s showing to his policies aimed at improving the lot of the nation’s poor, including free medical insurance, relief for distressed farmers and a highly popular program to build 100 million toilets in a nation where basic sanitation is limited.

The election victory was a resounding endorsement of the 68-year-old Modi, whose economic reforms have had mixed results but whose background as a social un-

derdog from a lower-caste Hindu family clearly inspired some in India’s highly stratified society, appealing to tens of millions of Indians seeking upward mobility. Critics have said his Hindu-first platform risks exacerbating social tensions in the country of 1.3 billion people.

Since Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in 2014, Hindu mobs have lynched dozens of Muslims and lower-caste Dalits for consuming or slaughtering cows, which Hindus consider sacred.

Modi has largely shown complacency toward violence and discrimination against minorities, and to rhetoric like that of his party’s president, who called mainly Muslim Bangladeshi migrants to India “termites,” or one of BJP’s candidates for parliament, who described peace activist Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin as a“patriot.”Activists, lawyers, journalists and academics have been harassed and even prosecuted under anti-terrorism and anti-sedition laws that Human Rights Watch calls draconian. AP

While many set out to protest peacefully, photographs and video show others arrived in droves deep into the night armed with rocks and bamboo sticks, escalating clashes with police into a violent confrontation with tear gas and rubber bullets that saw more than 250 protesters detained. National Police said on Thursday that there was evidence some rioters were supporters of Islamic State, without giving details.

The unrest far outstrips the relatively small protests by Prabowo supporters when he lost in 2014. Then, Jokowi had earned widespread popularity locally for his time as governor of Jakarta.

THE secular divide may force Jokowi to do more to placate Muslim interests as he tries to sell a proposed $400-billion infrastructure package to boost the economy. He picked Ma’ruf Amin, the country’s most senior Islamic cleric, as his running mate in the election.

Sukarsono said further concessions could include greater restrictions on alcohol, prioritizing projects that benefit Muslims, advancing Shariah finance and enforcing Halal labeling on consumable products.

Jokowi must “combine the economic plans with the necessity to negotiate with different forces in the country, and you cannot deny the ties of the Muslim population in Indonesia—you have to be able to address the needs of the majority population first,” Sukarsono said. Bloomberg News

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11 top-notch start-ups to represent PHL in InnoVEX 2019

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FTER the country’s successful participation in the Slingshot Philippines Startup Pavilion and Delegation at InnoVEX 2018, 11 start-up companies will represent the Philippine start-up community in InnoVEX 2019 to be held from May 29 to 31, 2019, at the Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei City, Taiwan.

The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC)-Taipei, in cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) and QBO Innovation Hub, will bring the progressive start-ups and community builders that offer cutting-edge innovation in diverse and currently relevant fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, geospatial mapping, innovative housing solutions, cyber security, smart advertising and e-commerce, education, fintech, logistics, and data scienceenabled market research.

“We are very excited to support the Slingshot Philippines Startup Ecosystem Pavilion and Delegation at Innovex this year, given that technology innovation cooperation is one of our priority industry collaboration areas with Taiwan. Recognizing Taiwan’s strengths and global leadership position in electronics manufacturing and technology innovation and leveraging the Philippines’s substantial market-size, global market access, emerging innovation community and the creative talents of our globally sought-after human resource—the partnership between our startup communities

will be a win-win collaboration for the two next door neighbors in today’s changing economic and technology landscape,” Meco Chairman and Resident Representative Angelito T. Banayo said.

These 11 start-ups are Antipara Exploration, Container Living Philippines, Cryptors, Gypsy, Investagrams, JazzyPay, Mober, Qwikwire, Retailgate, Rumarocket and Senti.

Antipara Exploration offers automated-data analyses in their submarine geospatial mapping technologies for the maritime industry and marine environmental mapping. In a country-archipelago such as the Philippines with more than 7,100 islands, this is a crucial homegrown technology with many important applications.

Container Living Philippines has a modular-construction approach to offer modern housing solutions using shipping containers that are disaster-resilient and highly customizable to the client’s needs.

Cryptors offers a free mobile app that can detect and block hackers preying on free public Wi-fi platforms. They also revolutionized cyber-security trainings, making them available at very low rates compared to prohibitive market service fees.

Gypsy is a Philippine advertising technology platform, that offers advertisers, not only the market reach, but valuable datagathering technologies and hypertargeting solutions to effectively launch campaigns via proprietary-apps installed in tablets in ride-hailing services and public transportation alternatives.

Mober offers a mobile platform to easily find and book location-based, on-demand tailor-fit trucking and moving solutions for businesses and individuals, similar to how ride-hailing solutions do their businesses.

Investagrams is a one-stop shop platform that offers beginners guides and tips for individuals who want to invest in the stock market.

Investagrams offers monitoring of hundreds of stocks real time and the ability for users to engage on virtual trading transactions.

JazzyPay is a Philippine payment platform that offers efficient billing solutions for businesses from any part of the world, to bill their clientele. JazzyPay offers their services via their proprietary app, e-mail, SMS or other messaging platforms.

Qwikwire offers advanced business solutions such as Skas Property Management services, SAPintegrated billing and invoicing

systems, cross-border settlements via their own proprietary blockchain powered multi-listing engine. Qwikwire also offers a niche service catered to provide comprehensive real-estate solutions for brokers and property developers.

Retailgate uses its AI-powered solutions to help retailers gain competitive market intelligence through retail analytics. Employing artificial intelligence, they offer their platform to empower brick-and-mortar stores by providing access to AI-analyzed market information on customer traffic and dwell time, forecast demand levels, assess marketing effectivity and determine conversion rates.

Rumarocket developed its own AI-enabled algorithm that offers HR analytics and machine learning solutions for talent recruitment, management and retention for enterprises and companies in their HR and Recruitment functions. Rumarocket’s solutions are aimed ensuring meaningful impact on clients’ bottom line and strategic HR management.

Senti Techlabs offers its proprietary artificial intelligencepowered solutions to businesses for market and audience sentiment data collection and analyses, using

natural language processing and machine-learning processes.

“We are proud to have an impactful participation and excellent representation this year composed of the high-innovation, talent and creativity of the Philippine start-up community at Taiwan’s InnoVEX 2019, to showcase the diverse and cutting-edge solutions from our start-ups that aim to solve very current day-to-day problems,” DTI Trade Representative and Meco Director of Commercial Affairs Michael Alfred V. Ignacio said.

In addition to QBO Innovation Hub, another incubator-accelerator, Spring Valley Technology and Innovation Hub, located in Roxas City will join the Philippine delegation at InnoVEX. Spring Valley Technology and Innovation was created as a home for innovation and technology development both for local and international start-ups and technology developers in central Philippines. Spring Valley also partnered with the province of Capiz and the DTI to create Capiz’s Fablab and Innovation Center.

The Philippine-participants in this year’s event were selected following thorough selection criteria from a list of applicants after a call to participation was announced to the Philippine start-up community.

Exports of PHL gifts, décor segment continue to grow

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NITIATIVES to further boost the country’s gifts, décor and houseware are finally paying off as the Philippines continues to carve a niche in the international market as the preferred source of globally competitive, innovative and quality GDH products. Twentyeighteen trade statistics showed that while country’s total export sales went down, the GDH sector’s growth continue to shoot up with a 23.9-percent increase in exports from $166.54 million in December 2017 to $206.34 million in December 2018.

The continuous growth of the country’s GDH sector is largely

boosted by the collaborative efforts of the government and private sector stakeholders to further push the competitiveness of the industry through various initiatives such as industry policy interventions, product development, strengthening the supply chain and promotion activities.

A key promotion initiative was the relaunch of MA’I Lifestyle, the sector’s official brand, during the recently concluded 69th Manila FAME at the World Trade Center in Manila.

Conducted through the cooperation of five business support organizations (BSOs), namely the Association of Negros Producers, Home Accents of the Philippines Inc., Mindanao Trade Exposition Foundation, Philippine Chamber of Handicraft Exporters

THE staunch supporters and movers of the Philippine gifts, décors and houseware sector are shown during the MA’I Lifestyle relaunch at the 69th Manila FAME. Present are: DTI Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) Assistant Director Anthony Rivera, DTI-EMB Director Senen Perlada, Philippine Federation of Furnishings Associations (PhilFFA) Secretary-General Chiqui Veneracion, HAPI President Leah Reyes, ANP President Christina Gaston, PhilHHDA President Romeo Balderrama Jr., PCHEAI President Milagros Lacson, Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) President Robert Young, BOI OIC-Director Fe del Rosario, DTI-Citem Executive Director Pauline Suaco-Juan, Philippine Exporters’ Confederation Inc. (Philexport) President Sergio Ortiz-Luis and Philexport Vice President Leonor Abella.

and Artisans Inc. and the Philippine Lifestyle, Homestyle and Holiday Décor Association, the relaunch was a strategic move to spark brand recall for MA’I Lifestyle and further promote the Philippines as a primary source of reliable GDH products.

Upcoming initiatives to uphold MA’I Lifestyle were announced during the activity, including possible partnerships with the Department of Trade and Industry Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (DTI-Citem) and Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) in tapping

into new markets abroad by conducting missions and joining trade expositions. Likewise, seminars will be organized to help MA’I Lifestyle member-companies comply with international buying standards. Select MA’I products were also showcased at the Design Commune, one of Manila FAME’s special show features.

The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI), the country’s lead industry development and investments promotion arm, played a vital role in the conception of the MA’I branding for the Philippine

GDH sector with the development of the GDH road map. During the road map’s launch at the BOI’s Trade and Industry Development (TID) Updates forum back in July 2016, the need for the GDH companies to focus in building their corporate branding was raised.

The BOI, along with BSOs and concerned stakeholders worked together to build a unified brand for the Philippine GDH sector, which includes the creation of brand name, logo, tagline, and visuals that will be used for the GDH sector’s web

site, catalogue, and participation to international exhibitions.

MA’I was first unveiled to the public during the 66th Manila FAME in October 2016, following the conduct of nationwide branding workshops and consultation sessions spearheaded by the BOI and the GDH BSOs. For this year, the BOI will continue supporting the sector through partnerships with relevant agencies in identifying training opportunities that can further capacitate the industry.

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

Sports

BusinessMirror

Saturday, May 25, 2019

A5

RAPTORS GO UP, 3-2

By Andrew Seligman The Associated Press

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ILWAUKEE—Kawhi Leonard arrived in Toronto thinking he could pick up another championship to go with the one he already has.

One more victory, and he’ll play for another ring. And dominant performances like the one he put up on Thursday night are a big reason.

Leonard scored 35 points and the Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 105-99, to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

“I’m not afraid of the moment,” Leonard said. “This is what I work out for in the summer.

I’m just trying to win. It’s a matter of me being aggressive and don’t shy away from anything.”

Leonard was the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals Most Valuable Player when San Antonio won the championship in 2014. And he’s capping off his first season in Toronto after requesting a trade from the Spurs with quite a playoff run.

It includes the first buzzer-beater to win a Game Seven—a shot that took four bounces off the rim to knock out Philadelphia in the conference semifinals. And he has continued to dominate in the conference finals.

Leonard showed no obvious signs of the leg soreness that bothered him in Toronto’s victories in the previous two games, hitting the 30-point mark for the fourth time in the series. He had a career-high nine assists, made five 3-pointers and grabbed seven rebounds.

Fred VanVleet, whose son was born Monday, scored 21 points, hitting seven threes. Kyle Lowry added 17 as the Raptors put themselves in position to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time. A victory at home on Saturday would set up a matchup with two-time defending champion Golden State.

The Raptors battled out of an early 14-point hole, then got 15 points from Leonard in the fourth quarter to send the top-seeded Bucks to their first three-game losing streak of the season.

“He has been unbelievable in the playoffs with the Spurs as well,” Raptors Coach Nick Nurse said. “I can only say that he’s been really good. He gets stronger as the fourth wears on. He wants the ball and he wants to make the plays, and he seems to be making the right plays. You’re almost shocked when he pulls up at 15 feet and it doesn’t go in. He’s playing at both ends.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points for Milwaukee hours after being announced as a unanimous first-team, All-NBA selection.

“We’re not going to fold,” he said. “Come on, man. Best team in the league, man. We’re not going to fold. We’re going to go in and give it everything we’ve got. We can’t fold. We’re going to come back to Milwaukee being [ticked].”

Eric Bledsoe scored 20 and Malcolm Brogdon added 18 points and 11 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup.

“It’s first to four. We’ve got to go to Toronto, get a game. I think the group will be ready,” Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer said.

The Raptors were clinging to a

DURANT TO MISS GAME 1

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AKLAND, California—Kevin Durant won’t be ready to play in time for Game One of the National Basketball Association Finals on May 30.

The two-time reigning finals Most Valuable Player has yet to return to on-court work while recovering from a strained right calf.

Big man DeMarcus Cousins might be

healthy for Golden State’s series opener against either Milwaukee or Toronto.

“Potentially,” Coach Steve Kerr said on Thursday, “but it’s up in the air.”

The team reevaluated both players on Thursday, and they are expected to be ready at some point during Golden State’s fifth straight finals.

two-point lead in the closing minute after Khris Middleton drove around Leonard on the baseline for a lay-up.

Toronto was initially called for a shot-clock violation when Leonard missed a fadeaway jumper with 35 seconds left. That got overturned by a replay review, and Brook Lopez was called for a foul, instead, for bumping Marc Gasol after he retrieved the loose ball.

Gasol hit both free throws to make it 100-97.

Another replay review went in Toronto’s favor when officials determined a ball went out of bounds off Brogdon with 26.8 seconds left.

Brogdon pulled his hand away, thinking his dribble had gone off Pascal Siakam’s foot.

Siakam then drove for a dunk, making it 102-97, and the Raptors hung on from there.

Milwaukee was leading 81-79 with about eight-and-a-half minutes left when Leonard nailed back-to-back 3-pointers. He hit two free throws before Siakam threw down a put-back dunk to make it 89-81.

The Bucks tied it at 93-all with 2:44 left on a 3-pointer by Lopez.

VanVleet answered with one of his own before Antetokounmpo threw down an alley-oop dunk to cut it to 96-95 with just over two minutes remaining.

He was subbed out with 1:12 left in the game after twisting his ankle, but checked back in with 35 seconds to go.

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HE Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay Philippines continues to draw not only a stellar international cast but also another chief backer in Big Boss Cement (BBC) when it marks its fifth staging on June 2 in Subic Bay. A new player in the industry specializing in production of environment-friendly cement in the country, Big Boss Cement comes in as the event’s presenter at a time when local triathlon is enjoying tremendous boom with top-notch endurance races held regularly across the country the last decade or so.

Sunrise Events Inc., organizer of the biggest, premier triathlon races in the land, recently inked a four-year pact with Big Boss Cement as presenting sponsor of the CT Ironman 70.3 up to 2022.

“The growth of triathlon in the country has considerably increased over the past few years. With Big Boss Cement’s support, we are assured of the sport’s continued advancement in line with our commitment to promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos,” SEI General Manager Princess Galura said.

“Big Boss Cement represents innovation and environment conservation by producing super strong premier cement that is eco-friendly,” said BBC Vice President and long-time triathlete Ishmael Ordoñez. “The CT Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay will be a test of human endurance but to be enjoyed in the surrounding nature which Big Boss Cement aspires to preserve through its products.”

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THAI GRABS SHARE OF CLUBHOUSE LEAD T

HAILAND’S Namuangruk Kammalas gambled and lost on a key shot but recovered to salvage a 71 and gain a share of the clubhouse lead with three Taiwanese halfway through the Daan Taiwan Professional Golfers Association (TLPGA) Open at the Ching Chuan Kang Golf Club in Taichung, Taiwan, on Friday.

The weather considerably improved after a rainy on Thursday with half of the starting 144-player field completing their first round play early yesterday, including Kammalas, who gunned down three birdies in his remaining 11 holes to shoot a 68 for joint sixth, just two strokes behind joint leaders Wang Tsung-Chieh and Tseng Tzu-Hao of Taiwan.

With Wang and Tseng barely starting their second round play at press time, Kammalas, 27, took the provisional top spot at 139 with locals Lu Chien-Soon, Hung Chien-Yao and Wen ChangHsian, who carded 69, 71 and 72, respectively.

Starting off at the backside of the military layout, the Bangkok native actually went six-under with back-to-back birdies from No. 13 then bucked a double-bogey on the par-five 16th with birdies on Nos. 18 and 1. After a run of pars, he cracked a solid drive on the 530-yard No. 7, another par-5 hole that left him with just 280 yards into the wind for his second shot. He opted for a driver and overshot the green.

Out of bounds. He wound up with a bogey

Durant is making progress in the training room and with moves he is able to handle in the weight room, Kerr said.

“We’ve known all along, it’s how he responds.

There’s never been a point during this process where we’ve been able to say, ‘he’s going to play on such and such date,’ and there still isn’t, so we just keep going, keep moving forward,” Kerr said.“... But again, he hasn’t spent any time on the court with us, hasn’t gone through an individual shooting workout.” AP

Ironman 70.3 Triple Crown first leg offers whopping P3M goes to Subic WHOPPING P3-million pot will be up for grabs when eight of the country’s finest horses, led by favorites Obra Maestra and Real Gold, mix it up in the first leg of the most prestigious racing extravaganza for three-yearold horses—the Philippine Racing Commission’s (Philracom) Triple Crown series on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

The champion horse of the first leg gets the lion’s share of P1.8 million, with the runnerup and the third placer taking P675,000 and P375,000, respectively. The fourth placer receives P150,000 while P100,000 will go to the

TORONTO’S Kawhi Leonard shoots against Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez during the second half of Game Five. AP

breeder of the winning horse.

“We are very excited with the coming first leg of the Triple Crown because of the caliber of the local horses participating in this year’s event with the eventual winner setting the pace for 2019. The horse that wins will not only earn its place in history, but will set the bar for the succeeding legs in the following months. We wish all the runners the best of luck!” Andrew Sanchez, Philracom chairman, said.

The overwhelming picks to snatch the title away are C&H Enterprises’s Rel Gold and

NAMUANGRUK KAMMALAS salvages a 71 halfway through the Daan Taiwan Professional Golfers Association Open.

and Leonardo Javier Jr.’s Obra Maestra, the undefeated Horse of the Year and Champion 2YO of the Year by the Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners after earning P3.48 million in prizes in 2018.

Standing in the way of the two are are Boss Emong (jockey JT Zarate, owner Edward Vincent M. Diokno); JAYZ (Ja Guce, SC Stockfarm Inc.); My Jopay (RD Raquel Jr., Moises B. Villasenor); My Shelltex (JB Hernandez, Antonio V. Tan, Jr.); Toy for the Bigboy (JB Cardova, Alfredo Santos) and Westeros (AR Villegas, Juan Miguel D. Yulo).

and missed seizing the solo lead.

“I just felt I could do it since I was coming off two birdies linking the nines,” said Kammalas, who placed joint third in his pro debut in the kickoff leg of the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) Asia’s third season at Luisita last month.

Lu, meanwhile, used a strong backside start of three birdies in the first five holes to fashion out a 36-33, Hung broke a slew of backside pars and overcame a bogey on the sixth with two birdies in the last three, the same finish dished out by Wen as the locals stayed on course on defending their turf against the PGT Asia bets in the $100,000 championship put up by ICTSI and coorganized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. Jay Bayron, who groped for form with a 38 before play was stopped due to darkness on Thursday, hit two birdies at resumption to save a 72. But with hardly a rest, the lone Filipino entry in the first PGT Asia event overseas struggled and lost steam, fumbling with three bogeys against two birdies to finish with a 73.

From joint 38th after 18 holes, the Davaoeño ace fell to a provisional share of 49th with a oneover 145 total with the cutoff (top 50 plus ties) pegged at even par with still a number of players still to complete their second-round play.

“Sayang. I was feeling good after completing my first round. But I missed a number of greens and putts at resumption,” said Bayron, who birdied Nos. 13 and 15 to go even par after the first round.

He actually birdied the par-five 13th for the second time but bogeyed the next and dropped two more strokes on Nos. 3 and 6 before birdying the seventh. He also flubbed a birdie putt from close range on the ninth.

Italian snares 1st stage win as professional

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INEROLO, Italy—Cesare Benedetti won the 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday for his first victory as a professional while Jan Polanc took the overall leader’s pink jersey from UAE Emirates teammate Valerio Conti.

Benedetti, an Italian with the Bora team who has been a support rider for his entire career, was part of an early breakaway then accelerated from a select group of riders in a sprint finish.

“I’ve worked a lot for the others in the past, but today I got my opportunity,” Benedetti said.

“I’m not [usually] a winner.”

Benedetti required three hours and 41 minutes to complete the 158-kilometer leg from Cuneo to Pinerolo, which featured one major climb and another shorter but steeper ascent just before the finish.

Damiano Caruso crossed second and Eddie Dunbar came third, each with the same time as Benedetti. Polanc, a Slovenian who was also in the breakaway, finished 25 seconds behind.

CYCLISTS pedal past cheering spectators during the 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday. AP

In the overall standings, Polanc leads Primoz Roglic by four minutes and seven seconds.

Vincenzo Nibali, one of the prerace favorites, is fifth overall, 5:51 behind.

“It was a team tactic that I would go in the breakaway so we could have a better control over the race,” Polanc said. “It was also a way to keep the pink jersey in the team.”

Mikel Landa and Miguel Angel Lopez attacked on the first-category climb to Montoso and gained about 30 seconds on the other overall favorites.

Before the stage began, sprinters Caleb Ewan and Elia Viviani withdrew from the race. Ewan won two stages, including the 11th leg a day earlier, while Viviani posted three second-place finishes.

Stage 13 on Friday is one of the race’s toughest, with two category one climbs and one category ascent, along with an uphill finish at the end of the 196-kilometer leg from Pinerolo to Ceresole Reale. AP

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BusinessMi

Saturday, May 25, 2019 | Editor: Jun Lomibao

QUEBEC PEOPLE

‘I’M PROUD TO BE SLOVENIAN’ NIBALI

Nibali irritated by Roglic’s defensive Giro d’Italia tactics

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HE wait for the showdown between Primoz Roglic and Vincenzo Nibali at the Giro d’Italia continued on the road to Pinerolo, but the first signs of a rivalry emerged after the finish, with the Italian clearly irritated by Roglic’s defensive riding and his refusal to help chase down attackers and potential overall contenders Mikel Landa and Miguel Angel Lopez.

“We all worked, except Roglic,” Nibali said with disapproval while at the Bahrain-Merida bus post stage. “I worked, Yates did turns, all the big guys in the move worked except him.”

Nibali acknowledged that Roglic has the right to race defensively but hinted the mountain stages will be a very different day on the saddle.

“He can do that because he’s got a decent lead. He knows he’s got the final time trial, too, and so he’s defending his lead but tomorrow will be more of a direct race off,” the Italian promised.

Stage 12 from Cuneo to Pinerolo was never going to see the heroics Fausto Coppi produced in 1949 because the 158-km stage included just the Montoso climb with 32 kms to race rather the legendary climbs of the Alps into France and then back into Italy.

The racing was more subtle, like the early round in a title fight. It was the antipasto to the main meal in the high mountains coming up in the next three days.

“It wasn’t a very hard stage, but it was difficult,” Nibali pointed out.

“It was a fast day, hard to understand. There were some interesting things going on. We gave a bit of space to Lopez and Landa, but in the end it was OK because all the best riders were chasing together behind,” he added.

Landa and Lopez had teammates drop back from the break of the day to help them try to gain time and move back up the overall classification after their attack on the Montoso climb. They gained 28 seconds but remain more than four minutes down on Roglic and two and half on Nibali.

Nibali, surprisingly, sent Damiano Caruso in the break of the day, perhaps as a tactical move to have a strong teammate up the road or just to try to win the stage.

Nibali was perhaps hoping to force Roglic and Jumbo-Visma to chase, but they refused to blink, much to his annoyance. Cyclingnews

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EFORE Jan Polanc could think about defending his maglia rosa, he was called upon to defend Slovenian cycling.

The UAE Team Emirates rider moved into the overall lead of the Giro d’Italia following Stage 12 from Cuneo to Pinerolo, leaving him more than four minutes ahead of fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), but their achievements have been overshadowed by the implication of some compatriots in the Operation Aderlass blood doping inquiry.

Last week, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced that Bahrain-Merida rider Kristijan Koren and directeur sportif Borut Bozic had been provisionally suspended for potential anti-doping rule violations uncovered by the investigation, which is centred on the activities of German-based doctor Mark Schmidt. Croatian rider Kristijan Durasek of UAE Team Emirates was also provisionally suspended by the UCI on the basis of information gleaned from the inquiry.

On Wednesday, the UCI confirmed to Cyclingnews that it has been following the activities of several Slovenian individuals since 2015, with Milan Eržen, the managing director at Bahrain-Merida, at the center of their attention.

Speaking via Bahrain-Merida, Eržen said that allegations of his involvement in Operation Aderlass were “absolutely false and unfounded.”

“I think it’s really sad this situation in Slovenia, especially with the good results we’ve had in the last few years,” Polanc said in Pinerolo on Thursday. “Since I was a kid, I’ve been in the team of my father, so I was never in contact with the team of the other guys. I’m proud to be Slovenian. I’m happy to be Slovenian. I’m happy to live in Slovenia. I can say it’s sad. I can’t tell you any more.”

Polanc began racing at age 12 under the tutelage of his father, Marko, who was a prominent rider in the former Yugoslavia. As an amateur, Polanc raced for the Radenska Continental squad (now Ljubljana Gusto Santic),

where his father was among the coaching staff.

The team’s recent alumni include Tour of California winner Tadej Pogacar, also of UAE Team Emirates.

Eržen was involved with the rival Adria Mobil Continental team, and Polanc said that he never had any connection to the man who was recently described

by Il Corriere della Sera as the Dominus of Slovenian cycling. Eržen later helped to establish the Bahrain-Merida team after serving as a triathlon coach to Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

“When I was racing in Slovenian teams, I saw him at the races, but I don’t have any connection with him because, as I said, I was always working with my father and not with him,” Polanc said of Eržen. “I think I have good support at home, I don’t need to go to other guys. My father is a good trainer, and he was also with me when I was a junior. I don’t have any connection with him [Eržen].

I know how he looks, for sure, but I don’t have any connection.”

Jumbo-Visma deny links between Roglic and Eržen Earlier on Thursday, Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Addy Engels insisted that Roglic had no links to Eržen despite racing for the Adria Mobil team from 2013 to 2015. “The fact reported in various media that this man is the discoverer of Roglic is incorrect,” Engels told AD. “Primoz has never had anything to do with him.”

Two Slovenian riders now lie atop the overall standings on the Giro. On Friday’s

JAN POLANC is riding for his flag and country.

mountainous leg to Ceresole Reale, Polanc will wear the maglia rosa that he inherited from teammate Valerio Conti after infiltrating the early break on the road to Pinerolo, while Roglic lies second overall, 4:07 behind.

These ought to be heady days for Slovenian cycling, but Polanc acknowledged that the news emanating from Operation Aderlass has cast a shadow over this recent period of success.

“Now there’s a black moment, but I hope that everything will be resolved, and a better moment for Slovenian cycling will come,” Polanc said. “Now people are thinking badly of Slovenia, but I’m here to ride for my team and give everything I can to race for my team. I’m proud to be Slovenian.” Cyclingnews

UCI: Tramadol testing program a success

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LMOST three months after the International Cycling Union (UCI) implemented their ban on the pain medication tramadol, the governing body says that it has undertaken over 100 tests across multiple events with all coming back negative.

According to a press release issued by the UCI on Wednesday, a total of 143 tests were taken on 117 riders. The tests, which were performed at 11 unspecified WorldTour events, were predominantly done following the race or stage. It was done separately to the usual postrace antidoping procedures and involved taking a small amount of blood from the rider’s fingertip. The blood was then examined at the Geneva University Hospitals’ Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Division.

UCI President David Lappartient called the new testing program a success.

“The in-competition tramadol testing program has entered its transition phase. I would like to thank the staff working on the ground for leading this program to a successful conclusion, as well as our scientific partners for their support. I would also like to thank the riders and teams who have shown a real desire to make this risk-reduction program in the peloton a success,” Lappartient said.

Tramadol has been a controversial issue in sport, but particularly in cycling, for almost a decade. The opioid painkiller can cause nausea, drowsiness and loss of concentration, and some have linked it to causing

A CYCLIST takes a break at the Saint Lawrence vista in Notre-Dame-du-Portage in Quebec as riders are flagged off for the Tour la Nuit, the annual Montreal bicycle festival’s night ride. AP

By Calvin Woodward

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MORE than a hundred tests have been completed in March.

crashes in the peloton. It is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) monitored list, and it has never been put onto its list of banned substances.

In a Wada report on testing figures from its 2017 monitoring programme, anti-doping controls taken in cycling showed evidence of tramadol in 4 percent of all samples, a rate ten-fold higher than any other endurance sport. The use of the drug has, however, been on the decline since discussions of its abuse began earlier in the decade.

Last year, the UCI announced its intention to ban tramadol on health and safety grounds, rather than for any performance-enhancing qualities that it might have. Saying in its recent press release that, “Among other objectives, these tests aim to reduce the risk of dependency on opiates.”

It had initially hoped they would be able to implement the ban on January 1, but had to delay it and did the first tests at Paris-Nice at the start of March. The UCI did not specify which other races that they had performed tests at, but there have been 19 WorldTour races since they implemented it—including Paris-Nice and the Giro d’Italia.

Sports doctor Prentice Steffen was one of those that had been calling for tramadol to be banned and welcomed the news of the first tests in March, but told Cyclingnews that they were just a piece of the puzzle in the fight against doping. “People are looking to smaller drugs for smaller advantages. This is just one piece in the puzzle and it’s about closing another loophole in a system that has a few holes in it,” he told Cyclingnews.

The UCI said that it would continue to test for the drug in multiple disciplines, and their World Championships, throughout the remainder of the season. Cyclingnews

The Associated Press

ONTREAL—In Montreal each spring, an epic bicycle festival demonstrates how 25,000 people can let the good times roll without bumping into each other too much.

In Quebec City and its hinterlands, cyclists plunge into a history shaped by French explorers, the Roman Catholic Church, aboriginal culture and British conquest. In Charlevoix, an island provides a perfect loop for lovers of quiet roads and eye-candy vistas of mountains you don’t have to climb.

Then there is the south shore of the St. Lawrence, where the panorama of river, sea, sky and flowers defines the magic of bicycling in Québec in ways that words cannot.

Those treats are mostly thanks to Route Verte, Quebec’s gift to the cycling world. It’s a vast network of trails and bike-friendly byways that is about to get another growth spurt. Quebec’s greenway stitches together wild places, pristine villages and a few buzzy cities in a rich, French-flavored tableau.

It’s the masterwork of Velo Quebec, the bicycling association and Route Verte’s steward.

Since 2013, I’ve gone to Quebec each year, often several times a year, to sample more segments of the network and return to the best. Sprawling over 5,300 kilometers or 3,300 miles, Route Verte is a handful to get to know, requiring more time than most people have and more legs than are under me. And the network will be undergoing its largest expansion in a decade with 900 more kilometers.

Within my geographic range of experience— Montreal east to the Gaspesie region and the Eastern Townships north to a lake trail lined with

wild blueberries—there are plenty of great tours.

MONTREAL BIKE FESTIVAL AND RAIL TRAIL

MONTREAL’S cycling culture turns into a rolling party at the Go Bike Montreal Festival, anchored by two family-friendly rides that close downtown streets to traffic and take over the city-island. The premier event, Tour de l’lle on June 2, typically draws 25,000 people on bicycles and countless more cheering them on from neighborhoods along the 50-kilometer (30-mile) route.

Music, dance and acrobatics (Quebec, home to Cirque du Soleil, specializes in the circus arts) are part of the mix.

Before the Sunday ride comes Tour la Nuit, which launches some 10,000 cyclists at sunset on May 31. This year, the cyclists will circle inside Montreal’s Olympic Stadium for the first time since “Chariots of Fire” greeted their arrival in the 1980s.

“It’s the wow moment for Tour La Nuit,” says Joelle Sevigny of Velo Quebec.

Nearby, the offroad P’tit Train du Nord rail trail runs 230 kilometers between the Montreal outskirts and Mont-Laurier on Route Verte 2. About half paved, half smooth crushed stone, the “little train of the north” trail offers well-spaced amenities, intriguing inns and a shuttle service.

THE BLUEBERRY TRAIL

VELOROUTE des Bleuets circles Lac Saint-Jean, a lake so big it resembles the sea. In late summer it makes good on its promise of wild blueberries for trailside scavenging. The lake circuit runs for 256 kilometers (160 miles) on trails, quiet roads, village pathways and occasional paved shoulders.

Signed as Route Verte 8, it meets the standards that are the hallmark of all designated routes in the network: Inns with Route Verte accreditation must offer healthy food choices and safe storage

More damaging questions compound Merida’s woes

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URTHER reports in Le Monde and Corriere della Sera have implicated Milan Erzen with the doctor at the center of the Operation Aderlass doping investigation.

Erzen is already under investigation with the International Cycling Union (UCI), with Cyclingnews confirming on Wednesday that the sport’s governing body was looking into the Bahrain-Merida managing director.

Erzen has denied any contact between himself and the UCI and on Wednesday and told Cyclingnews that “all and any implications regarding my involvement in Aderlass are absolutely false and unfounded.”

However, on Thursday, Le Monde reported

that information provided to them showed that the investigators at the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF)— the anti-doping arm of the UCI—had documentation that Erzen made contact with Mark Schmidt, via a Croatian intermediary, to purchase a centrifuge—a piece of equipment used in blood transfusions to separate red cells from plasma. Bahrain-Merida had no comment this morning in relation to the fresh allegations. The UCI have also not responded.

Schmidt was arrested in February at his office in Germany having been accused of running a blood doping network that stretched across Nordic skiing, cycling and other sports. Several of the athletes implicated came from Slovenia and

MILAN EZREN (right) is part of the Bahrain-Merida management.

irror CYCLING

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Saturday, May 25, 2019

C BECKONS E ON BIKES

Those treats are mostly thanks to Route Verte, Quebec’s gift to the cycling world. It’s a vast network of trails and bike-friendly byways that is about to get another growth spurt.

Quebec’s greenway stitches together wild places, pristine villages and a few buzzy cities in a rich, Frenchflavored tableau.

for bikes and tools while campgrounds must make room for cyclists even if full.

The route perfectly suits self-supported touring. But it’s also part of Velo Quebec’s summer extravaganza this year, the Grand Tour, a week of fully supported cycling.

THE RIVER/SEA

QUEBEC’S historic capital, like Montreal, has extensive bicycle paths for commuters and several of prime interest to visitors. Starting at the ferry terminal, the Promenade Samuel de Champlain path going west borders the riverfront for 12 kilometers, looping onto a narrow walkway on the bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence and joining with another trail in Levis. The Levis trail offers a spectacular view of Quebec City and a chance to return on the ferry, closing a 30-kilometer loop. Nature is nearby. The Jacques-Cartier trail runs more than 80 kilometers on stone dust through forest and meadow.

THIS is where I always go back to, no matter where else I go.

On Route Verte 1, spread over more than 2,000 kilometers cyclists can go along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence for a week or more, seeing the river widen going eastward into the wild beauty of the Gaspe Peninsula until the far shore disappears and the sea, somewhere, begins.

My hot spot is a day ride from the river road at Notre-Dame-du-Portage to Kamouraska and back, about 70 kilometers in all. In this wide panorama, the sky seems always etched with drama, as stormy sheets of rain and shafts of sun sweep over the mountains on the other side, the river churns in hues of brown and blue, and mist half swallows islands. The Kamouraska canola fields make for a brilliant yellow carpet and village homes—a kind of folk art in themselves—are lined with gardens. Sunsets are routinely extraordinary.

Croatia, as well as a number of other countries, with a total of 21 athletes identified as part of the doping ring.

Erzen was instrumental in setting up the Bahrain-Merida team, and although he is not listed as a member of staff on the squad’s web site, he is regarded as the key figure behind the scenes and regularly signs his e-mails as the managing director.

He trained the founder of the team— Prince Nasser ben Hamed Al-Khalifa—for a triathlon and has worked closely with the Prince in training his horses.

In total there are six Slovenian riders on the Bahrain-Merida team, plus head sports director and former rider Goradz Stangelj, sports director and former rider Borut Bozic, team doctor Marjan Korsic, and other staff.

Earlier this month the UCI moved quickly to

suspend Bozic and current Bahrain-Merida rider Kristijan Koren, along with Kristijan Durasek and Alessandro Petacchi, for their links to Operation Aderlass after details of the Europol police investigation were published

by Corriere della Sera and Le Monde.

Erzen has worked with a large number of professional riders from his native Slovenia, including Giro d’Italia race favourite Primoz Roglic, who raced for Eržen’s Adria Mobil Continental team between 2013 and 2015.

Last week, Roglic described the Slovenian connection to Operation Aderlass as “sad.”

Cyclingnews understands that the Bahrain-Merida management are currently considering their next steps. McLaren, who came on board as a major shareholder with a 50-percent stake in the team at the start

QUEBEC CITY AND RAIL TRAIL

ISLE-AUX-COUDRES

IN the mountainous Charlevoix region, cycling tours are for huffing-puffing people, but there’s an exception: a jewel of an island 15 minutes by car from Baie-Saint-Paul, an art and tourist hub. Isle-aux-Coudres is reached by a free car ferry. The road hugging the shore is 27 kilometers, and the scenery is stunning.

ESTRIADE

A WEB of bike trails and designated cycling routes connects cities, farmlands, vineyards and towns in the verdant Eastern Townships.

Among the trails, Estriade goes for 100 kilometers (60 miles) off-road, mostly paved and bordered by dozens of sculptures by international artists along a section.

The townships are a region of lakes, Victorian homes, orchards, covered bridges and resorts, maintaining a patina of England over a decidedly French-Canadian culture.

of the year, have not released an official comment on the story.

The team was set to have a shake up in management in the coming months, with Rod Ellingworth moving from Team Ineos.

This was unrelated to the Aderlass case, with Ellingworth set to take up control of the Bahrain-Merida team in the coming months. Last week Team Ineos confirmed that Ellingworth had left the team with immediate effect.

A Team Ineos spokesman said: “As was reported in mid-April, Rod Ellingworth has decided to move on. With the recent change of ownership of the Team, we have agreed with Rod that he can leave with immediate effect.

Everyone at the team thanks Rod for his service and contribution during his time with us.”

Cyclingnews

A7

CALEB EWAN: I am going home with a great feeling. AP

Ewan leaves Giro d’Italia early to prepare for Tour de France

C

ALEB EWAN has decided to take an early leave from the Giro d’Italia, on a high note after securing two stage wins, in order to adequately prepare for the Tour de France in July.

It was a successful Grand Tour for the Australian who captured his first victory on Stage 8 in Pesaro on Saturday and his second in Stage 11 in Novi Ligure on Wednesday.

“I am happy that I came to the Giro, the succession of the long and sometimes challenging stages will have done me good, condition-wise.” Ewan said in a team press release. “Of course, I am going home with a great feeling. I came into the Giro and I really wanted to win one stage. To get two is more than I expected, so I am really satisfied with that and I am happy with how the team rode as well.

Outside of his two stage wins, Ewan was also third in Stage 2 in Fucecchio, second in Stage 4 in Frascati, and was twice fourth in Stage 5 in Terracina and Stage 10 in Modena.

“I finished inside the top 4 on seven occasions,” Ewan said. “On day two, our lead-out was perfect, two days later I was beaten by a strong Carapaz in Frascati and on day eight, I

could raise my arms in the air for the first time.”

Ewan came to the Giro d’Italia with a strong support team that included Victor Campenaerts, Jasper de Buyst, Thomas de Gendt, Adam Hansen, Roger Kluge, Jelle Vanendert and Tosh van der Sande.

“This Giro was also very important to optimize the collaboration with Jasper de Buyst and Roger Kluge, and we certainly got the chance to do so,” Ewan said. “Besides, the rest of the team also cooperated very well.”

Ewan isn’t the only sprinter to leave the Giro d’Italia early. As the race heads into the mountains there will be few opportunities left for the fast men in the peloton.

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) won Stage 3 after Elia Viviani (DeceuninckQuick-Step) was relegated but he didn’t finish Stage 7, citing pain in his left knee.

Viviani decided to go home early having been unsuccessful at earning a stage win during this year’s edition.

Remaining in the race, however, are Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe). Both sprinters have won stages during the opening

week, and Démare now leads the points classification after Stage 11.

“I think it makes sense that the sprinters leave the Giro prematurely,” Ewan said. “From now on, there are virtually only tough stages left, so not very suited to us. I think that the organization prefers to have to best sprinters at the start. Although they do not finish the Giro, it still guarantees some nice battles in the flat stages.”

Following his Stage 11 victory, Ewan told the press that it was his most successful Grand Tour. He had previously won a stage of the Vuelta a España in 2015 and a stage of the Giro d’Italia while racing for Mitchelton-Scott in 2017, but he hasn’t raced a Grand Tour since.

He signed a contract with Lotto Soudal in hopes of having more opportunities in the Grand Tours and particularly to get a start spot on the roster for the Tour de France. Lotto Soudal management decided that it was best that Ewan test himself in the sprints at the Giro d’Italia before taking on the sprinters at the Tour de France. Now with two stage wins, Ewan will return home to recover before beginning specific preparations for July. Cyclingnews

OurTime

A8 Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Experts tackle medical care for elderly persons with cancer

M

EDICAL experts, doctors, scientists, academics and political leaders in AsiaPacific countries convened on Wednesday to formulate medical-care policies for countries with increased cancer cases among older populations.

In her keynote speech at the 2019 International Society of Geriartic Oncology (SIOG) policy meeting, Dr. Susan Pineda-Mercado, deputy secretary-general of the Philippine Red Cross, said changes in the aging population’s disease structure create the need

for specific types of medical care in the country.

Saying that many among the elderly have cancer or are more prone to the disease, Mercado said the government must promote appropriate care for them.

“The medical-care demand

must be upgraded to one that will be suitable for an aged society diagnosed with cancer. Addressing the needs of older people with cancer is not just about social justice; it is also our moral responsibility,” she added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said aging people have high risk of cancer because of their unhealthy behaviors and lifestyles.

WHO said the occurrence of cancer among elderly persons tends to increase with countries in Southeast Asia and Europe that are leading in morbidities.

In connection, WHO estimated that persons aged 60 and up will surpass the population of 10 years old and under by 2030.

By 2050 they will be 2.1 billion,

outnumbering children who are 5 years old and below.

Mercado said based on these estimates of the Philippine Statistics Office, there will be more than 8 million older Filipinos in the succeeding years.

“It comprises of 8.2 percent of the country’s population, thereby placing the Philippines in the outset of an aging population.

The aging of the population is irreversible, and it will continue to increase significantly,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hans Wildiers, SIOG president, confirmed that cancer is “a disease of aging worldwide.”

“But, even though older persons comprise the majority of cancer cases, they are more likely to receive

less treatment and are underrepresented in clinical trials,” he said.

To properly address this issue, Wildiers enjoined the policy-meeting participants to always refer to SIOG guidelines and educational tools that are essential to good clinical practice in geriatric oncology.

“The recognized need for enhancing clinical practices and research and education for the elderly population with cancer represents a new shift in thinking, with the objective being able to provide all countries with health capabilities to monitor, prioritize and maintain locally relevant, system integrated health research and clinical practices,” Mercado said.

She also enjoined the par-

ticipants to a collaboration that would support individual researchers, institutions and governments in establishing well-designed and impactful international partnerships.

“Let us continue to demonstrate to policy-makers how important such associations are for combatting cancer in the vulnerable elderly, as we seek improved access to infrastructure and funding for our partnerships,” she added.

Held in Mandaluyong City on Monday, the SIOG Policy Meeting 2019 is a gathering of regional stakeholders, who share knowledge and experiences, to formulate policies for medical professionals and public health officials in providing better health care for the elderly with cancer. PNA

75-year-old job hunters could become new normal in aging Japan

A

T the age of 75, Mikiko Kuzuno found herself recently laid off and applying for a job at a factory near Tokyo. She insisted on making the application in person.

“I asked them to please take a look at me,” she said. “I wanted to show them how healthy I am. Some people are very frail.”

Kuzuno, 78, is now three years into work at the small plant in Warabi, where she helps launder and package steamed hand towels given to customers at restaurants.

It’s demanding work where she stands throughout her three-hour shift, but she doesn’t think of retiring—partly for financial reasons, and partly because she hates hanging around at home.

This could be Japan’s new normal, with people working into their 70s and beyond, adding a new facet to its reputation as a nation of workaholics. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to keep people like Kuzuno employed longer so they can pitch into the tax base and ease the burden on government spending, as the country copes with having the world’s fastest-aging population.

Japan’s graying population has propelled a surge in social-security spending, accounting for about

one-third of government outlays in the fiscal year that ended in March, much of which was funded by debt.

Thus, Abe is advancing legislation to encourage companies to abolish retirement ages and take other measures to keep people on the job past age 70. A second bill would make such policies mandatory.

The government’s also mulling over a new option of allowing workers to delay receiving their pension payouts to age 75.

A higher proportion of Japan’s population is aged 65 or older than in any country in the world, and its life expectancy at birth of 84 is tied with Switzerland for first place, according to World Bank data. With a declining birthrate, Japan’s population is set to slump by almost a third by 2060, by which time about 40 percent will be 65 or over, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. “‘We need to change the structure of economic society to fit the model of a 100-year life,” Shinjiro Koizumi, 38, a lawmaker who heads a ruling Liberal Democratic Party panel on aging, told Bloomberg News. “That has to be our top priority, or we won’t be able to reform social security to give hope to

Games of the mind

I

N an ad agency where I worked during my younger days, there was an account executive who spent all his time at the office solving crossword-puzzles. All crossword puzzle sections of the daily papers were filled with his penciled or ball-penned answers. I have to admit, he was good at it. No, he was not only good; he was a master!

He never met deadlines. He postponed meetings with clients. Oblivious to time and his job, of course, he got fired. But because he had a smart mind and a modulated voice and an American twang, he found work in another agency. Then after a while, he got fired again. The circle of agencies that would hire him became smaller and smaller until he landed a job in a fly-by-night unscrupulous agency that soon folded up.

Not too long ago, I was in a fashionable mall somewhere far from our place. There was an alfresco café, with chairs and tables outside.

I happened to pass by a table with a man with about three newspapers on his table and a man poring with his ballpen. You bet. My account executive officemate who got fired for solving too many puzzles. After all these years, he was still at it, older but not wiser, I guess. Then and now, the unrepentant cruciverbalist (the dictionary term for a person skillful in creating or solving crossword puzzles, from two Latin words crux [cross] and verbum [word].)

My wife, Aurit, is into sudoku.

Mad about sudoku is more like it. She relishes this intricate game involving the placement of the right numbers into a given set of blank boxes. She will work on these puzzles for hours, choosing from the hardest or the most challenging categories, mumbling to herself, pondering on the right answers. Sometimes, when the going gets really tough, she leaves the puzzle there for a while, and after doing her household chores, resumes attacking the problem with new energy and determination. When she finally solves it, she lets out a loud whoop as if she won the bingo or lotto. Lately, she’s having bouts of severe eye strain, and I can only attribute the cause to so many hours working on sudoku puzzles.

All the dailies have them—from the upscale business broadsheets to the most lurid tabloids. I once saw a jeepney driver obliviously solving a vernacular crossword version while waiting for his vehicle to be filled up with passengers. He must have finished the sudoku puzzle because that box was already filled up. Once I had a great time marveling at a commutertrain rider delving into a crossword puzzle while standing, balancing himself skillfully, while the guy beside him was also deftly balancing himself as he surfed through his social-media accounts with a flick of his finger.

Just like the game of chess, these puzzle games force the mind to focus, in a way constraining it. This is why even if I am naturally averse, I

the next generation.”

Convincing people to put in a few more years on the job may prove difficult. A poll published by the Cabinet Office in January showed about 38 percent of Japanese wanted to work beyond the age of 65, while more than 50 percent would prefer to leave the workforce before that age.

The jobs Japan needs filled the most in labor-intensive fields like construction, nursing care and delivery services, aren’t the jobs typically associated with older workers.

Rural areas with the highest percentage of residents 65 and above also have few jobs suitable the graying work force.

One person opening the door to older workers is Atsushi Morishita, 72, founder and president of Tempos Holdings, which runs a chain of 58 commercial kitchen equipment outlets. He was inspired to do so by his father, who worked on a farm into his 90s.

“In Tokyo, as soon as people turn 65, they are wasting their time playing croquet or something.

So I thought I would provide a place for them to work,” Morishita said.

About a quarter of his work force is 60 or older. Bloomberg News

cannot help but admire my wife and all puzzle solvers. I am more the conceptualizer type who needs to let the mind go free without restraints.

I admit I am not into puzzle games that involve mental gymnastics which eat into my time.

The thing to remember is that whether it’s a crossword or sudoku, it is meant to be just a game, a fun thing, something to pass the time or per passare il tempo, which was originally the name of the game when it first appeared in Italy. They are not designed to consume your time. When one begins sacrificing more important things, then it’s no longer fun but addiction.

That’s why my wife is the ideal mental-game player. She knows when to take it up and when to put it down.

But I have always been mystified how these makers of word and number puzzles and other mental games go about their tasks. Who are these people? It’s not easy to do these puzzles. It takes a genius. And someone with a playful mind and a sadistic bent. The right word is probably “devilish.”

I can imagine the puzzle maker playing games with the solver. Sometimes he or she makes the puzzle easy, inviting the solver ever deeper into the game and when the solver finds it so easy, only to discover at the end that he gave the wrong answers.

In the shadow world of newspapers, crossword compilers are unsung, unknown modest heroes. I once read

GRANDPA’S IMMACULATE FRIENDS

Using his hand tractor, an elderly farmer plows his farm in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. Surrounded by friendly egrets, he looks oblivious as they prance about. CEASAR M. PERANTE

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH about a gathering of cruciverbalists at one of Britain’s major newspapers, and in that event, they introduced themselves by the day of the week their work appeared, something like: “Hello, I’m Monday. Glad to meet you, I’m Friday.

Hi, I am Wednesday.”

That’s how shadowy they are. Tinker, tailor, soldier spy, Just like in the espionage novels of John le Carre.

Now I have researched that mind games for elderly adults are not only interesting and entertaining, but can also improve memory, daily life skills and overall mental health.

Gerontologists and neuroscientists tell us that to ensure that the brain works as best as it can, the mind needs to be challenged every day. Thanks to quick games like crosswords and sudoku, that can be played anywhere and by anyone, exercising the mind can be fun and easy to do.

They say one doesn’t even have to solve all of the conundrums in a puzzle.

Simply trying to figure out the answer, working with other people and putting in the effort, is what makes the difference to brain health. A for effort.

But all this can be naught. My wife tried to infect her senior friends with her sudoku madness. She gifted them with sudoku puzzles, but very

few took it up.

One reason is that older people resist mind games because they feel they have to put much mental effort, that you have to be a genius to play.

But consider the amazing benefits: After just a few months of playing, chess can even help to boost your IQ. Another benefit, which is especially helpful for older people who struggle with concentration, is that it can help to increase focus.

If chess, crossword puzzles or sudoku puts mental strain on you, experts suggest you try bingo. It is a fun and easy activity that can be played in large or small groups. It can easily be in or out of the home. Playing bingo is not only fun and stimulating, but it is said to have a number of health benefits for seniors.

There is a diversity of brain-boosting games available online that can help to enhance memory and improve mental health in the elderly. But it may be a fruitless proposition to suggest it to seniors. Many in our age group are techno-averse, and don’t even want to have anything to do with smart phones, preferring to live in a prewired world. And even if a granddad would express an interest, no grandson or daughter would have the patience to

teach him the ropes, so to speak.

Yes, keeping the mind active in older age is essential. But as I have observed among seniors (that includes me probably), the older you get, the less you are inclined to tax your brain. But research warns us: Use it or lose it.

Maybe the solution can be a compromise. There are other options. If the object is to get yourself intellectually engaged to boost the brain, then you can probably engage in non-mentally taxing meaningful activities, like volunteering or hobbies. People who are into it say they feel happier and healthier. Learning new skills may improve your thinking ability, too.

For example, one study found that older adults who learned quilting or digital photography had more memory improvement than those who only socialized or did less mentally demanding activities.

So if you’re not inclined to do mental jogging, leave the mental games to others. That’s the modus vivendi my wife and I have been observing during our conversation cease fire. She plays sudoku with relish while I read my books con gusto. The bottom line is there are many stimulating ways to keep the mind active. Find your own game.

P.S. I just wonder about that addicted cruciverbalist I described at the beginning of this column. Has his obsession succeeded in fending off the onset of dementia? Its a puzzlement, as the King of Siam put it.

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

BusinessMirror

Saturday, May 25, 2019 A9

Music charts and how they work...sort of /

THE iChart Top 7 chart as of May 22, 2019, 12:30 KST

PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

A

S a longtime fan of K-pop, I have a confession to make: I have very little idea of how these music charts work.

During comebacks (the term they use when a group or artist has a new album), I just buy physical albums, the soft copies on iTunes and stream via Spotify and YouTube. If there is some extra, I contribute toward buying streaming passes for my favorites’ streaming teams.

The Gaon Chart is the official governmentsponsored music chart. It releases weekly every Thursday, and ranks international and domestic music. Gaon is divided into an Album Chart, which ranks physical album sales from data provided by record labels; and a Singles Chart, which ranks digital and mobile track sales culled from data provided from

download services (more on this later).

The Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 is a chart which ranks digital sales from web sites and mobile providers. It is released in English every Saturday.

Then there is Instiz’s iChart.

I spent the last week studying music charts and digital streaming so I could do more for my favorite groups in the future, and what I found was a complicated maze—for me at least.

There are seven major music streaming charts in Korea right now: Melon, Genie, Naver, Mnet, Soribada, Flo and Bugs.

The most familiar name to me is Melon. These

charts each have Real Time and Daily charts while Instiz’s iChart combines the data from these major music charts. The rankings are based on points given by iChart.

The No. 1 song gets 10 points for real time and daily charts, the No. 2 song gets seven points, and so on and so forth. These points are reflected in the rankings to determine whether a song has achieved All Kill (AK), Certified All Kill (CAK) or Perfect All Kill (PAK).

All Kill means a song is No. 1 on the Melon, Bugs, Cyworld, Soribada, Mnet, Naver Music, Monkey3, Olleh and Daum charts at the same time.

Perfect All Kill means the song has reached an

All Kill status then ranked first on the Instiz weekly chart. When a song is No. 1 in real time and daily across all six charts, its considered a Certified All Kill.

If any of the information I provided is wrong, please feel free to correct me via my e-mail address. I would love to learn more about this.

It’s honestly very difficult to get information about this because many of the web sites are in Korean and translating the texts are quite tricky. So how do you support your favorite groups aside from physical sales?

I found this how-to (www.in�initeupdates.net) because, as I’ve said, I am no expert. ■

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, May 25, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

US sanctions on Huawei bite, but who gets hurt?

/

A WOMAN uses a smartphone outside a Huawei store in Beijing on May 20. Google is assuring users of Huawei smartphones the American company’s services still will work on them following US government restrictions on doing business with the Chinese tech giant.

AP

BY FRANK BAJAK & MICHAEL LIEDTKE The Associated Press

T

RUMP administration sanctions against Huawei have begun to bite even though their dimensions remain unclear. US companies that supply the Chinese tech powerhouse with computer chips saw their stock prices slump on Monday, and Huawei faces decimated smartphone sales with the anticipated loss of Google’s popular software and services.

The US move escalates trade-war tensions with Beijing, but also risks making China more selfsufficient over time.

Here’s a look at what’s behind the dispute and what it means.

■ WHAT’S THIS ABOUT? Last week, the US Commerce Department placed Huawei its so-called Entity List , effectively barring US firms from selling it technology without government approval.

Google said it would continue to support existing Huawei smartphones but future devices will not have its flagship apps and services, including maps, Gmail and search. Only basic services would be available, making Huawei phones less desirable. Separately, Huawei is the world’s leading provider of networking equipment, but it relies on US components including computer chips. About a third of Huawei’s suppliers are American.

■ WHY PUNISH HUAWEI? The US defense and intelligence communities have long accused Huawei of being an untrustworthy agent of Beijing’s repressive rulers—though without providing evidence. The US government’s sanctions are widely seen as a means of pressuring reluctant allies in Europe to exclude Huawei equipment from their next-generation wireless networks. Washington says it’s a question of national security and punishment of Huawei for skirting sanctions against Iran, but the backdrop is a struggle for economic and technological dominance.

The politics of President Donald J. Trump’s escalating tit-for-tat trade war have co-opted a long-standing policy goal of stemming state-backed Chinese cyber theft of trade and military secrets.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that the sanctions on Huawei have nothing to do with the trade war and could be revoked if Huawei’s behavior were to change.

■ THE SANCTIONS’ BITE. Analysts predict consumers will abandon Huawei for other smartphone makers if Huawei can only use a stripped-down version of Android. Huawei, now the No. 2 smartphone supplier, could fall behind Apple to third place. Google could seek exemptions, but would not comment on whether it planned to do so.

■ WHO USES HUAWEI ANYWAY? While most consumers in the US don’t even know how to pronounce Huawei (it’s “HWA-way”), its brand is well known in most of the rest of the world, where people have been buying its smartphones in droves.

Huawei stealthily became an industry star by plowing into new markets, developing a lineup of phones that offer affordable options for low-income households and luxury models that are siphoning upper-crust sales from Apple and Samsung in China and Europe. About 13 percent of its phones are now sold in Europe, estimates Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann.

That formula helped Huawei establish itself as the world’s second-largest seller of smartphones

during the first three months of this year, according to the research firm IDC. Huawei shipped 59 million smartphones in the January-to-March period, nearly 23 million more than Apple.

■ RIPPLE EFFECTS. The US sanctions could have unwelcome ripple effects in the US, given how much technology Huawei buys from US companies, especially from makers of the microprocessors that go into smartphones, computers, Internet networking gear and other gadgetry.

The list of chip companies expected to be hit hardest includes Micron Technologies, Qualcomm, Qorvo and Skyworks Solutions, which all have listed Huawei as a major customer in their annual reports.

Others likely to suffer are Xilinx, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, according to industry analysts.

Being cut off from Huawei will also compound the pain the chip sector is already experiencing from the Trump administration’s rising China tariffs.

The Commerce Department on Monday announced an expected grace period of 90 days or more, easing the immediate hit on US suppliers. It can extend that stay, and also has the option of issuing exemptions for especially hard-hit companies.

Much could depend on whether countries including France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands continue to refuse to completely exclude Huawei equipment from their wireless networks.

The grace period allows US providers to alert Huawei to security vulnerabilities and engage the Chinese company in research on standards for next-generation 5G wireless networks. It also gives operators of US rural broadband networks that use Huawei routers time to switch them out.

■ COULD THIS BACKFIRE? Huawei is already the

biggest global supplier of networking equipment, and is now likely to move toward making all components domestically. China already has a policy seeking technological independence by 2025.

US tech companies, facing a drop in sales, could respond with layoffs. More than 52,000 technology jobs in the US are directly tied to China exports, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association, a trade group also known as CompTIA. ■ WHAT ABOUT HARM TO GOOGLE? Google may lose some licensing fees and opportunities to show ads on Huawei phones, but it still will probably be a financial hiccup for Google and its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., which is expected to generate $160 billion in revenue this year.

■ THE APPLE EFFECT. In theory, Huawei’s losses could translate into gains for both Samsung and Apple at a time both of those companies are trying to reverse a sharp decline in smartphone sales.

But Apple also stands to be hurt if China decides to target it in retaliation. Apple is particularly vulnerable because most iPhones are assembled in China. The Chinese government, for example could block crucial shipments to the factories assembling iPhones or take other measures that disrupt the supply chain.

Any retaliatory move from China could come on top of a looming increase on tariffs by the US that would hit the iPhone, forcing Apple to raise prices or reduce profits.

What’s more, the escalating trade war may trigger a backlash among Chinese consumers against US products, including the iPhone. “Beijing could stoke nationalist sentiment over the treatment of Huawei, which could result in protests against major US technology brands,” CompTIA warned. ■

DIGITAL AND SECURITY TRANSFORMATION IS A MUST

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES COMPANIES must not neglect security matters when they embark on their digital transformation initiatives. Oscar Visaya, country manager of Palo Alto Networks Philippines, said security threats have become more sophisticated as cyber criminals have also acquired deeper knowledge in penetrating the networks to pursue their nefarious activities.

“There are increasing vulnerabilities and security breaches looming ahead as cyber criminals continue to utilize sophisticated tactics to launch cyber attacks that result in reputational and financial losses by organizations,” he said in a recent press briefing held in Makati City.

He expressed concern over inability of network experts to protect network against cyber threats. “IT security practitioners are more pessimistic about their ability to protect their organizations.”

As a response to the growing threats, Palo Alto acquired Demisto, a leading security company in the security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) space Mark Lainez, lead security consultant of Palo Alto, said the acquisition enhances Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex AI-based continuous security platform strategy and further advances the company’s ability to deliver automated threat prevention and response for security teams. With artificial intelligence at the core of the platform, Lainez said organizations can now deploy a leaner team to protect their network.

“Since there is a shortage of security experts around the world, companies can now focus on their core competencies without compromising their security,” he pointed out.

Palo Alto Networks will build on the benefits Cortex brings to the SOC environment by making Demisto’s SOAR capabilities immediately available to customers Palo Alto Networks paid approximately $560 million in cash and stock, excluding purchase price adjustments, to acquire Demisto.

Maxicare forges ties with Lalamove A LEADING health-care provider in the country, Maxicare (www.maxicare.com.ph) recently partnered with Lalamove, a leading delivery app, to make quality health care more accessible to Lalamove partner drivers. Through the partnership, over 25,000 Lalamove partner drivers can avail themselves of discounted health-care cards, such as MyMaxicare Lite, Maxicare PRIMA and Maxicare E-Ready.

Partner drivers may avail themselves of discounted Maxicare health-care cards at Lalamove offices in Makati, Alabang, Quezon City and Cebu. Photo shows (from left) Lalamove Strategic Partnerships Manager Akiko Sumulong, Managing Director Dannah Majarocon, together with Maxicare President and CEO Christian Argos and Chief Consumer Officer Rodelee Uy.

Hone the next big start-up with QBO’s Startup Roadshow THE future of Philippine start-ups looks bright with the Philippines national ranking up by 16 positions, according to the recently released StartupBlink Ecosystem Ranking Report. To continue this momentum, QBO Innovation Hub, the Philippines’s first public-private sector initiative which aims to connect, transform and empower Filipino start-ups, holds the Startup Roadshow starting this month.

The road show aims to inspire innovators and enable communities throughout the country through sessions on start-up business concepts and tools, ideation, design thinking, business model canvas and local ecosystem mapping.

Facilitated by highly experienced QBO members and start-up founders, the workshops are

designed to be fun and engaging to spark the participants’ creativity as they kickoff their startup journey.

The event also features panel discussions and networking opportunities for those wanting to connect with fellow tech leaders.

“The local start-up ecosystem continues to grow due to sustained confidence in the country’s economy, technological advancements, and newly introduced regulations such as the Innovative Startup Act, which seeks to promote ease of doing business in the Philippines,” says Katrina Chan, director of QBO Innovation Hub. “While it’s all helpful in creating a healthy business environment for Filipino entrepreneurs, there are more

opportunities to bring cutting-edge ideas to life.”

This is the second time that QBO Innovation Hub is holding the road show across major cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. In 2018 13 cities and over 1,300 participants joined the first run of the road show. Government organizations signed partnerships with QBO to contribute to countryside development efforts. The Department of Information and Communications Technology was among the first to get on board, sponsoring programs in seven cities last year.

QBO hopes to make this year’s road show bigger through the support of more partners, communities and business owners. Interested partners who want to bring the workshop to their respective communities, schools or cities

can host an introductory workshop using QBO’s set module. Partners wanting to learn specific skills or learn more about certain topics can have custom-made workshops, as well.

“We saw the impact of last year’s road show in answering what most aspiring start-up founders want to know: ‘Where do we start?’ We want to help them figure out the answer,” adds Chan. “We’d also like for more partners to come on board with us to help discover the next wave of homegrown start-ups that will put our country on the global innovation map. Who knows?

The next big thing may be in your school, your community or your city.”

To learn more about the Startup Roadshow, visit www.qbo.com.ph.

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In gender-swap photo filters, some trans people see therapy Judge rules Qualcomm violated antitrust law in chip market NEW YORK—A federal judge has ruled that Qualcomm unlawfully squeezed out cell-phone chip rivals and charged excessive royalties to manufacturers such as Apple in a decision that undercuts a key part of its business.

The decision vindicates the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) two years after it filed its antitrust lawsuit against the San Diego chipmaker. It’s a potentially costly setback for Qualcomm, as the decision could slash its ability to extract big royalties from phone makers.

Qualcomm said on Wednesday that it would appeal, suggesting the case could still take a few years to resolve. “We strongly disagree with the judge’s conclusions, her interpretation of the facts and her application of the law,” Qualcomm General Counsel Don Rosenberg said in a statement.

The outcome seems likely to reduce the licensing fees paid to Qualcomm, but it’s unclear if device makers will pass on any of their savings and lower their prices. The royalties represent a relatively small portion of smartphone prices that now top $1,000 for some premium models.

US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, ruled on Tuesday that Qualcomm Inc. must renegotiate licensing deals with customers. It must license its patents to rival chipmakers at fair prices and can’t sign exclusive agreements that block competitors from also selling chips to smartphone makers like Apple. Qualcomm must submit to FTC monitoring for seven years. The case has geopolitical ramifications. If Qualcomm suffered a big hit to its profitability, that could mean less spending on research and development—a knock to an American tech icon as the US embarks on a politically sensitive race with China to update to 5G, a new wireless technology.

“The Trump administration views Qualcomm as almost the crown jewel for the US in terms of US technology development. Similar to the way China views Huawei,” said Angelo Zino, CFRA analyst. “It will be interesting to see if this gets revisited.”

Qualcomm’s rivals are mostly Asian companies, including Huawei, Zino said. The Trump administration has set bruising sanctions against Huawei and pushed European allies not to use the Chinese company’s technology due to national-security concerns of China spying. The US government is also in a spiraling trade war with China. The Trump administration’s attitude to Qualcomm can be seen in a case from last year, when it blocked a Singapore company, Broadcom, from buying Qualcomm over concerns about national security and who would dominate 5G technology.

Trade group Computer & Communications Industry Association said Tuesday’s ruling was a win for wireless technology, as it would mean more competition. Qualcomm has justified its “no license, no chips” system as a repayment system for the $40 billion it has spent through several decades working on wireless technology essential to smartphones.

Last month Apple and Qualcomm settled a bitter financial dispute centered on some of the technology that enables iPhones to connect to the Internet. The deal requires Apple to pay Qualcomm an undisclosed amount. It also includes a six-year licensing agreement that likely involves recurring payments to the mobile chipmaker.

Apple had already lost an earlier battle with Qualcomm in March when a federal court jury in San Diego decided the iPhone maker owed Qualcomm $31 million for infringing on three of its patents.

Qualcomm shares dropped 12 percent to $68.18 in afternoon trading. AP

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BY JEFF MCMILLAN The Associated Press

EW YORK—Hit a button, and you’re “transformed” into a woman. The beard disappears. The face and jaw smooth out. The hair floats jauntily around the shoulders. “Yo this is spot on my mom.” “Pretty.” “Are you in a sorority?”

A swipe and another click. Suddenly you’re a square-jawed man—heavy of brow, sporting five o’ clock shadow. “I look like my brother Jay.” “Hahahaha Suzie I’m dyingggg.” “My sisters were like, ‘um... strange. You’re kinda hot’ haha.”

The gender-bending selfies accompanied by flip or sarcastic comments are flooding social feeds since Snapchat introduced a filter this month allowing users to swap gender appearances with the tap of a finger. But for many people who have longed for a button that would change them in real life, the portrait parade isn’t a game.

“My gender’s not a costume,” says Bailey Coffman, a 31-year-old transgender woman from New York.

“This story that I feel is very real. I lost a lot to be who I am, and I fought really hard for the body that I’m in.

“And when certain people post it and write about how silly it is and how goofy they look with this filter,” she says, “it makes light of the transgender experience.” Others, though, see possibility in the pastime. Some argue that the filter, which Snapchat calls a “lens,” could be a therapeutic tool that leads to self-discovery and even helps ease the transition of people struggling with gender identity once they see who they could become.

“There are people who haven’t found themselves yet, and this is a great way to say ‘This is really affirming for me’ and to take that next step,” says Savannah Daniels, 32, a military veteran living in Baltimore. She says she realized she identified as female after watching episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race while serving in Afghanistan as a chaplain’s assistant in the US Navy.

Snapchat is not the first face-altering app with such a feature; FaceApp, for instance, has had one for years. But users of the Snapchat filter unveiled the second week of May have noted its high quality. And, of course, the very popularity of Snapchat amplifies the feature further.

Snapchat’s maker, Snap Inc., which has drawn criticism for a Bob Marley filter some likened to blackface and another that overlaid stereotypically Asian features on users’ photos, commented about its filter in an e-mailed statement.

“We understand that identity is deeply personal,” the company said. “As we have and continue to explore the possibilities of this technology, our Lens design team is working...to ensure that on the whole, these Lenses are diverse and inclusive by providing a wide range of transformative effects.”

Jessie Daniels (no relation to Savannah Daniels), a

City University of New York professor and an expert in digital sociology, says that for people unfamiliar with the concept of gender as fluid—not innate and not binary; that is, not strictly male or female—such filters can be both radical and transformative.

“They get a chance to play with gender in a way that many of us who are LGBTQ have played with gender our whole lifetimes and understand the social construct part of it,” she says.

That could be meaningful for youths reckoning with gender identity or, she says, just for putting the notion of gender fluidity on youngsters’ radar. A survey last year by Common Sense Media found that 44 percent of teenagers use Snapchat as their primary social app. “I do hope this does help some people better recognize their gender,” says Elliott “Ellie” Wheeler, a 16-year-old sophomore at Michigan’s East Lansing High School who, combining the words female and butch, identifies as a “futch” lesbian.

Because most of her social-media contact comes with trans people, she says, she hasn’t seen much use

of the Snapchat filter. But she also doesn’t hold the company responsible for any controversy.

CUNY’s Daniels, though, wonders whether the filter is an attempt by Snapchat, which has struggled against competition from Facebook and Instagram, to win back market share. Snap Inc. did not respond specifically to questions about its business strategy, saying in its e-mail only that “we regularly experiment with new technologies and features as part of our mission to empower self-expression.”

For people who are finding the fun in the game, Savannah Daniels urges them not to enjoy it and then simply dismiss “actual living beings that are trans.”

She reminded people of that on Saturday with a tweet under her moniker, “Miss Clean Legs,” that went viral.

“These new Snapchat filters got y’all out here having fun with gender roles, joking about sex with your homeboys, and sporting beards with lashes. All we ask is that you keep that same energy when you interact with actual transgender and nonbinary ppl.” ■

Cyber-security provider posts 18-percent revenue growth in Q1

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor NETWORK-SECURITY firm Fortinet reported an 18-percent revenue growth to $472.6 million for the first quarter (Q1) of 2019 from $399 million for the same period last year. Net income stood from $41.6 million to $58.8 million year-on-year (YoY). This is in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP. Fortinet Chairman and CEO Ken Xie expressed elation over their robust business performance in the first three months of 2019. “We had an excellent start to the year demonstrating the strong demand for our product and services,” he said.

Product-wise, the company’s top line reached $162.7 million in the first three months of this year, or 14 percent higher than $142.8 million for the same quarter two years ago. Service revenue grew by 21 percent from $256.2 million to $309.9 million for the two periods in review.

From January to March 2019, cash flow from operations increased from $139.7 million to $201.3 million YoY. Free cash flow was $191.1 million in Q1 of this year compared to $128.1 million for the same quarter of 2018. The cyber-security solutions provider expects improved financial results for the second quarter of this year, with a revenue range of $505 million to $515 million. “We expect 2019 to be another year of better-than-industry growth, driven by the momentum in our business and strong customer demand for our broad, integrated and automated Security Fabric platform,” Xie said.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, Fortinet is a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions.

It is ranked No. 1 in most security appliances shipped worldwide, offering real-time protection to more than 375,000 customers worldwide.

In the Philippines, the network-security company provides sales and marketing support, as well as technical backup to their distributors and resellers.

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BAILEY COFFMAN shows her photo as a man in the Snapchat app during an interview in New York. Snapchat’s new photo filter that allows users to change into a man or woman with the tap of a finger isn’t necessarily fun and games for transgender people.

But some others see the potential for such tools to lead to selfdiscovery among people struggling with their gender identity. AP

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

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What now, Huawei?

TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

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OLD on to your Huawei smartphones.

China’s biggest phone maker may be in deep, deep trouble, but the fight isn’t over yet.

The past week, I received several messages from friends asking me how my Huawei phones were. It wasn’t surprising though, as I usually get several queries about the latest Huawei phones I’m using and for my recommendations.

But I was in Singapore and was trying to limit my social-media activity to Facebook and Instagram stories, so I had no clue as to what was happening.

That is, until I updated my notifications and saw the news about Google cutting its ties (temporarily) with Huawei—the first of which was shared by my dad.

In the latest show of force by the US government against China (with Huawei as the bargaining chip), the US Department of Commerce has placed Huawei on its “Entity List” that restricts US companies such as Google from supplying components and services to the Shenzhen-based firm because of national security concerns—concerns which the US actually has yet to show some actual proof of.

It is not clear how long the ban will remain in effect but Huawei has gotten a 90-day reprieve that allows it to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei phones. Huawei officials said the company was “ready” for the restrictions and have been stockpiling on US components but still, having no access to the Google Play store will have a huge impact to its market outside China.

If you are currently using a Huawei device, there is nothing to worry about as your phones won’t be affected, and there’s no reason to panic or go running to Greenhills to trade in your phones as Google Play will continue to function.

Huawei quickly released a statement assuring that they will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor devices.

“Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry.

“Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products covering those have been sold or still in stock globally.

“We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.”

Putting a brave face on the situation, Huawei said it has been developing their own OS for quite some time, but let’s face it, trying to sell smartphones without Google’s cooperation could only go from bad to disastrous. Remember BlackBerry OS, Windows Phone, MeeGo, Symbian, Palm OS, Bada (and later Tizen)? They all belong to the tech graveyard of the mobile OS corpses Android has put down. Simply put, app-less operating systems simply do not stand a chance against the contemporary iOS-Android duopoly. Just look at Amazon: despite all its clout and influence, the company couldn’t do it with the Amazon Appstore. Huawei stands even less of a chance and it would be harder for app developers to try a new platform that’s born of adversity and political conflict.

The bigger gut punch some experts say is the withdrawal of ARM. This could be devastating since ARM provides an integral part of their Kirin processor design. Huawei licenses many of ARM’s technologies in the design of their own chipset, forming the foundation of their Kirin processors produced by their HiSilicon subsidiary. This means they cannot produce their own chips without a license from ARM since their designs are proprietary and not open source. ARM’s designs form the foundations of many chipset designs that are produced by many manufacturers, including Samsung, MediaTek, Qualcomm and HiSilicon. This presents a bigger problem for the company as they won’t be able to create their future processors and chipsets without tech guidance from ARM. This is really sad news for Huawei users as it is obvious that the company’s phone business is just collateral damage, as the real target is the company’s 5G infrastructure ambitions.

As a Huawei user, I’m still hoping that the company finds a resolution in time for the launch of their next big flagship series, the Huawei Mate 30.

REALME ‘MOBILE LEGENDS’ EPIC WEEKEND “MOBILE Legends: Bang Bang” players battled it out on the launch stage of realme Philippines’s latest smartphone, the realme 3 Pro. With enemies slain, Team Mortal Godz, led by Nik Anoche, emerged victorious, winning a cash prize of P25,000, six units of realme 3 Pro and 1,800 in-game diamonds for each player.

The Mobile Legends tourney, which was livestreamed across the realme Philippines’s socialmedia pages, was participated in by players from the realme Philippines community, the media and celebrity gamers Ako si Dogie, Roller Gaming, Ellona Francisco, Suzzysaur, Karolina Spicegirl, Kimberlee Arcillas, Sh1nboo, Manjean and Chin Valdes. The realme 3 Pro was the official tournament device.

The realme 3 Pro is poised to elevate gaming experience in the sub-15K smartphone segment. Its launch—the first in the country to host a MOBA

tourney—reflects its position as a gaming champion in the midrange sector.

Gamers and streamers can expect only optimum performance in their newest hero, the realme 3 Pro. Running on a Snapdragon 710 processor and a 4045mAh battery, the realme 3 Pro is the latest gaming essential with solid speed and performance to take your gaming experience to the next level without having to worry about overheating or abrupt delays.

Keeping up with the brand’s promise of speed, the phone’s fast-charging feature powered by VOOC 3.0 technology enables gamers to get back on track faster than usual.

The realme 3 Pro is also packed with a 25MP selfie camera and 16MP+5MP rear cameras powered by Sony IMX 519 image sensors. With Super Nightscape and Chroma Boost Mode features, users can capture every winning moment anytime of the day.

Fans can choose from two realme 3 Pro variants: 4GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB storage variants for P12,990 and P14,990, respectively.

Exclusive to all realme kiosks on May 25 and 26, ranked Mobile Legends players with Grand Master, Epic, Legend and Mythic status can get up to 1,000 in-game diamonds with every purchase of a realme 3 Pro. Slots per kiosk are limited, so purchasers are encouraged to claim early and be ready to present their Mobile Legends ID to qualify.

Nonranked Mobile Legend players are encouraged to find a ranked friend to qualify for the promo themselves. Mobile Legend ranked players can also encourage their friends to avail themselves of the realme 3 Pro and kick-off their elevated mobile gaming experience.

RBAP CHAMPIONS DIGITALIZATION TO promote financial inclusion and the importance of digital financial services, the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) held its 66th Annual National Convention in Baguio City.

Leaders of rural banks, financial regulators, and leading international companies assembled at this year’s convention to explore new ways to reach unbanked individuals in rural communities through digital strategies.

Rural banks act as pivotal players in remote areas where large commercial banks have little to no presence, continuously championing financial inclusion in the Philippines. Earlier in 2019, Cantilan Bank, one of the largest rural banks in the Philippines, became the first financial institution regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to pioneer cloudbased technology.

The BSP had Cantilan Bank in a “test-and-learn” sandbox environment for 18 months, while the rural bank’s digital transformation was supported by the Asian Development Bank. Cantilan chose Oradian, a Software-as-a-Service company that serves over 45 financial institutions in the Philippines, as their strategic partner and technology provider.

Numerous financial institutions in the Philippines are moving their core banking operations to cloud-

based systems to reach and serve their most remote clients. Ahon sa Hirap Inc. (ASHI) serves more than 74,000 clients through 60 branches.

When looking for a new core banking platform, ASHI prioritized access to real-time data and the ability to generate accurate reports.

In 2017, ASHI migrated their entire operations to Instafin, Oradian’s cloud-based core banking platform. Before the end of 2018, ASHI had not only digitalized all its branches, but opened eight new branches using the platform.

RBAP has enabled rural banks in the Philippines to share global best practices in banking, addressing pressing industry matters and tightening the community in an effort to move forward on the national financial inclusion mission.

CASHLESS VACATIONS LEADING the charge in increasing the adoption of “cashless” payment systems all around the country, PayMaya further expanded the mobile payment ecosystem in Boracay in time for the summer through PayMaya QR. Beachgoers around the recently reopened island popular for its white sand beaches can now pay using only their mobile phones in hundreds of merchants all across Boracay, ranging from food establishments, hotel and accommodations, merchandise, microsellers, and even transportation, among many others.

PayMaya is now the preferred payment option in some of the merchants in Boracay where users can pay using their app, including restaurants, like Spice Bird in D’Mall, Titos near Station 2, and Sunny Side Café in Station 3; convenience store like Budget Mart; plus Epic Bar, among many others.

This is on top of the initial batch of merchants that have been offering PayMaya QR as a payment method in Hue Hotels and Resorts as well as small merchants in Station X, which was launched in January of 2018, including other nationwide key merchants, such as McDonald’s, Army Navy, Yellow Cab, Shakey’s, and Mercury Drug.

At the same time, vacationers can add money to their accounts through especially designated Add Money kiosks around the island, as well as via Palawan Express branches within Boracay.

Additionally, they can add money to their accounts even before flying to Boracay through their online banking accounts via Instapay.

The initiative is seen to further boost the tourism industry and the local economy in Boracay, which was just recently reopened following a six-month closure for rehabilitation by the government.

It also follows PayMaya’s establishment of similar “cashless communities” all around the country— including areas such as La Union, Baguio, Cebu, and General Santos, among others.

By establishing a mobile-based cashless ecosystem in the island, commerce is expected to flow more smoothly and help reduce the friction and risk of paying via cash. All consumers would need is their mobile phones in order to pay for their purchases. ■

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If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. ANA C. DIONE, CPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR

A18 Saturday, May 25, 2019

MERALCO, D.O.T.R. RELOCATION PROJECTS NOW UNDERWAY JOINT B.D.O., DEPED FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM ROLLS OUT IN NCR

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ANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for timely and efficient relocation of electric posts and other electrical facilities along the right of way of DOTr projects, such as the LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Unified Common Station, MRT 7, Metro Manila Subway, North-South Commuter Railway System and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) South Long Haul.

Once completed, this will give way to development of Central and Southern Luzon, as commuting plight eases and growth areas become more accessible.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade

(third from left), and Meralco President and Chief Executive Officer Oscar S. Reyes (second from left) led the ceremonial signing of the MOA for electricalfacilities relocation. With them are Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John R. Batan, Transportation Undersecretary for Administration and Finance Garry V. de Guzman, Transportation Undersecretary for Legal and Procurement Reinier Paul R. Yebra, Meralco Senior Vice President and head of customer retail services and corporate communications Alfredo S. Panlilio, Meralco Senior Vice President and networks head Ronnie L. Aperocho, and Meralco Vice President and corporate business group head Victor S. Genuino.

HE nationwide deployment of the financial education program for public schools—a partnership project of BDO Foundation, Department of Education (DepEd) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), for the benefit of students, teachers and nonteaching personnel—continues to make way in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The initiative was officially unveiled at a gathering of more than 600 DepEd NCR schools division superintendents, chief education supervisors and school heads in Pasay City. The launch was led by DepEd NCR regional director Dr. Wilfredo Cabral, DepEd NCR assistant regional director Tolentino Aquino, BSP Center for Learning and Inclusion Advocacy acting deputy director Rochelle Tomas and BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito.

“We would like to extend our gratitude to the leadership of BSP and DepEd for giving us this unique opportunity to be of service to educators and learners,” Deriquito said. “With the support of school heads for our financial education program, we can help raise our country’s financialliteracy level. You are crucial in our vision to promote financial inclusion. Together, we can help Filipinos achieve financial independence in the long term. We look forward to the implementation of the program as the education sector welcomes a new school year.”

BDO Foundation distributed flash drives containing 10 financial-literacy videos at the event. Developed by the foundationincollaborationwithDepEdand BSP, the videos cover topics, such as savings, budgeting,financialplanning,investments,

managing debt, the responsible use of credit, entrepreneurship and avoiding scams. The clips and accompanying discussion guides are uploaded on DepEd’s learning-resources portal, where they can be easily accessed by public-school teachers and trainers.

The financial education program for public schools is the flagship corporatecitizenship initiative of BDO Foundation, the corporate social-responsibility arm of BDO Unibank, under its financialinclusion advocacy.

The tripartite initiative contributes to DepEd ’s efforts to strengthen f i na nc i a l educ at ion i n its K-12 curriculum, and training programs for teaching and nonteaching personnel. It also supports BSP’s national strategy for financial inclusion.

HAVE A TASTE OF SHERATON HOTEL’S OWN HARVEST

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‘MALLING IS MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES’ AT SM Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat (center) recently graced the launch of the “Malling is More Fun in the Philippines” campaign at the SM Megamall Fashion Hall. A partnership between SM Supermalls and the Department of Tourism, this will consist of a series of culinary demos, regional food fairs, exclusive dining deals and the SM Supermarket chefs’ showdown. In photo are (from left) SM Supermarket President Joey Mendoza, Tourism Assistant Secretary Verna Buensuceso, Tourism Assistant Secretary Howie Uyking, Mandaluyong Mayor Menchie Abalos, Romulo-Puyat, Mandaluyong Councilor Charisse Abalos-Vargas, 2016 Asia’s Best Female Chef Margarita Fores, SM Supermalls Chief Operating Officer Steven Tan and Assitant Vice President for Operations Ian Mathay.

UNIONBANK BOOSTS LOGISTICS WITH SERVICE PROVIDER SHIPTEK

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NION Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), via its subsidiary UBX; and Shiptek Solutions Corp., developer of pioneering on-demand shipping and logistics platform called XLOG, recently inked an agreement formalizing their strategic partnership.

The UnionBank Group effectively holds a 30-percent stake in Shiptek and will be integrating its e-commerce payment gateway and other digital financial services to the XLOG. Coupled with UBX’s expertise in technology development and blockchain, this will further power XLOG’s end-to-end supply-chain solution that consolidates shipping, warehousing, trucking and customs brokerage.

Having been in the logistics industry for 26 years, Shiptek Solutions Corp. President Jun Ynion knows that the industry is ripe for digitization.

“Our traditional manual processes—the many and winding paper trails, e-mails, phone calls, negotiations—they are no longer enough to keep up with today’s business landscape, which demands logistics to be more agile. We need radical transformation to be globally competitive and going digital is the way to go,” Ynion said.

XLOG’s digital infrastructure sets a launchpad for the country’s logistics industry to take a leap from the complex and error-prone analog practices of moving goods, bringing in a higher level of efficiency, connectivity, visibility and optimization. Injecting UnionBank’s financial mettle to the platform endows greater benefits for stakeholders, allowing them to enjoy more streamlined, transparent and seamless transactions. “...We have long sought to serve the logistics sector and, with the onset of digitization, the introduction of platforms, like XLOG, represents the industry’s movement from traditional to electronic....,” UnionBank President and Chief Executive Officer Edwin Bautista says.

UnionBank will also be significantly involved in Shiptek’s daily operations, holding two out of five seats in the company’s board of directors.

Shiptek Solutions projects that UnionBank’s investment will help the company reach its aspiration of moving 500,000 to 1-million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). They have already generated over thousands of TEUs since 2018.

More possibilities open up as Shiptek, UnionBank and UBX bring into existence a new ecosystem where logistics and financial services naturally fuse together, creating value-laden experiences and conveniences for stakeholders.

In photo are (from left) Shiptek Chief Operating Officer Joey Ynion, Jun Ynion, UBX Chief Executive Officer John Januszczak and UnionBank head of platform divisions group Ramon Duarte.

UTHENTIC farm-to-table dining experience comes in full cycle at Sheraton Manila Hotel with its owned 300-square-meter land.

The hotel partners with Nurture Farmacy, a certified organic farm and accredited by the Department of Tourism, in Nurture Wellness Village, Tagaytay City. Both parties recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to kick-start the development of the land in three months’ time.

Produce in the Sheraton Farm are creatively shaped and planted to their brand’s logo. A highlight in the farm is kale, one of the most nutritious leafy greens, and raw organic cacao. It would have wide variety of herbs like basil, rosemary, peppermint, steva and dill; and vegetables like cucumber, lettuce, carrots and eggplant.

“We are both excited and proud of this initiative. It is bringing to life our commitment of providing authentic Filipino hospitality through services or products of high-quality

and supporting local communities. As we gain confidence from our guests, we are also promoting local resources,” said Anna Vergara, general manager of Sheraton Hotel Manila.

Apart from more opportunities for farmers, this is also an eco-project of the hotel. Only handmade natural fertilizers and pesticides will be used, ensuring all produce are chemical-free.

B.P.I. SHARES TIPS TO IDENTIFY ONLINE PHISHING

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T has become easy enough to identify and dismiss e-mails from people pretending to be relatives who get in trouble abroad, or from do-gooders asking for help for victims of calamities.

These “appeals” have been exposed for what they are—scams.

However, this and the sense of security derived from advanced features in most mobile phones and messaging apps make vigilance against phishing even more relevant and indispensable.

After all, scammers are experts at evolving with the times.

According to Internet security firm Kaspersky Lab, phishing attempts increased by 27.5 percent by the third quarter of 2018, recorded at 107,785,069. The financial segment bore the brunt of the attacks, with over a third aimed at banks, payment systems, and e-commerce organizations.

Jon Paz, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) data protection officer and enterprise information security officer, explains the common phishing scams and shares some tips to protect yourself from the onslaught, especially during long weekends and holidays.

“Often, fraudulent e-mail will alert you to a problem that may be fixed if you ‘verified’ your information by clicking on a link, or asking you to support disaster-relief efforts or even a political campaign by providing your information using a form embedded in the message,” Paz says.

Here are some of the common phishing schemes to watch out for.

Spear phishing. Social engineers target and focus on a specific individual or organization.

They use information that is particular to the recipient, usually sourced from social-media accounts, to appear legitimate and gain the person’s trust.

Because these attacks are specific, their chances of success are generally high.

Malvertising. Derived from “malicious” and “advertising”, social engineers create a malicious advertisement, which aims to spread malware that would later on damage the system. That way, social engineers can get access to sensitive information.

Whaling scam.

Impersonating the name of the CEO or company executive is another way for social engineers to steal information. They send out e-mails to its victims using the CEO’s or executive’s name to make it seem like a genuine request.

Vishing. Also known as voice phishing, social engineers use fake caller IDs and ask the victim to key in his or her personal information.

Smishing. Social engineers would usually send out text messages containing a phishing web-site link to many different numbers, with hopes of victimizing as many as they can.

Make sure to double check e-mails from your bank and online sellers.

“Banks will never e-mail to ask you to verify your personal information. If any action is requested by the bank through e-mail, you should contact the bank through their official channels,” Paz adds.

Paz also cautions against posting personal information and updates on social media.

These may be used by scammers already in possession of your log in credentials to steal your identity, and pass security checks by your bank and credit-card companies.

“Leave out your birthday, contact details, and even vacations plans on social media,” he says.

Those who think of themselves as wise in the ways of fraudsters may grow lax and, in the process, become easier targets for scammers and phishers, Paz warns. It’s always good to pause and check for the telltale signs of phishing, like incorrectly spelled URLs in e-mail links and requests for personal data and confidential information.

If you receive an e-mail from a source that you know but it looks suspicious—for instance, the e-mail was unsolicited, it contains grammatical errors or it redirects you to another site—write that source with a new e-mail, instead of just hitting reply.

“Vigilance is key to protecting yourself from phishing,” Paz says.

“This way, we can stay a step ahead of scams and cyber attacks.”