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Money and credulity drive Duterte’s ‘keyboard army’ A

By Rizal Raoul Reyes | Contributor & Mia Rosienna Mallari | Correspondent

YELLOW bill a day motivates this so-called Dutertroll. Bert (not his real name) spends at least five hours on Facebook every day and earns as much as P500 for doing so.

The 25-year-old works in a branch of a well-known Internet café. He said he spends his free time switching between seven carefully fabricated anonymous Facebook accounts he specifically made for amplifying any kind of posts related to President Duterte. “’Yung iba, jejemon na ginagawa ko na pang-away. ’Yung iba naman kunyari disenteng tao—’yung may diskurso ba. Iba-iba para hindi halata [The other accounts are jejemons I use to rail people; other accounts I make appear as by a decent person engaging in discourse. I have created different accounts, so that it would appear these were made by different people],” Bert said, looking over the café counter. According to Urban Dictionary, a jejemon is “anyone with a low tolerance in correct punctuation, syntax and grammar.” Bert said he has been taking up offers of being a “keyboard warrior,” or an “online fighter,” as Bert describes himself since he was 20. He said he was part of a group of “warriors for rent,” but refused to divulge more information regarding their numbers. Bert said he doesn’t consider himself a “troll,” a person who sows

discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community.

Job order

ACCORDING to Bert, Internet trolls are too many to count. “Basta madami kami. Madami ding grupo,” Bert said. “Ako minsan ginagawa ko na lang for fun ba, kasi nakakatawa mag-react ’yung mga tao. Lalo na kapag sa tingin nila totoong tao din ’yung inaaway nila online [Believe me, we’re many; there are also many groups. I sometimes do it for fun, because I get a kick from people’s reactions, especially when they treat the account as a real person].” Bert said the group he belongs to has been active since the 2010 elections, and was formerly tasked to campaign online for a different political party, where the majority of the winning candidates came from. However, a better offer came during this year’s elections, he said. According to Bert, all he knew was the “job order” came from an avid supporter of Duterte, not from someone working within the political system. See “Keyboard Army,” A2

DENR to launch drive against street smoke belchers sans ‘spacious’ impounding area

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

he government’s plan to impound smoke-belching motor vehicles in Metro Manila will start next week, even as the National Anti-Environmental Crime Task Force (NAECTF) is yet to find a spacious impounding area. Environment Undersecretary and NAECTF chief Arturo T. Valdez said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has turned down their request for a portion of Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, prompting them to settle for a 1-hectare lot in Kamatsili, Quezon City. “Our request to use Tanay was denied. But we have a small impounding area in Barangay Kamatsili [Quezon City]. It is a private property. What is important is that [we] can start the campaign,” he said. “Our target is to reduce air pollution to achieve the World Health standard by the end of the year,” Valdez said.

No-nonsense campaign

According to Valdez, they are still in search of an impounding area, promising that a no-nonsense campaign will result in the

PESO exchange rates n US 49.9680

impounding of hundreds of motor vehicles that emit too much smoke that aggravates air pollution. “We are working on it. By the latest next week, we will resume our campaign. From then on, [there] will be no let-up,” he said. The original target was to utilize a 10-hectare portion in Camp Capinpin, where smokebelching vehicles in Metro Manila will be towed for violating the Clean Air Act. Valdez said the AFP denied their request because of lack of space inside the military camp for impounding motor vehicles. “I was told there was no available space that big for impounding motor vehicles in Tanay,” he said. During the kick-off ceremony highlighting the observance of the Clean Air Month celebration last week, the NAECTF conducted an operation to apprehend drivers and tow their smoke-belching vehicles at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources compound on Visayas Avenue, he said. Despite the absence of a bigger space before launching the allout war against smoke belchers, Valdez said the campaign will go slow targeting garages of private bus companies, service-utility

vehicles that provide transport services and terminals of publicutility jeepneys. “We don’t want to aggravate the traffic problem. We need to find a bigger impounding area first,” he said. Valdez added the search for a bigger impounding area is ongoing, and the NAECTF is willing to lease private lots for the purpose. “We are willing to pay for an impounding area. Even in Tanay, we are willing to pay, but we were told there’s no such space, so we have to look for other areas,” he said. According to Valdez, they are looking for a bigger area, at least 5 hectares—half of the original target—which they can use for impounding.

Higher penalty

Valdez maintained they need a bigger area, if possible far from Metro Manila, to teach erring owners of private motor vehicles and public-utility vehicles, as they plan to increase the cost of towing and impounding. He also said that before being released back to owners, the NAECTF will make sure that the vehicles are roadworthy, which See “Smoke Belchers,” A2

n japan 0.4408 n UK 62.2102 n HK 6.4424 n CHINA 7.2229 n singapore 34.8866 n australia 37.0163 n EU 52.7312 n SAUDI arabia 13.3262

Source: BSP (25 November 2016 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, November 27, 2016

Smoke belchers... continued from A1

means the owners would have to bring their mechanic on the spot to fix the vehicles. DENR Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, Valdez said, is determined to reduce air pollution, particularly in Metro Manila, and achieve the target of 90 micrograms per normal cubic meter (ug/Ncm), the international air-quality standard. “That is our commitment. For now, we are still looking but we will resume operation in garages,” he said. The average total suspended particulate readings in Metro Manila’s air-quality monitoring station show pollution level in Metro Manila in varying degrees, from 120 to 140 ug/Ncm. According to the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau, 80 percent of air pollution comes from smoke emitted by motor vehicles.

Duterte’s anti-US rhetoric not enough for communist rebels

Who’s to blame?

The Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines has been barking at the Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Land Transportation Office, blaming the corrupt practices as the reason for the poor air quality. The group is advocating for no-nonsense motor-vehicle inspection as part of the process in renewing motor-vehicle registration. The practice of nonappearance, or no-show in renewing motor-vehicle registration, the group said, allows owners to use their smoke-belching vehicles. Last year, to help reduce air pollution from motor vehicles, the DENR and the Department of Energy issued a joint resolution prescribing the use of Euro 4 fuel. Gasoline stations have complied with the joint order, imposing them to sell only Euro 4-standard fuels, but to no avail because of the sheer volume of motor vehicles plying Metro Manila roads, plus the monstrous traffic that aggravates air pollution.

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In this photo taken on November 23, members of the New People’s Army march with their firearms before a news conference held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains, southeast of Manila. AP/Aaron Favila

IERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS—Communist guerrillas warned that a peace deal with President Duterte’s administration is unlikely to be reached if he won’t end the Philippines’s treaty alliance with the United States and resist foreign control by other countries he’s trying to befriend—like China and Russia. In a clandestine news conference in a New People’s Army guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains, southeast of Manila, regional rebel commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla outlined the advantages and downside of talking with Duterte to end one of the world’s longest-running Marxist insurgencies. The dozens of mostly young guerrillas in muddy boots in their rain-soaked encampment on a wooded plateau reflected their resiliency but also showed the tough conditions

that have long hampered their insurgency. Young rebels cooked rice, pork and chicken in sootcovered pots over wood fire, while others gingerly puffed cigarettes while watching the peripheries. The nearest army camp lies just 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) away. When an Air Force Huey helicopter flew overhead, rebels at the news conference briefly paused and watched the passing aircraft. Founded in 1968, the rebels’ communist party has held peace talks with six Philippine presidents, including Duterte, whose rise to power in June sparked rebel optimism due to his searing anti-US rhetoric, populist pro-poor stance and appointments of at least two left-wing Cabinet members. But the guerrillas have also found themselves in a dilemma due to Duterte’s moves they find reprehensible, including the killings of large number of poor drug users that sparked accusations of massive human-rights violations against him, a recent decision to allow dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos to be buried in a heroes’ cemetery and threats to shift to dictatorial rule if rival politicians derail his antidrug crackdown and try to impeach him. While the President has gotten attention with his angry threats to end the presence of American forces in the country, stop joint combat exercises with US troops and terminate a defense accord with Washington, Padilla said Duterte has, so far, not formalized these utterances and instead has walked back on many publicly stated policies. “While the Duterte government hasn’t abrogated all these treaties, the New People’s Army will have no reason to enter into a friendship or alliance with him,” Padilla, 69, told a small group of

journalists escorted into an encampment ringed by mostly young rifle-wielding guerrillas. “That’s not negotiable because as long as the US military has a presence, the imperialist influence on Duterte’s government will remain,” said the bespectacled Padilla, who wore a Mao cap with his 9mm pistol within reach on a wooden table. Other rebels echoed Padilla’s remarks. “We support Duterte but not 100 percent,” said a 24-year-old rebel who identified himself as Guiller. “He’s projecting himself as anti-US and pro-poor, but that’s still mostly rhetoric. If the problems persist, the revolution will go on.” Duterte’s reaching out to China and Russia also disturbs the communists. “They hide behind what we call a communist [façade] or socialism but essentially, and in their core, they are imperialist nations, which control parts of the world,” Padilla said. “Even if it’s China that controls us, we’re not free, and we should fight their control on us.” Coinciding with the rebel warning, the Armed Forces chief, Gen. Ricardo Visaya, announced on Wednesday that most joint exercises with the US military would proceed next year, including the large-scale Balikatan maneuvers. Most would be refocused, though, on disaster-response, humanitarian missions and counterterrorism from previous maneuvers centered on territorial defense that Duterte worries may offend China. Visaya’s statement came after he met the US Pacific Command in an annual defense meeting on Tuesday. Despite thorny issues, Padilla said Maoist guerrillas remain committed to pursue talks with Duterte while criticizing his wrong moves, like allowing Marcos’s he-

‘Keyboard army’... Bert lowered his voice as a customer checked out from his station and paid at the counter. “Basta ang sabi lang sa amin, mag-ingay at patunayan na solid ang suporta ng tao kay Duterte,” he said. “Syempre, susunod lang kami. Konting comment lang, pera na din ’yun ba [They just told us to create noise, and prove support to Duterte is solid. Of course, we’ll follow through, because a small comment also means money].”

Quite visible

ASIDE from the spicy and colorful character of the President, another noticeable element in the Duterte administration is the presence of people like Bert, who are quite visible in the social-media space. Critics of the administration labeled them as paid hacks ready to defend ferociously the toughtalking President against any form of criticism. “If you are saying that there is a formal, organized and government-paid group that is financially compensated to take the cudgels for the Duterte administration, I am not aware of that,” said Edgardo Clemente, chairman of the group called Metro Manila Duterte Movement. “I think that most of those who defend the President in cyberspace are mostly individuals who believe in what President Duterte stands for. To assume that the most vocal ones are paid hacks completely misses the point, because it will lull the Duterte detractors that once the money tap is closed, the Duterte supporters will wither away.” Clemente also believes the anti-Duterte group operating in cyberspace does not have a financial backer, but are composed mostly of professionals who worked gratis—

continued from A1

for free—during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

‘Yellow Army’

roes’ burial and carrying out the bloody antidrugs crackdown. The police should target drug lords and syndicate leaders and not poor addicts, who the rebels consider victims and not criminals,” he said, adding they have targeted big drug dealers in the past. “We are sincere with the peace talks, we are honest, and we want to end 47 years of armed struggle,” Padilla said, when asked if the rebels were just trying to extract concessions from a president with whom they may not likely forge a peace deal. The guerrillas, he said, would not simply surrender their firearms unless their major demands are not met, including social and economic reforms, land reform and an industrialization program that favor the poor, who make up about a fourth of more than 100 million Filipinos. “If he remains in the right direction, he will be with us,” Padilla said. “But if he veers off from the direction that we seek, we will break away from him.” Battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting have weakened the rebel group, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the US. A confidential government assessment obtained by The Associated Press says the guerrillas have declined to 3,800 fighters with more than 4,500 firearms in the first half of the year, with about 700 of the country’s 42,000 villages affected by the insurgency. The insurgent group “remains as a threat to national security due to its stance of not abandoning the armed struggle,” the report said. “Although the communist movement had been weakened...it continues to pursue recovery efforts nationwide.” AP

CLEMENTE said his knowledge of the goings-on in the online social media comes from his experience as an administrator of the Facebook page of Mr. Aquino. He mentioned there was a group of people who was called as the “Yellow Army,” in reference to the Aquino bloc’s political color. “I know several of their members, some of whom are still active today against [Mr.] Duterte,” Clemente claims. “But they are mostly professionals and were never paid during the P-Noy administration nor are they paid today.” He said the majority of the groups he formed and administered for Mr. Aquino were used in the plunder case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the impeachment case against the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, and the plunder charges against Sens. Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jose Estrada. Due to a falling out with a member of the Yellow Army, Clemente said he agreed to divide their group. “These same groups were used for the [Manuel] Roxas presidential campaign and are also active in the current anti-Duterte sphere.” According to Clemente, the members he got from those who bolted out of the Yellow Army are the ones actively defending Duterte in the social-media sphere. He also claims to have managed to recruit millions of other members in the months before the 2016 presidential elections. Clemente said he has offered the use of these members to key officials of the Duterte administra-

tion, “but they declined”. He added that some group members may not be Filipino citizens or in the voting age of 18. Facebook admits members as young as 14 years old. “There could [also] be duplications in people joining more than one of our [Facebook] groups.”

All work

BERT said their group leader is a fortyish man who gives out assignments to people who are available. No names are dropped, no employers are ever known, he said in Filipino. All we know is that if we keep the comments coming, the money comes in, too, he added. Bert said he also has no information about his fellow trolls. He’s not certain regarding their identity or whether the accounts they are working under are made up, as well. For most of us, this is all work. The money puts food on the table. The more accounts you have, the better, he added. “Sideline lang naman po ’to, ma’am; extra ba. Maliit lang bayad ko dito sa shop. Pero hanggang pito lang kaya ko i-manage [This is just a sideline for me, ma’am, something extra. What I pay for use of the computer in this shop is small. But I can only manage seven accounts].” When asked about how he manages to argue all day, he said he doesn’t have to make sense all the time. Bert said he just has to support Duterte and continuously bash the Liberal Party. He said he reads articles from time to time to get information on current events to make some of his fake accounts’ discourse more believable. “Madali madala ang mga tao sa Facebook. Napatunayan na namin [It’s easy to sway people on Facebook. We’ve proven it].”

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Sunday, November 27, 2016

Upcoming votes could test euro zone’s stability again

he euro zone could be in for a rough few months. A rapid-fire series of elections in Italy, the Netherlands and France, plus Britain’s upcoming move toward leaving the European Union (EU), could buffet the 19-country monetary union—just as it is struggling to finally leave behind its troubles with slow growth and high debt. Analysts say it will take more than one unexpected outcome to provoke a renewed euro-zone crisis that goes beyond temporary market turbulence around the time of the votes. But multiple surprises and falling dominoes cannot be ruled out. That’s especially true after the unexpected votes in Britain for Brexit and for Donald J. Trump in the United States on November 8.

a new crisis. Euro-zone business activity is strengthening and German economic confidence is at a 31-month high. Overall, Europe is enjoying moderate growth, following a crisis over high debt in 2009-2012 that pushed Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus into needing bailout loans and raised the possibility the euro would break up. Commerzbank chief economist Joerg Kraemer says the bigger risk is in Italy. He cautions that there would have to be several triggers over a period of months: first, a “no” in the referendum, then new elections, and then a win by the Five Star Movement. Kraemer and other analysts think a caretaker government is more likely, at least at first. But regular elections would be held in 2018 in any case.

I think each [election] has the potential to derail the euro zone, to further disintegrate the euro zone, to maybe possibly even lead to a breakup of the euro zone—but only in the worst, worst-case scenario.”—ING-DiBa “Since the 9th of November, times have changed,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief German economist at ING-DiBa bank. “You can walk through all these political events one by one,” he said. “I think each has the potential to derail the euro zone, to further disintegrate the euro zone, to maybe possibly even lead to a breakup of the eurozone—but only in the worst, worst-case scenario.” Here are the key dates: n On December 4 Italians vote on constitutional changes that would limit the power of the Upper House and make it easier for governments to pass legislation. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said he will resign in case of a “no” result. New elections, if held, could bring to power the Five Star Movement, which has said it wants to hold a referendum on euro membership. n On March 15 in the Netherlands, the anti-immigration, antiEU Party for Freedom stands to do well in national elections and could influence the stance of any new government. n By the end of March, British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to formally start Britain’s talks to leave the EU, which are due to last at least two years. Market and business confidence could take a hit if it looks like Britain could leave without some privileged access to the EU single market. n On April 23 and May 7, France holds presidential elections. Farright National Front leader Marine Le Pen is expected to at least make the second round. She wants France to leave the EU. And unlike Britain, France is a member of the euro, and its exit from that would likely be even more disruptive. Polls indicate Le Pen doesn’t have much of a chance of winning. Problem is, that’s what many people thought about Britain’s EU vote and Trump’s chances in the US election. So Le Pen is making pro-EU politicians and economists more nervous than before. Should investors outside Europe be worried? It’s hard to tell. Craig Mackenzie, senior investment strategist at Aberdeen Asset Management, says the lack of a plunge in stocks after the US and UK votes “is teaching the market that political shocks are not necessarily the start of the next bear market.... The market is harder to shock.” While a less likely Le Pen victory would be “an immediate existential threat” to the EU, the Italian troubles require multiple steps to materialize and “won’t be a short, sharp shock.” Right now, companies and investors are hardly pricing in

Kraemer argues that a Five Star government would likely spend more money and bust the euro zone’s rules limiting deficits, adding more debt to Italy’s already heavy burden of 135 percent of economic output. More deficit spending and debt “will create a huge conflict with the fiscal rules and the European Commission,” Kraemer said. “And in such an environment there is a significant risk that private bond investors will go on strike and refuse to buy Italian government bonds. That means there is a significant risk that we will see a return of the southern debt crisis if the Five Star Movement continues to lead in the polls and there are early elections.” Italy also faces potential disruptions in coming weeks from troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The bank is trying to offload bad loans and raise new capital. If it fails, it could need a bailout from the government. But in that case new EU rules would trigger losses for some bond holders, including many small retail savers—political poison. The currency union has new safeguards against turmoil. Banking supervision was toughened and moved to the EU level, lessening the chance that bad banks will bring down government finances. And the European Central Bank (ECB) has been buying government bonds to raise inflation and growth. In countries like Italy, that has driven bond prices up and interest yields, which move opposite to bond prices, down. That’s key because it was exorbitant bond market rates in 2011 that threatened Italy’s financial solvency. The ECB also has a special program dubbed outright monetary transactions, or OMT, under which it could buy a country’s bonds to prevent it from facing ruinous borrowing costs. But the ECB’s bond purchases will have to end at some point. Right now the earliest end is March 2017, although that may be extended by three or six months at a December 8 meeting.A nd K raemer wa r ns t hat deploying the OMT could strengthen support for anti-euro parties in Germany and the Netherlands, where stimulus skeptics argue suc h a ssi st a nce on ly u nder mines the will to reform shaky government finances. Right now, it’s all hypothetical. “I still hope that by the end of this period, we have a couple of elected leaders who can get across more integration at the euro-zone level,” Brzeski said. AP

In this November 19, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos pose for photographs at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump has chosen charter school advocate DeVos as education secretary in his administration. AP

Trump’s team to raise millions for his inauguration rites in Jan

he scramble to shape his administration under way, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s team has simultaneously begun turning its attention to raising tens of millions of dollars for festivities related to his Washington inauguration.

Trump, who vowed during the campaign to “drain the swamp” of special interests corrupting Washington, has set $1-million donation limits for corporations and no limits for individual donors, according to an official on the Presidential Inaugural Committee with direct knowledge of tentative fund-raising plans. At the same time, Trump’s inaugural committee will not accept money from registered lobbyists, in line with his ban on hiring lobbyists for his nascent administration. Barack Obama set str icter limits on donations for his first inauguration, in 2009, holding individual donors to $50,000 each and taking no money from corporations or labor unions, as well as none from lobbyists and some other groups. Plenty of corporate executives, though, gave individually and often at the maximum amount. And he opened the spigots for his 2013 inauguration, setting no limits on corporate or individual donations. The new details, confirmed on Thursday on the condition of anonymity because the official

was not authorized to disclose private deliberations, came as Trump gathered with family at his Palm Beach estate Mar-aLago on Thanksgiving. Trump’s team would not say exactly which family members joined him for dinner, although he arrived in Florida earlier in the week with his wife Melania and youngest son, 10-year-old Barron. They dined with other Mara-Lago members from a Thanksgiving menu that featured “Mr. Trump’s wedge salad” and main course offerings like oven-roasted turkey, leg of lamb, Chilean sea bass and braised short ribs, according to a menu provided by a spokeswoman. The dessert options included pumpkin pie, toasted coconut cake, warm brownie pockets and hot apple crisp. It was a working holiday of sorts for Trump, who suggested on Twitter that he was engaged in trying to prevent an Indiana ai-conditioning company from moving jobs to Mexico. “I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the

US,” Trump tweeted. “Making progress—Will know soon!” The company, which has announced plans to move 1,400 jobs to Mexico from Indiana in the coming years, confirmed on Thursday it “has had discussions with the incoming administration,” but said there was “nothing to announce at this time.” On the eve of the national holiday, the president-elect offered a prayer for unity after “a long and bruising” campaign season. “Emotions are raw and tensions just don’t heal overnight,” Trump said in a video message on social media. He added, “It’s my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.” Unity has emerged as a common theme during Trump’s limited public appearances in the days since his stunning general election victory, which followed a campaign season in which he rained extraordinary personal attacks on his opponents in both parties, the media and his many Republican critics. Unity would also be a theme for the incoming president’s January 20 inauguration, the official said. While Trump’s fund-raising plans have not been completed, he is expected to raise significantly more than the $43 million Obama raised for his 2013 inauguration. Taxpayers cover the cost of official activities such as the swearing-in, but outside donations pay for the many related balls and parties. Trump has focused most of his

attention in the two weeks since his victory on building a White House team from scratch. He injected the first signs of diversity into his Cabinet-to-be on Wednesday, tapping South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. They are the first women selected for top-level administration posts. And Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, would be his first minority selection after a string of announcements of white men. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on Wednesday said “an announcement is forthcoming” on his position, which would make him the first black choice—possibly as secretary of housing and urban development. But he also suggested he’d be thinking about it over the Thanksgiving holiday. Trump is also expected to select billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. to lead the Commerce Department, a senior Trump adviser said on condition of anonymity because the adviser was not authorized to disclose internal deliberations. The 78-year-old Ross, who is white, is chairman and chief strategy officer of private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., which has specialized in buying failing companies. Trump is spending the Thanksgiving holiday at Mar-a-Lago after a week of interviewing potential appointees in New York, punctuated by announcements of members of his national security team. He is expected to stay in Florida through the weekend. AP

It’s Iceland vs Iceland in trademark battle

t’s Iceland vs Iceland. The island nation of Iceland said it is taking legal action against British frozen-food chain Iceland over the right to use their shared name. Iceland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has challenged Iceland Foods at the European Union Intellectual Property Office. It says it is acting because

the retail chain “aggressively pursued ” Icelandic companies using the word Iceland in their branding. Iceland Foods holds a Europe-wide trademark registration for the word “Iceland”, and the Nordic country’s government said it was “exceptionally broad and ambiguous in definition.” In a statement, the ministry said the situation has left the

country’s firms “unable to describe their products as Icelandic.” The retailer, which has operated supermarkets across Britain for 46 years, said it would fight the claim. It said it does not believe “any serious confusion or conflict has ever arisen in the public mind” between the chain of stores and the volcanic Viking-founded nation.

“We hope that the government will contact us directly so that we may address their concerns,” the company said. The two Icelands once had a close relationship. Icelandic retail conglomerate Baugur Group held a major stake in the grocer until Baugur’s collapse in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis that devastated Iceland’s economy. AP

Sunday, November 27, 2016

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What will lift world economy? Goldman says higher oil prices T

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Brexit may take decade so give the pound a rest, investors say

orget the stagflation of the 1970s. Higher oil prices would be a boon for the global economy, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Pricey crude means economies such as Saudi Arabia take in more money than they can spend, which financial markets help distribute through the rest of the world, boosting asset values and consumer confidence, the bank ’s analysts Jeff Currie and Mikhail Sprogis wrote in a November 22 research note. It ’s a cou nter i nt u it ive no tion, especia l ly for anyone who l ived t h rou g h t he 1970 s, when Midd le East tur moil h i ked oi l pr ices a nd pu shed muc h of t he de ve loped world into recession. Bac k t hen, high oi l pr ices mea nt money f lowed f rom developed economies where con su mpt ion w a s h ig h to emerg i ng econom ies where con su mpt ion w a s low, t a k i ng mone y out of c i rc u l at ion a nd st a g n at i ng t he economy. Things changed in the 2000s, Currie and Sprogis wrote. Modern financial systems took savings that were building up in lowercon s u mpt ion , oi l - pro du c i n g countries and circulated them around the world. The theory helps explain why the global economy surged in the 2000s, as oil climbed above $100 a barrel and then slowed amid the recent crude crash, according to Goldman. “ The difference between today and the 1970s is that oil

$7T The amount of excess savings of oil-producing countries outside the US from 2001 to 2014

creates global liquidity through a far more sophisticated financial system,” Currie and Sprogis wrote. “More sophisticated financial markets in the 2000s were able to transform this excess savings into greater global liquidity that increased asset values, lowered interest rates, and improved credit conditions that spanned the globe.” Goldman earlier this week raised its forecast for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices in the first quarter to $55 a barrel, from $45, as it expects the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to agree on a production cut next week. Such a boost should be viewed as a positive for global growth, Currie and Sprogis wrote. WTI for January delivery traded at $47.95 a barrel, down a cent, at 10:12 a.m. Singapore time.

Bloomberg news

Excess savings

Goldman is the biggest commodities dealer on Wall Street by sales and for that reason the views of its analysts carry extra weight among natural resources investors. From 2001 to 2014, excess savings outside the US grew to $7 trillion from $1 trillion as oil climbed, according to Currie and Sprogis. The savings helped drive up values of things like homes and financial assets and loosened

credit markets for consumers. In 2014, when oil prices began to fall, Middle Eastern economies began eating into their savings to meet budget requirements, reducing global liquidity. The correlation between oil prices and global growth won’t last forever. When these economies set their budgets so that spending and oil revenue are the same, the financial spillover effects will stop as they did in the 1980s and 1990s, Currie and Sprogis wrote. Bloomberg News

wo of Scotland’s biggest fund-management firms have a message for the currency market: it’s time to give the pound a break. Sterling’s 16 -percent slide since the UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23 reflects a changed economic reality, according to Standard Life Investments and Kames Capital. That means there’s little reason to aggressively sell—or buy—the currency until the details of the UK’s new relationship with the EU and the economic implications have unfolded. “This is a long, slow train lasting a decade,” Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life, which manages about £270 billion ($335 billion), said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Edinburgh office this week. “Markets have priced in the fact that the UK economy is going to go through a big structural adjustment—sterling shows us that.” After plunging to the lowest against the dollar since 1985, the year of an international agreement to devalue the American currency, the pound has recovered some equilibrium and traded between $1.21 and $1.27 over the past month. Initial losses were capped as the depreciation boosted exports and the Bank of England’s monetary stimulus supported the economy more than policy-makers had predicted. The pound was the “whipping boy” of foreign-exchange markets in the aftermath of the referendum, said Stephen Jones, chief investment officer at Kames. Also based in the Scottish capital, the firm oversees about £51 billion for clients. “I’m slightly more optimistic on it now,” Jones said in an interview alongside Milligan. “We are not short sterling, but it’s not an

endorsement of buying it. While we can take comfort from the beginnings of reference to policy, the detail is nonexistent.” The government hasn’t yet triggered the two-year legal process to leave the EU. While the Supreme Court will decide whether it needs a parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Theresa May reiterated her plan to do it by the end of March. Only then will Britain start unraveling more than four decades of agreements with continental Europe spanning everything from trade and labor laws to weights and measures. In the meantime, the country’s financial health is deteriorating and the pound remains the worstperforming major currency in the world this year along with the Mexican peso, which was hit by Donald Trump’s US election victory. In the first major statement on the economy since the Brexit vote, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond this week slashed the forecast for growth in 2017 and laid out plans for more government borrowing. For now, there’s less scope for a bigger selloff irrespective of concerns about the state of the economy past next year and 2018, Jones said. The median of analysts’ predictions compiled by Bloomberg is for the currency to trade at $1.23 by December 31 and $1.25 next year, little changed from Thursday’s $1.2457 close. “The UK economy generally does well when you lower the cost of borrowing for the consumer and have depreciated your currency pretty aggressively relative to neighbors,” Jones said. Standard Life’s Milligan advises investors to be “neutral and flexible” on UK assets because extricating the UK from the EU won’t be quick and easy. Bloomberg News

Most-polluted city drives India to champion gas for vehicles S

mothered by increasingly toxic air, India is moving to the forefront of a global push to use more of cleaner natural gas in vehicles. The country’s state-run gas companies are charting ambitious plans to extend the use of natural gas to trucks and scooters, and build infrastructure for long-haul travel on the fuel. Their optimism is reflected in forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which said in its latest outlook that India is on course to be the biggest contributor to growth in the use of natural gas in vehicles after the US and China through 2040. One of the top automobile markets, where about 70 percent of vehicles run on diesel, India is seeking to cut emissions and its import bill by more than doubling natural-gas use in its energy mix by 2021. Adding urgency to the move is the dubious distinction its capital gained earlier this month of being the world ’s most-polluted city. Still, progress toward widening the use of natural gas will be slow given declining domestic production, a patchy pipeline network and limited regasification capacity for imports. “The scope of gas in India’s transport is huge,” said E.S. Ranganathan, managing director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd., which has launched gas-fueled scooters in New Delhi using engineconversion kits developed by an Iranian firm. “We just need the right policies to boost investment in its infrastructure, such as laying more pipelines, setting up of refueling stations along the highways and using liquefied natural gas to fuel vehicles.” If the government pushes natural gas as a primary fuel for trans-

natural-gas production fell to a nine-year low. Of the country’s total gas consumption, about 46 percent was met through imports. “If suppose tomorrow we import more and the prices rise, then the attractiveness of this as opposed to alternate fuels may diminish,” Mathur said. That hasn’t stopped India’s oil ministry from working with other departments, such as the federal road ministry and state governments, to push the use of liquefied natural gas in transportation. “If we are able to convert heavy, long-haul vehicles to run on LNG, it will help cut pollution and also lower costs,” Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on November 10.

Trials

190B m

The estimated natural-gas demand in India by 2040

portation, India’s vehicular gas consumption could jump eight times to over 62 million cubic meters a day by 2030, according to Virginia-based energy consultancy ICF International Inc. The government has already prioritized city-based gas dist r ibut ion, i nc lud i ng t he u se

of compressed natural gas for transport, and said that local production should first be used to meet demand in this sector. It also plans to more than double the country’s pipeline network, which is more developed in western than in eastern India, to about 30,000 kilometers.

Pollution

Though gas in India is priced too high to compete against cheaper coal for power generation, staterun gas companies see it winning the cost battle in transportation against more-expensive gasoline

and diesel. Running a vehicle on natural gas is over 60 percent cheaper than gasoline and 32 percent less than diesel at current prices, according to a statement from Indraprastha Gas. It’s also cleaner, shar pening its appeal. Readings in New Delhi for deadly particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, soared above 900 micrograms per cubic meter in early November, according to pollution monitoring site A ir Visual. The readings were well above the World Health Organization’s annual exposure guideline of 10 micrograms. A

key hurdle is supply. Naturalgas demand in India is expected to increase by four-fold to 190 billion cubic meters in 2040, t hough domest ic produc t ion may rise to only 90 bcm, according to the IEA. Imports will need to fill the 100 -bcm gap, according to the agency. “The challenge in the long run is the availability of gas from domestic sources,” Mahanagar Gas Ltd. Managing Director Rajeev Kumar Mathur said, adding that if production doesn’t increase, India will need to import more. In the year ended March 31, domestic

Petronet LNG Ltd., India’s biggest importer of the chilled fuel, along with Indian Oil Corp., the country’s top fuel retailer, have a trial program in the southern state of Kerala to run long-haul buses on LNG. Petronet has also said it is also in talks with automakers, such as Ashok Leyland Ltd., to conduct trials on trucks that run on LNG. Mahanagar Gas Ltd., the nation’s third-largest city gas distributor, is building gas retailing stations along highways in the western state of Maharashtra to promote the use of compressed natural gas for long-distance transport. It is also working on a kit that can make a diesel engine run on gas and will soon commence trials of gas-fueled scooters in Mumbai. “We consume about 70 million tons of diesel annually,” said Prabhat Singh, CEO of Petronet, which is targeting large and small trucks. “Even if we’re able to replace half of it, that will be a big success.” Bloomberg News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, November 27, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Fishermen unload freshly caught knife fish from their bancas in Tanay, Rizal. Knife fish is an invasive alien species that has affected the fish productivity of Laguna de Bay. Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas

Plan vs janitor fish, other IAS completed

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

he Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has completed the draft management plan on invasive alien species (IAS) to prevent its adverse impact to the environment and biodiversity.

Developed as part of the United Nations Environment Prog ramme- Globa l Env ironment Facility Project 0515, “Removing Barriers to Invasive Species Management in Production and Protection Forests in Southeast Asia [Foris Project]”, the National Invasive Species Strategy and Action Plan (Nissap) 2016-2026 aims to provide a blueprint for various stakeholders in preventing the spread of IAS. IAS include knife fish, janitor fish and, in the case of plants, water lily. Developed through a consultative process with various stakeholders—research and academic institutions, civil societies, private sector and government agencies— at the national and regional levels, Nissap is envisioned to cover the management of various types of IAS in areas that are most vulnerable to their impacts. To prevent the introduction of IAS or their infestation, and to effectively manage their spread and minimize their threats, Nissap provides a framework for coordinated and multisectoral management.

Major driver of biodiversity loss

According to Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim, IAS is a major driver of biodiversity loss and continues to threaten ecosystems, including lakes and other inland water ecosystems or wetlands. IAS are introduced to a location

$1.4T

The global cost of invasive alien species

through various pathways, like transported to a new location, either intentionally or unintentionally— such as in fisheries, agriculture, forestry and reforestation, trade, travel and tourism, the document said. The exotic, or sometimes called nonnative species, displace the native ones through competition, predation, habitat alteration, diseases and parasitic infestations. According to the DENR-BMB, studies have shown that IAS could alter the evolution of native species by competitive exclusion, which can lead to loss of genetic diversity. The structure and functions of an ecosystem can be altered dramatically by IAS, the document pointed out. It cited as an example the adverse impact of invasive plants that can colonize large areas, inhibiting the growth of native plants and forming monoculture that leads to the decline of watershed functions. “Invasive aquatic plants can cover entire surface of lakes, ponds and rivers,” the document said.

On the other hand, exotic or nonnative species can carry invasive pests that can damage forestry, agriculture and aquaculture.

Climate change; economic losses

Climate change-induced alteration of ecosystems can also facilitate the spread of invasive species through the creation of habitats and conditions that suit new and already established invasive species, according to the draft Nissap. Experts have warned against the spread of IAS because of their potential economic impact. Because of expanding trade and globalization, the direct and indirect economic losses associated with the damages from IAS will further increase, they warned. The global cost of IAS is pegged at $1.4 trillion. In the Philippines, rice-productivity loss from golden apple snails, or golden kuhol, reached up to an estimated $12.5 million to $17.8 million in the 1990s. “The Nissap aims to help policymakers, local governments and the private sector prevent the spread of invasive species,” Lim said. She said the Nissap 2016-2026 would be submitted to Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez for approval.

3 Mindanao lakes under threat

IAS have already affected rivers and lakes in Luzon—such as the Marikina River, Pasig River, Laguna de Bay and Taal Lake—and are now threatening three lakes in Mindanao, said Josefina de Leon, head of the BMB’s Wildlife Division. Among those affected by IAS in Mindanao are Lake Sebu, Agusan Marsh and Liguasan Marsh. Lake Sebu’s productivity is being undermined by water lilly, water cabbage and tilapia. Agusan Marsh and Liguasan Marsh are affected by water lily, janitor fish and tilapia. Lake Sebu is one of the many bodies of water supplying important irrigation to the provinces of

Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato. The lake and its surroundings are part of the ancestral domain of the T’boli and Ubo tribes, who have been the traditional dwellers of the lake. Agusan Marsh is part of the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary and one of the most ecologically significant wetlands in the Philippines. It contains nearly 15 percent of the nation’s fresh-water resources in the form of swamp forests. Liguasan Marsh, meanwhile, is a key biodiversity area. It is home to unique birds and assorted native fish, and is the primary source of water and food of people living in the area. De Leon said the reported spread of IAS in these lakes is alarming because they could affect the lakes’ productivity and affect those who depend on the lake’s bounty for income and livelihood. Lim said a thorough assessment of the situation in the affected lakes is necessary to address the problem. She said there is also a need to look into the condition of other economically important lakes to come up with measures to prevent invasion by nonnative species, particularly “pesky” fish. “We need to assess the situation to come up with a plan how to contain or eliminate invasive species without harming other species,” she said. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) had sought the help of the DENR-BMB to help address the problem confronting various stakeholders in the areas.

Monitoring lakes

Lim said the DENR field staff members, as part of their mandate, monitor lakes, particularly those frequented by migratory birds during migration, but the activities focus on averting the spread of avian influenza virus. The official said the lakes should be monitored regularly, not just to prevent the avian influenza virus from spreading, but in order to

prevent the spread of IAS that are detrimental to the environment. Lim said lakes are important ecosystems that support a diverse species of plants, birds and animals, and ecosystem services that support the livelihood of farmers and fishermen. IAS, like janitor fish, knife fish and tilapia, have already adversely affected the Laguna de Bay and Taal Lake for years. Janitor fish and knife fish are ornamental fish species, while tilapia, which was introduced in the 1970s in the Philippines to boost fish production, is now part of the Filipino diet. These invasive alien fish compete against and sometimes prey on native fish leading to their extinction. According to Lim, the release of IAS into the wild is prohibited and punishable by the Wildlife Act because of their potential adverse impact to the environment. They also cause the extinction of native species. The of f ic i a l c aut ioned hobby i st s who release their pets into the wild. Potentially dangerous species are ornamental fish and other aquarium pets, including deadly Burmese python, birds, rats and spiders.

High endemism

The Philippines is rich in biodiversity and is known for its high endemism. It is estimated that around 45 percent to 60 percent of plants in flowering forests are endemic to the Philippines or are only found in the country. Around 64 percent of Philippine mammals are endemic to the country, such as the Philippine Tamaraw or the Mindoro dwarf buffalo, which can only be found in the mountains of Mindoro Island. It is also estimated that 32 percent of birds in the Philippines are endemic to the country. The Philippines also boasts of having the highest endemism when it comes to reptiles (73 percent) and amphibians (91 percent).

Around 34 percent of freshwater fish in the Philippines are also endemic to the country.

Prevention rather than cure

The Nissap implementing guidelines is anchored on the precautionary principle, data sharing and collaboration, research and monitoring, biodiversity conservation, international cooperation, committed funding for implementation, public education and awareness, participatory and consultative approach to planning, decisionmaking and management, policy and institutional development, and training and capacity building. It has nine Strategic Goals, including Leadership and Coordination; Prevention; Early Detection and Rapid Response; Control and Management; Restoration; Research and Information Management; Education and Public Awareness; International Cooperation; and Training Needs and Capacity Building. According to Lim, four decades later, the Philippines is now feeling the impact of the introduction of tilapia. “While it seemed to be appropriate then for food security, its introduction in our lakes and rivers have caused us to lose better-tasting native fish varieties,” Lim said. She said prevention is always better than finding cure to a problem, citing the case of the diminishing fish variety that were replaced in the market, either by bangus or tilapia. “If you notice, tilapia and bangus are all that you can see in the market because our native fish are nearly extinct, if not extinct already,” Lim said. She said a thorough study should be conducted before another species of fish is introduced, intentionally to boost food production or as a biological control agent, to prevent potential adverse impact, rather than preventing a cure to a problem which can result in the extinction of native species and accelerate biodiversity loss.

Faith

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Sunday

Editor: Lyn B. Resurreccion

Saint Francis Xavier, patron of foreign missions By Corazon Damo-Santiago

THE Dalai Lama (center) waves as he arrives at the Janraiseg temple of Gandantegchinlen monastery to greet Mongolian people in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on November 19. AP/Ganbat Namjilsangarav

Dalai Lama: ‘No worries’ about Trump’s election

LAANBAATAR, Mongolia— Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Wednesday he has “no worries” about Donald Trump’s election as US president, adding that he expects the businessman will align his future policies with global realities.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner’s remarks were his most extensive yet regarding the election of the real-estate tycoon and realitytelevision star who has called for putting America’s concerns first and shown little interest in Washington’s traditional espousal of global democracy and social justice. Commenting at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Mongolia, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said he looks forward to seeing Trump at some point following the January 20 inauguration. It was not immediately clear if a meeting between the two has been planned. Such meetings usually draw protests from Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from China. The 81-year-old monk said he has always regarded the US as the leader of the “free world” and wasn’t

concerned about remarks made by Trump during the election campaign. Some of those comments have been cited as offensive to Muslims, Hispanics and other US minority groups. “I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express. Now once they [are] elected, having the responsibility, then they have to carry their cooperation, their work, according [to] reality,” he told reporters. “So I have no worries.” China had demanded Mongolia to scrap his visit for the sake of the “general picture of a sound and steady development of bilateral ties.” Mongolia’s fragile economy is heavily dependent on China, and the countries are in discussions of a $1.2-billion Chinese loan to help pull it out of a recession. Mongolian television station

Eagle TV’s web site reported that China has delayed talks on the loan and on cooperation in mining, apparently in response to the Dalai Lama’s visit. Mongolia’s Foreign Ministry said it had not received any notice, while China’s Foreign Ministry offered no confirmation but demanded Mongolia take measures to “eliminate the negative impact” of the visit. “The incorrect actions of the Mongolian side regarding the Dalai Lama’s visit harmed the political foundations of China-Mongolian relations and caused a negative impact on the development of the bilateral relations,” spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily briefing. In his comments, the Dalai Lama said his visit to the landlocked, primarily Buddhist nation had no political purpose and that he had not publicly advocated independence for Tibet since 1974. The Dalai Lama has long called for Tibet to remain under Chinese rule, but with greater political participation by Tibetans and stronger protections for its traditional Buddhist culture. China says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, although many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent country for much of that time. Asked to comment on climate change— which Trump has denounced as a

hoax—the Dalai Lama said he was heartened by the turn to alternative-energy sources, such as solar and wind power. “I think...we must now concentrate on these things. I don’t know whether we can reduce cars or not. People everywhere busy, busy. I don’t know if it will be possible,” he said. Referencing past efforts to minimize damage to the ozone layer, the Dalai Lama said that raised the chances of similar cooperation on climate change. “So that gives us hope, there is possibility,” he said. While the US has, in the past, called on China to respect civil liberties in Tibet, Trump has praised authoritarian rulers, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin who have been strongly criticized by human rights groups. Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Trump in a phone call and the country’s state media have welcomed his election as harkening a less confrontational policy toward China. Those outlets have also applauded Trump’s announcement that he would abandon a US-led free-trade agreement in Asia that had excluded China. However, Trump has also accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and pledged to bulk up the US military, leaving questions as to his ultimate approach to relations with the world’s second-largest economy. AP

From foreknowledge to predestination: The mind-set of God for mankind

By Manuel Mariano Jr.

or a layman like me, studying the theological concept of the foreknowledge of God and the predestination of man is quite hard. Many questions are raised if these two are already known before the creation of the heavens and the world, and if God already elected someone for eternal life long before he was born. If this is so, why then did God give us the freedom of choice to go through life here on Earth? Was the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ just a drama of salvation with all the actors born as villains and be condemned to outright sin and death? Interestingly, God gave Paul and Peter the answers through their Epistles. Some commentaries said, the author of a book knows his story from beginning to end but the reader don’t, but can speculate what will happen next. As a student of Christian Ministry, my professor in the seminary told me that only God have a freewill and man and angels have only a free choice. Why is this so? He explained that when God, by his own freewill created all things from nothing, He created a perfect heaven and Earth based on the foundation of love, but when a spirit being called Lucifer who became Satan, which means adversary, introduced rebellion and sin, man, too, like the angels, were given a free choice between good and evil as demonstrated in the temptation in Eden.

God from the beginning have a foreknowledge that man will also fall into sin in a manner like Satan, who was also cast down to Earth from heaven by God. Free choice is the sovereignty of all created beings because without it, we are just like robots programmed to obey commands without question. But foreknowledge and predestination upon his creation is the sovereignty of God. Relatedly, as a retired military man, as a mind-set, our courses of actions are usually guided by operational plans to achieve a preset objective, called mission. All personnel involved have a role to play and the success of maneuvers depends largely on the result of the coordinative and integrative efforts of all actors. Somewhere along the axis of advance, secondary objectives have to be addressed first before proceeding for the final attack at the predesignated target. These things happen and that’s the reason why assumptions have to be planned ahead, a sort of foreknowledge by man’s standards. In the battlefield, you will never know what the enemy have in store to make a counterattack. But to God, He already know the outcome beforehand because He is outside our time and space domain. In the political arena, the Philippines is categorized as a third-world country. The Wikipedia says it is characterized by the following: low economic development, high level of poverty, high infant mortality, high population growth, low utilization of natural

resources, impoverished millions in a vast lower economic class, a very small elite upper class controlling the country’s wealth and resources, unstable government, heavy dependence on industrialized nations and a very large foreign debt. Did God predestined us to be a nation of the poor and hungry? How could we change our status to become peaceful and progressive? President Duterte is making a twopronged attack as a strategy. His objective is to elevate our status into a better quality of life. The age-old concept of security and development is coming into play by simultaneously addressing the peace and order problems, as well as improve the economy by generating alternative sources of capital from other foreign nations like China and Japan, besides the country’s Asean counterparts. However, despite his efforts, we are not getting what we want in a silver platter. His critics are stopping him from achieving his goals because of his alleged killing of criminals extrajudicially and is threatened for impeachment for alleged human-rights violations. In biblical times, the Israelites insisted in worshipping idols and suffered seriously from God’s wrath by being driven out of their land of inheritance. Are the Filipinos, too, being punished for hard-headedness and abandonment of God like biblical Israel, thus, it remains an impoverished country deprived of “a land of milk and honey”?

Then we must repent for our sins and return to the fold of God Almighty for His blessings of peace and prosperity. This is the only way we can survive the onslaught of Satan’s attack. Satan’s introduction of greed and selfishness is prevalent, and calamities, whether man-made or by natural causes are now frequently occurring. Adultery and same-sex marriage, like in Sodom and Gomorrah, was never a divine law but are now proposed in the laws of man. Take note, the first couple was Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. We are forewarned by theologians that these are the signs of the end-times that the days of Satan is already about to end and Jesus is coming again to judge the living and the dead. Going back to the drama of salvation, God predestined it to happen 2000 years ago during the Roman Empire. Now, Pontius Pilate and the cast to include Judas have free choice whether they go for repentance or outright condemnation. They have to believe in the Messiah whom they crucified for the atonement of their sins and have faith in God and live as true Christians. We, Filipinos, can do likewise by doing away with our corrupt ways and avail ourselves of God’s grace. This is the Gospel message, and the meaning of John 3:16, which says, “For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

hat Saint Paul is to the early Christians, Saint Francis Xavier is to the present times. For the zeal Saint Francis Xavier exemplified, the extraordinary miracles he performed and the great number of souls he brought to the Catholic Faith, he is considered as the greatest missionary since the epoch of the apostles, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Dubbed as the “Patron of the Propagation of Faith and All Foreign Missions,” he traveled great distances in the most inaccessible places to evangelize. In his 10 years of missionary work in more than 50 kingdoms, he won almost a million souls, a lasting foundation for the “six great Asiatic mission fields.”

Apostolic Nuncio to the Indies

Saint Francis Xavier was born on April 7, 1506, in Navarre, Spain, to Don Juan de Jassu and Maria Alpilcueta. Worldly and ambitious, he went to the University of Paris to study Philosophy or an ecclesiastical career and follow the fame of his father who was president of the Royal Council in Navarre. He met a brilliant student, Ignatius of Loyola, in the university who impressed on him the worthless aspiration for earthly glory. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he suffers the loss of his own soul?” Ignatius advised him. He was persuaded to join Ignatius and five other friends to dedicate themselves to a life of holiness. The seven became the nucleus of the Jesuit Order. They took their vows on August 15, 1534, Feast of the Assumption, in the church in Montmartre, Paris, and were ordained priests on June 24, 1537, in Venice. After a 40-day fast and spiritual preparation, Francis celebrated his first Mass. Imbued with the zeal to save souls, he desired to go to universities in Europe. To Ignatius, he wrote: “I wish students would settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them...meditate on spiritual realities, to listen actively to what God is saying to them...forget their own desires, their human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God’s will and His choice.” While he was serving as Ignatius’s secretary in Rome, there was a call from King John III of Portugal for Jesuit missionaries to East Indies. In a parting message to Ignatius, he wrote: “For what is left of this life, I am well assured, it will be by letter only that we shall be together—in the other we shall embrace face to face.” With a letter appointing him as Apostolic Nuncio to the Indies, Francis set sail on April 7, 1541, with the Portuguese ambassador.

A missionary in 50 kingdoms

The 11,000-mile sea voyage was a 13 months journey. The vessel landed in Goa, India—the center of Portuguese activity in the East on May 6, 1542.

After learning the language, he nursed the sick and taught catechism. He also went along fishery coasts, ringing bells to attract children and their mothers for catechism lessons. His friendliness and utmost charity won him the admiration of the sick, the lepers and the natives, so the task of conversion was a considerable success, among the poor, tribal and lower-caste population. But he was frustrated by the “immorality, greed and violence of European colonists,” according to Robert Ellsberg in All Saints, for such behavior “undermined the credibility of Christianity.” In 1544 Francis went to Ceylon, Malacca, Spice Island and Cochin, China, to spread the faith. Having met a fugitive from Japan, he went on a missionary journey, landing in Kagoshima, southern Japan, on August 15, 1549. Learning the language and opposition from Buddhist monks were challenges he had to contend with. But his teachings, accompanied by numerous miracles, drew 2,000 Japanese to the faith. While in Japan, he had a glimpse of Chinese civilization, and Francis planned to evangelize the Celestial Empire. He sailed for China and in 1552 reached the desolate island of Shanchuan (formerly Sancian), 6 miles off the coast of China. The Chinese pirates who were promised a great sum to smuggle him to Canton never arrived. After three months of waiting, he succumbed to fever on December 3, 1552, at the age of 46. Four people attended his funeral, his servant boy, a Portuguese and two slaves. In 1553 his incorrupt body was returned to Goa, India, and placed in a glass container in the Basilica of Born Jesus. In 1614 his right arm, which he used to bless and baptized converts, was detached and sent to Rome on the order of the Jesuit General Claudio Acquaviva and enshrined in the Church of Gesu. Beatified on October 25, 1619, by Pope Paul V, he was canonized on March 12, 1622, by Pope Gregory XV. On December 2, 1637, his body was encased in a silver casket with 32 silver plates, which depic t the impor tant episodes of his life. Among them, as cited by Wikipedia: a crab restores his crucifix which had fallen in the sea, cures miraculously a man full of sores, restores the hearing of a Japanese, heals a dumb paralytic man in Amanguchi, resuscitates a boy who died in a well at Cape Camorinto. Francis levitates while distributing communion in the College of Saint Paul and cures a religious there. He was visited by Saint Jerome while he was sick in Vicenza and while lying on the ground with arms and legs tied but the cords broke miraculously. In 1927 Pope Pius XI published Apostolicorum in Missionbus, which declared Saint Francis Javier as Patron of Foreign Missions together with Saint Therese of Lisieux. Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.

From trans to transformed

he lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) issue has been a hotbutton topic among Christians, more so now with the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. There are various stances and judgment calls from the church, and a lot of hurt and anger has been stirred up. But this is not what Vins Santiago’s book, TransFormed: Mula sa Pagiging Transwoman, is all about. Written in Taglish, the book is a true-to-life story of a bullied little boy Benny, who grew up to become the beautiful transsexual woman Vina and eventually became Vins, a man of God. Vins’s account is raw, honest, at times tragic, and finally filled with hope. It is a story of a person who tried everything to fill an emptiness inside him, only to find that he couldn’t, until he met the One who knew him and loved him all the same. But even as he had found salvation, healing and transformation still took time, with a lot of stops and starts, forgiveness to be found and given to others. With all the noise surrounding the LGBTQ issue these days, TransFormed passes no judgments. Rather, it sheds a light on the story of one gay and transsexual Filipino, who, like all of us, is looking for the true love, healing and salvation that can be found in Christ. Santiago’s life story was featured in Maalaala Mo Kaya in 2003, starring Fanny Serrano. He now serves as a pastor at Bagong Ilog Christian Fellowship. He is also a spiritual counselor at the Back to the Bible Counseling Center, as well as a spiritual counselor and

Vins Santiago was one of the country’s first transsexuals until he found his Creator and the real transformation in Him.

cohost for Family Matters, a radio show on 702 dzAS every Wednesday morning. A minister for the Body of Christ, Pastor Vins is also a discipleship leader for people with gender issues at the Christ Commission Fellowship. He may be reached at his Facebook fanpage at facebook.com/santiagovins. TransFormed: Mula sa Pagiging Transwoman by Vins Santiago is available at OMF Lit bookshops, Passages bookshops, PCBS, National Book Store and other leading bookstores nationwide. Part of the income from this book will be donated to HIV patients in the Philippines who have been abandoned by their families.

Tourism&Entertainment

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua • tourism@businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Sunday, November 27, 2016

The motorbike road rush to the City of Pines Story & photos by Marky Ramone Go

evoid of any experience between the wheels of these big two-wheeled road monsters we refer to as “big bikes”, I still view the film Easy Rider with fascination and the source of my desire to someday acquaint myself with these types of motorcycles.

Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.

My previous conception about the men who ride these powerful machines of motorbikes are synonymous with the wild and colorful characters the late Hunter S. Thompson rode for a year with and wrote about in his career-defining book Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. “Outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll out from damp garages, allnight diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur.... The Menace is loose again,” Thompson wrote in the opening page of his monumental book. A few minutes before meeting the riders of Travel Concierge’s Ride Along Motorcycle Tours, I was half

expecting the same brawny, intimidating, gum-chewing, pokerfaced complete with dagger stares to drag us violently into their big bikes. That moment of apprehension instantly disappeared, as the riders came barging with a smile at our meeting place somewhere in the stretch of the North Luzon Expressway in Bulacan. The outlaw motorcyclist stereotype quickly evaporated from my imagination, and was replaced by good-humored individuals who just happen to have a shared passion for riding motorcycles. Pat Favoreal, the road captain of NOS Motorcycle Club and owner of Travel Concierge’s Ride Along Motorcycle Tours, quickly shook our hands, as he beamed with a wide smile and excitedly told us

Pat Favoreal in front of Travel Concierge’s office

the story behind this concept of taking clients to travel aboard 400cc and up motorcycles. A Hotel Management Co. chief executive, Favoreal first fell in love with motorcycles way back in his college days, but was preceded with a long separation as he jettisoned the hobby to the more conventional use of cars. “I rekindled my love for motorcycle when my wife allowed me to ride again a few years ago. Since then, I had collected a number of bikes, such as a Harley Davidson Softail Heritage 1640cc, a Yamaha Dragstar XVS400cc and a Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 500cc, just to name a few. I ride an average of 1,000 kilometers per month, and sometimes more if we set out on longer road trips,” Favoreal shared to us over breakfast. As his passion for motorcycle riding grew, he encountered a lightbulb moment in his head. “I asked myself, why not turn it into a business so others could also enjoy the kind of fulfillment I experience while riding a bike along expressways,” with eyes beaming, he pointed to us the four big bikes parked outside. “In a few minutes, you will know what I am talking about,” he added. Outside I met the designated rider who I will ride shotgun with. His name is Borgs Campit, an affable guy who is almost the human version of his Kawasaki Vaquero 1,700cc motorcycle. Big-bodied but with a sparkling attitude that made me feel safe pronto—despite the

many kilometers of expressway and zig-zag road that lay ahead of us. He pointed me the sections of his motorcycle, as I nod my head pretending to understand what he was telling me about. At that moment, all I cared about was where to hold and plant my butt and feet. He patted me on the back and assured me of a safe ride. After putting on our safety gears, like padded gears, bike jackets and helmets, we hopped into the back of our respective motorcycle riders. A series of thunderous thud and roar of the engine, which invited quite a series of stares from people inside passing cars, signaled the start of our journey. Exhilaration and concern for my safety clouded my mind. As soon as we gathered and maintained speed, my elation grew while my fear lessened as I marveled to myself how smooth our ride is going so far—as I sat at the back of Campit while blazing the smooth asphalt road of Nlex with a speed of 140 kph. “Safety is also important for us! All rides are planned and pre-ride briefings are mandatory. Ride Along Motorcycle Tours’s designated spearheads lead and supervise the routes, choose the stops carefully and retain a strict riding formation and discipline all throughout the ride itinerary. Participants are provided with helmets and riding-safety gears. A special backup sweeper vehicle with a trailer is also available on long rides. All runs are insured—the kind that covers adventure activities and hobbies that are usually ex-

Calabarzon launches new tourist attractions

By Marane A. Plaza

n 2015 Region 4A (Calabarzon) gathered a staggering 21,613,300 same-day visitors and 4,318,635 overnight tourists, with Japan being its largest market. Calabarzon, or formally known as Southern Tagalog Mainland, is comprised of five huge provinces, namely, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, which are all individually and equally competitive in the tourism industry, as each province boasts of really unique and strong attributes as tourist destination. Singularly formidable as tourist attraction, each province in Calabarzon has all built its distinctive reputation among tourists. Laguna, being the “Resort Capital of the Philippines,” has undoubtedly won the hearts of local and global tourists alike with its robust strings of hot-spring resorts and swimming-pool attractions. Cavite has inevitably positioned itself as “Historical Capital of the Philippines,” as the province was literally the home of the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spanish colonial rule dating back to 1898. Batangas is known to have the second-largest international seaport in the Philippines, and one of the nearest getaway destinations with its rich, stunning beach attractions that are just three hours away from Metro Manila. Rizal is famous for its mountainous ranges that offer a panoramic view of Metro Manila in its urbanized spots in Antipolo, while Quezon province takes pride in its attributes that offer amazing faith tours, from its spiritual and mystical attractions that is Mount Banahaw, to grand festive fiesta

treats, like the beautiful Pahiyas Festival every month of May. The Calabarzon region is easily an accessible province near Manila, making all sorts of tourists frequent the region regularly. Just when you think you have more than enough travel hype from the region, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has yet given us more reasons to fall in love with Calabarzon even more. At the recent third Calabarzon Tourism Summit, new tourist attractions were introduced to the media by the DOT.

Laguna introduces world’s largest flying theater

Aside from numerous, lovely swimming, pool resorts, Laguna has made a name for itself as Santa Rosa is the home of the largest amusement park in the country—Enchanted Kingdom (EK). This year marks the 21st anniversary of EK, and the theme park’s Chairman and President Mario Mamon shared its exciting new attraction called Agila. The new cultural zone of EK will launch its first attraction called Agila after the Philippine Eagle. “Agila: The Experience” will be the Philippines’s first and the world’s largest flying theater in the world, as one would be flying as if on the wings of an eagle traveling around the Philippines. “We took about 30 hours of aerial photos and videos of travel spots in the Philippines. We were able to come up with a six-minute film for our first installment of this 4D cinema. One can get to see and smell the beauty of the Philippines, and even feel the strong winds while flying from one region to another via Agila,” Mamon explained. “This is our way

of giving back to our country, by promoting tourism, Filipino pride and culture, and also educating the youth of the country’s pride, which are the tourist attractions. It is a ride all over the Philippines in a 4D platform. Agila is our way of teaching the young about the beauty of our country. Agila: The Experience will open its doors on December 14. EK will also double in its size in the next five to 10 years. Part of the development will include new zones aside from the cultural zone, as EK aims to be an integrated destination with wholesome and family-themed entertainment attractions.

Sangley Point International Airport soon to rise

Cavite Gov. Jesus Crispin Remulla has always been proud of the “talented human resources” his province has, but this historical area has a lot more to offer. Aside from its superfamous spots Corregidor and Tagaytay, the Cavite local government is eyeing to formally launch its 4,000-hactare Palay-Palay Park in Marigondon, the minute they had its turnover from the Department of Natural Resources (DENR). The Palay-Palay Mountain Range was first established in October 1976 as a national park and bird sanctuary. The park is the last remaining lowland rain forest in Cavite. It is well-known for its hiking spot in Mount Pico de Loro, a popular destination for mountaineers and hikers from Metro Manila. “Pico de Loro is very raw, and so beautiful, as it offers a stunning visual treat of Manila Bay, Bataan and Batangas. Hikers love it, although we are planning to improve the number of tour guides and develop the backbone for security in Pico

de Loro,” Remulla shared. Remulla also shared in the tourism summit about his thoughts on the approval of Sangley Point as the new location for an international airport. “It has a tug-of-war right now, but I really believe that our Sangley Point is the perfect location for a new international airport. Sangli is a Chinese term for business, and the location is historical, as it was a center of business even during the Galleon trade. “For me, it is the best location as it is close to Metro Manila, Laguna and Batangas. If the international airport was to be built in Sangley Point, it could help a lot in decongesting the traffic in Metro Manila,” Remulla said. “Right now, we are just waiting for the President’s decision.”

Unveiling Calabarzon’s new tourism products

Next year new tourism products and players are set to be launched, particularly beachdestinations. A town called Lobo in Batangas, known as the “Atis Capital of the Philippines,” will introduce its new beach spot and develop its virgin island using the town’s P800-million budget for road improvements and tourist-spot developments. The town of Pollilio in Quezon province will hype up its picturesque islands like Balesin, gorgeous islets and beaches, as well as its newly discovered historical spot called the Wall City. It is formerly a pueblo during Spanish colonial time, and can be likened to Manila’s Intramuros. Calabarzon local government tourism is expecting to double its visitor figures in the coming years with all these new tourism products.

Fellow Travel Writer Kara Santos poses in front of one of the big bikes.

cluded in other PA coverages in the market,” Favoreal explained to us. The onslaught of the rushing wind penetrating my helmet’s visor and into my face certainly brought a new sensation, as I curled my gaze left and right to appreciate the green fields of Pampanga and Tarlac, while we transition to Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway. Unable to open my mouth to speak because of the strong gust, I yelled inside my mind, “This is what freedom of the road is all about, Yohooo!” That freedom of the road evolved into another level, as the picturesque sights of the surrounding mountains greeted us at the snaking road leading to the City of Pines. The visual banquet, as seen from the back of a motorcycle, definitely dishes a unique experience as compared to eyeing Baguio’s nature splendor from the inside of a car of a bus. “Ride Along is not available for everyone. It is rare to get people ride on a bike on the expressways, especially if the engine is with minimum of 400cc,” Favoreal admitted. Seeing the amount of delight on our faces, he quickly recalled back his statement. “But, it seems perfect for people like you.” I said, “It was more than perfect, I really dig that rush and that thrill going up here aboard a big motorcycle.” Ratsky Ortiz, who drove a Kawasaki Vulcan 800cc Classic and is one of Travel Concierge’s riders, told us, “These big bikes are the best

choice for road trips. Because you don’t have to go loose on the road as [you would on] the super bikes. With big bikes, you just ride fast enough to enjoy the ride and the scenery—which you experienced with this road trip of ours.” Hands down the trip going up to Baguio quickly notches itself as one of my most memorable travels. As awesome as our motorcycle experience was, the best part was bonding with the riders themselves. Over bottles of beers that night, they generously shared their passion to us. It was like they opened up and introduced an ingredient to a new dish that would make one’s life more exhilarating—to reign in the sovereignty of the road as only a big bike motorcycle could bring. As we capped the night and prepare for the next day’s ride back to Manila, I already envisioned myself as a younger Dennis Hopper, hoping to someday ride my own Easy Rider big bike. Having a girlfriend riding shotgun on my back and making long road trips around the Philippines appear as a wonderful idea. A dream for now, but thanks to Travel Concierge’s Ride Along Motorcycle Tours, I experienced a unique road rush. n Travel Concierge.Ph Inc. Ride Along Motorcycle Tours currently offers Manila Night Ride, Tagaytay Breakfast Ride, Taal Heritage Village Day Ride, Laiya, Batangas Day Ride, 2D/1N Baguio Ride, 2D/1N Zambales Ride and 2D/1N Baler Ride.

It’s a Christmas carol holiday at The Manila Hotel

(from left) Ricky M. Alegre, Department of Tourism (DOT) assistant secretary; Nian Liwanag Rigor, AVP for PR & Corporate Communications of The Manila Hotel; Miss World Philippines and Miss Manila Hotel Catriona Gray; Atty. Jose D. Lina Jr., president of The Manila Hotel; and Atty. Falconi Millar, DOT undersecretary

o kick off the Yuletide season, more than 200 friends of the hotel, leading corporations, and media partners witnessed the traditional Grand Lobby Lighting and the launch of the 2016 Children’s Christmas Village on November 11. Welcoming the guests with his opening remarks is the President of The Manila Hotel, Atty. Joey D. Lina. As the shimmering lights were revealed all around the Grand Lobby, a toast was offered by Lina and Nian Liwanag-Rigor, assistant vice president for PR and corporate communications, together with Miss World Philippines and Miss Manila Hotel Catriona Gray, Tourism Undersecretary Atty. Falconi V. Millar and Assistant Secretary Ricky Alegre. As the night progressed, the University of Santo Tomas singers serenaded the guests with their cheerful Christmas carol renditions. Everyone was surprised to see Santa Klaws of Pacific Santa’s clad in his black-and-red Christmas suit distributing gifts to the kids of House of Refuge. As always, the guests were treated to a splendid dinner prepared by The Manila Hotel’s culinary team. This year The Manila Hotel designed a bigger and better Christmas Village. Wander at Parsons Street once again and go see new shops. Watch your all-time favorite Christmas movies and enjoy a bag of popcorn at the Grand View Cinema. Then, visit the Holiday Kitchen for sumptuous meals. For a dose of sweet Christmas treats, one can drop by Candy Land and Cookie Corner. Last, guests can pay a visit to Trinkets and Toy Emporium for unique novelty items. Entrance to the Christmas Village is free. DOT This year’s Christmas village is made possible through partnerships with Ham-

ley’s of London Ltd., Made in Candy, Charming Charlie and Lotus Biscoff. Indeed, a foodie’s dream come true, The Manila Hotel’s list of sweet creations includes most sought-after chocolates, macarons, cookies and a whole lot more. Share the glee of Christmas by giving away gourmet festive hampers filled with handcrafted Christmas cookies, finest pralines and delectable chocolates with exclusive wines to your family and friends. Visit the Christmas Goodie Counter at the Grand Lobby, this year’s specific spot where you can purchase these goodies. Christmas at The Manila Hotel will never be complete without being serenaded by sthe various ensembles at the “Carols at the Lobby”every evening, starting from December 16 to 24. Make the Grand Dame your home this Christmas. Avail yourself of our children’s Christmas room package from December 1 to 31 for only P7,317+ with buffet breakfast for two. The package includes buffet breakfast for two at Cafe Ilang-Ilang, Willy the Bear and treats inside the Christmas Village. Booking period is until December 20. Do not forget to make a note on your calendar to return for Sparkle, the Countdown Party at the Grand Lobby featuring the Filipinas Band. Experience a splendid spectacle at The Manila Hotel. Signaling the start of 2017, put out your party poppers and noisemakers, roar in joy and cheers for a sparkling fruitful year ahead. The year will not be complete without the joyful memories of having a great dining experience in Cafe Ilang-Ilang, Champagne Room, or Mabuhay Palace. Dine before heading to the New Year’s Eve countdown party.

A8 Sunday, November 27, 2016

Sports BusinessMirror

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

HOOPS GURU AT WORK It’s no big deal to a coach who has dedicated his life to basketball and now is helping tutor the Milwaukee Bucks in the ways of the game.

THE 74-year-old hoops guru Tim Grgurich even sleeps in the gym now and then.

By Charles F. Gardner

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

im Grgurich eats, sleeps and drinks basketball. The 74-year-old hoops guru even sleeps in the gym now and then. It’s no big deal to a coach who has dedicated his life to basketball and now is helping tutor the Milwaukee Bucks in the ways of the game. You won’t find Coach Grg in the media guide. You’ll find him behind the scenes, working on the court with Jabari Parker or John Henson. In the summer, you’ll find him at the well-respected camp he runs in Las Vegas. In the winter, you’ll find him in the gym. “You talk about needing balance in your life; I don’t think he has any balance,” Bucks forward Steve Novak said. “I think he is basketball 24-7 and I think he loves it. “That’s the way he is wired and that’s why he has been in the NBA [National Basketball Association] for as long as he has.” Grgurich, a Pittsburgh native, coached at Nevada-Las Vegas under Jerry Tarkanian and designed innovative defenses for the Runnin’ Rebels and later in the NBA. He has coached at various stops in the NBA, including under George Karl in Seattle and Denver and under Rick Carlisle in Dallas. And he has influenced thousands of players and made an impact on countless coaches. Bucks Coach Jason Kidd was in high school when he met Grgurich, and so was 39-year-old Bucks veteran Jason Terry. “Knowing who he is and his work ethic and what he means to the game of basketball, he should be in the Hall of Fame,” Kidd said. “For what he’s done...let’s just

round it up to a million [people he has influenced]. You might be short-changing him. “He’s responsible for why we have development coaches. He’s a big part of that.” Grgurich was asked the reason for his success and shook his head, not seeking any publicity. “I know how to keep quiet,” he said, as he headed to the court before the Bucks’ game on Monday against the Orlando Magic. But he can be stinging in his appraisal of players, something they grow to appreciate. “He’s a big voice for me,” Henson said. “He’s always with the bigs. He breaks film down. His perspective is almost always brutally honest, which is great. “He’s going to tell you how it is.” Novak said he met Grgurich during a stint with the Dallas Mavericks. “Literally when I was in Dallas he was sleeping at the gym,” Novak said. “He definitely sleeps here [at the Cousins Center]. “We respect him because he’s a guy that’s in the gym so much. When I was in Dallas he pulled me aside and set up some drills for me specifically and our offense.” Grgurich cares about helping every player on the roster, from the superstars to the bench guys. Terry said he was instrumental in the Mavericks’ run to the NBA title in 2011, when Terry and Kidd were teammates on a team that included Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler. “He is one of the sole reasons we won the championship,” Terry said. “He was the glue. You would never see him during the games out on the court but he would be in the tunnel. “If I came out of the game and he could tell something wasn’t quite right, he would be taking notes. I’d check his notes and go back in the game and correct what I had done wrong. “He’d be right on. And he gave me positive reinforcement when I was right. That’s a great sign for a coach.” Terry met Grgurich years earlier when the guard was a sophomore at Skyline High School in Seattle. “As our relationship grew, I continued to work with him throughout college,” Terry said. “In my early years as a pro, I would go to Vegas in the summertime and participate in his clinics and camps.

“He was always teaching. He always challenged you to learn something new and he held you accountable. Long story short, I was traded to Dallas in the summer of ‘04 and I got the word at Grg’s camp in Vegas. He literally pulled me out of a drill and told me I was traded from Atlanta to Dallas.” The famous camp Grgurich runs in Las Vegas each summer includes rugged two-a-day sessions for players. “He’s been responsible not only for developing a lot of good NBA careers but for saving a lot of NBA careers,” Bucks assistant Greg Foster said. “Guys that have totally been written off, guys that teams have wanted to trade or get rid of, guys that have lost total confidence in their own ability. “I would take it another step further and say not only players but coaches [benefit]. It’s a great place as a coach to get a lot of experience, and it’s work.”

Neymar, dad, Barca in hot water M

ADRID—Spanish prosecutors want to punish Neymar, his father, Barcelona and the player’s Brazilian club because of an investment group’s claim that they concealed the value of the star’s transfer fee. Prosecutors said on Wednesday they are seeking a two-year prison sentence and a $10.6-million fine for Neymar and his father on corruption charges, although they are not likely to face any jail time because in Spain sentences of less than two years for first offenses are usually suspended. Prosecutors also want to punish former Barcelona President Sandro Rosell on corruption and fraud charges, which could lead to up to five years in prison and the same $10.6-million fine. The former president of Brazilian club Santos, Odilio Rodrigues, is facing a three-year prison sentence on fraud charges. They are all set to stand trial after a complaint brought by Brazilian investment group DIS, which was entitled to 40 percent of Neymar’s transfer from Brazilian club Santos in 2013 but said it received a smaller compensation because part of the transfer fee was concealed. Prosecutors seek a fine of $8.9 million from Barcelona and $7.4 million from Santos. DIS has demanded a five-year prison sentence for Neymar and his parents, and an eight-year sentence for Rosell and current Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu. It also seeks a fine from Barcelona that could reach more than $200 million, and wants Neymar to be temporarily suspended from playing if found guilty.

A judge this month accepted charges against Bartomeu, but prosecutors spared him on Wednesday, saying he did not directly participate in the negotiations related to Neymar’s transfer. Prosecutors said Rosell, Rodrigues, Barcelona and Santos must repay nearly $3.4 million to DIS. Prosecutors want a one-year prison sentence and a $10.6-million fine for Neymar’s mother, who coowns one of her husband’s companies representing Neymar. Prosecutors want the company to pay a fine of $1.4 million. Neymar and his father, who acts as the player’s agent, appeared in a Madrid court in February to defend themselves. All other parties being accused by prosecutors also have denied wrongdoing. In July Barcelona midfielder Lionel Messi and his father were sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud, but were not sent to jail. In June Barcelona paid a fine of $5.8 million in a separate case after acknowledging to Spain’s tax authorities it made “an error in the fiscal planning of the player’s transfer.” Earlier this year a National Court judge shelved the complaint made by the Brazilian investment fund, but the decision was appealed and a group of judges eventually ruled that there was enough evidence to keep the case open. Barcelona said the price of Neymar’s transfer was €57.1 million ($60.6 million), with Santos receiving €17.1 million ($18.1 million). Prosecutors said the total amount paid by the Spanish club to Santos was €25.1 million

Managing big bucks N

EW YORK—Playing in the National Football League (NFL) brings many challenges. Money management might not seem to belong on that list. Yet, experts say it should be a high priority even for players just entering the league. No one is suggesting the fans who spend their hard-earned wages to support American football should sympathize with guys who might waste the big bucks on bad investments or unwise spending. But they should recognize that millions upon millions of dollars can bring dozens upon dozens of problems for NFL players. “We all have different vices,” said former NFL linebacker Bart Scott, who’s helping Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment’s financial-education program for players. “Some have entourages, friends, family they support, or they overextend themselves buying a house too early, or the career is not going the way you need it to, or you have child support. “I’ve seen guys lose money in a multitude of ways, so we’re trying to give them more information, provide checks and balances.” Players can get money-management guidance from

programs like Morgan Stanley GSE, as well as through the NFL and the players’ union. It’s essential education, whether for a rookie making the six-figure minimum or the star earning eight figures a year. The union, for example, has an online-learning center where players can complete assessments to determine where they stand financially, and identify their key vulnerabilities. That site also provides them with additional information to help meet their financial goals and objectives. They also can get access to counselors, webinars, and in-person seminars and workshops. The NFLPA provides biweekly communications to the players to keep them informed on hot topics. “The biggest issue for players is the sudden wealth factor,” said Dana Hammonds, senior director of player development for the union. “Many players are coming from ethnic poverty and all of a sudden are thrust into this industry where they are paid millions of dollars and it literally happens overnight. There are very few individuals in society prepared to handle the sudden wealth. It is the

($26.6 million), meaning DIS would be entitled to an additional €3.2 million ($3.4 million). Prosecutors said the difference comes from payments made by Barcelona for the future acquisitions of other players, as well as partnerships for friendly matches between the clubs. DIS paid 5 million reals ($1.6 million) for its 40 percent of Neymar’s rights in 2009. AP

PROSECUTORS seek to penalize Neymar over Barcelona transfer. AP

emotional side they have to deal with, along with a quick and steep learning curve. And the career is three-and-a-half years on average, so a lot of that goes on very quickly.” Which makes it ever more critical for players to immediately get a handle on their finances once they make a team—even before the big paydays might come. Patrick Kerney spent 11 seasons as an NFL defensive end. Soon after he retired in 2009, Kerney went to work for the league in the player investments area. “My big idea behind joining the league office was that they held off-season camps for broadcasting and other [subjects],” he said, “and we had lots of guys with interest in those things. But 100 percent of our players should have disposable income they should have to manage, so a financial boot camp had universal application. It was a no-brainer to get guys together in the off-season to dial back from all the noise and hear unbiased information and the real numbers in the investment world.” Among Kerney’s main concerns was getting “quality unbiased info to them before too much damage is done” by

advisers who don’t have the players’ best interests at heart. “The biggest pitfall is correlating football achievement with investment know-how,” Kerney added. “If you are a young player and the All-Pro on your team is doing X, Y and Z with his assets, of course you think that is the right thing to do with your assets. But 99 percent of the time it is not. “So getting them the right info, that is key.” Kerney has left the NFL, but his boot camp creation remains a major off-season initiative to provide that info. So are the financial-education sessions that are mandatory in the league’s rookie programs. One of the organizations the NFL works with through its financial-literacy program is Money Management International, a nonprofit full-service credit counseling agency. The players’ union provides advisers vetted by outside organizations who meet eligibility criteria set by the NFLPA. When players follow good advice, not only are they fulfilled but also those who have been advising them. “I get texts from guys who are still using the lessons learned years later,” Kerney said. “That’s incredibly rewarding.” AP

ORLANDO CRUZ is the first professional boxer to come out as openly homosexual, while competing. AP

Cruz fighting to change perceptions By Steve Douglas The Associated Press

ECOMING a world champion for the first time isn’t the only motivation driving Orlando Cruz ahead of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) lightweight title fight on Saturday. The Puerto Rican boxer wants to change perceptions, too. “I want to quiet the homophobic people talking bad to the LGBT community,” Cruz told The Associated Press (AP). “I want it more for all the gay athletes in the world.” In 2012 Cruz became the first professional boxer to come out as openly homosexual while competing. Initially, he had reservations about making the announcement, considering the macho nature of his sport, but it turned out to be a good decision. “It’s just been support, support, support,” Cruz said about the reaction of the boxing community— fighters and fans—toward him over the last four years. “All the boxers respect my life, my decision. When Orlando Cruz walks into the ring, Orlando Cruz is separate from my sexual orientation. Orlando Cruz is a professional boxer.” Cruz has fought nine times since coming out, one of which was against Mexican boxer Orlando Salido for the WBO featherweight title in 2013. Wearing rainbow-colored shorts to show his support for the gay community, Cruz was stopped in the seventh round. In the past year, he has won four straight fights, collecting continental titles at super featherweight. Now he gets his second shot at a world title in Cardiff, Wales, this weekend, when the 35-year-old Cruz moves up to the lightweight division to fight Terry Flanagan, an undefeated British boxer. When the fight was announced, Cruz spoke of his determination to become the “first openly gay world champion.” “It’s a big moment for me, a big moment for my community, a big moment for my country, Puerto Rico,” Cruz told the AP in a telephone interview from Cardiff. “I want that other [gay] athletes are not scared to walk into the society. Don’t be scared. Be happy with your life, and happy with your decision. All people are the same.” It will be Cruz’s first fight in Europe and he is looking forward to experiencing what is usually an intense atmosphere at the Motorpoint Arena. Cruz, nicknamed “El Fenomeno,” said he wasn’t expecting any hostility toward him from outside the ring. His biggest concern should be Flanagan. The Manchester-born fighter is making the fourth defense of his title since becoming world champion in July last year. He is unbeaten in 31 fights.

Sunday, November 27, 2016 A9

A11 Silang

A12 Laws for Life: A PocketTrove of Ideas

Giving Lives By Celestine Trinidad

Third-prize winner, 2016 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards

Josefina grabbed a broom nearby and chased the dog away. “Leave the poor kitten alone, Boomer! Pick on someone your own size!” With one last growl, Boomer ran back to their neighbor’s yard. She scooped the kitten in her arms. Several cuts marred his black fur, and his paws, which must have once been an immaculate white, were caked in dried blood. Part of his left ear seemed to have been chewed off. There were four scars on his forehead, all just about the same size, and one fresh wound, which exposed raw, red flesh. She unwrapped the turban around her head and wrapped the kitten in it. Normally she would have been anxious not to let anyone get a glimpse of her baldness, but it all just seemed so petty now. Her concern for the kitten overshadowed everything else. He was tiny, not much larger than her hand. He didn’t struggle, and even quieted down in her arms as she held him close to her chest, where her left breast used to be. “What’s that, Lola?” Lydia asked when Josefina came into the living room. “Ooh! Kitty!” She dropped her lunch box and started fawning over the kitten. The kitten blinked up at her and licked her hand. Josefina’s daughter, Linda, walked into the living room, followed by her husband, Ben. Linda shook her head at the lunchbox on the floor. “Lydia! How many times do I have to tell you not to leave your things lying around in the—what’s that, Ma?” She stopped and stood staring at the kitten. Josefina grinned. “I found the kitten in the garden, being chased by Boomer. Must have been what she was chasing all over the neighborhood these last few days. The poor thing!” “Could we keep him?” Lydia asked, clapping her hands. “Please? Please?” “No,” Linda said just when Josefina said, “Of course.” “Lydia, you know we haven’t had a pet a long time,” Ben said. “Yeah, the last one we had was Donatello the turtle,” Linda said. She crossed her arms. “And you know what

artwork by jimbo albano

osefina found the kitten under one of the rose bushes one Sunday morning, cowering from the black Labrador that belonged to their next door neighbor, Mr. Yu. The dog growled and pawed furiously at the roses to get to the kitten, who could only whimper in response.

happened to him—” “It wasn’t my fault Donatello ran away,” Lydia said. She tried to blink back her tears, but they flowed down her cheeks anyway. “I tried my best to take care of him, I really did—” “It’s okay, Lydia,” Josefina said. “It wasn’t your fault.” She turned to Linda. “I’m here now. I can help take care of it.” Linda looked up at her. “I wouldn’t want to trouble you, Ma.” She bit her lip, and the lines across her face deepened. “Especially since you’re—” “It’s okay,” Josefina said. She waved one hand at her daughter. “Well, I don’t think it would do any harm,” Ben murmured to Linda. “If it makes Ma happy...” His voice trailed off. “All right, we can keep him,” Linda said. She was still frowning, but she threw both arms up in the air in mock defeat. Lydia hugged her mother in delight. “Thank you, Mom! Thank you!” Linda looked uncomfortable, but she managed a smile for her daughter. Her eyes fell on the little kitten. Her smile widened, almost reluctantly, and she was beaming by the time she looked at her mother again.

“Well, that kitten is kind of cute,” she said.

ydia named the kitten Pepper. For the next three days Pepper hardly moved from his basket. He refused solid food at first, but by the fourth day he was already gobbling up the pieces of fish Lydia put in his feeding bowl. Almost all of his injuries healed, except for the wound on his forehead. This remained as a scar, like the others. The entire family soon grew to love him. Josefina even once saw Linda sitting on the porch with the kitten on her lap, looking peaceful for the first time in days since Josefina’s surgery. But Josefina thought that there was something about Pepper, though. Something not quite…right. Linda bought a litter box for Pepper later that week, and even gave Lydia lengthy instructions on how to train the kitten to use it. But that night, to their surprise, they found Pepper using the toilet instead. He even knew how to flush. Linda simply shrugged this off. “Maybe his previous owners just taught him to,” she said. She had the same explanation when Josefina noted that Pepper never scratched at the walls and

furniture unlike other cats they had in the past, and he always seemed to come whenever Lydia called him, even though it had only been less than a week since they had named him. Josefina still wasn’t convinced, but she said nothing more. Maybe she really was just being silly, after all. And if she continued to argue about it, Linda would just laugh at her, or worse, worry that something was wrong with her, and bring her straight to Dr. Lucas again the next day. She didn’t know which was worse. Her eyes fell on Pepper, who looked up at her and meowed softly. Josefina could have sworn she saw sympathy in the kitten’s green eyes.

month after they found the kitten, when she got out of Dr. Lucas’ clinic for her routine checkup, she found Ben waiting in the car with a bewildered expression on his face. She climbed into the car and found Pepper was curled up in the backseat. She thought the kitten’s meow this time sounded plaintive somehow, pleading; but she shook her

head at herself. “Lydia wanted to bring him along when I dropped her off to piano class,” Ben said. “I was only able to convince her that Mrs. Rodriguez wouldn’t want a kitten in her house. She begged and begged, though. She said Pepper seemed…worried.” “Worried?” “Kids, you know, Ma,” Ben said casually. A corner of his lip curled up, but did not turn into a real smile. “Overactive imaginations. But…” Josefina patted Pepper, who stood up on her lap, ears pricked up, as if listening for something in the distance. “I was just going to pick you up, you see,” Ben went on. “But while I was already on the street, I heard a really loud meow from somewhere inside the car. I was so startled I think I literally jumped out of my seat—so I pulled over to check on the sound. And there! I saw Pepper underneath the passenger seat. I have no idea how he got there, because I’m sure he wasn’t in the car when I drove from the house.” Josefina was silent for a few minutes before she finally said, as off-handedly as she could, “Maybe we should go and check on Lydia.” Continued on A10

A10

Sunday, November 27, 2016

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Giving Lives Continued from A9

Ben nodded, looking relieved at that. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” Josefina looked down at the kitten. Pepper’s eyes glittered in the soft afternoon light as he looked at her, and she could have sworn that he nodded at her. They turned right into C. Reyes Street, which was where Lydia’s piano teacher lived. They pulled to a stop just as Lydia was stepping out of the front door of one of the houses. “Dad! Dad!” she called out. She waved to them. “Mrs. Rodriguez had a cold, and I was just going to walk home instead of waiting for you to come pick me up.” “It’s dangerous out there alone!” Ben said. He frowned at his daughter. “It’s a good thing we decided to check in on you.” He looked meaningfully at Josefina. Josefina glanced at Pepper. To her surprise, he had stood up, hissing, fur bristling, claws out. What was going on with him? Did he just not want Lydia to go home alone? Was that what he warned them about? But they were here now. Unless— “Come on, Lydia, hop in!” Ben said. “Just a minute!” Lydia bent down to tie her shoelaces. Josefina saw the car before it headed toward Lydia. The blue sedan’s tires screeched as it rounded the curve, and it did not—could not—stop in time. The driver was screaming, and Lydia only had enough time to look up before the car swerved off the street and barreled toward the sidewalk. Toward her. Josefina was out of the car before she even knew what was happening. There was a sudden stab of pain on her back, and she fell to the ground, hitting her head. Her world became nothing but dirt and rubble and fire and black, black fur— Fur? She blinked once, and heard the cry of the cat right beside her. For a split second she saw, clear as daylight, Pepper’s green eyes still gazing at her, an apology somehow reflected in them— The world turned to gray, and she knew nothing more.

hat woke her was the smell: the smell of disinfectant and drugs mixed with the smell of despair and death. She woke up screaming, first for herself, for a moment thinking again that she had woken up in the operating room, with her insides still exposed and falling out of her. But later she kept screaming, even long after she remembered what had happened. “Lydia! Lydia!” she demanded of the nurse that immediately rushed to her bedside. “What happened to her? My baby, my dearest—” “I’m here, Lola,” a small voice piped up from a corner of the room. Josefina turned to her, and tears filled her eyes. Her granddaughter stood right in front of her, one side of her cheek filled with scratches and one hand bundled in a sling, but she was alive, oh God, she was alive. “Hey, hey, Ma,” Linda said. She rushed to Josefina’s side as well. “It’s okay, Lydia’s okay. Sit back down and rest, please?” Josefina started crying in her relief. “W-what happened?” “The driver of that car said there was something wrong with the brakes. I’d say there was something wrong with his brain,” Linda spat. “Ben said you went to help Lydia, but fell and hit your head.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her mother. “But what happened to you, Lydia?” Josefina asked her granddaughter. “I thought—I thought you were—” “The car stopped just before it hit her,” Linda said. “No, Mom,” Lydia said. “Pepper saved me.” “Lydia, we talked about this—” “Pepper?” Josefina said. She remembered the last thing she had seen before she blacked out. “How did he save you?” “He stood in front of me,” Lydia said. She collapsed on the floor and began to sob. “He saved me, I know he did!” Josefina felt her heart sink. “And what hap-

pened to him?” “He’s dead, Lola. Pepper’s dead.”

ydia was inconsolable for the next few days, and Josefina knew that even though Linda tried to hide it, she was affected by the kitten’s passing more than she let on. Ben told Josefina that they buried the kitten in the garden, among the rose bushes she had first found him in. Josefina wanted to get home as soon as possible, but Dr. Lucas seemed reluctant to let her go. “I feel better than ever, doctor,” she told Dr. Lucas when he came by her room. “The Cranial CT scan was clear, right?” Dr. Lucas, a pale, wiry man who never looked as if he got enough sleep, shook his head at her. “You said your back hurt before you fell?” Josefina frowned at him. “I did kind of jump out of the car. I know you’re going to be mad at me, but Lydia was—” “There are some tests I’d like to still you to undergo,” he said. “A bone scan, for one. You can have that done while you’re still in the hospital.” A bone scan? Josefina refused to believe what he meant by that. “No,” she said. “You mean I might—” “It might not mean anything, Josefina. We only have to be sure.” “But what was the surgery for, then?” Her hands flew to the space where her left breast used to be. “What about all those treatments? You said they would make sure that I wouldn’t—” “They would only decrease the possibility of a recurrence or a metastasis,” Dr. Lucas said. “But as I said, nothing is certain yet.” “I want to go home first,” Josefina said. “Talk to my daughter about it.” Dr. Lucas nodded. He gave her a piece of paper, which contained a request for a bone scan. “I understand. Just see me right away, when you have the results.” Ben and Linda picked her up from the hospital a few hours later. They drove back to the house in heavy silence, for Josefina did not know how to break to Linda and Ben what Dr. Lucas said to her. They were about to go to the house when Josefina stopped in her tracks. She turned to the garden, listening. “Ma? What’s wrong?” Linda asked. Josefina walked over to the rose bushes. Something darted out of them. She almost stumbled to the ground, but Ben caught her before she fell. They all looked at the black kitten at Josefina’s feet, meowing happily.

ydia was ecstatic to see the kitten. She insisted that it really was Pepper, back from the dead, even though Linda told her that this was impossible. “Cats have nine lives, don’t they?” Lydia said. Josefina was inclined to agree with her. The kitten was a lot like Pepper. He was as affectionate as Pepper had been. He still acted as if he could understand every word they said. He looked exactly like Pepper, too: the same black fur, the same white paws. The only difference was that there was now a fresh wound on his forehead, which also healed into a scar in time. Josefina put away Dr. Lucas’ request for the bone scan in her desk drawer. There it lay for a month. Her back continued to shoot sharp spasms of pain every now and then, but she ignored it. She caught the new Pepper staring at her once in a while. She always looked away, unable to stand the reproach in his eyes.

nother month passed by in peace. “Oof,” Josefina said when she lifted Pepper up from the living room floor one Tuesday evening. “You’re getting harder and harder to carry these days, you big kitty, you.” “He’s not really a kitten anymore, is he,” Linda said, coming to the living room. She checked

her reflection in the mirror in the hall and adjusted her dress for the umpteenth time that evening. At the sound of her voice, Pepper leapt out of Josefina’s arms and ran toward Linda. He mewled up at her. “What’s wrong with Pepper Two, Ma?” Linda said. She called him Pepper Two, persisting in her belief that this was a different cat. “I haven’t seen him like this before.” Josefina stopped and looked at the kitten. She had seen Pepper—the first Pepper—like this before. He was acting just like this on the day of Lydia’s accident. Ben walked into the room, and Pepper launched herself at his foot, claws digging at his trousers. “Hey, Pepper, something the matter?” “We’ll be late, Ben,” Linda said through the cat’s whines. “My boss will kill me if I don’t get to that dinner on time. Let’s go.” Ben hesitated. He looked down at the cat, then at Josefina. “Maybe we should just—” “Come on,” Linda said. She sauntered out the door. Ben took one last look at the cat, before following after Linda. Pepper still tried to go after them, but Linda shut the door firmly before he could do so. “They’ll be all right,” Josefina said to the cat. “Won’t they?” Pepper only turned away with a mournful meow.

ater that evening, Lydia ran from her bedroom, frantic. She was about to head out the front door, but Josefina grabbed her arm to stop her. “Pepper!” Lydia called out as she wrested her hand away from Josefina. “Pepper!” “Lydia, calm down!” Josefina said and did not let her granddaughter go. “What happened?” “He jumped out of the window,” Lydia said. “Maybe he broke his bones when he landed, or he’s—” “I’ll go look outside,” Josefina said. “Stay here.” Josefina went out into the front yard and the garden, but there was no sign of the cat. She peered underneath the rose bushes again, to be sure, but Pepper was not there. She went back inside the house and called Mr. Yu to ask if he had seen the cat, but still nothing. She told Lydia that she didn’t have to worry; Pepper will be back before they knew it. The phone rang an hour later. Josefina hurried to the kitchen, but she had moved too fast, and the pain in her back shot up again. She was gasping in pain when she answered the phone. “Mrs. Silva? Good evening, this is Mrs. Rivera, a nurse from the West Avenue Medical Center. We would just like to inform you there was a fire this evening at Sonya’s, and for some minutes your daughter Linda and her husband Ben Gonzales were trapped inside—” “What?” Josefina gripped the phone tightly. “No! Are they—” “Ma’am, rescuers got to them in time,” the nurse said. “We managed to stabilize them—” Josefina heard nothing more, for she had collapsed on one of the chairs, sobbing.

‘I

’m fine, Ma,” Linda said, looking embarrassed, because Josefina had just burst into her hospital room, sobbing. She was wrapped in bandages, but otherwise looked in better shape than Josefina had feared. “Really. Would you please tell the doctors that

too?” “They’re still observing you,” Josefina said. “And I don’t care if they observe you for a week. I just want them to be sure you’re really okay. I’m so glad, Linda. I thought I was going to lose you and Ben—” “It’s a miracle we’re alive. And I do mean a miracle.” Linda laughed. “You’re going to think I’m going crazy, Ma.” Josefina shook her head. “I’m the one who’s old and crazy, remember?” “Well.” Linda closed her eyes, as if afraid to see her mother’s reaction. “The cat saved us.” “Oh?” Josefina said, although hearing this

did not surprise her, not at all. “Yeah. Pepper.” Linda broke into nervous laughter again. “Ridiculous, right? But I could swear it happened. When the fire broke out, one of the building’s columns collapsed right onto our table, and Ben and I were trapped in one corner of the room. There was no way out, and Ben was knocked out cold, and I didn’t know what to do— “Then there was this meow. I almost couldn’t see the cat in the rubble, but then he was there in front of me, tugging at my dress. So I followed him, and he showed me a crawl space where we could slip through. He guided me to the door as I supported Ben—I have no idea why, but there was suddenly just a path there that wasn’t on fire—and we were out of there. I looked back and thought I got one last glimpse of the cat’s eyes—they were so green, Ma, so, so green—and then I lost consciousness. I woke up here.” They were both silent for a few moments. “I believe you,” Josefina said. “God, I do. We never saw Pepper again after last night.” “I’m going to miss that cat,” Linda said, and for a moment she looked a little more like Lydia, so young, so lonely. “He’ll be back,” Josefina said. She hugged her daughter close, for the first time in a long, long time, she realized. “I think he’s just waiting for us.”

osefina was right. She found the black cat underneath the rose bushes again the day Ben and Linda came home. There were now two fresh wounds on his forehead, which eventually healed to two new scars. For one whole week after he was found, he followed Josefina around the house, with those green eyes always seeming to pierce deep into her soul. “Fine, I’ll do it,” she said to him one morning. She waited for Linda and Ben to come home that day, and showed them Dr. Lucas’ request.

r. Lucas was smiling at her when she had first come in, but now his smile had faded to almost nothing. “Mrs. Silva,” he said. “I am so sorry.” He looked pained, as if he had said this many times before, but each repetition did not get easier. “The cancer has spread to your lumbosacral spine, which explains the lower back pain you’ve been having lately,” he said. He smiled again, or tried to. “But don’t lose hope, Josefina. Even metastatic cancer can be treated.” “But we will only be prolonging the inevitable, won’t we?” Josefina said. Dr. Lucas did not answer that. Josefina got out of the clinic in a daze, and did not talk to Ben all throughout the drive back home. She went straight to her bedroom when they arrived home. She collapsed on her bed, feeling numb, as if there was a cloud covering her senses. There was a sharp meow at her feet. Pepper—the third Pepper, but he was still the same Pepper, always have been—nudged her cheek with his nose, then lay back and curled up beside her. She put her arms around the cat and began to cry.

he following months passed by in a blur. At first she spent the days in her room, and refused to see anyone. But Pepper always managed to find a way inside her room, even if she locked her door, and placed the bolt on to boot. He kept tugging at her pajamas and her sheets and did not stop even if she ignored him. Finally one day, exasperated, she tried to shoo him away, but he did not budge and only stared up at her, unblinking. When she tried to lie back down, he returned to tugging at her sleeve. Josefina began to laugh. “There’s really just no winning against, you, is there?” she said to him. She got up and walked out of her bedroom. What followed then were days of more therapy, more tests, more visits to Dr. Lucas. But

there were also trips to see places she had always wanted to see her whole life. There were days when she finally was able to do things she had never had the chance to before: go swimming in a beach in the cold of December with Linda and Ben, fly a kite with Lydia, fall asleep while watching the stars out in the veranda with Pepper, who always kept watch while she slept. They kept hoping for the impossible. Until one day, Linda and Ben woke to the sound of Pepper meowing again, repeatedly, urgently. Linda tried to calm him down, but Ben rushed right to Josefina’s bedroom. “Ma,” he said. He shook her. “Ma!” He kept calling for her, but still she did not stir.

omething tugged at her sleeve again. She blearily opened her eyes. “How did you get in?” she said to Pepper, then wondered how she could do so. They must have put a tube through her throat when they brought her to the hospital, to help her breathe, and she should not have been able to speak. “Why did you come here?” she asked. The cat only held out a paw, and Josefina reached for it. There were flashes of images. A little boy falling down a cliff. Three teenagers in a van swerving from the highway and hitting a tree. Mr. Yu clutching his chest. Lydia staring up at the car hurtling towards her. Ben and Lydia trapped in the fire. Josefina said, in realization, “You gave them your lives.” Her eyes filled with tears. “But you’ve sacrificed so much. For Lydia and Ben and Linda. For me. What did we do to deserve—” Another set of visions. The little boy shooing him away. The kids laughing and throwing cans at him. Mr. Yu setting his dog to run after him. Stay away, you mangy cat! And then, Lydia and Ben giving him a bath. Linda sitting with him on the porch. Josefina putting her arms around him, that last time in the bedroom. The cat put down her paw, and the visions ended. No one has loved him, Josefina thought, as much as we have. He mewled again, a determined expression in his eyes. Josefina’s heart sank. She looked at his forehead and put her hand on his scars, which stood out from the rest of him, seeming to glow with their own light. Eight scars. Eight lives given. And he was going to give her his last. “No!” Somewhere in the distance, she began to hear a monitor beeping, coming to life in a slow, steady rhythm. “No, please,” she said. “Don’t do this!” She struggled to move. She took the cat’s paw again. The cat looked at her, as if to say, it’s all right. “No,” Josefina said. “You’ve given your other lives for other people. You protected the ones I loved. Live this last life for yourself. Please. You deserve it.” The cat whimpered. “Please,” Josefina said. “It’s okay. You saved me already! These last few months—they were the happiest I’ve ever known. I was so afraid to die, but now—” She choked back down her tears. “Now it’s okay. And it’s all because of you. Thank you.” The cat bowed his head, and curled up near her arm. The last thing she saw was his eyes. So green, Ma, so, so green, Linda had said. They comforted her until the very end.

hey only noticed that Pepper was curled up beside Josefina, hours later. No one knew how he got there. “Come, Pepper,” Lydia said. Her eyes were red, rimmed with tears. “Say goodbye to Lola.” The black cat seemed to nod at her. He licked Josefina’s hand and meowed at her one last time, as if in thanks, before he leapt to Lydia’s waiting arms. n

Sunday, November 27, 2016 A11

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psyche roxas-mendoza

Silang By Kate Osias Second-prize winner, 2016 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards

contingent of armed men escorts her back to her cell. She is tightly bound, reeking of gunpowder and death, her bloodied limbs protesting with each step. A part of her wants to be angry. She must be angry, after suffering heavy losses in the battle in Vigan, after being betrayed—again—by the very people she wishes to redeem in the hills of Abra; after being made to witness the flogging and execution of her men; there is no other rational response but anger. When all else fails, fury has proven to be the most loyal of companions and the most useful of tools. It motivates her to think, to fight, to find a way out. But right now, she feels nothing but an exhausted sort of grief, the kind that settles deep into the bones, as if she has carried the weight of loss for decades.

A guardia shoves her inside,then slams the cell door shut. For a few moments, she does nothing but wallow in sorrow as she watches her men dangle from thick ropes outside a small window. A haunting melody—so light, so familiar that she wonders if she has gone mad—interrupts themonotonous silence. She realizes belatedly that someone outside is singing a kundiman, in one of the dialects of the herejes. “Seg-angyangkhay nan wad-ay.” Pity is all that is left. “Nar-oscha’t am-in.” All of them have faded away. It is a waft of cigar smoke, cloyingly sweet, that first alerts her to his presence. “Misalvajehermosa. You are my daughter now. Your papa, he has nothing else to give but you. Turn around. Show me what I have purchased.” “You are dead.” She looks down and sees a shimmer of cloth that should not be there over her bound arms. “You are dead” she repeats even though she can feel the burn of his gaze on her back, and the weight of his long shadow. “Your papa, he is too kind to you. He dresses you in piña, showers you in baratija, pays to turn you Christian in word and in deed. But we all know that no amount of cloth and trin-

kets and prayer can change what you really are. Turn around, and show me what you are inside, mi salvajehermosa.” She closes her eyes and suddenly, he is much closer. She tries not to tremble, as phantom fingers trail a path from her ear to her collarbone. “Ah, mi salvajehermosa. I forbid you to learn the language of herejes. Now, turn around. Show me your remorse.” The painful crack of a whip resounds within the prison walls. “You are not here,” she says again, trying to hold on the certainty that he is gone. Another snap and she recoils. “Turn around—” he whispers, running his hand through her hair. “Misalvajehermosa—” he says from far behind her. “Show me—” he says as he scours her skin with his fingernails. “You are mine—” he shouts from the left as he snaps his wrist letting the whip slash the wall. The memories cloud and blur with one another, as he assaults her with his voice, his hands, the long reach of his whip. And through it all, the kundiman keeps her tethered to the present.

“Nar-oscha’t am-in.” All of them have faded away. The song ends, and she finally opens her eyes. Outside the window she can still see them clearly—all of her men who were loyal to her and to the cause—swaying against the wind. She can still hear the echoes of the kundiman in her mind, the ebb and flow of the notes like a lullaby. She can almost taste the salt in the breeze. “Take off your clothes, mi salvajehermosa. The reason you have given no longer applies. Let us celebrate our wedding night. Turn around. Show me your tainted flesh.” She looks down and sees that the shimmer of cloth is gone, allowing her to see her wounds and bruises more clearly. In her fingers, a ghostly cup materializes. “I understand now,” she says, finally finding her voice. “I understand that God has given me a chance to atone for my sins. But I cannot help but be what I am. I cannot be redeemed by prayers and fists and phantoms.” The Kastila, they will not understand— they will hear a song and think it only a song. They will hold a cup, and think it only a cup. They will see a woman, and think her only a woman. They believe defiance is caparisoned with weapons they can see. They do not understand how dangerous people become, when they are armed with the knowledge that there is nothing left to lose. Slowly, she turns around. He is every bit as terrifying as she remembers him. And old. His skin is mottled and sagging with age, his hair a thin, ashen halo over his head, his eyes bulging against his pale flesh. The edges of his ghostly form are frayed, as if his fury has singed even his very shape in the afterlife. “Miesposasalvaje, remember, always remember, you belong to me.” She feels the rage within her building, fueled by fear and frustration, strengthened by loss.She takes a step forward and another, and another until she is standing right in front of him. She offers him the cup. “Miesposasalvaje, I am glad that you have learned obedience,” he says as he takes her offering. “Someday, you will be worthy of me.” “I will mourn for you, mi esposo. I will wear black and our casa will be draped in the colors of the dead to honor your passing,” she says, repeating the words she said all those years ago. “They will believe me when I say how much I loved you. They will cry with me when I weep.” He drops the cup. It disappears before it reaches the ground. “What have you done to me?” He clutches at his throat.

“I have shown you what I am.” His screams echo in the walls, but none of the guardia come to investigate. Instead, she is left alone to watch her husband heave and retch and try to scratch his eyes out. Unlike before, she does not turn away. N HER THIRD night in prison, the alcalde invited her to dinner. She was cleaned, her injuries treated, her hair combed, because the Kastila did not have the stomach to look at dying things. It was in the middle of the third course—a fragrant pinakbet that, despite herself, she ate heartily—that the alcalde jovially stated that she would be executed the next day, at the plaza. When she was returned to her cell—still smelling like flowers—she carried with her the sentence of death. “Perhaps the letters were written by someone you already know. Perhaps he has already revealed himself to you. Perhaps, he is standing in front of you right now.” “Diego?” She turned around at the sound of his voice. She sees him leaning on an unseen door, looking as he did all those years ago, when he revealed his courtship. He was so young then. So was she. The mirage fades. He reappears in a corner, offering flowers to the shadows. “I do not want your wealth. I want to be your partner, your companion; the person who will fight your battles with you. And you are the person I want to fight my battles with.” He is looking up, as if he is talking to someone from a high window. “Biagko, will you let me stay by your side?” “Yes, Diego, yes!” She rushes toward him, but when she tries to turn him to face her, her hand grasps nothing. He disappears. “Children are blessings—but they are not our happiness. We have each other—that is more than enough. Biagko, do you not see how full my heart is, with you in my embrace?” He is in the opposite corner now, his profile partially illuminated by moonlight from the window. He leans closer to a phantom she cannot see and kisses it. “You are mine, and I am yours. That is all we will ever need.” “Diego, I am here.” She tries again to make him face her, but he only dissipates at her touch. “Diego. Stop taunting me.” He swirls in and out, always just beyond her grasp, laughing in the darkness, whispering poetry to thin air, his face always from her, and still she tries to grab hold of each of his manifestations. And each time, she fails.

She is standing still in the center, just trying to inhale his scent and memorize his voice, when he appears facing the cell door. His hands are behind his back, his shoulders tense, the line of his jaw rigid. “We have to defend them. We have to save them. The abuses of the cura and the alcalde, they are too much. Can you not see that this is against the teachings of Christianity?” “I thought we were enough.” She remembers this moment. She remembers how he had seemed so far away from her, even though they were just a few steps apart. She remembers sitting on a bench and arguing with him. She remembers the feeling of trying to keep sand from escaping her hands. “Years ago, I convinced myself I could never sympathize with the herejes. They are vicious; they do not have the moral compass that is the gift of our religion.” He walks away, through the metal bars, and she feels the distance between them more painfully than any real injury. “And yet, the cruelty of the savages seems more honest somehow. It lacks malice, unlike the atrocities committed by the cura and the alcalde to the kailanes, in the name of God.” “Is this it, then? You have come to punish me for not doing enough? For not embracing your faith? For failing?” She drops to her knees. “Tell me, Diego. What would you have had me do? What else do you want from me?” And he is suddenly in front of her, cupping her hands with his. He seems so real, she can almost convince herself that she can hear his heartbeat. “Fight with me, Biagko. Take arms with me. We can make a difference. Together. Tao nga di mabuteng, umulitinangato a daga.” She wants to say no. She wants say that they will lose everything if they fight this war. She wants to tell him how things will end in the slim possibility that it will change what has happened. But she does not have it in her to utter the words. Instead, she nods, just like she did all those months ago. A sudden waft of wind brings the stench of rotting bodies into her cell. The sound of carousing—the guardia, celebrating their victory—becomes unusually loud. He vanishes before her eyes, only to emerge in the far corner. Even in the dim light, she can see the blood from his chest. “I am dead, Gabriela,” are his last spoken words. She weeps.

HE IS WAITING for the guardia to open the doors. It will be her first taste of sunlight, after a week of captivity. Beyond the wall, she can hear the alcalde boasting about his triumphs. He claims that Vigan is safe from the hands of rebels. He claims that God has seen fit to punish the demon woman. He claims that the Kastila will always be there to protect the people from the savages. The crowd claps their hands, just as the doors finally open. She braces herself for the scorn and anger that will be directed at her, from the same people who cheered her husband just the previous year. When she is finally led outside, the light momentarily blinds her. “I will respect what my nephew wanted. But I beg of you, Generala, step down. War is no place for a woman. My nephew might have believed differently, but I do not see how someone who has never killed a man could ever lead an army.” She blinks several times, before she sees him. He is standing with his arms crossed across his chest, the lines on his face prominent as he scowls at her, just ahead of her escorts. Unbidden, the memory of her response and his incredulous expression floats up, and she almost smiles. She walks past him. “Generala, I do not see how attacking the coastal towns at night can hurt the Kastila, but I cannot deny that these small battles are battles we can win. I will issue implement your plan, but even you, Generala, must know that these will not be enough to win us the war.” He is standing behind a guardia, his voice stern but respectful. She remembers sitting by the window, holding a fan, as he argued to take on bigger battles, to take on more risks. And she also remembers how he had increasingly deferred to her decisions. She was so sure of herself then; she was so convinced that the sum of their tiny victories could win them the war. She stops in a small clearing, in front of the cura. A guardia forces her to kneel. “Deus, qui propriumestmisereri semper et parcere, tesupplicesexoramus pro animafamulaetuae,” the cura says, halfheartedly entreating the heavens to spare her soul, even as the ghost appears just behind him. “Listen to reason. For us to recruit the kailanes is one thing—after all, they share our faith. But for us to recruit the Tinguans when they have refused to recognize our God—that Continued on A12

A12

Sunday, November 27, 2016

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Graphic Review of Literature

Laws for Life: A Pocket-Trove of Ideas

By Joel Pablo Salud

Manila Critics Circle

arely do we encounter a book that crosses the oceans of laws and helps us grasp all that we need to know about life under this ashen variety of the Tuscan sun. Authors Gianna Reyes Montinola and Maria Victoria Rotor-Hilado had, of late, done what no man or woman had ever done before: make our laws palatable to the ordinary Juan and Maria. Laws for Life by Anvil Publishing is a book that one could easily mistake for a fairy-tale book. Its orange cover, designed by Ray Sunga, where a simpler version of the evolution of man takes the diapers-to-the-grave idea to a new level of aesthetic simplicity, is anything but dull. The fonts used scream of ease in sophistication, its colors fascinating, but one that hardly disabuses itself from the intended artistic value. The book, intended for us non-lawyers, covers three long chapters of what could be described as a “vade mecum of all manner of things to do. It is an excellent walking companion for any and all who have to negotiate the obstacle courses that are the public and private bureaucracies. To employ a modern image, it is an

unerring GPS through the labyrinth of modern living,” if we go by Rubén F. Balane’s foreword. Balane is a professor of the Ateneo Law School. For those whose knowledge of private and public bureaucracies extends only up to the limits of their noses, this book serves as a treasure-trove of navigational training skills, if not the actual map of the treasure itself. The preface says: “At every stage of life, there is paperwork. Lots of paperwork. Documents to be prepared, filed, and recorded with various government offices […] The average Filipino has difficulty maneuvering through the maze of documents and procedures. Most are ignorant of the offices where these documents must be filed, and peri-

ods within which they must be filed. Ignorance, unfortunately, has consequences—penalties, interest fees, and charges are imposed on non- or late filing or compliance, even if due to lack of knowledge.” This “lack of knowledge” is what this book aims to answer. The book jumpstarts the “seminar” with Chapter 1: The Age of Minority. Flip through the leaves and you’ll find everything you need to know, in general terms, on subjects like getting a birth certificate, improving the rights of illegitimate children to traveling as a minor and entering school. The choice of everyday language to expound on existing laws provides this book with

the necessary edge. Interior artworks designed by Joshene Bersales lends an even clearer insight despite the intricacies of our laws. The topics go further down the required details, such as getting the names right to source websites for documents. Often asked questions are included in each subject being discussed, such as: “I am single and gave birth to a baby (after August 3, 1988, the date when the Family Code took effect). What should I put in the birth certificate of my baby in the entry for the name of the father?” The two-point answer given offers more than enough information as to keep the matter clear both to the parent and all those concerned. The significance to owning this book can never be overly emphasized. As in the case of an illegitimate child traveling abroad with the biological father: “If an illegitimate child is traveling abroad accompanied by the biological father, they are still required to secure travel clearance certificate as parental authority is vested only on the mother of the child. If he or she is traveling with his or her mother, there is no need to secure a travel clearance (Article 176 of the Family Code of the Philippines).” In the same token, the status of the child is of great importance should an annulment takes place: “In general, custody of children under 7 years of age is given to the mother (Article 213, Family Code). But the courts still consider the welfare and well-being of the child paramount when awarding custody. “Children of an annulled marriage are deemed legitimate under the law.” The book ends with the Age of Seniority and all subjects deemed important to senior citizens, such as writing a will, shares of stocks, income tax exemptions, retirement plans, adoption, purchase of real properties, etc. Montinola and Hilado, profoundly gifted attorneys in my estimation, have crafted a book that deals also with topics necessary at this day and age of “mistaken identity”. Say for example, having a name similar to that of a known criminal and this faux pas appears during your filing of an NBI clearance. What should a good citizen do? Purchases, bigamous marriages, kasambahay rules, taxability retirement benefits, funeral services, as well as what to do when dealing with compulsory heirs, modes of payment, car loans and brokers commissions—all these and more can be found here. Any and all questions one needs to ask has been set in paper and ink, bound in matte format—a book you may have to buy in bulk if only to share with friends and families. It’s as enticing as the last novel you’ve read. And maybe, just maybe, it could provide the writer of fiction some needed groundwork on legal matters as to make that fictional crime story ever more believable. n

silang Continued from A11

is another matter. My nephew had named Jesus de Nazaret as Capitan-Heneral of the armies he had amassed and you inherited. This very act precludes us using these savages.” “We are fighting for freedom,” she says, repeating the very words she had uttered just a few months ago. The cura stops, surprised she had the gall to interrupt the prayer. He frowns at her but continues with the ritual. It is her ghost who replies. “Generala, we are fighting for God.” The ghost leans on a nonexistent table. “First, and foremost.” She bows her head, and whispers her truth. “No. We fight for freedom. First and always.” The cura nods in approval, thinking her bowed head and whispered words are manifestations of her atonement. “—ut per haecpiaeplacationisofficia, perveniremereatur ad requiem sempiternam.” When she raises her head, the ghost is gone. The prayer ends, and she is raised to her feet and brought closer to the platform, with the cura just ahead of her. She is stopped just before the steps. “Algunasúltimaspalabras?” the cura asks, even as the ghost walks through him. In the span of heartbeats, the ghost has grown older, his face deeply scarred, his eyes troubled. “Generala, under your command, the guerrilla tactics against the Kastila have worked extremely well. The babaknangs we have ransomed have filled up our coffers. We are at our strongest, and yet, we still fight with bikal, sumpit, and wasay, while our enemies—every single one of them—are armed with muskets.” “Hija,” the cura says, speaking slowly and exaggerating his pronunciation. “Algunasúltimaspalabras?” The ghost steps closer to her. “If we attack now, with our full strength, we will still most likely march to our deaths. As we speak, six thousand men are assembled in Vigan. Six thousand men, trained in the art of warfare, against our two thousand, who only know how to plant crops and navigate the seas.” She stares straight ahead, seeing her men die all over again. She remembers every one of their faces. She remembers every one of their names. “You do not have to go with us. You may leave, undetected. You can still be free,” the ghost says. “Do you have any last words?” the cura asks again. She lifts her chin up, and looks at the ghost and then the priest straight in the eye. The cura steps back, the ghost disappears. Without waiting for the guardia to escort her, she moves toward the platform, and calmly climbs up the steps. As she steps on the barrel, and the noose is adjusted to her neck, she finally faces the people her husband wanted to save. To her surprise, she sees not scorn, not even pity, but admiration in their eyes. And something else. Something that is difficult to describe if she did not have the same look about her. To anyone else, it might seem like sadness. But to her, it looks like simmering fury. “Generala.” She looks toward the sound. It might just be a trick of light, but just beyond the crowd, she can see a line of people standing at attention, their right hands lifted to their foreheads in salute. “It is my honor to have served under you.” n