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Here’s what could happen if China invaded Taiwan

Sampinit’s transformation from Abu Sayyaf terrorists’ lair to an ‘eco-tourism area’ is an experiment still in progress, but has drawn much interest among peace seekers.

A THUNDERBOLT 2000 multiple-rocket launcher fires munitions during the Republic of China Armed Forces’ annual Han Kuang military exercise in Taichung, Taiwan, July 16, 2020. I-HWA CHENG/BLOOMBERG

By Samson Ellis

X

Bloomberg News

I JINPING’S Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has threatened to invade Taiwan for more than seven decades. Now fears are growing among analysts, officials and investors that it might actually follow through over the next few years, potentially triggering a war with the US.

In September, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft repeatedly breached the median line in the Taiwan Strait, eliminating a de facto buffer zone that has kept peace for decades. The party-run Global Times newspaper has given a picture of what could come, urging China’s air force to patrol the skies over Taiwan and “achieve reunification through military means” if it fires any shots. Taiwan announced it would only shoot if attacked.

Despite the saber rattling, China and Taiwan have many reasons to avoid a war that could kill tens of thousands, devastate their economies and potentially lead to a nuclear conflict with the US and its allies. The overwhelming consensus remains that Beijing will continue efforts to control Taiwan through military threats, diplomatic isolation and economic incentives. Equities in Taiwan have recently hit record highs.

Unfolding major crisis

ARMED Forces Western Mindanao Command commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr. and Basilan Governor Jim Hataman Salliman tour Sampinit Complex in September. The municipal government of Sumisip has turned over 200 hectares of the complex, once the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan, to the military, which plans to develop it into an eco-tourism site. The ASG held at least 200 kidnap victims and carried out numerous beheadings of its captives at the complex for 20 years. WESTMINCOM PIO

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By Rene Acosta

The remnants are just made up of the RJ and Pasil Bayali groups of the ASG.

T’S a “natural” monument and a symbol of the government’s successes in its counterterrorism drive in Basilan.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has revealed that it has laid down plans to develop a portion of the Sampinit Complex— a sprawling, 200-hectare forested area that was once a symbol of the bloody notoriety of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Basilan—into an eco-tourism zone following its declaration as a military reservation.

Casting away stories of countless beheadings, bloody firefights and sufferings of hundreds of kidnap victims that the place once mutely witnessed, it should not be that difficult for the military to promote the complex as a tourism site with its wealth of natural beauties, among which are towering century-old trees and protected animal and plant species.

The visit should be made even more thrilling—if not eerie—by its former ghastly past.

But all of these tourism adventures and sightseeing would only be possible when peace and order has been fully restored in Basilan, the military cautioned.

Biodiversity haven

“CENTURY-OLD trees and protected wildlife species are abundant in Sampinit Complex,” said Western

Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesman Lt. Col. Alaric delos Santos. “And [there are vast] rubber plantations in some barangays at Sampinit Complex,” he added.

Last month, Westmincom commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., accompanied by local officials led by Basilan Governor Jim Hataman Salliman and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, visited Sampinit Complex as part of the initial effort for its impending transformation.

The provincial government and the municipality of Sumisip have turned over 200 hectares of the vast complex to the military, set to be declared as a reservation.

‘Springboard for satanic acts’

VINLUAN, whose party also included Sumisip Mayor Jul-Adnan Hataman, could only recall the numerous cases of beheadings by the ASG in the area after families of the hostages failed to pay ransom.

He aptly described it a “springboard for satanic acts.”

For the military, the complex, which sits at the tri-boundaries of Sumisip, Maluso and Isabela City, the reservation area represents the reign of terror and the downfall of the local terrorist group in Basilan.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.3770

‘Peace zone’

Basilan

The group has earlier aligned itself with the Islamic State (IS).

It has been the stronghold of the ASG in the province for at least 20 years, a training ground for fighters from other island provinces. It has also kept at least 200 captives until it was cleared by the military with years of sustained operations.

Legacy

“THEIR [soldiers’] indefatigable service led to the restoration of this sanctuary. Rest assured that we will continue their legacy by eliminating hostility and bringing about the normalcy in the area,” Vinluan said of the soldiers who lost their lives in clearing the complex of terrorists.

According to delos Santos, there are still more or less 30 ASG members operating in the province after most of their colleagues have been killed—or have surrendered—following the death of ASG commander and IS Southeast Asia head Isnilon Hapilon in Marawi City during the IS siege in 2017.

THE operation and existence of the ASG in the Sampinit Complex caused some of the barangays located in the area to be deserted, although the villagers are slowly returning, encouraged by the level of security and institution of basic services.

The decision to turn over the 200-hectare portion of the complex was first planned by Sumisip officials following the construction of the 30-kilometer “transcentral road,” which connects Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip to Barangay Santa Clara in Lamitan City.

Aside from the transcentral road, the “Mahatallang Roundball,” the new highway that connects the Mahatallang area to the adjoining Punoh Lumot and Punoh Timugen in Sampinit Complex, has also been constructed.

As a military reservation and an eco-tourism area, the donated portion of the complex, a virgin forest, will be declared a “peace zone” and its vast timberlands and watersheds will be converted into protected wildlife sanctuaries for eco-tourism.

Indeed, for those familiar with the area’s dark past, it’s hard to conceive of this “springboard for satanic acts” as currently a sanctuary where nature heals the soul. But then, the alternative, i.e., letting it stay on as refuge for the bloodthirsty, is way more unthinkable.

BUT several forces may push them toward action: President Xi Jinping’s desire to cement his legacy by gaining “lost” territory, falling support among Taiwan’s public for any union with China, the rise of pro-independence forces in Taipei and the US’s increasingly hostile relationship with Beijing on everything from Hong Kong to the coronavirus to cutting-edge technology.

“I am increasingly concerned that a major crisis is coming,” said Ian Easton, senior director at the Project 2049 Institute who wrote The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan’s Defense and American Strategy in Asia.

“It is possible to envision this ending in an all-out invasion attempt and superpower war. The next five to 10 years are going to be dangerous ones. This flash point is fundamentally unstable.”

Taiwan will be among the most pressing security issues facing whoever wins the US election on November 3. While Taipei has enjoyed a resurgence of bipartisan support in Washington and the Trump administration has made unprecedented overtures, President Donald Trump himself has expressed skepticism about Taiwan’s strategic value.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden has previously said Congress should decide whether the US should defend Taiwan in any attack.

Analysts such as Easton have gamed out scenarios of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan for years, based on military exercises, arms purchases and strategy documents from the major players.

Most of them foresee China going for a quick knockout, in which the PLA overwhelms the main island before the US could help out.

Lopsided battle?

ON paper, the military balance heavily favors Beijing. China spends about 25 times more on its military than Taiwan, according to estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and has a clear conventional edge on everything from missiles and fighter jets to warships and troop levels—not to mention its nuclear arsenal.

Beijing’s optimistic version of events goes something like this: Prior to an invasion, cyber and electronic warfare units would target Taiwan’s financial system and key infrastructure, as well as US satellites to reduce notice of impending ballistic missiles. Chinese vessels could also harass ships around Taiwan, restricting vital supplies of fuel and food.

Airstrikes would quickly aim to kill Taiwan’s top political and military leaders, while also immobilizing local defenses. The Chinese military has described some drills as “decapitation” exercises, and satellite imagery shows its training grounds include full-scale replicas of targets such as the Presidential Office Building.

An invasion would follow, with PLA warships and submarines traversing some 130 kilometers across the Taiwan Strait. Outlying islands such as Kinmen and Pratas could be quickly subsumed Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4564 n UK 62.5611 n HK 6.2422 n CHINA 7.1153 n SINGAPORE 35.6132 n AUSTRALIA 34.6718 n EU 56.8865 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8967

Source: BSP (October 9, 2020)

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A2 Saturday, October 10, 2020

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Here’s what could happen if China invaded Taiwan Continued from A1

before a fight for the Penghu archipelago, which sits just 50 kilometers from Taiwan and is home to bases for all three branches of its military. A PLA win here would provide it with a valuable staging point for a broader attack.

As Chinese ships speed across the strait, thousands of paratroopers would appear above Taiwan’s coastlines, looking to penetrate defenses, capture strategic buildings and establish beachheads through which the PLA could bring in tens of thousands of soldiers who would secure a decisive victory.

In reality, any invasion is likely to be much riskier. Taiwan has prepared for one for decades, even if lately it has struggled to match China’s growing military advantage.

Mastery of the terrain

TAIWAN’S main island has natural defenses: Surrounded by rough seas with unpredictable weather, its rugged coastline offers few places with a wide beach suitable for a large ship that could bring in enough troops to subdue its 24 million people. The mountainous terrain is riddled with tunnels designed to keep key leaders alive, and could provide cover for insurgents if China established control.

Taiwan in 2018 unveiled a plan to boost asymmetric capabilities like mobile missile systems that could avoid detection, making it unlikely Beijing could quickly destroy all of its defensive weaponry.

With thousands of surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns,

HOWITZERS fire munitions during an annual Taiwanese military exercise in Taichung, July 2020. The drills are aimed at repelling a Chinese invasion across the Taiwan Strait. BLOOMBERG

Taiwan could inflict heavy losses on the Chinese invasion force before it reached the main island.

Taiwan’s military has fortified defenses around key landing points

and regularly conducts drills to repel Chinese forces arriving by sea and from the air. In July outside of the western port of Taichung, Apache helicopters, F-16s and Tai-

wan’s own domestically developed fighter jets sent plumes of seawater into the sky as they fired offshore while M60 tanks, artillery guns and missile batteries pummeled targets on the beach.

Chinese troops who make it ashore would face roughly 175,000 full-time soldiers and more than 1 million reservists ready to resist an occupation. Taiwan this week announced it would set up a defense mobilization agency to ensure they were better prepared for combat, the Taipei Times reported.

The US factor

OTHER options for Beijing, such as an indiscriminate bombing campaign that kills hundreds of thousands of civilians, would hurt the Communist Party’s ultimate goal of showcasing Taiwan as a prosperous territory with loyal Chinese citizens, Michael Beckley, who’s advised the Pentagon and US intelligence communities, wrote in a 2017 paper.

“The PLA clearly would have its hands full just dealing with Taiwan’s defenders,” Beckley wrote. “Consequently, the United States would only need to tip the scales of the battle to foil a Chinese invasion.”

The potential involvement of the US is a key wild card when assessing an invasion scenario. American naval power has long deterred China from any attack, even though the US scrapped its mutual defense treaty with Taiwan in 1979 as a condition for establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing. The Taiwan Relations Act authorizes American weapons sales to “maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

Destiny’s choice

FAILING to intervene could hurt US prestige on a scale similar to the UK’s failed bid to regain control of the Suez Canal in 1956, Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, wrote on September 25.

That crisis accelerated the disintegration of the British Empire and signaled the pound’s decline as a reserve currency in favor of the dollar, Dalio said.

“The more of a show the US makes of defending Taiwan the greater the humiliation of a lost war,” he said. “That is concerning because the United States has been making quite a show of defending Taiwan while destiny appears to be bringing that closer to a reality.”

China’s Anti-Secession Law is vague on what would actually trigger an armed conflict. Its state-run media have warned that any US military deployment to Taiwan would trigger a war—one of sev-

eral apparent red lines, along with a move for Taipei’s government to declare legal independence.

State broadcaster CCTV recently warned “the first battle would be the last battle.”

Since the Communist Party’s legitimacy is based in part on a pledge to “unify” China, its hold on the country’s 1.4 billion people could weaken if it allowed Taiwan to become an independent country. And while any invasion even of outlying islands carries the risks of economic sanctions, or a destabilizing conflict, threats issued in state-run media allow Beijing to appeal to a domestic audience and deter Taiwan at the same time.

The PLA Air Force released a video in September showing H-6 bombers making a simulated strike on a runway that looked like one at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam, a key staging area for any US support for Taiwan. The Global Times reported that China’s intermediate ballistic missiles such as the DF26 could take out American bases while its air defenses shoot down incoming firepower.

This is a worry for US military planners.

‘At all cost’

A UNIVERSITY of Sydney study warned last year that America “no longer enjoys military primacy” over China and that US bases, airstrips and ports in the region “could be rendered useless by precision strikes in the opening hours of a conflict.”

“Beijing’s strategy isn’t just based on undermining Taiwan’s resistance, it’s also a gamble on how the US will approach the crossstrait issue,” Daniel Russel, a former top State Department official under President Barack Obama, said in Taipei on September 8. “The strongest driver of increased Chinese assertiveness is the conviction that the Western system, and the US in particular, is in decay.”

In August, China fired four missiles into the South China Sea capable of destroying US bases and aircraft carriers. Since the DF-26 can be armed with both nuclear and conventional warheads, armscontrol experts have worried that any signs China was mobilizing to fire one could trigger a preemptive US strike against Chinese nuclear forces—potentially leading to an uncontrollable conflict.

Whether the world will ever get to that moment largely hinges on political leaders in Beijing and Washington.

Some in the US, like Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, wanted the adminis-

tration to do much more to show it would come to Taiwan’s aid. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, argued last month that the US should explicitly state it would intervene to deter Xi and reassure allies.

“Above all, Xi is motivated by a desire to maintain the CCP’s dominance of China’s political system,” Haass wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine on September 2 in a piece co-authored with David Sacks. “A failed bid to ‘reunify’ Taiwan with China would put that dominance in peril, and that is a risk Xi is unlikely to take.”

China’s military said in September that it would defeat Taiwan independence “at all cost.” Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, separately warned that Tsai’s proindependence Democratic Progressive Party was “totally misjudging” the situation.

Taiwanese officials have also said China’s military threat is rising, even though Defense Minister Yen De-fa told lawmakers on September 29 there’s no sign the PLA is amassing troops for an invasion.

“We simply have to be prepared for the worst,” said Enoch Wu, a former officer in Taiwan’s special forces who is now with the New Frontier Foundation affiliated with Tsai’s ruling party. “China is no longer ‘biding its time’ and no longer trying to win hearts and minds.”

Ultimately, Xi would need to order any attack. Last year he said “peaceful reunification” would be best even though he wouldn’t “renounce the use of force.” He called Taiwan’s integration with China “a must for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era”—a key reason he’s used to justify scrapping presidential term limits in becoming China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

While an invasion carries enormous risks for the party, Xi has shown he will take strong action on territorial disputes. He’s ignored international condemnation in squashing Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp, militarizing contested South China Sea land features and setting up reeducation camps for more than a million Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.

That record worries analysts like Easton, who wrote the book on China’s invasion threat.

“Taiwan fighting by itself could make Beijing pay a terrible price, at least several hundreds of thousands in casualties,” he said.

“But that may be a price Xi Jinping is willing to pay. We underestimate the CCP’s capacity for radical decision making at our peril.”

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Duterte warns he’ll intercede if House row risks ’21 budget

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resident Duterte warned on Thursday he will intercede and resolve a leadership row in the House of Representatives if the impasse threatens to stall the passage of next year’s budget amid the Covid-19 health crisis.

“Either you resolve the issue on your impasse there and pass the budget legally and constitutionally, or if you don’t do it, I’ll do it for you,” the President said.

“Think of the Filipinos who are in the hospital and need medicine and those who may die at this time without medicine, without anything.”

The Chief Executive may also certify as urgent the 2021 budget bill, which was snagged by the row, and became the subject of a word war between Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and senators, whom he said would bear the blame if the money measure is not passed by December.

The option for the President to certify it as urgent—to preclude having a reenacted budget— was floated by Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, even as President Duterte said, in a Thursday night surprise address, that he did not relish being dragged into messy political intramurals. He signaled deep disappointment at how the speakership battle could deteriorate so quickly.

In his address, the President called out members of the House of Representatives not to allow their leadership “impasse” to affect the passage of the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

He issued the call after Presidential spokesman Harry Roque admitted the passage of the 2021 GAA is “delayed” following Cayetano’s declaration of a suspended plenary session from October 7, 2020 to November 16, 2020.

Cayetano apparently made the decision to prevent his rival for the speakership, Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, to enforce their term-sharing agreement, which should take effect on October 14, 2020.

Under their term-sharing agreement, which was brokered by Duterte, Cayetano will serve as Speaker for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress before Velasco replaces him for the next 21 months.

He called out both lawmakers not to drag his administration in their leadership row, or he will “solve” it for them.

Late Thursday, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he accepted the apology of Cayetano, who had said on Wednesday night that if the budget bill is delayed, it would be the fault of the Senate. He insisted that his controversial move on Monday to “railroad” second-reading approval and abruptly suspend sessions until November 16 had only caused the Senate a loss of “one day” in its own timetable.

Senators, however, said the Cayetano gambit— widely seen as meant to forestall an October 14 vote to seal the turnover of the speakership to Velasco—had

wiped off a full month in their tight timetable for reviewing and approving their budget version after the House transmits it to them in late November.

Cayetano said, “I called Senator Sotto and asked him if he can extend to the whole Senate that I apologize that my statement was taken out context and [appeared] that I am passing the blame to the Senate if there is a delay in the budget.”

Before Cayetano apologized, though, Sotto had angrily reacted “the nerve!” to Cayetano’s remark that any budget delay would be on the Senate’s head, not his.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon were also angered by Cayetano’s insistence that his gambit shed off a mere one day from the budget timetable.

At the House, lawmakers on Thursday called on the leadership to reopen and resume plenary debates on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza, Deputy Senior Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman demanded the immediate resumption of plenary sessions.

The House terminated the deliberations on the budget by approving it on second reading last Tuesday. It said all amendments from lawmakers will be accepted by a small committee until November 5.

“We vehemently urge the Speaker to immediately reopen the plenary discussion on the 2021 national budget, so we can scrutinize and properly allocate the budget of every sector and government agencies pursuant to the process provided for in the Constitution,” Atienza said.

He added the Constitution tasks Congress and more specifically, the House of Representatives, with the “power of the purse” giving it the authority to screen, review and scrutinize the nation’s budget and pass the GAA. But Atienza and several other lawmakers complained they were muted during the Zoom proceedings, which ended in Cayetano suspending the plenary session until November 16.

For his part, Zarate said the Makabayan bloc is calling for the resumption of the abruptly terminated budget deliberations so the people’s call for health, education, jobs, and aid can be prioritized.

“Those trying to block the budget deliberations are obviously the ones who will stand to gain, disregarding the people’s call for a national budget more attuned to the Filipino people’s current need during this time of the Covid pandemic,” the bloc said.

For his part, Lagman said “the provisions on cloture and closure of debates have been indiscriminately invoked even as the proposed budgets of numerous departments, offices and agencies have not been taken up.” Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz,

Butch Fernandez, Samuel P. Medenilla and AP

B.I. raises alarm on fake DFA endorsements to enter PHL

By Recto Mercene

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mmigration personnel assigned at all ports and airports were told on Friday to be wary of bogus Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) endorsement illicitly being peddled by human trafficking syndicates.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente sounded the alarm following intelligence reports that syndicates have resorted to using fake DFA endorsements to allow the entry of passengers temporarily restricted from the country due to Covid-19.

In March, the DFA has suspended the issuance of visas but exempted those covered by the suspension on meritorious, or humanitarian grounds.

“We have received intelligence repor ts complete with pictures that these syndicates are falsifying these documents to allow the entry of those currently restricted,” Morente said.

“Don’t even try. We have a smooth verification process with other government agencies that makes it easier to confirm if the document you will present is a fake,” he warned.

Morente cited an earlier attempt of a shipping

agency to falsify a DFA endorsement in favor of a seafarer who disembarked early and wanted to stay in a hotel upon arrival instead of proceeding directly to his outbound flight.

According to Morente, both the DFA and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) suspended the processing of all applications of the concerned shipping agency, and moved to blacklist the company from transacting with the bureau.

Currently, only Filipinos, their spouse and minor children are allowed to enter the country holding tourist visas. Foreign children with special needs of Filipinos, foreign parent of minor Filipinos, and foreign parent of Filipino children with special needs are likewise allowed to enter the country.

Apar t from these categories, accredited foreign government and international organization officials and their dependents, foreign airline crew members, foreign seafarers with 9(c) visas, and foreigners with long-term visas are also allowed.

The commissioner reminded BI officials that those who are eligible to enter are required to secure an entry visa from Philippine embassies or consulates, prior to their arrival.

Sabah is ours and we intend to keep it–Locsin to senators

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OREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. affirming the Duterte administration’s determination, assured senators that “Sabah is ours and we are determined to keep it.”

Locsin gave the assurance during a Senate hearing on Thursday on the 2021 budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), recalling that the Sabah claim was just put in the backburner during the Aquino administration.

The DFA secretary had earlier asserted the Philippine government’s unwavering claim over Sabah in Locsin’s Twitter account, when he reacted to a tweet by a US Agency for International Development (USAID) official, reporting on US assistance to people in “Sabah, Malaysia.”

Locsin’s tweet subsequently prompted the Malaysian government to summon the Philippine ambassador assigned in Kuala Lumpur.

In turn, Locsin summoned the Malaysian

ambassador assigned in the Philippines. The matter remains hanging, meanwhile.

The DFA secretary informed the Senate hearing that due to this latest incident, the Philippines was able to convey anew it is not a country that can be ignored.

Locsin recalled the late President Ferdinand Marcos was the only Chief Executive who persistently pursued the Philippines’s Sabah claim.

At the same time, Locsin informed the Senate hearing that he had instructed the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia to pursue a formal protest against the reported maltreatment of Filipinos in Sabah, adding he had also reminded Filipino diplomats not to be comfortable in their host country and quickly act on reports of maltreatment of Filipinos in their assigned post.

Butch Fernandez

Saturday, October 10, 2020

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PHL’s August trade performance declines 21% to $12.33B–PSA

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By Cai U. Ordinario

he country’s lackluster trade performance continued in August as exports and imports contracted during the period, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

Based on the External Trade Performance, total trade contracted 21 percent to $12.33 billion from $15.61 billion in August 2019. In July, total trade declined 18.1 percent to $13.22 billion.

The country’s trade deficit also posted a contraction. In August, the deficit reached $2.08 billion, representing a trade deficit with an annual decline of 30.9 percent. In July, the trade deficit contracted 48.9 percent and in August 2019, 16.5 percent.

Exports and imports

Data showed exports reached $5.128 billion in August, a decline of 18.6 percent from $6.3 billion in August 2019. In July, exports contracted 9.1 percent to $5.68 billion.

PSA data showed the cumulative export earnings from January to August 2020 amounted to $39.29 billion, a 16.6-percent decline from the export value earned in the same period last year.

Of the top 10 major commodity groups in terms of value of exports, PSA said eight groups recorded an annual decline, in which the fastest drops were led by gold (-31.3 percent); electronic products (-20.1 percent); and fresh bananas (-19.4 percent).

However, exports of electronic products continued to be the country’s top export with total earnings of $2.93 billion. This amount accounted for 57.1 percent of the total exports in August 2020.

Imports, meanwhile, amounted to $7.2 billion, a 22.6-percent

DOJ chief orders probe into NBP gang riot that left 9 inmates dead

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he Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered prison officials to probe the riot that broke inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City early Friday that left nine persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) dead.

“I have asked BuCor [Bureau of Corrections] Director General [Gerald] Bantag to investigate and submit a report as soon as possible,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters.

An initial report from the Southern Police District said at least seven members of the Sputnik Gang and two from the Commando Gang were killed in the clash inside the east quadrant of the NBP’s maximum security compound.

In a radio interview, BuCor spokesman Gabriel Chaclag said the brawl started at around 2:30 a.m. and lasted up to 4 a.m.

Friday morning.

He said group leaders of the warring gangs would be called to identify the persons responsible for the incident.

Around 18,000 inmates are detained at the national penitentiary.

Once identified, those responsible for instigating the trouble could face demerits on their good conduct time allowance credits, as well as isolation to prevent further influencing other inmates, Chaclag said. PNA

contraction from $9.3 billion in August 2019. In July, imports contracted 23.8 percent to $7.54 billion.

PSA data likewise showed that imports between January to August 2020 amounted to $53.9 billion, representing a decline of -27.4 percent compared with the import value of $74.2 billion posted in the same period of 2019.

The annual decrease of imported goods in August 2020 was due to the decreases in all of the top 10 major import commodities. The annual rate of decline was fastest in transport equipment (-50.5 percent); mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (-47.7 percent); and miscellaneous manufactured articles (-28.3 percent).

Data showed most of the imported goods were electronic products with an import value of $2.27 billion or a share of 31.5 percent to the total imports in August 2020.

Medical supplies

PSA data showed that the total import value for personal protective equipment (PPE), and medical supplies in August 2020 reached $27.02 million.

This represented an annual increment of 27.7 percent in the same month of the previous year.

The annual growth of import value for these medical items in the previous month was higher at 113.6 percent.

In August 2019, annual increase of the import value for the items was lower at 21.6 percent.

Markets

Meanwhile, the country’s top export markets were led by Japan which accounted for 17.3 percent or $887.38 million of the country’s export earnings in August.

The other top 5 major export markets were the US with $751.68 million, or 14.7 percent of total exports; People’s Republic of China, $732.57 million, or 14.3 percent; Hong Kong, $724.27 million, or 14.1 percent; and Singapore, $330.67 million, or 6.4 percent.

The Philippines’s top import sources were led by China with goods valued at $1.82 billion, or 25.3 percent of the total imports in August 2020.

The country’s other top import sources were Japan with $623.69 million or 8.7 percent of total imports; US, $517.77 million, 7.2 percent; Singapore, $495.11 million, or 6.9 percent; and Republic of Korea, $493.11 million, or 6.8 percent.

Masaganang Buhay program premieres on Sunday, Oct. 11

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asaganang Buhay program, hosted by Ang Magsasakang Reporter Mer Layson, will have premiere telecast on Sunday, October 11.

Masaganang Buhay is one of the fresh upcoming programs of OnePH Cignal TV Channel 1 of TV5 Network.

The show will be aired every Sunday morning between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.

Mer Layson, also known as, Ang Magsasakang Reporter, will be hosting the Masaganang Buhay program.

Layson was cited by ToFarm in 2016 as one of The Outstanding Farmers of the Philippines on AgriEntrepreneur. He was also given the BYCF Innovation Award for Outstanding

Agri-Business in 2017.

Lately, he has taken an interest to vlogging and started his own YouTube channel in early 2020 entitled, Ang Magsasakang Reporter, with 110,000 subscribers in six months.

His content mainly focuses on useful do-it-yourself tips and tricks about urban gardening and urban farming.

Layson considers himself as a legitimate farmer. At a young age, Layson said he already acquired knowledge of different practices in farming, including planting and growing many different plants and crops.

At age 16, he moved to work in Manila as a selfsupporting student, and

was able to graduate with a college degree in Mass Communication until he became a reporter.

Farming, Layson said, has a very special place in his heart and that he is honored to be a farmer, adding without farmers, there will be no food on the table for the people to eat.

That is the reason why he brought with him to Metro Manila his planting and farming skills and started his own urban garden. He is sharing his knowledge to the public about urban gardening in a plastic bottle, selfwatering plant.

Layson is inviting farmers as well and so-called plantitos and plantitas to watch his television program.

A4

Saturday, October 10, 2020

The World BusinessMirror

13 charged in plot to seize Michigan, kidnap governor

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hirteen men were charged in a plot to overthrow the government of Michigan by storming the Capitol, kidnapping the governor and trying her for treason.

T he a l le ge d con s pi r ator s, including at least one member of an armed group called the Wolver ine Watchmen, staked out Gov. Gretchen W hitmer’s vacation home and schemed to take hostages in Lansing and dest roy pol ice veh ic les w it h Molotov cocktails, federal and state law-enforcement authorities said on Thursday in unveiling a sweeping sting operation.

The men communicated with code words on social media and met in a basement accessed by a trap door, the authorities said.

In a news conference, Whitmer apportioned some blame to President Donald Trump for creating a political environment she said encouraged the plot.

“This should be a moment for national unity where we all pulled together as Americans to meet this challenge head on,” she said of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic toll. “Instead, our head of state has spent the past seven months denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fomenting anger and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.”

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it was Whitmer who was being divisive.

“President Trump has continually condemned white supremacists and all forms of hate,” McEnany said in an e-mail. “Governor Whitmer is sowing division by making these outlandish allegations. America stands united against hate and in support of our federal law enforcement who stopped this plot.”

Facebook Inc. said it had “proactively reached out and cooperated with the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation]” early in the investigation.

“We remove content, disable accounts and immediately report to law enforcement when there is a credible threat of imminent harm to people or public safety,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

The alleged conspiracy came to light early this year when the FBI learned that a group of people was discussing the “violent overthrow of certain government and law-enforcement components,” according to the Justice Department. The US charged six of the men, while the state charged seven.

Growing resentment

The six face federal charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. They “talked

about creating a society that followed the US Bill of Rights and where they could be selfsufficient,” according to the US. “They discussed different ways of achieving this goal from peaceful endeavors to violent actions.”

“At one point, several members talked about state governments they believed were violating the US Constitution, including the government of Michigan and Governor Gretchen Whitmer,” according to the criminal complaint.

“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor.”

Of the six, five from Michigan were arrested Wednesday in Ypsilanti, court records indicate. A Delaware man was also charged.

Michigan is a hotbed of nationalist, extremist and white supremacist hate groups, with more than two dozen active organizations, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. During the early stages of the pandemic, it was also among the places where the president urged supporters to resist lockdown measures, with a tweet on April 17 urging people to “liberate” the state.

LIBERATE MICHIGAN! —Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020 Whitmer, once considered a top contender as Joe Biden’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket, has become a target of conservatives who believe her response to the pandemic trampled on individual freedoms with statewide orders to wear masks and stay at home. Hundreds of demonstrators, some of them armed, occupied the statehouse this spring to protest the orders. The Michigan Supreme Court later ruled that Whitmer lacked the authority to enforce the orders.

The alleged conspiracy suggests an escalation of threats against public officials during the pandemic, including health officials, who have been the target of violent threats as a backlash against safet y measures intensified. An association of loc a l publ ic hea lt h of f ic i a l s said in June that at least two dozen had left their jobs during the pandemic amid the threats.

Though separatists have occasionally declared themselves independent of the law over the years, plots to overthrow the government have been rare since the last time the US experienced this level of social unrest, in the 1960s and 1970s.

A mong t he Mic h iga n men c ha rged a re Ad a m Fox a nd Ty Ga rbin, who aut hor it ies sa id is a leader of t he Watc hmen.

T he Delaware resident is Bar r y Crof t. In Ju ne, Fox , Crof t a nd about a dozen ot hers gat hered in Dubl in, Oh io, w it h a gover nment cooperator in at tendance, according to the US. T he t wo met l ater t hat mont h w it h leaders of t he a r med g roup,

inc lud ing Ga rbin, to d isc uss a pl a n to l ay siege to t he C apitol, t a ke host ages i nc lud i ng t he gover nor and put W hitmer on t r i a l for t reason before t he November elect ion, accord ing to t he US.

‘Civil war’

About a week later, Fox, Garbin and several others met in the basement of Fox’s business in Grand Rapids, which they entered through a trap door hidden under a rug, the FBI said in court papers.

While Fox collected the cell phones of the group so they couldn’t be monitored, a government informant recorded the meeting, during which they discussed taking the Capitol by force and blowing up police vehicles, and planned to meet during the first week of July for training, the US claimed.

Federal public defenders appointed to represent Fox and Garbin didn’t immediately respond to voicemails left after hours seeking comment on the charges. A lawyer for Croft couldn’t be located.

T he a l leged conspirators used code words on social media and encrypted communications to coordinate the kidnapping and discussed detonating explosive devices to distract law enforcement, Andrew Birge, US attorney for Michigan’s Western District, said at a news conference Thursday afternoon in Lansing. They also conducted sur veillance of W hitmer’s vacation home, Birge said.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said they planned to kidnap other government officials as well, but declined to mention names.

In the end, law-enforcement agents who learned of the plot lured a number of the men to a meeting where they thought they’d be buying explosives and tactical gear.

Seven of the defendants were charged separately by the state with plotting to target law-enforcement officers, instigate civil war and planning and training for an operation to attack the Capitol. T he charges inc lude providing material support for terrorist acts, gang membership and possessing firearms in the commission of a felony.

T he st ing d rew on t he ef for ts of more t ha n 20 0 st ate a nd federa l l aw- enforcement of f ic i a ls, inc lud ing t he e xec ution of search war rants and arrest wa r ra nts in more t ha n a dozen c it ies a rou nd t he st ate, accord ing to Nessel.

Users of the internet forum 4chan reacted with suspicion to reports of the alleged plot, doubting the FBI’s claim. Much of the chatter on the site concluded that the news was “fake” but nonetheless predicted it would be bad for the president. Some cheered on the armed group, saying its plan, if true, sounded “heroic.”

Bloomberg News

Editor: Angel R. Calso • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Crypto poses a growing threat to national security, US says

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he emergence of cryptocurrencies presents opportunities for terrorists, rogue nations and other criminals who present a threat to US national security, the Department of Justice said Thursday in a report.

Law enforcement is hampered by the worldwide reach of digital coins and the lack of consistent regulation across regions, which is “detrimental to the safety and stability of the international financial system,” the report found.

Newer entities using crypto, such as peer-to-peer exchanges, kiosk operators and online casinos, don’t comply with record-keeping and reporting requirements, undermining investigators.

“Current terrorist use of cryptocurrency may represent the first raindrops of an oncoming storm of expanded use,” Attorney General William Barr’s Cyber-Digital Task

Force said in the report. “Cryptocurrency also provides bad actors and rogue nation states with the means to earn profits.”

The report comes as federal prosecutors have gone after individuals tied to cryptocurrency in recent weeks. Cyber-security pioneer John McAfee, who prosecutors allege earned money through promoting cryptocurrencies, was arrested just days ago on taxevasion charges. The founders of crypto-derivatives exchange BitMEX were charged last week for skirting US law preventing money laundering.

The justice department said in the report that it will “continue its aggressive investigation and prosecution of a wide range of malicious actors,” and that it encourages international cooperation in conducting investigations and making arrests. Bloomberg News

Japan struggles to save beloved bullet trains from running out of passengers

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hese days, the section of Tokyo Station serving regional destinations is a shadow of its former self. Gone are the usual crowds and on a midweek afternoon in late September, just a handful of commuters browsed bento-box stores.

“I see more cleaning staff getting off trains than passengers,” said Taro Aoki, who oversees 18 fast-food outlets in the capital’s main inter-city rail terminal.

“People used to swiftly pick which bento to buy and wait in line, but now, there’s hardly anyone around.”

It isn’t only airlines the coronavirus pandemic has upended. At a time of year when many people in Japan should be getting out of the city to enjoy the changing fall colors, there’s little holiday making going on. And the nation’s treasured bullet trains are ailing.

East Japan Railway Co. and West Japan Railway Co., two of the largest by ticket sales, are forecasting their deepest losses since the country’s rail network was privatized in 1987. East JR is expecting a loss of 418 billion yen, or $4 billion, for the current year that ends March 31, versus a 198.4 billion yen profit the previous period. West JR sees a deficit of 240 billion yen.

Pictures posted on social media show how empty the super-fast trains have become.

“This is what it looks like even after halving ticket prices,” wrote one Twitter user, who took a bullet train operated by East JR. “After departing Morioka station, it’s deserted,” he said, with reference to the jumping off point for Iwate, a prefecture on the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island.

A national Go To campaign aimed at spurr ing domestic travel hasn’t provided the fill it hoped for Japan’s shinkansen, or bullet trains. Rolled out in July, the campaign provides subsidies of up to 50 percent on transport, hotels and tourist attractions within Japan.

Tokyo was originally excluded but was added this month.

However, with coronavirus case numbers heading in the wrong direction and people reluctant to take even short breaks for fear of infection, some politicians have labeled the Go To campaign a failure.

Cheap tickets

Others have expressed concern that promoting tourism will spread Covid-19 in Japan more widely. And many people who do want to travel prefer to drive in their own car to avoid human contact.

It’s probably “not possible to go

back to the pre-Covid era,” said Yoshitaka Watanabe, who manages East JR’s marketing department.

The industry had been expecting a V-shaped recovery; now it will likely be an L-curve, he said.

East JR’s bullet train passenger volumes plunged 74 percent in August from a year earlier.

The measure for Central Japan Railway Co. tumbled by a similar amount.

Shares in East JR have fallen 33 percent this year while stock in Central JR is down 29.5 percent.

East JR, which kicked off its own cheap ticket offer in August independent of the Go To campaign, had over 300,000 reservations as of September 25, and is aiming to reach 1 million by March. The 50 percent discount is effective for any bullet train route.

With such steep discounts and considering railway companies’ high fixed costs, shinkansen operators will struggle to return to profitability even after the pandemic is over, said Hiroshige Muraoka, an analyst at Nomura Research Institute.

Gion loss

Central JR, which reported a profit of 656 billion yen for the 12 months ended March 31, is now offering half-price day trip packages. Its bullet trains connect cities including Tokyo, Hakata and Kyoto, Japan’s cultural heart, famed for its traditional temples, shrines and gardens.

In July, international tourists to Kyoto were down 99.8 percent from a year earlier, and their numbers have hovered at close to zero for four consecutive months, while domestic travelers halved, according to the city’s tourism association.

“Our neighbors went out of business or closed their stores,” said Mari Koike, 69, who manages a hostel in downtown Kyoto.

“There have been a flood of cancellations.”

One strategy that East JR is considering involves expanding its logistic business to deliver local food and regional delicacies like grapes, pears and fish to consumers.

Yui Muranushi, a 24-yearold geisha who works in Gion, Kyoto’s high-end enter tainment district, had been planning to visit Tokyo once a week in July by bullet train to perform at events as the nation readied for the summer Olympics, which have been delayed until next year.

“Now, all of my business in Tokyo has been canceled,” Muranushi said. Company executives are no longer visiting tea houses and “I’m lucky if I have a single client,” she said. Bloomberg News

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The World BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 10, 2020

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China joins WHO-backed vaccine program snubbed by Trump C hina is participating in a World Health Organization-backed vaccine effort, stepping in to fill a void in global health leadership created by the Trump administration.

Beijing on Thursday joined the $18-billion Covax initiative that aspires to give lower-income countries the same access to vaccines as wealthier nations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. Details of China’s commitment, including its amount of funding, weren’t immediately disclosed.

“Even when China is leading the world with several vaccines in advanced stages of R&D [research and development] and with ample production capacity, it still decided to join Covax,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a news statement Friday. “We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support Covax.”

President Xi Jinping promised in

May that vaccines developed by China would be made a global “public good” to be shared by all. In recent months, Beijing had been sending positive signals, suggesting it would take part in the Covax program, without committing outright.

The decision also could become another point of contention with the US, as tensions between the world’s two biggest economies spiral on fronts from trade to technology and human rights. The Trump administration has

refused to join Covax, with a spokesman for the White House saying the US wou ld n’t “ be constra ined by multilateral organizations inf luenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China.”

China’s participation is a big win for Covax, as the possibility of providing doses to even a fraction of China’s 1.4 billion people would boost critical mass, enhancing the alliance’s negotiating power.

Covax is led by the Coalition for

Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the vaccine alliance Gavi. It currently has nine vaccines in development and nine under evaluation in its portfolio, with a goal to secure 2 billion doses by 2021.

For China, participation would provide a de facto insurance policy that allows it access to any successfully developed vaccine. Beijing could also provide manufacturing support for a successful vaccine, regardless of which country develops it.

The decision could also help the country’s image following widespread criticism from abroad over how it handled the initial outbreak in the central city of Wuhan, where Covid-19 first emerged last year. China has been a front-runner in developing vaccines against the coronavirus. Nine of China’s vaccine candidates have entered clinical trials, and four of them got approval for final stage Phase III clinical trials in foreign countries.

Bloomberg News

A6 Saturday, October 10, 2020

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PHL exporting okra to Japan for 30 years–MinDA chief M

INDANAO Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol on Wednesday clarified that the Philippines has been exporting okra (lady finger) to Japan in bulk for 30 years.

“The export of okra from Tarlac to Japan started 30 years ago with nary a help from the government. Almost daily, nililipad

ng eroplano ang tone-toneladang okra [they send out tons of okra almost every day],” he said in a post on social media.

The former agriculture secretary made this comment as he corrected a report that announced on Tuesday that it was “the first time [that] the country exported okra to Japan due to its high demands, as Japan is known to include the flowering plant

in their daily diet.”

On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar accompanied farmer entrepreneurs Jeffrey Fernandez and Rap Pelayo of Jel Farms from Tarlac at the Pairpags Center, Airport Road in Pasay City, before exporting their fresh okra to Japan.

A news statement said two tons of okra were harvested from different

farms of Tarlac including 14 barangays in Victoria, Balayang, Palacpalac, Batang Batang, Lalapac, Mayang, San Pascual, Villa Bacolor, Matayumtayum, San Jose, San Manuel, Balingcanaway, Cutcut and Lapaz.

Fernandez, in a YouTube video, said their okra farming business was established in 2010 by his parents Larry and Joy Fernandez.

“It was pretty much built on as-

sisting farmers by helping them learn more, or acquire new technology, new developments, and even new procedures to try,” he said in a video posted in June 2019.

In the video, Fernandez, who was a former chef based in the US, was recalled by his parents here to take over their business “some 30 years ago.”

The family’s farm in Barangay

San Manuel in Tarlac exports 13 to 15 tons of okra every day to Japan, he said.

Meanwhile, Dar said okra farmers’ profit could easily reach up to P120,000 per hectare for both okra and young soybean (edamame).

This, considering the farmers have access to cold storage, which he assured, would be the agriculture department’s priority. PNA

US says it will block palm oil from large Malaysian producer Global economy’s pandemic recovery to extend past ’21, WTO and IMF say

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HE United States will block shipments of palm oil from a major Malaysian producer that feeds into the supply chains of iconic US food and cosmetic brands.

It found indicators of forced labor, including concerns about child workers, along with other abuses such as physical and sexual violence.

The order against FGV Holdings Berhad, one of Malaysia’s largest palm oil companies and a joint-venture partner with American consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, went into effect Wednesday, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner at the US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade.

The action, announced a week after The Associated Press exposed major labor abuses in Malaysia’s palm oil industry, was triggered by a petition filed last year by nonprofit organizations.

“We would urge the US importing community again to do their due diligence,” Smith said, adding companies should look at their palm oil supply chains. “We would also encourage US consumers to ask questions about where their products come from.”

Malaysia is the world’s secondlargest producer of palm oil. Together with Indonesia, the two countries dominate the global market, producing 85 percent of the $65-billion supply.

Palm oil and its derivatives from FGV and closely connected Malaysian state-owned Felda, makes its way into the supply chains of major multinationals. They include Nestle, L’Oreal, and Unilever, according to the companies’ most recently published supplier and palm oil mill lists. Several huge Western banks and financial institutions not only pour money directly, or indirectly, into the palm oil industry but they hold shares in FGV. Smith said the agency carried out its own yearlong probe and combed through reports from nonprofits and the media, including the AP’s investigation.

AP reporters interviewed more than 130 former and current workers from eight countries at two dozen palm oil companies—includ-

A LITTLE girl holds palm oil fruit collected from a plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia, on November 13, 2017. An Associated Press investigation has found many palm oil workers in Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia endure exploitation, including child labor. AP

ing Felda, which owns about a third of the shares in FGV. They found everything from unpaid wages to outright slavery and allegations of rape, sometimes involving minors.

They also found stateless Rohingya Muslims, one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, had been trafficked onto Malaysian plantations and forced to work.

Many of the problems detailed

by Smith mirrored those found

by The AP. She said the Customs agency found indicators of restriction of movement on plantations, isolation, physical and sexual violence, intimidation and threats, retention of identity documents, withholding of wages, debt bondage, abusive working and living conditions, excessive overtime, and concerns about potential forced child labor.

After the US ban, Malaysian palm oil producer FGV Holdings Berhad vowed to “clear its name.” FGV said all the issues raised “have been the subject of public discourse since 2015 and FGV has taken several steps to correct the situation.”

“FGV is disappointed that such decision has been made when FGV has been taking concrete steps over the past several years in demonstrating its commitment to respect human rights and to uphold labor standards,” it said in a statement.

FGV said it wasn’t involved in any recruitment or employment of refugees and doesn’t hire contract workers. Migrant workers are recruited through legal channels and it said it ensured they are not charged fees.

As of August, FGV’s 11,286 Indonesian workers and 4,683 Indian workers formed the majority of its plantation work force.

FGV said it is introducing the use of electronic wallet cashless payroll system for its workers. It doesn’t retain workers’ passports and has safety boxes throughout all its 68 housing complexes for them to keep their passports.

It said it had invested 350 million ringgit, or $84 million, over the past three years to upgrade housing facilities and provides medical benefits. It said it has a code of conduct that its suppliers and vendors are required to comply with, adding that any allegation of physical, or sexual violence, as well as intimidation or threats will be acted upon.

FGV said it has submitted evidence of compliance of labor standards to the US CBP office since last year.

Felda and the Malaysian government did not respond to questions from AP about the findings of its investigation.

FGV Holdings has been under fire for labor abuses in the past and was sanctioned by the global Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification group two years ago. The association promotes ethical production—including the treatment of workers— with members that include growers, buyers, traders, and environmental watchdogs.

Though Asian banks are by far the most robust financiers of the plantations, Western lenders and investment companies have poured billions of dollars into the industry in recent years, allowing for the razing and replanting of ever-expanding tracts of land. Some hold shares in FGV itself—including Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, State Street Global Advisors, HSBC, and even the California Public Employees’ Retirement System—according to the financial data analysis firm, Eikon.

The AP did not receive comment from any of those financial institutions on Wednesday but when asked more broadly about their ties to the palm oil industry last week, most responded by noting their policies vowing to support sustainability practices, w ith many also incorporating human rights into their guidelines.

Multinational food and cosmetic companies responded in a similar way last week, saying they do not tolerate labor and human-rights abuses and will immediately investigate complaints they receive and take action, including suspension of a supplier, if necessary.

This is the first time Customs has issued an order related to palm oil, though shipments from other sectors have been detained after similar investigations into forced labor were conducted. They include seafood, cotton and human hair pieces believed to have been made by persecuted Uighur Muslims inside Chinese labor camps.

Under Wednesday’s order, palm oil products or derivatives traceable to FGV will be detained at US ports. If the company is unable to prove that the goods were not produced with forced labor, it can be exported. AP

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WO custodians of the global economy signaled that while the early days of pandemic recovery were stronger than expected in some countries and industries, a return to full health is likely to be longer and bumpier than they first predicted.

The World Trade Organization said it expects global merchandise trade to fall by 9.2 percent this year from 2019, compared with the 12.9percent drop projected in April, according to revised forecasts released Tuesday in Geneva. But the WTO also said it expects global trade growth of 7.2 percent in 2021, much weaker than the prior outlook for a 21.3 percent bounce-back.

That outlook jibes with the view of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Tuesday will make a “small upward revision” to its 2020 global growth forecast next week and warn that the rebound may take at least a year longer.

“We expect global output to remain well below our pre-pandemic projections over the medium term,” she said. “For almost all countries, this will be a setback to the improvement of living standards.”

A deeper trade slump has been avoided this year, the WTO said, because of a surge in cross-border commerce in June and July after lockdowns were lifted, medical supplies met with strong demand and global economic activity accelerated.

The WTO warned that the current forecast could slip if there’s a resurgence of coronavirus cases in the fourth quarter, or if nations resort to trade protectionism. The more sluggish rebound means global trade will remain below its pre-pandemic trend through 2021, it said.

“Worse outcomes are still possible if there is a strong resurgence of the Covid crisis in the coming months,” Deputy Director General Yi Xiaozhun said during a news conference in Geneva. “One of the greatest risks for the global economy in the aftermath of the pandemic would be a descent into protectionism.”

The projections come as the summer’s nascent rebound in economic activity has begun to cool with the emergence of a second wave of infections in parts of Europe and the US. Europe has struggled to keep the pandemic in check and Covid-19 cases in Germany are rising by the most since the initial wave hit in April.

The UK government, meanwhile, has urged workers to stay home and announced tougher restrictions aimed at preventing an acceleration of infections.

US recovery

THE pace of America’s economic recovery is flagging, too, as job growth slowed and the virus spreads across much of the country. The economic pain may continue as long as US lawmakers remain at loggerheads over a fresh government aid package.

The WTO said monetary and fiscal policies have helped prop up incomes and allowed consumption and imports to rebound once lockdowns were eased.

“Fall and winter holds a lot of uncertainty,” WTO Chief Economist Robert Koopman said.

“Asian exports have been strong but for those exports to be maintained you need strong demand,” he said. “Much depends on government stimulus.”

The 14.3-percent drop in global merchandise trade in the second quarter of 2020 marked the sharpest decline since the WTO began keeping records in 2005. The steepest drops were in Europe, where exports fell 24 percent and in North America, which saw a 21.8-percent plunge.

Trade in most manufactured goods bottomed out in April before starting to recover in May and June, according to the report. Exports of automobile products saw the largest decline of all goods—a 70-percent drop in April—due to supply disruptions and a lack of consumer demand.

Meanwhile, exports of personal protective equipment saw a surge in growth, recording a 92-percent increase in the second quarter and a 122-percent increase in May, the WTO said. Bloomberg News

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Smart’s ‘Millenniors’ Program: Empowering Filipino senior citizens through technology

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By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

HE Covid-19 pandemic has been particularly harsh to senior citizens. Consider: More than 30 percent of Filipinos who died of Covid-19 were aged 60 to 69, while 35 percent were 70 years old and above.

There are also other factors that can increase the elderly’s risk for severe illness, such as having underlying medical conditions. Therefore, there’s wisdom in limiting the mobility of senior citizens during the pandemic.

To help our homebound senior citizens, major telecom firm Smart Communications launched its Millenniors Program to help them cope in these difficult times with the help of technology. Smart’s “Millenniors” program—a play on the words “millennials,” who are known to be tech savvy, and “seniors”—aims to teach the benefits of technology to the elderly.

Jo Mirabel, 61, a native of Mariki-

na City, is a “graduate” of the Smart Communications Inc. Millenniors Program, which teaches seniors how to use smartphones, mobile data and social media. The program bridges the divide between seniors and techsavvy millennials.

That’s why she was able to start her own online business.

“I started by watching YouTube.

I learned to make native delicacies like puto and biko. My children also

learned to make pastillas,’’ she said.

They post pictures of their goodies online and take orders from their Facebook friends.

With a thriving business taking care of their daily needs, Mirabel can now focus on staying healthy. She exercises every morning and eats lots of vegetables. “After all, we are more vulnerable to illness,” she said, adding that she has been homebound since the start of the pandemic.

For Sampaloc, Manila resident John Bangit, it meant an unusual way of celebrating a milestone. He celebrated his 70th birthday while the community quarantine was still in effect in their area.

“We prepared food, as usual, because we knew people would still come over to greet me. My wife cooked spaghetti, and my kids bought cupcakes and chicken,’’ he said. “But this year, we packed them and offered them to well-wishers at the gate.”

They were handing out food packs practically all day, he said, it was almost like having a party.

To keep busy while at home, Bangit turned to gardening and became a certified plantito. He has planted bougainvilleas, eggplants, tomatoes and guavas. “I do it to fight boredom—even when I was younger, I couldn’t stand just eating and sleeping and not doing

anything else,” he said.

Bangit said the Internet and social media also helped him a lot to stay active at home. “When I’m not gardening, I like opening Facebook, and Messenger, too,” he said.

Josephine Albarida, another Marikina Millennior, wants to be continuously active. She has taken to TikTok to show her dance moves.

“I asked my grandchildren to teach me how to use TikTok, but the dancing—that’s all me,” she said. “It makes me feel young and healthy.”

“I encourage other seniors to try TikTok, too. It’s good for seniors to keep moving. Our bodies will be stronger,” she added.

Since 2017, the Smart Millenniors program has mobilized youth volunteers from barangays, schools, and NGOs to help give tutorials to the elderly on how to use smartphones to access the Internet and interact with friends and relatives through various social-media platforms.

The program has reached seniors in Manila, Marikina, and Muntinlupa in Metro Manila; Laguna, Cebu City, Argao, and Bantayan in Cebu; Iligan, Lanao del Norte; Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental; and General Santos, South Cotabato. What the Smart Millenniors have learned in only a short period of time is now serving them in good stead, especially in the time of the pandemic.

Muntinlupa senior citizens given anti-pneumonia shots

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

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S part of its Covid-19 response efforts, the city government of Muntinlupa has launched a vaccination program for residents aged 60 years old and above to help bolster their immune system against the virus and other various illnesses.

At least 566 senior citizens in four barangays were given anti-flu and anti-pneumonia shots as of September 29 through this immunization project facilitated by the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs (Osca) and the City Health Office.

The elderly beneficiaries were scheduled by their barangay senior presidents to ensure that they strictly observe physical distancing and other health protocols in venues where the vaccines were administered.

According to Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, this initiative piloted with limited beneficiaries per community but will eventually expand to cover all the communities in the city.

“We want to give our residents added protection against Covid-19, especially the most vulnerable sectors including senior citizens, by giving them flu and pneumonia vaccines. We hope that the immunization program will help reduce Covid-19 cases in the city,” he said.

Muntinlupa City has recorded

A SENIOR citizen (center) of Muntinlupa is given anti-flu and anti-pneumonia shots to help boost his immune system against the Covid-19 and other various illnesses.

4,272 confirmed cases with 3,916 recoveries, 213 active cases, 143 reported deaths, 225 suspect cases, and 575 probable cases as of September 30.

The local government, apart from the vaccination program, has

other ongoing projects intended for the city’s elderly.

One of which is granting cash incentives to city residents reaching 100 years old through the Osca.

The local chief executive recently turned over P100,000 cash gift to

a centenarian constituent named Edilberta Cosio from Brgy. Putatan.

The awardee and her family expressed their appreciation to the city government of Muntinlupa for the recognition and cash assistance to the senior populace.

Caraga seniors get social pension, ₧266-million cash aid

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A SENIOR citizen in Caraga region shows the cash assistance he received from the Department of Social Welfare and Development under the agency’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens program. As of September this year, a total of P266.13-million cash assistance was already released to 113,176 indigent senior beneficiaries in the region. PHOTO GRAB FROM DSWD-13 FACEBOOK PAGE

UTUAN CITY—A total of 113,176 indigent senior beneficiaries have already been provided with social pension as of September this year by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Caraga (DSWD-13).

Over P266 million has also been released to the same senior citizens within the period, DSWD-13 said, adding that the grant for poor senior citizens is mandated by Republic Act 9994 or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.”

Senior citizens qualified to receive a social pension under RA 9994 are those frail, sickly, or with a disability, and are not receiving any pension from other government agen-

cies without a permanent source of income or livelihood.

The cash assistance is meant to be used for the elderly’s basic needs, including food and medicines, and released by the DSWD through the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SocPen) program.

DSWD-13 Information Officer Marko Davey D. Reyes told the Philippine News Agency that the agency continues to conduct payouts to the identified senior citizen beneficiaries in the region even during the pandemic.

“With the health protocols that we need to follow for protection, some schedules of our payouts are also affected,” Reyes said. PNA

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, October 10, 2020 A7

The lost art of ‘pakiramdam’

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

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N Batanes in northern Philippines, “Honk UR Horn” signs are posted at every blind curve on steep, winding, narrow two-lane roads to prevent cars from bumping into each other.

But that’s nothing compared to the steep mountain road depicted in the film 3 Faces by Iranian film director Jafar Panahi. In some sections of the road, it becomes too narrow for two vehicles. When a vehicle reaches those parts, the driver must honk his horn to signal that he is there. If someone else is also around the bend, he also needs to honk his presence. Depending on the number of honks, the drivers determine who needs to go first, perhaps because of an emergency.

It is a custom devised by villagers that is the essence of consideration for other’s welfare, and putting others first through kindness and patience.

This is what came to my mind when someone at our office butted in and said busina ka muna to a colleague who was speaking too bluntly for comfort during a meeting.

Nowadays, I have noted that people never bother to “honk first” before blurting a hurtful or spiteful comment or bulldozing their way to win an argument. Even in casual friendly chats, we sometimes fail to mind what we say.

Yes, frankness is a virtue but do we have to be brutally frank? I know that one mustn’t baby the offender, but can we not be more sensitive and considerate about other people’s feelings and predicament?

One time, someone in government announced a new policy that would hurt public utility drivers who were asking for more time to consider their plight. His reaction was blunt and capped with expletives: “Damn them, they can go hungry for all I care.” This is like Marie Antoinette saying, “Let them eat cake!” Or a lady senator who was reported to utter a dismissive statement in response to complaints of medical frontliners: “They just have to work harder.”

Crassness, coarseness, vulgarity, invectives, threats—these are the order of the day. Four letter words said on primetime news do not shock us anymore. When our leaders curse and spit out vulgarities, people seem to love it. The man is totoo. Lalaking lalaki. Barako.

In today’s culture, gentleness of speech is viewed as one of those effete virtues lacking in charisma or clout and therefore unappealing. I can only console myself by what Eric Hoffer said: “Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.”

Rudeness seems to be the new norm, not just in words but also in deed.

Normal is people cutting ahead in line at the supermarket counter because they assume their three items would go through quicker than your 20 items, and somehow that gives them the right-of-way. On the road, it’s normal to see vehicles changing lane abruptly or going counter flow at the slightest opportunity. It’s called nanlalamang.

Coarseness and rudeness are contagious like a virus. One psychologist observes: “Even witnessing rudeness is enough for us to become infected, psychologically, and for us to carry it with us after that. If someone is persistently rude to you at work, say, the psychological effects can lead to physical effects, just as we know stress can.”

Social media has probably opened the door to this new attitude of rudeness. The fact that there is no eye contact on social media and that there are zero consequences to online actions contribute to online rudeness

and trolls. The anonymity of the Internet acts like a kind of an intoxicant, freeing us from inhibitions, making us say things to strangers that we would never dare to say if we personally met them.

But being rude is not the Filipino way. We are better than this. We are a respectful culture. What happened to our age-old value of pakiramdam?

Has it been lost in our rush to embrace modern technology, which is now shaping the way we talk and behave? Seldom do I now hear such courteous words like pasintabi po, mawalang galang po. Have we become a careless society?

From childhood, the Filipino is encouraged to cultivate his sense of pakiramdam. The closest term in English is “sensitivity.” It is pakiramdam that guides the Filipino how to behave properly, how to use the proper gestures or expressions to avoid displeasing a loved one, a family member, a friend, or a superior.

There are many dimensions and layers to the virtue and the practice of pakiramdam, but one thing is very clear about it: The feeling is oriented towards the other person and not oriented towards one’s self or pagkamakasarili. In other words, it’s about respect for the other person’s feelings, his amor propio.

But to me the best meaning of pakiramdam is the “capacity for compassion, empathy and sympathy.” As in nararamdaman ko ang iyong dinaranas.

The most damning statement that one can say about a person is: Walang pakiramdam! Manhid!

Let’s awaken our sense of pakiramdam and not be complicit in the continuance of rudeness and coarseness in our daily lives. Next time our inner snarky demon feels like emerging, let’s toot ourselves with an inner busina that instinctively warns us of the narrow road ahead. A careless or brusque comment, as small as it may seem to the speaker, can cut like a knife as the song goes.

Civility must start at home. If we can be a model to our kids, showing consideration and respect towards each other, then maybe they will behave that way too outside the home.

Let’s transform social media into a breeding ground for good manners, one friend or follower at a time. Always be more circumspect in your choice of words online. Think before you hit send.

And when we go out and interact with those in the outside world, let’s try to be more gracious. We can acknowledge the guard at the mall or the teller at the bank with a smile and warm greeting, or the food service worker with a wish that she or he will “have a nice day.”

On the road, we can drive with caution and deference for others, rather than trying to beat other drivers to the next opportunity. Let’s refrain from giving the dirty finger or nasty hand gestures or epithets to encourage civility in others.

There’s this often-quoted injunction attributed to Plato: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” Be especially sensitive to the feelings of young fragile people on their way to fulfilling their dreams. They have opened up themselves to you and are counting on your wisdom and pakiramdam to guide them. In confronting them for their mistakes and fumbles, keep in mind the words of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats: “I have spread my dreams under your feet Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

Education BusinessMirror

A8 Saturday, October 10, 2020

Editor: Mike Policarpio

Valenzuela students get free Wi-Fi for distance learning

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By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

S the country’s education system goes digital due to the pandemic, more than 8,000 students of Valenzuela City’s secondary and tertiary public schools can now learn online—thanks to free data subscription for the entire academic year courtesy of the local government.

Chosen beneficiaries are college students from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV), Valenzuela City Polytechnic College and junior to senior high- school students of Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science.

The Internet connection also comes bundled with open access to the Canvas Learning Manage-

ment System (LMS), as the said academic institutions implement full online learning.

Considered as the fastestgrowing LMS globally, it is also being used by renowned institutions such as Harvard University and Ohio State University, among others.

“We are excited because we will be able to maximize our Canvas

Reinforcing academic integrity in physical, virtual classrooms (NOTE: With the pandemic posing unprecedented challenges both to state and private educational authorities and systems, as well as to students and parents, an article by the plagiarism detection service Turnitin highlights the way schools can encourage original thinking among students outside the physical classroom. It also discusses how technology empowers educators to improve interaction and engagement with students adjusting to virtual classrooms as the norm.)

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HE new school year has started under drastically different circumstances than we have known in our lifetimes. Blended learning is being deployed as a solution to the ongoing impact of the pandemic across Southeast Asia. We have seen educators quickly adapting to new ways of delivering lessons and feedback, as well as grading students’ work in distance learning and virtual environments.

Naturally, there is also some concern about maintaining academic integrity when courses are being conducted with fewer opportunities for face-to-face interactions. The reduction of physical classroom interactions does not mean that academic integrity has to suffer. New technologies enable teachers to detect academic integrity issues early so that they have the opportunity to teach students to convey their original thinking and properly attribute ideas. Students can also use these tools to check their work before submitting it to reinforce a culture of integrity in blended classrooms.

Culture of integrity

DESPITE the sudden changes in the manner education is being deployed system-wide, academic integrity is still a key concept to discuss and establish with all students.

Starting with the syllabus, educators can address academic integrity by defining it and stating the consequences of submitting plagiarized work, then continue to teach tangible lessons around it throughout the class. Without this critical foundation to empower and encourage learning, students pick up dishonest habits, such as plagiarism and contract cheating, which can be difficult to break beyond the classroom.

In addition to building a community around academic integrity with clearly defined expectations for students, educational institutions and teachers need to weave it into all aspects of the course from

class assignments to assessments.

Technology supports these efforts and addresses emerging trends in academic integrity, allowing educators to detect unoriginal work quickly and turn it into a student learning experience. Tools for digital assessment and feedback also empower educators to improve interaction and engagement with students who are adjusting to virtual classrooms as the norm.

For students, plagiarism can begin innocently with an improper citation of a source, or not having the habit of citing sources from the first draft of a writing assignment.

This incomplete understanding of academic integrity can lead to unethical behavior, if not caught and corrected early. Remote learning can make students feel more anonymous than in a face-to-face setting and might increase the temptation to take shortcuts when referencing ideas, or participate in collusion, whereby students get help from family, friends, or other contacts to write their work.

Stressed students can also be more susceptible to the opportunities to engage in cheating online, and this current learning environment is undoubtedly contributing to their tension. The ability to convey original thought and properly attribute the ideas of others is a core part of student learning.

Academic integrity is key to instilling this ability and teaches foundational, life-long skills that students carry with them long after school, in society, and in the workplace.

Right solutions, enhancing outcomes

AS students settle into a new school year filled with unpredictable challenges, educational institutions should use this opportunity to reinforce academic integrity as part of their values. Even before reaching university, students can learn to express original ideas and undertake proper citations. Education systems and institutions also need to work collectively to identify the right solutions to enhance outcomes for their students in blended learning environments.

Online learning and virtual classrooms will be a key education module long after the pandemic, and upholding academic integrity is just as important in virtual classrooms as in-person learning env ironments. T hese steps ensure that institutions maintain positive reputations and that students continue to receive a high-quality education in these unforeseen times.

PRESENT during the ceremonial signing of agreement are (from left) PLDT Enterprise representative Joy Hilao, Valenzuela City Mayor Rexlon T. Gatchalian and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela President Dr. Nedeña Torralba.

LMS [as] we now have reliable Internet connectivity,” Mayor Rexlon T. Gatchalian said during their recent ceremonial signing of agreement with PLDT Enterprise as their partner. “Our subscription to LMS will be of no use if students have no means to access

the system.”

More than 8,000 Smart 5Gready SIM Cards with Smart Giga Study Plan 299 and Microsoft 365 License will be distributed to all students in the next coming days.

The city government will shoulder the monthly data subscription

of all students under the said prepaid custom plan, which includes 34 gigabytes of data allocation, 4 gigabytes open-access data, and 1 gigabyte per day for study applications.

“Running the city is a very serious matter—it becomes more

serious during the pandemic,” said the local chief executive.

“So, the communication must be very fast, very convenient and very reliable.”

This initiative, according to him, forms part of the overall plan of the city government to keep students educated despite the ongoing health crisis.

“We partnered Canvas with a very reliable partner, so all the necessary ingredients for the success of [our students] continued education [are now available],” commented Gatchalian, as he exhorted the city’s students: “Maximize the investment that the city is giving you.”

For PLV Student Council Executive Officer Sheriz Ann Umali, the free data subscription from the Valenzuela City LGU is a big help, since learning nowadays is anchored on reliable Internet access.

“What we are facing right now is not easy, but we’ll try to make it a little better. We’ll cope, we’ll adapt, and we’ll progress,” Umali declared in Filipino.

Blended learning here to stay—STI exec T O be able to deliver content, educational institutions must remain adaptive and resilient to continuously enable learners of today to meet the needs of the future workplace.

In response to this “new order,” STI Education Services Group Inc. Vice President for Academics Aisa Q. Hipolito said schools will have to embrace modern teaching modalities, such as that of blended learning.

“Over the years, we have witnessed [the way] advances in technology and globalization have transformed how we learn and work. [They heralded] new jobs that required a new set of higher cognitive skills: collaboration, flexibility and innovation—also known as 21st-century learning skills,” Hipolito said in a press statement.

In response to this development, the STI VP said the aca-

deme has had to adopt innovative learning tools such as Microsoft software and Google systems, as well as introduce new information and communications technologyenhanced curricula, including learning content, to redefine the classroom experience.

Prior to the pandemic, the school executive said STI was made aware that embracing innovation and new technologies was imperative to stay educationally relevant and enable academic continuity.

When the school observed the increasing prevalence of digital media among its students,

Hipolito said it opened the door for the integration of traditional classroom methods and e-learning tools, which became known as blended learning.

For more than five years, she pointed out that STI has implemented the use of an eLearning Management System (eLMS) to facilitate classes where students can experience studying with a blended learning approach: “We have seen how it amplified the learning experience of our students. At the same time, it bridged the connection between them and teachers even outside the campus.”

When the lockdown was implemented in March, Hipolito said STI implemented an educational framework built on its existing e-learning methods, while taking into consideration their students’ current learning needs amid the ongoing health crisis.

STI’s ONline and ONsite Education, or the ONE STI Learning Model, is the school’s solution to bring back classes and make education more engaging, accessible and most important, safe.

“It employed the main use of our eLMS, combined with face-toface online instruction, to foster a dynamic learning experience that will achieve the desired learning outcomes,” the STI vice president explained.

Meanwhile, Hipolito shared that eLMS allows their teachers to hold classes and upload modules, video lectures, educational motion graphics and other learning materials that students can access, stream or download safely from home. Assessments, in addition to online quizzes and timed tests, can also be done through the use of polls, online surveys or by video submissions and chats.

Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

UST gets ABET nod for Engineering programs

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HE University of Santo Tomas (UST) Bachelor’s degree programs in Engineering have been recently accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.

ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields that are leading the way in innovation and emerging technologies, and anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public.

“Being the first engineering

school in the country, this accreditation is another evidence of the university’s motto: ‘excellence that is timely, relevance that is timeless,’” Professor Philipina A. Marcelo, Ph.D, dean of UST’s Faculty of Engineering said. “Innovative strategies are in place to allow our programs to evolve with the constantly changing demands

of the global professional practice of engineering without losing the Thomasian Identity.”

Marcelo added: “We have been eager to show how our programs produce graduates with training and achievements that are suitable for seamless transition to engineering professional practice worldwide. This accreditation confirms that. Most important, we are glad [that] this adds value to the Thomasian Engineering degree, which can open many doors for our graduates.”

Sought worldw ide, A BET ’s voluntary peer-review process is highly respected as it adds critical value to academic programs in the technical disciplines, where quality, precision and safety are of the utmost importance.

Developed by technical professionals from its member-societies, ABET criteria focus on elements that students experience and learn. ABET accreditation reviews screen program curricula, faculty, facilities and institutional support. They are conducted by teams of highly skilled professionals from industry, academia and government, with expertise in the ABET disciplines.

ABET is a nonprofit, nongovernment organization with ISO 9001:2015 certification. It currently accredits 4,144 programs at 812 colleges and universities in 32 countries. For more information about ABET, its member-societies, and the accreditation criteria used to evaluate programs, visit www.abet.org.

Miriam College ensures continued education via part-time enrollment, flexible tuition

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IRIAM College (MC) now offers a part-time enrollment scheme at the tertiary level to allow students with financial challenges enjoy flexible tuition payment by enrolling in less subjects per semester.

Under the new scheme, students may opt to enroll for a full semester of 6 to 8 subjects, or avail of the new relaxed scheme that offers 3 to 4 subjects on a nine-week cycle. They may also enlist in a fewer number of subjects than the regularly required number of units so they and their families can further lessen tuition expenses during the pandemic.

A brainchild of Ambassador Laura Quiam-

bao-del Rosario, MC’s president, the new scheme aims to assist families whose incomes were severely affected by the health crisis.

Students who may have taken on part-time

jobs to help their families at this time can also manage their schedules and resources better.

“Under this scheme, students are ensured of continuing their education despite the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic,” Quiambao-del Rosario said.

The college recently confirmed it has also not increased its tuition for School Year 20202021, and has reduced miscellaneous fees.

Meanwhile, MC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Jasmin Nario-Galace explained that a student may enroll as many as four times in a school year under the new scheme, but may have to graduate at a later date.

“We have adjusted our maximum resi-

dence policy for this purpose,” Nario-Galace said. “Knowing the consequences of the pandemic, we thought that limiting the number of subjects in what we call a ‘cycle’ will be best for the students’ physical, mental and emotional health.”

She added that to date, part-time enrollees make up around 35 percent of the total enrollees. Their enlisting for the second cycle of the part-time enrollment scheme is ongoing. Parties interested in the new scheme or who may want to inquire about enrollment for the next semester that begins in January 2021 may do so at MC’s Registrar’s Office, or visit mc.edu.ph.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Saturday, October 10, 2020 A9

Israel: In between the old and the new

The Judean desert and the remains of a Roman camp as seen from Masada.

The Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, a Baha’i Holy Place.

Sunrise by the Dead Sea

The Roman port city of Caesarea

Part Two Story & photos By Bernard Joseph Esposo Guerrero

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hile it is true that one can travel from the northernmost part of Israel to its southern tip in less than a day, one should not underestimate what this small and relatively young nation can offer.

Artifacts found in the old city of Acre

After all, it remains not only as the “Navel of the World” for three major world faiths, but it is also clearly a treasure trove of countless ancient wonders and modern marvels alike. Looking back, it is just amazing how one can have lunch by the Mediterranean Sea at noon, and then do the mud bath and float in the Dead Sea two hours later.

History on the ‘Seaside Corridor’

Easily done from Tel Aviv are visits to two important ports in antiquity. About halfway to Haifa is the Roman period port of Caesarea, the capital and largest city in Israel at the time. It is now a large archaeological complex consisting of the ruins of a Herodian amphitheater, a hippodrome, several residential quarters, as well as an aqueduct uniquely constructed

The Cave of Elijah inside Stella Maris monastery, Haifa.

along the seashore. There are also several well-preserved Roman mosaics in situ and other artifacts, i.e., sarcophagi and markers, on display. Caesarea’s Crusader’s fortress serves as a good introduction to the bigger Crusader monument to be explored later in Acre, the other port.

The city of Acre, another World Heritage Site, has two stories to tell. During the First Crusade, the crusaders built the town in the early 12th century to serve as their port into Palestine. Then, the town was captured 400 years later by the Ottomans who eventually gave Acre its present form as a fortified medieval city. The best way to appreciate the first layer of the city’s history is to explore the underground Gothic halls used by the Knights Hospitaller and to

walk through the so-called Templar tunnels. Above these subterranean structures are buildings, narrow streets, vibrant souks, cozy hammams, and shrines, all of which are legacies left behind

by Acre’s second occupant.

The drive from Caesarea to Acre runs parallel to the Mount Carmel range, a biosphere reserve. On the way, the winery of Amphorae proves to be an ideal stopover and their wines are most pleasant to the palate. A quick swing to the pre-historic caves on the cliff of Mt. Carmel also offers visitors a glimpse into how human evolution took place in the region. Haifa, a modern-day port on the northern slope of the mountain, attracts pilgrims because it is home to the Cave of Elijah inside the Stella Maris

Amphorae winery on the slopes of Mt. Carmel.

monastery, as well as the Shrine of Bab and its neatly terraced gardens, a Baha’i Faith holy place.

Gems of the Judean Desert Landscape

Masada is only 55 kilometers away from Jerusalem, while it takes roughly two hours of driving if coming from Tel Aviv. The journey takes visitors through an amazing arid landscape of deep ravines and empty valleys, the Judean Desert. On the way to Masada, one can even spot the site of Jericho from the distance, as well as the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were recovered. Situated 400 meters high on top of a table mountain, Masada is a natural fortress. It is a site of an ancient citadel built by Herod the Great

The Templar Tunnels in Unesco World Heritage City of Acre.

in the 1st century BC, which contains the remains of two palaces, defensive walls, cisterns, baths (or mikvehs), and even a synagogue and a Byzantine church.

Masada became legendary during the Jewish-Roman War when the Romans attempted to siege it, only to find out that its residents committed a mass suicide when they were left with no other option than to surrender. Masada, therefore, stands as an outstanding cultural icon of Jewish identity.

Aside from the ruins and impeccable views toward the Dead Sea offered by Masada, one should not fail to admire the well-preserved, most complete Roman siege works in the world to this day: the troop camps, delimiting walls, and an attack ramp surrounding it. Ac-

The author on the ruins of Masada.

cessing Masada in ancient times might have been very problematic, but one can simply ride on a cable car nowadays to reach it.

The Dead Sea, on the other hand, is a unique natural wonder and it is in fact the lowest point on Earth. It is a hyper-saline lake that is so dense, anybody will easily float there. Staying at Herod’s Hotel Dead Sea allows direct access into the lake, making it an ideal place to stay in while in the area. Their mud bath treatment, which utilizes the mineral-rich clay from the lake, leaves the skin supple and smooth.

Overall, the tourism experience that Israel offers is unique and, without question, of the highest order. It is a visa-free destination for Filipinos.

A10 Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Movies, concerts and online games in our present situation Among Us, is so big right now that InnerSloth, the game developer, is reportedly working on improving the original game instead of coming out with a sequel.

A TRACING APP FOR SPORTING USE

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HAT I miss in what is now referred to as the new normal (which I prefer to call our present situation), aside from eating in restaurants and generally having the freedom to go around, include being at live concerts and fan meetings. I know I have talked about this over and over again but in 2019, I went to over 20 concerts and fan meetings. At the time, I kept asking myself, “What did I do to deserve this?” Perhaps I should have asked, “What will happen next year for me to have this much good luck?”

There have been a lot online of concerts and fan meetings so I really shouldn’t complain, and what I like about the events in the new normal is that they are more affordable. For instance, we paid for an online concert of Korean boy group SF9 for less than P2,000. A live concert would’ve cost about P8,000.

There have been so many concerts and fan meetings since we were all quarantined in March.

Globe Telecom recently staged The G Music Fest, an online music festival featuring international band LANY and favorite local acts, namely The Juans, Massiah, Kiana Valenciano, UDD, SB19, Ben & Ben and December Avenue. Globe subscribers were able to steam the concert for free through GlobePH, Globe’s Facebook page.

Smart Communications Inc. sponsored the Philippine exclusive streaming on GigaFest of the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival featuring BTS, Coldplay, Bon Jovi, Kane Brown with special guest Khalid, Keith Urban, Migos, Miley Cyrus, Thomas Rhett, Usher and more.

It hasn’t been too bad, really.

Recently, SM Mall of Asia launched SM Cinema Drive-In so that the public can watch films in the safety of their cars. The drive-in will be accessible

/

KELLY MACK works on her laptop to teach remotely from her early 1940s vintage camper/trailer in her backyard at home in Evanston, Illinois.

Across the US, the pandemic has forced students to attend virtual school to prevent spread of the coronavirus. AP

five days a week at the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds Block 16. Each ticket should be booked in advance, as they are sold via SM Tickets only. The lineup of films, meanwhile, are posted on SM Cinema’s social-media pages one week ahead of their scheduled screening.

Only those aged 21 to 59 are allowed entry with a valid ID as proof of age. Pets are not allowed to avoid any possible distractions.

Customers cannot choose parking spots as these will depend on the size of each vehicle and will be decided upon arrival at the venue. Around 106 vehicles can be accommodated per screening, limited to those with enclosed windows.

The P400 ticket price per person is inclusive of bottled water, regular-sized popcorn and beef franks.

I’m afraid that I haven’t had any inclination for

concerts or movies in the past week. I hope this will change soon.

My daughter, meanwhile, has been busy with an online game, called Among Us, when she isn’t working. In the game, players go about completing tasks while trying to determine who the impostor is before they all wind up dead. The game was launched in 2018 but became very popular in 2020 because of Twitch streamers. Twitch is a live streaming platform, usually for gamers.

In the game, four to 10 players join either locally or online with each assigned a role. Most players will be crewmates, normal players who perform tasks on a spaceship. A select few are impostors, parasitic shapeshifters who can travel through vents, sabotage the ship and kill crew members.

CONTACT tracing is now available in the Chooksto-Go Pilipinas 3x3 League court, courtesy of Global Electric Transport (GET) Philippines and coach Eric Altamirano. This partnership is the first mobile app-based contact tracing and events management technology for sporting use. The system connects players, coaches and other essential staff through a free, downloadable mobile app which contains their identifiers and health status information, essential for contact tracing.

GET originally developed its mobile app as a ticketing system for their COMET electric vehicles.

The entire ecosystem is called GETOGETHER with Altamirano acting as the 3x3 League’s chief adviser on the adaptation for sports purposes.

Players and employees who enter the secure 3x3 League’s “bubble” of approved locations use their unique QR codes generated on the app to log their entry and exit from designated areas, such as training and game venues. Their information is then sent to a backend database that time stamps their entry and exit. From the buildings they enter to the transport they take, careful records are kept within the database that can be cross-referenced in case of infection. In order to ensure that phones are kept on them at all times, athletes must also take periodic check-in selfies so that monitors can see that everything is in order.

For information, check out GET Philippines on its social-media channels or visit www.getevee.com.

Teams of the 3x3 League have been holding practices at the University of the Philippines (UP) Epsilon Chi Center in Quezon City.

This collaboration between GET Philippines and the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 League is the first step into the future of safe, secure sporting leagues. Talks are underway to roll out a unified platform not just for sports leagues and their players, but also for future attendees of sporting events. With tickets contained in-app, as well as a joint database that keeps tabs on every person who heads in and out of venues, sports lovers all across the Philippines can rest easy knowing that wherever they go, the GETOGETHER system has their back. ■

How to handle technology issues with online school

BY TALI ARBEL The Associated Press NEW YORK—Across the US, the pandemic has forced students to attend virtual school to prevent spread of the coronavirus. But the more we rely on technology, the bigger the consequences when gadgets or Internet service let us down.

Technology being technology, all sorts of things can go wrong. Your Internet service may be inadequate for all-day videoconferencing or simply overstressed. Hardware and software can be confusing, can break, and sometimes just fails to work. There can be unanticipated consequences from turning on a new video camera in your home for school lessons.

Here are answers to some common questions from parents now forced to manage their kids’ virtual educations.

We don’t have a computer/enough computers/fast enough Internet service for online school. What do we do?

This affects millions of people, and there are no perfect solutions. It’s possible to use smartphones as hot spots for computers, but that’s an imperfect solution at best. Not all plans let you run hot spots off your phone, and if you can, you probably face data caps—which makes it impractical for all-day online school. Some cable companies are offering low-cost service for eligible families, although those programs are typically limited to areas the companies already serve, often provide only minimum broadband speeds and frequently aren’t available to former customers who owe the cable company money.

Schools may provide Internet hot spots or free Internet at home for families without good service.

Get in touch with the district or talk to a teacher about

how to get help from your schools.

They may also be able to send computers or tablets to kids, although there’s a shortage of education-style computers at the moment.

Our service slows way down when several people do video calls at the same time. Are there simple ways to fix that?

Talk to your Internet service provider. It may be time to update your modem or router, and some offer Wi-Fi extenders to improve the network. ISPs can also try repositioning your existing equipment to improve the range and strength of Wi-Fi connections.

Other options include “mesh” style Wi-Fi networks that let you position several base stations around a large house, giving you a stronger signal most everywhere. If necessary, it may be time to pay up for higher-speed service. You can also try talking to teachers and co-workers to reschedule calls to go easier on the network. Turning off your own camera during video calls can help, too. Sometimes teachers can record lessons and send them to kids to watch later if live streaming isn’t possible.

Virtual-school programs and computers can be hard to figure out. Gadgets break. Then what?

Some districts have set up tech-support phone lines or live chats to help students and parents.

Chicago Public Schools, for example, has phone help available in English and Spanish and a website where you can open a ticket for help. But there may not be much schools can do if there’s an issue with your own computer or the cable company.

My kids are anxious about seeing themselves on camera and get frustrated in constant video meetings. What can I do?

Keeping video cameras on is one way teachers

try to ensure kids are paying attention and not beaming out to play video games, but not all kids react well. Discuss any anxieties with teachers to work out solutions—for instance, your kid might not need to keep their head in frame at all times.

If a child definitely needs to be on screen, practice being on video calls with family members, said David Anderson, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute. Exposure to the scary situation helps children get used to it.

Another option: Services like Zoom let you remove your own image from your screen while keeping your camera on. Zoom explains how to do that online.

Kids frustrated by having to sit in front of a computer all day and missing their friends may act out, sighing loudly or disobeying the rules, Anderson said. Instead of issuing punishments, try to come up with coping plans—offer breaks and activities they enjoy in return for participating in virtual school.

For older children and teens, give them room to do the activities they love independently. “Remind them what they’re working toward and what they can look forward to,” Anderson said. “Build up coping thoughts for kid to get through the rougher part of the day.”

How do I hide the contents of my house from my kids’ teachers and classmates?

Many video services let you choose a virtual background—the Rocky Mountains, a field of flowers, the Death Star—that obscures everything but the person on the screen. Sometimes you can also just blur the actual background. Otherwise, situate your kids in a neutral space you all feel comfortable showing to the world—maybe somewhere they’ll sit with their backs to a wall—and have them wear headphones to limit both distracting noises and the possibility that unrelated family conversations might broadcast into the virtual classroom.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Saturday, October 10, 2020 A11

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE BIG TECH ANTITRUST REPORT

AFTER years of calling Big Tech too big, Democratic lawmakers are calling for Congress to rein in Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple by breaking them up, limiting future mergers and blocking selfdealing that could hurt competitors.

Those proposals are in a 450-page report issued Tuesday by a House antitrust panel, which undertook a 15-month investigation into the companies’ market dominance. Here are five big takeaways.

MORE BARK THAN BITE? With the election less than a month away and a new Congress due to be sworn in January 3, there’s little chance of action on the report’s recommendations this year. But the report offers Congress a roadmap for 2021 should it choose to follow up on the report’s proposals, which seems likely should Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress and the presidency.

The Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, has said that he’d consider company breakups.

MONOPOLY OR MONOPOLY-ISH? The report said the four companies have abused their market power by charging excessive fees, imposing tough contract terms and extracting valuable data from individuals and businesses that rely on them. But it stopped short of declaring them all monopolists.

The report found that Google holds a monopoly in search and that Facebook has monopoly power in social networking. But it merely said that Amazon and Apple have “significant and durable market power” in, respectively, the US online retail market and mobile operating systems and app stores.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO. Forcing the companies to break up would be a radical step for Congress to take with a powerful industry. For decades, the tech giants have enjoyed light-touch regulation and star status in Washington, but have faced growing scrutiny and criticism over issues of competition, consumer privacy, hate speech and their effects on democracy and the political climate.

Still, the companies have powerful lobbies and many of their CEOs retain some star power in Washington. There’s little question that the companies would wage an all-out fight against any breakup attempts, and it’s not clear how many legislators would choose that path. There are also technological considerations. Facebook, for instance, is in the process of integrating the chat functions of Messenger, Instagram and soon, WhatsApp. Once that’s complete, breaking up those platforms gets more difficult.

BYE BYE, BUY BUY BUY. The report attributes the “significant and durable market power” of the companies in large part to “a high volume of acquisitions.” This, it concludes, has led to fewer choices for consumers.

Facebook “used its data advantage to create superior market intelligence to identify nascent competitive threats and then acquire, copy, or kill these firms,” the report states. Google, meanwhile, “maintained its monopoly over general search through a series of anticompetitive tactics” including an “an aggressive campaign to undermine vertical search providers.”

The report suggests placing restrictions, potentially even a ban, on future acquisitions by the companies. It’s worth noting, however, that many of the products people rely on would not be what they are today if the companies hadn’t acquired them. This is true for Google’s YouTube and the technology for its maps and Android, Apple’s Siri and Facebook’s Instagram and WhatsApp. ANOTHER REPORT. Though the report was “bipartisan,” Republicans issued their own thoughts on Tuesday in a report titled “A Third Way to Take on Big Tech.” Authored by Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, it called for “targeted” enforcement of existing antitrust laws rather than “onerous and burdensome regulation that kills industry innovation.” It’s not hard to guess which option Big Tech would get behind if forced to choose. AP

Nowhere to go but app: How Viber / spurred digital ‘bayanihan’

A SCREENSHOT of the recent Viber Communities Roundtable.

I

N the old days, bayanihan was often depicted by an image of several people carrying a nipa hut on their shoulders.

While that may be close to impossible nowadays, the essence of bayanihan—that spirit of cooperation and helping each other—continues to be one of the Filipino’s strongest traits.

Today, it’s no longer about carrying houses, but caring and helping those who are in need, and that societal motivation for helping, sharing, donating and volunteering has never been so important.

According to Andy Levy, Reader in Psychology, Edge Hill University: “History tells us that society can be socially cohesive in times of crisis, and coronavirus is presenting society with a formidable common enemy that does not distinguish between the reds and the blues. And research suggests that when faced with a common threat, a shared sense of togetherness can lead people to look past their differences and collectively respond to the challenges they face.”

So in this era of social distancing, we’ve found innovative ways to communicate with others and witnessed an encouraging sense of community and a new emphasis on the collective need.

One of those is through the Rakuten Viber app. In the Philippines, the series of lockdowns contributed to the spike in Viber usage with a 22-percent increase in outgoing calls; a 43-percent increase in daily activations; and an 18-percent growth in daily active users. But more than just a tool for communication, Viber, specifically its Communities feature, became a real quarantine star, surging up to 120-percent increase in usage in the first few weeks of the pandemic.

Launched in 2018, Communities allowed users with similar interests to interact in one group while

maintaining their privacy.

A few days after the lockdown, users turned to their communities to keep up with what was happening within their neighborhood, and people quickly exchanged information in real-time—from stores that are open, to how long the lines were in the grocery. These communities provided the information users couldn’t find even on the news almost in real time.

People also preferred Viber over Facebook, which had become toxic, a hub for fake news and littered with “trolls.” Viber communities worked because the information was tailor-fit to the user. Eventually, it also became an even bigger help to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) who have been affected in unprecedented damaging ways.

With stores closed for months and bazaars cancelled, MSMEs turned to Viber to connect with customers, giving them a fighting chance for survival despite the bleak outlook.

At the “Stories from Viber Communities: Keeping SMEs Afloat in a Global Pandemic” virtual roundtable discussion, “SuperAdmins” Jonathan Richie Yap of Great Eats Manila Community and JC Alelis of Best of Pampanga Community shared their experiences of managing a Viber Community during the pandemic.

Great Eats Manila Community was created in 2018 to help foodies discover new and hole-in-the-wall restaurants and support up-and-coming businesses, Yap recalled. During the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), he said that the community became like a search engine for people who were looking for certain dishes or those who wanted to satisfy their cravings within proximity of their homes, which fostered impactful personal and word-of-mouth recommendations.

“That’s the advantage of a Viber Community like Great Eats Manila. When somebody recommends what they’ve tried in the community, it gives an extra boost to that certain brand or product,” Yap said.

This, in return, helped small businesses survive, not to make a huge profit but to earn enough for their employees.

Best of Pampanga Community, on the other hand, started out last March as a community for JC Alelis’ wife’s family business Pampanga’s Best. Although production continued during the quarantine, the company had a problem with distribution since their

customers had limited access to the usual retailers.

Aside from becoming a platform to market Pampanga’s Best, the community has grown into something much more meaningful and close-knit, allowing them to help their staff earn more income through delivery and also offer other local products and delicacies as requested by their customers.

“Gradually, we realized we had to outgrow our initial purpose. We’re letting the community lead.

We’re not just offering them Pampanga’s Best. We’re offering them the best of Pampanga—on demand,” Alelis said. “I think we’re even turning into something more like a food tourism community since our members had requested for products outside the province.”

The SuperAdmins also shared some of their insights on why Viber Communities became the preferred channel for business owners during the quarantine. Yap pointed out that Community SuperAdmins have more freedom and control on how they interact with the members, grow their supergroup, and maintain their privacy.

Alelis, moreover, said that Viber Communities allowed SMEs to strategize without thinking about algorithm, giving entrepreneurs more control over their actions instead of letting a machine rig reach, engagements and interactions. Based on his experience, he added that Viber is also friendlier to non-techies.

Rakuten Viber APAC PR Manager Lana Macapagal said that the SuperAdmins’ statements were not only an affirmation of the messaging app’s user-centric approach, but also of its potential as an avenue for people to act on their intrinsic desire to help each other. She called this new communication habit as a form of digital bayanihan. Viber became a vehicle for this emerging attitude as it provided users with a captured market and the capabilities to adapt to the new normal.

“Listening to the personal stories of our SuperAdmins really made all the work we do behind the scenes worth every effort,” she said. “We are happy and proud to hear that Viber, which simply aims to safely connect people whoever and wherever they are, has served its purpose and empowered micro, small and medium businesses to survive and even thrive during such an incredibly challenging time in our history.” ■

First-ever virtual YouTube FanFest on October 11 STARTING at 4 pm Philippine standard time, YouTube FanFest 2020 features over 150 talented creators and artists from across Asia-Pacific, alongside some of the top global YouTube stars, such as Alex Wassabi, Matt Steffanina, Merrell Twins and Mike Chen. These global stars will join a stellar lineup of local YouTube sensations in the Philippines including Ranz Kyle, Niana Guerrero, Natalia Guerrero, mimiyuuuh, Ben & Ben, FumiShun Base, AC Bonifacio, and more for a live stream filled with special performances, creator collaborations and lots of fun.

Some of the creators from the Philippines will have virtual meet-and-greet moments leading to the

FanFest event.

To showcase and celebrate the diversity in AsiaPacific, there will be dedicated country spotlight segments featuring homegrown creators and hosted in local languages. More exciting creators will be announced in the upcoming days on YouTube FanFest’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.

Gautam Anand, managing director of YouTube APAC, said, “YouTube FanFest has become an annual celebration of our YouTube communities across APAC. While we can’t host physical shows this year, we hope this special edition YouTube FanFest will create moments of joy, spread positivity

and bring about a sense of unity that we all need during this time. We’re excited to see international creators and homegrown talent from across APAC shine on this virtual stage.”

Another integral part of the YouTube FanFest experience is the annual Creator Camp. The camp has always been a great opportunity to engage with creators and provide them a sense of community, inspiration and knowledge on how they can succeed on YouTube. This year, the platform is also hosting a series of virtual Creator Camps for rising creators to inspire, educate and empower the next generation of YouTube stars by sharing ways to elevate the quality of video and strengthen content strategy.

PRESENTED by Globe and Piattos, YouTube has announce the first-ever virtual YouTube FanFest. Featuring over 150 creators and artists from across the region with special appearances from global YouTube stars, this year’s virtual YouTube FanFest celebrates the creative ingenuity of the creator and artist community in Asia-Pacfic that has provided inspiration, entertainment and moments of joy during this unprecedented time. The show will be live streamed on YouTube FanFest’s official YouTube channel (www. youtubefanfest.com) on October 11.

Sports BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, October 10, 2020

STAGE SET FOR LAKERS

Saso 4 strokes off pace in Japan; Ardina, Pagdanganan falter in US

Y

UKA SASO settled for a three-over 75 but still found herself trailing a halfa-dozen leaders by four strokes at the start of the Stanley Ladies Golf Tournament in Susuno City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan on Friday.

Na-Ri carded a one-under 71—built around two birdies in the last 11 holes—to share the lead with six others as the rest of the field struggled at the rollin and challenging Tomei Country Club course sitting in the foothills of Mt. Fuji.

Dottie Ardina and Bianca Pagdanganan also fumbled in windy conditions and finished with 76 and 77, respectively, to fall way behind the top 80-plus ties cutoff line in the $4.3-million KPMG Women’s PGA Championship led by American Brittany Lincicome and Malaysian Kelly Tan in Pennsylvania on Thursday.

Saso, on a mission to recall the form that won her the NEC Karuizawa and Nitori Ladies last August, started hot against fancied Ai Suzuki and Erika Hara in one of the featured flights in the Y100 million event with a birdie on No. 5.

But the International Container Terminal

Services Inc.-backed ace hobbled in the face of the daunting tests at the 6572yard layout, bogeying Nos. 6, 8 and 9. She missed a couple of birdie chances at the back but finally hit another birdie on No. 14, only to drop strokes on Nos. 15 and 17 for a 38-37 card.

That sent the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association money race leader tumbling to joint 31st although Hara, winner of the Japan Women’s Open two weeks ago, and Suzuki, a 16-time circuit champion, fared worse with 76 and 78, respectively.

Lee made two bogeys against a birdie in the first five holes but gunned down birdies on Nos. 8 and 13 to gain a share of the lead at 71 with Mayu Hamada, Hina Arakaki, Naruha Miyata, Miyu Yamashita, Saki Asai and Miyu Shinkai, one shot ahead of Player of the Year frontrunner Sakura Koiwai and five others.

Sultan brought in as Ancajas’s sparring partner in US camp

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

LEBRON JAMES and the Lakers will look to close the Heat out in Game Five of the Finals on Saturday. AP

L

AKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—The trophy ceremony plans are getting finalized. Boxes are being shipped out of the National Basketball Association (NBA) bubble in advance of the looming shutdown. Hotel rooms, sometime in the next few days, will be filled again by regular people looking for

their long-awaited Disney fix.

For LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, the stage is set.

The NBA Finals—and the longest season in league history, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and four-and-a-half-month shutdown that followed—could end on Friday night, with James and the Lakers going into Game Five with a 3-1 series lead over the Miami Heat. The Heat are simply looking for a way to extend this matchup into a Game Six that would be played on Sunday, while James is looking for his fourth ring and, he thinks, a whole new level of respect from LA fans.

“What I’ve learned being a Laker is that the Laker faithful don’t give a damn what you’ve done before,” James said. “... They don’t care about your resume at all until you become a Laker. You’ve got to do it as a Laker, and then they respect you.”

James is 3-0 in finals close-out opportunities, and 3-1 leads in the title series are almost always turned into trophies.

The exception was in 2016, when James led Cleveland back from 3-1 down against Golden State.

The Heat know all this. They don’t seem bothered.

“Our guys are the ones who are out there in

the arena marred by dust, blood, sweat and tears,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.

“Our guys are the ones out there—28 other teams aren’t out there.

Everybody else is basically on their comfortable couches spectating on this one. Our guys are the ones that are in the arena, and that’s right where they are meant to be.”

Some of that was Spoelstra quoting Theodore Roosevelt’s famed 1910 speech titled “Citizenship in a Republic,” which over time has become better known as “The Man in the Arena.” It’s one of James’s favorites as well, even getting cited by him earlier in these NBA Finals.

“We’ve got a chance,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “We still believe. They’re writing us off. Everybody is doubting us. But as long as the people in the locker room and all our coaching staff have belief in us, that’s all that matters.”

The Heat fell apart in Game One of the series, not coincidentally in a game where they lost point guard Goran Dragic in the first half to a torn left plantar fascia and Adebayo later to a neck strain. The Lakers rolled to the 1-0 series lead, but since then, matters have been far closer: In games 2-4, the Lakers have outscored Miami by just five points, the Heat have gone 6-5-1 in the 12 quarters played.

“To me, this series is far from over,” Lakers Coach Frank Vogel said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. This is a great basketball team that we’re playing, and my focus is solely on all the little

details that go into what we have to do to get one more win.”

Though Vogel isn’t looking past the next game, making logistical plans for the end of the series and the closing of the bubble is really nothing more than common sense.

There will be a trophy ceremony when the series ends; it may be possible that the ownership group from the winning team will be permitted on the floor even though they’ve been outside “the bubble” this whole time.

On Saturday, or Monday, or Wednesday at the latest, those who remain in the bubble will leave because the series will have ended the night before. Disney plans on reopening the Coronado Springs resort—essentially bubble headquarters—on October 15.

The Lakers are trying to keep themselves grounded, even with the knowledge that they’re one win away from rings.

“I think we all know that tomorrow night is also a must-win for us, just as much as it is a must-win for the Heat,” Lakers forward Anthony Davis said.

It isn’t, but Davis’s point is clear. The Lakers will aim to head into Friday night with the same desperation that Miami will have while facing elimination.

Jimmy Butler, Miami’s leading scorer and best player by far in the series, said he’ll set the Heat example for Game Five by demanding more of everything from himself.

“I’ve got to be able to do a lot more,” Butler said. “I’ve got to be able to set the tone from the jump, play with the most energy I’ve ever played with for these next three games, and win. That’s what I’ve got to do: Win.” AP

TV5, Cignal TV to air PBA bubble games live on TV, digital, radio

T JONAS SULTAN will try to shoot two birds with one stone while in the US.

F

ORMER world title challenger Jonas Sultan will be reviving his professional boxing career with the help of a former rival— International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas.

Sultan confirmed to BusinessMirror through a phone interview from the Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite, that he would be joining Ancajas’s camp led by manager and trainer Joven Jimenez and assistant Ferdinand Parcon next week in the United States.

“I will be Jerwin’s sparring partner in the US,” said Sultan, who will be leaving Manila on Sunday for Los Angeles. “Coach Joven [Jimenez] told me if I can be a sparring partner for Jerwin in the US. I am very thankful to coach Joven for giving me the opportunity.”

Sultan, 29, is one of many boxers headed by four-division world champion Donnie Nietes, Jeo Santisima, Melvin Jerussalem, Milan Melindo and Prince Pagara who were orphaned after ALA Promotions shut down last August.

“If the opportunity comes, Sultan could be given a chance to fight under the Premier Boxing Champions [PBC] fight

cards,” international matchmaker and Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons said.

“We hope to get him a fight there,” Gibbons added in a brief chat with the BusinessMirror.

Known for his awkward boxing style, Sultan earned a world title opportunity two years ago after beating current World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero via unanimous decision on September 16, 2017, at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City.

That IBF world title eliminator paved the way for another all-Filipino world title showdown between Sultan and Ancajas last May 26, 2018, in Fresno, California.

But he lost to the more-experienced Ancajas via unanimous decision.

It was also the first time that two Filipinos fought for a world title since 1925 when Pancho Villa defeated Clever Sencio via unanimous decision for the flyweight belt.

Sultan (16-5 win-loss record with 10 knockouts) didn’t get any shot at a world title since despite winning two of his last three fights. Josef Ramos

HE country’s love for the game comes front and center this month as the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) games return live via TV5, One Sports and in high-definition via PBA Rush on Cignal TV. TV5 and Cignal TV are proud partners of the PBA—which serves as pioneer in returning live local sporting events—and paves the way for other local leagues to resume play given the “new normal,” delighting generations of its loyal followers.

During the 45th season kick-off of the

M

I could overcome the climb but I found the best position when it flattened a bit. I said that the earlier I would win a stage, the more stages I would win in this Giro. This is pure pleasure.”

Démare took nearly five hours to complete the 188-kilometer route from Castrovillari to Matera, which featured one third-category climb and a hilly finish.

Matera—in the southern Basilicata region—is known for its cave dwellings, which were inhabited until the 1950s.

Almeida stopped on the side of the road to fix the radio under his jersey with 37 kilometers to go when he was hit. Sprinter Fernando Gaviria went down in the same incident, but both riders quickly got going again.

pandemic, we try our best to be heroic— because we, the PBA community, aren’t just players, coaches, staff, or fans,” Robert Galang, Cignal TV and TV5 President and CEO, said.

“We’re also families who hold on to each other for love, and friends who continue to lean on each other for support.”

Various content from within the PBA Bubble will be released on a daily basis on top of the live games across TV, digital and various news platforms. Exclusive daily updates from inside the bubble and messages from some of the

top players will be available online to give the people a glimpse into the life of their favorite teams and players within the bubble.

In addition, it has created new opportunities allowing the audience to feel as if they were watching the game live in the arena. Fans will be present in the game virtually through a virtual mural flashed on an LED screen, giving players on the court the chance to see and hear the fans live.

All games will be played at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga adjacent to the Clark Freeport.

Battle of youngsters in French Open final

Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, came in having won every set, too. But as Kenin put it: “I mean, that obviously doesn’t mean anything if I’m playing well.”

The lefty from the Czech Republic had grabbed 77 percent of her service games in the tournament, before Kenin stole two of the first three. Part of it was strong returning. More of it was the manner in which Kenin was pushing Kvitova around on a breezy late afternoon, pinning her to the baseline.

Also working in Kenin’s favor was an ability to sense where a ball was headed and use her speed to track it down, repeatedly stretching points that seemed lost.

SOFIA KENIN, 21, faces unseeded Iga Swiatek, 19, in the final. AP

Eventually, that appeared to make Kvitova play as if she felt that she needed to try to do more, maybe do too much, because she would cut off points early by attempting to end them—and, too often, she would miss the mark.

By the end, Kvitova produced 31 unforced errors, to 20 for Kenin, whose shouts of “Come on!” grew louder as the end grew closer. Her intensity also came through when she chucked her red-white-and-blue racket.

“I mean, obviously I felt like I could not overpower her. I knew I just needed to adjust my game,” Kenin said. “I had to control the points, move her, dictate, try not to give her short balls, try to have a good serve.”

When Swiatek’s 70-minute tour de force ended before a crowd in the hundreds at Court Philippe Chatrier—there is a daily limit on spectators because of the coronavirus pandemic—she asked for more noise, waving her arms and cupping a hand to her ear. AP

Démare claims 2nd stage win in Giro d’Italia ATERA, Italy—Arnaud Démare claimed his second stage win in the Giro d’Italia by winning the sixth leg in another mass sprint on Thursday.

João Almeida held onto the pink jersey despite a mid-stage scare when he was crashed into by another rider.

For his 12th victory this season, Démare started his sprint before anyone else on the slightly uphill finishing straight and won easily ahead of Michael Matthews and Fabio Felline.

Démare, a French rider with the GroupamaFDJ team, also won Stage 4 in a three-way photo finish.

“Two days ago it wasn’t a perfect sprint but today it’s super,” Démare said. “I wasn’t sure if

league last March, the campaign “Tayo Ang Bida” emphasized the fans and those working behind the scenes as the true MVPs—inspiring an insightful look at the PBA, going beyond the star power of the iconic teams, renowned players and coaches, and giving the spotlight to the crew and avid fans who make the games more meaningful and enjoyable.

The meaning of “Tayo Ang Bida” has since evolved given the current health pandemic.

“Just as the PBA was gaining momentum, the world stopped. Yet in the midst of a

Almeida, a Portuguese rider with the Deceuninck-Quick Step team, remained 43 seconds of Spanish rider Pello Bilbao.

This was Démare’s third career win at the Giro. He also won a stage in Modena last year to go with his two stage victories at the Tour de France in 2017 and 2018.

Four riders formed an early breakaway and established a lead of more than 10 minutes on the peloton before eventually being reeled back in.

James Whelan was the last of the breakaway riders to be caught, with 14 kilometers to go.

Stage 7 on Friday, a mostly flat 143-kilometer leg from Matera to Brindisi, also sets up well for sprinters. AP

P

ARIS—Sofia Kenin entered 2020 with an 11-11 record in Grand Slam action. She never had made the quarterfinals at any clay-court tournament until this trip to Roland Garros—and lost her only tuneup match on the surface 6-0, 6-0 last month.

Iga Swiatek is just 19. She’s ranked 54th.

She’s never won a tour-level title of any sort.

She’d never before been past the fourth round at a major tournament.

Look at the two of them now—French Open finalists.

Already the owner of a major trophy from this year’s Australian Open, the No. 4-seeded Kenin moved into the title match in Paris by beating No. 7 Petra Kvitova 6-4, 7-5 on Thursday.

“My mentality has obviously changed,” said Kenin, who said she derived a boost of confidence from upsetting Serena Williams at Roland Garros a year ago. “I feel like I should be

getting deep in a tournament, but try not to put pressure on myself.”

The 21-year-old American will carry a 16-1 mark in Grand Slam action this season into Saturday’s matchup against Poland’s Swiatek.

“I’m going to be, like, an ‘underdog,’” Swiatek said, using her fingers to make air quotes.

Maybe. On the other hand, consider how dominant she has been along the way to becoming the lowest-ranked women’s finalist at Roland Garros since the Women’s Tennis Association computer rankings began in 1975. Her latest lopsided win was via a 6-2, 6-1 score against Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska.

“It seems unreal,” Swiatek said. “On one hand, I know that I can play great tennis. On the other hand, it’s kind of surprising for me.”

She has won all 12 sets she’s played in the tournament, dropping merely 23 games.