BusinessMirror October 13, 2018

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Under pressure from activist investors and the public, while also worrying about future regulation, Big Oil is beginning to hedge its bets on the future.

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By Clifford Krauss New York Times News Service

HAT is the future of oil? It’s hard if not impossible to say for sure, but there are few more important questions, since the answer will be a key guide to the fate of humanity over the next century.

It’s worth speculating about because the climate will depend on it, with the burning of gasoline and diesel key drivers for global warming. The balance of international power is also in play, with the future fortunes of such foes as Russia and Iran tied to the commodity. Huge fortunes could be made or lost from any shifts in the energy economy, which is currently controlled by some of the largest private and state corporations in the world.

Predicting the energy sources of the future has always been a fool’s game. In the 1950s, nuclear energy was supposed to promise cheap power for all, but is now in eclipse. Biofuels seemed to hold great promise a decade ago, but now are little more than an afterthought. When most experts thought the country’s oil reserves were in decline, shale drilling unleashed a boom in natural gas and oil production that now seems to perpetuate the dependence on fos-

sil fuels except coal. The 2015 Paris climate agreement appeared to be a turning point, when nearly every country committed to slashing its carbon emissions. But there has been some backtracking, especially from the Trump administration, which is withdrawing from the agreement and moving to weaken rules on future auto emissions. A plan by Norway’s $1-trillion sovereign wealth fund to divest of $40 billion in oil stocks is

meeting reluctance from within the government. “The demand for oil continues to grow even as there is an increased focus on controlling emissions and addressing the climate agenda,” said Daniel Yergin, the energy historian and author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. But he added that he would not discount an eventual change in the direction of energy markets, even while it is “difficult Continued on A2

The energy industry, in the words of its leaders N advance of the Oil & Money Conference held in London this week, co-hosted by The New York Times and Energy Intelligence, The Times asked some of the participants to answer this question: What are the biggest challenges your industry is facing and what is your company doing to address them? Here are their responses, which have been edited and condensed. PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.1710

Andrew Smart, global energy industry manager of Accenture

THE biggest challenge for the oil and gas industry will be navigating short- and long-term disruptions. Companies large and small must make their production businesses even more competitive, while simultaneously creating opportunities for material growth based on future demand. As the global industry recovers from the 2014 downturn—one of the deepest in memory—it is at a crucial inflection point. While decisive leadership and restructuring was needed to survive, few can be confident that they transformed sufficiently to thrive in the cycles ahead. The industry is holding its breath to see where cost savings can be sustained as prices and ac-

ANDREW SMART

HANDOUT VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

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By The New York Times

tivity levels rise. At the same time, major companies now understand that the fundamental changes, required to capture the full value of digital technologies, still need to be made. This will require a shift from simple deployment to more wholesale transformation. Crucially, now is the time to address the gradual but relentless disruption that continues to change the balance of supply and demand. Industries we serve— power, transportation and materials manufacture—are being disrupted by new technologies, regulations and customer behaviors. Having spent decades obsessed with finding new sources of supply, we must now enhance the understanding and expertise that’s focused on capturing demand.

There are any number of strategies to navigate these uncertainties. Transforming core operations to maximize investment capacity is crucial, as is setting intelligent strategies for the future. Additionally, companies must ensure that investment capacity is allocated deliberately between these core and new business options. This will require a wise pivot by the oil and gas industry, balancing capital, capability and risk allocation to create options for sustained success. Indeed, oil and gas companies may find themselves spearheading a new petrochemical revolution; competing head-to-head with utilities in efficient, highly distributed power generation; or even creating new ways for consumers to access Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4825 n UK 71.4895 n HK 6.9122 n CHINA 7.8236 n SINGAPORE 39.1635 n AUSTRALIA 38.2447 n EU 62.4158 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.4433

Source: BSP (October 11, 2018 )

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A2 Saturday, October 13, 2018

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THE FUTURE OF OIL Continued from a1

to predict a breakthrough that perhaps is now unimaginable. The big change may be a merger of Silicon Valley and Houston.” Big oil is beginning to hedge its bets on the future, under pressure from activist investors and the public, while also worrying about future regulation. A pivot may be starting, with Exxon­ Mobil and BP engineers working on advanced batteries, Royal Dutch Shell scientists working on hydrogen fuel cells, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund investing in Tesla, and the oil industry broadly deploying artificial intelligence, robotics and faster data processing throughout their operations. Many experts remain skeptical that oil companies will be at the forefront of change and undercut their own businesses. Regardless of who leads the change away from oil—if there indeed is a change— there are already growing signs that global demand for oil will peak and decline to some degree by the

late 2030s. That would not be fast enough for the world to achieve the goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial Age levels. Still, it would mark one of the most remarkable economic swings of the last century, given that global demand for oil has more than tripled since 1965. In what may be a sign of things to come, India has announced that by 2030, all new cars sold in the country will be electric. BP projects in its 2018 Energy Outlook report that demand for liquid fuels, particularly oil, will grow over most of the next two decades and decline in the late 2030s because of efficiency improvements in passenger and freight transport, and a gradual increase in popularity of electric cars. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind will increase their share of global power generation from 7 percent to roughly 25 percent by 2040. Norwegian risk-management firm DNV GL raised eyebrows

across the oil industry in September by forecasting that demand for crude will crest in the early 2020s. Most of the major oil companies are counting on petrochemicals and plastics to continue to drive oil profits. They also hope the natural gas they produce and ship will continue to replace coal burning for electricity generation. Not surprisingly, oil executives typically scoff at the notion of a world without oil. “The need for hydrocarbons has always been there and will always be there,” said David Sealock, chief executive of Petroteq, a Canadian oil company mining oil sands in Utah. Sealock and many other oil executives do not deny that climate change is an issue, nor that it is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. He points to technology as the solution that will allow societies to continue burning them safely, noting efforts by the billionaire investor Bill Gates and others to

extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through advanced industrial-scale engineering. Sealock and a few other oil executives see the possibility that natural gas, which frequently bubbles up with oil from the same wells, could provide the raw material for the production of hydrogen for fuel cells that would limit the exhaust of cars to drops of water. That may all be wishful thinking on the part of Sealock, who is managing a company that is attempting to unlock billions of new barrels of oil. If he is right, that could be a convenient solution not only for the climate (unless there are unintended negative consequences to fiddling with the atmosphere as some fear), but also for a slew of countries that rely on oil for their economic well-being across much of Africa and the Middle East, as well as Russia, Mexico and emerging producers like Brazil and Guyana.

Fossil fuel days numbered?

BUT there is another view, decidedly a minority one still, that

believes the days of the fossil fuel age are numbered. One such futurist is Dieter Helm, an Oxford University energy economist and author of Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels, published last year, who says he believes that the world is poised for a technological transformation that will produce new sources of power, advanced energy storage and a rise in the efficiency of the economy so less energy is needed. “We know the supply of solar is infinite,” Helm said. And in the next 20 years, he added, “We’ll have factories that run on robots, we’ll have 3D printing, artificial intelligence and so on that will make energy demand remarkably more flexible in factories, offices and houses, too.” Such technologies are already taking hold, and in Helm’s view they will speed up as global leaders are forced to manage the impacts of climate change, which appear to be accelerating. It’s not going to immediately happen, but he says he believes the big oil companies will eventually go the way of the horse

and buggy. “Why do you think Exxon is better at battery or new storage technology than a startup?” he said. “Just like the Telcos didn’t take over the internet world, they will try, they will do a bit, but I think very gradually they will decay.” Some oil company executives say they are accepting the challenge of a lower carbon world, and they are ready to adapt. One of the leaders is Eldar Saetre, chief executive of the Norwegian oil giant Equinor, whose company is a pioneer in offshore wind power. While Equinor has acknowledged that it will have to leave some hydrocarbons in the ground, Saetre said his industry is going to have to adjust faster. “There are companies that could do more,” Saetre said, choosing his words carefully. “I see a lot of players with a conscious and aggressive approach, but it’s an evolution, and there is room for more engagement in our industry.”

Continued from a1

and use energy. The industry’s future will be volatile and highly uncertain. Companies that survive and, ultimately, thrive have no time to waste. In an industry where demand is set to become the scarcer commodity— particularly in mature markets— an intimate understanding of unmet customer needs could just be the most potent “proven reserves” of the future.

MICHAEL WIRTH

vestment and innovation—and a rational policy environment. • An agreement that cleaner solutions are required, but they must also be reliable and affordable. • The realization that meeting the world’s energy needs will require a diverse mix of sources. This means embracing different forms of energy and looking for opportunities to scale cleaner energy faster. These principles can guide us toward a more productive conversation about energy. And they can help us unlock the benefit of reliable, affordable, ever-cleaner energy to power the world forward.

Carlos Treviño, chief executive of Pemex

THE oil and gas industry is in an uncertain time, particularly when

CARLOS TREVIÑO

it comes to meeting growing demand. There is no doubt that the demand for energy will continue to increase at an accelerated rate, but experts continue to debate the sources of future energy. From my point of view, the world’s main energy sources will continue to come from fossil fuels—mainly hydrocarbons, at least for the next 50 years. An element that makes this scenario more complex is that the industry must reach a balance between supplying the world’s growing need for affordable energy, while at the same time meeting society’s increasing demands and awareness of the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Energy demand can be divided into three segments: the developed countries that account for the larg-

Seifi Ghasemi, chairman, president and chief executive of Air Products

HANDOUT VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

FEW doubt that energy has improved lives and enabled human progress. Yet one of the biggest challenges facing the world is the polarized debate over the future of energy. Facts and economics are too often replaced with assertions and emotions. Discussions about fossil fuels and their alternatives often degenerate into a battle to delegitimize the other side. This is a recipe for inaction. This struggle hinders compromise, slowing the transition toward cleaner energy. And it keeps billions of people trapped in energy poverty: Almost 40 percent of humanity, or three billion people, have access to only rudimentary forms of energy and a very low standard of living. The world expects—and deserves—better. The International Energy Agency projects energy demand will rise more than 25 percent by 2040, driven by population growth and rising incomes. Oil and gas will meet about half of that demand; a prediction that holds firm even in the most aggressive low-carbon scenario. The world needs a wide range of energy sources to accommodate growing demand while reducing energy poverty. Yet, a polarized energy debate prevents billions from realizing the liberating potential of affordable, reliable energy. I’d suggest a new, more balanced conversation about the future of energy that rests on four principles: • An understanding that energy transitions happen at different paces in different places. We shouldn’t expect universal solutions to unique challenges. What’s happening in London or Boston isn’t necessarily the answer for Beijing or New Delhi. • The recognition that the global energy system is complex. Providing reliable, affordable and ever-cleaner energy to a growing population requires massive in-

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Michael Wirth, chairman and chief executive of the Chevron Corp.

est share, but at the same time are the most aware regarding the impact of oil and gas on the planet; the developing countries that require significant investment to rapidly satisfy their demand for affordable energy while dealing with pressure to manage their natural reserves; and the least-developed nations that rely on few energy sources, yet have the most rapid increase in demand. Without doubt, environmental efforts by oil and gas companies should be an important component of their policies, values and principles. They should also be routinely evaluated as part of their investment decisions. Investment funds fully assess environmental, social and governance factors of corporate issuers in an integrated manner along with credit metrics, when undertaking any investment decision. One cleaner energy source that will play an important role in the industry is natural gas. Large nations like China and India have announced that they will use natural gas as their main energy source. The next step for the oil and gas industry is to make natural gas production as profitable and accessible as crude-oil production and to engage with the transportation industry to develop economically accessible technologies. The rest depends on making the switch from oil-driven to natural gas-driven economies, while maintaining the same levels of attractiveness for sources of funding.

THE industrial gas industry must continue to evolve and create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address obstacles facing customers, communities and the world. This is the challenge everyone operating in the oil and gas industry faces today, and tomorrow. More specifically, one of the largest issues to be addressed by the industrial gas industry is how to assist refinery customers in solving the challenges of IMO 2020, a stringent environmental standard facing the shipping industry on fuel requirements implemented by the International Maritime Organization. IMO 2020, which takes effect on January 1 of that year, impacts the use of sulfur-heavy bottom-of-the-barrel oils for fuel. The elimination and disuse of these sulfur-heavy oils will decrease sulfur oxide emissions, improve air

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The energy industry, in the words of its leaders

SEIFI GHASEMI

quality and protect the environment. Working together we must find solutions to address the bottom-ofthe-barrel oil issue and be able to do so in an environmentally sound manner. Gasification technology is one option to create beneficial uses for these bottom-of-the-barrel oils in a more sustainable manner. This is something that Air Products is already heavily investing in. The core of how we approach business, now and in the future, must be sustainable operating practices. Strong goals and public sentiments may set the baseline for a company’s intent, but the genuine proof of a commitment to sustainability is demonstrated by results. We need to work with our customers, our suppliers and other key stakeholders to ensure an appropriate level of energy and focus continue to drive innovative technologies that will deliver efficiencies and improve the way products are produced. Together, we have an obligation to protect and preserve our world for future generations.

Steve Pastor, president of petroleum operations of BHP

OIL price uncertainty and volatility is one of the biggest challenges facing our industry. Oil markets have always been exposed to boom and bust cycles, but the frequency and magnitude of price cycles may be more acute in the future. Oil markets have tightened,

spare capacity has declined, and geopolitical tensions are rising, all of which could cause oil prices to spike in the near term. On the other hand, despite tightening credit markets, capital remains relatively available and inexpensive, and unconventional participants in markets in the United States are quite agile. Adding to the uncertainty are these conflicting scenarios: If prices rise rapidly, low barriers to entry and the very high number of onshore players in the United States could cause cost inflation. Meantime, new production encouraged by a surge of capital and activity will likely cause oversupply and depress prices. Physical oil export constraints in the Permian Basin in Texas will likely restrain nearterm production growth rates, but growth in inventories of wells drilled and completed but not producing to their full capacity, and oil price hedging, could exacerbate a downturn once export capacity bottlenecks are removed. To address oil price uncertainty and volatility challenges, companies will need to set their priorities using thorough market analysis and scenario planning. At BHP, we’re building a pipeline of options that are robust across the range. We have a preference for investment and operational oversight at early stages of access and exploration, as this affords us maximum flexibility to adjust to changes including market conditions.

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FINEX HEAD TELLS LOCAL FIRMS, ENTERPRISES: BE FUTURE-READY, ADAPT TO CHANGES, INNOVATIONS

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By Rea Cu

HE Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) is encouraging companies in the country to be more “future-ready” by adapting to innovations and changes presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Finex President Ma. Victoria C. Españo pointed out that the organization aims to spread a higher level of awareness with the innovations presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution to enable local companies to adapt accordingly to the digital changes and sustain growth. “What we are trying to do right now is to create a higher level of awareness on what are the changes that we expect to see in the future. The drivers of change like technology, mobility, diversity, the sociopolitical changes, those things are going to shape a different future for us,” Españo told the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of the 50th Finex Conference 2018 on Friday at the Shangri-la The Fort in Taguig City. She explained that the gathering aims to help sectors on how to take that first step in terms of helping their businesses adapt to the changing landscape under the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “If we continue to talk about it, I think the ‘why’ would be established, why do we need to change? And the second part is the how...and hopefully trigger action from their side. We are not pushing but we are encouraging by widening that level of awareness,” Españo added. Finex, she said, has been also encouraging its member companies to talk about their experiences in the areas of blockchain and cybersecurity since the beginning of the year, with regulatory changes being presented by the government in these areas like the Data Privacy law, among others. Singapore’s Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Kok Li Peng, in her keynote address, shared the experiences of Singapore in adapting to innovations and being future-ready, citing as an example its investments in research and development (R&D).

“ To strengthen capabilities, the government made a significant investment to expand our R&D efforts, setting aside S$19 billion from 2016 to 2020 under our research, innovation, and enterprise (RIE) 2020. The RIE 2020 can be tapped in line with developing viable products,” Peng said. The RIE 2020, she said, was crafted to help micro, small, and medium enterprises, among others, in terms of starting up their businesses or growing their companies. But she also pointed out that adapting to innovations also presents challenges to businesses, citing data protection and security, among others, among the sectors that have to be further strengthened in any economy in line with adapting to innovations. “There is a danger in data protection, issues on cyber services, and critical infrastructure... Singapore is in the midst of a major fundamental change in how we live, work, and play but this is necessary as we move further...I am confident that we can make it... We are engaging our friends and neighbors to join us in this journey,” Peng said. The Singaporean envoy, however, added: “I am a bit conflicted on whether we can achieve future-proofing…its difficult to predict...I think the term future ready is attainable. The future is not certain but it is possible for us to get ready for the future.” Asked whether the country’s infrastructure is ready to take on the challenge of making it easier for businesses to adapt to innovations, Españo said that the country is not yet ready since what is being done right now is playing catch-up to changes. “It’s nice to see that government is now doing something, but definitely it should be a continuing effort to provide those infrastructure. Maybe it’s not happening as fast enough as we need it but its nice to see that we are now moving,” she said. The Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program aims to modernize the country’s infrastructure and help usher in what they call the “Golden Age of infrastructure,” with the program composed of 75 flagship infrastructure projects.

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NCUMBENT Sen. Nancy Binay on Friday formalized her bid to run for a Senate re-election in the 2019 mid-term polls, overshadowed by the reported rivalry between her siblings—incumbent Mayor Abigail “Abby” Binay and former mayor Jejomar “Junjun” Binay Jr. – for the Makati City mayoralty. Sen. Nancy was accompanied by brother Junjun when she filed her COC as a candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) at the Commission on Elections main office in Intramuros, Manila on Friday. Binay said she intends to go back to the Senate so she could push for new legislation for a new tourism master plan, especially for poor local government units (LGU). “They (LGUs) lack funding so I think they may need intervention from the national government to provide this kind of assistance,” Binay said. Already in her sixth year in the Senate, Binay said she is more confident of winning in next year’s polls. To further boost her chances in the 2019 senatorial race, she said UNA is considering forming coalitions with other political parties like the Nationalists People’s Coalition (NPC). In an interview with media, Nancy was asked by the media regarding the ongoing dispute between her siblings. Nancy said they hope the “difficult” issue in their family will finally be resolved once their father, former Vice President Jejomar C. Binay Sr., returns to the country from Italy today (Saturday). But in case the issue persists despite the intervention of their parents, Nancy said they will just let the people decide who to elect as the new mayor of Makati City in the 2019 polls. The issue stemmed from the decision of Junjun to compete against his elder sister, Abby, after the latter reportedly lost the confidence of majority of the councilors in Makati City. Junjun served as mayor of Makati

City from 2010 to 2015, before he was dismissed by the Ombudsman for alleged anomalies in the construction of the Makati City Hall parking building. There has been no final judgment, however, on the graft cases against him. He was replaced by lawyer Abby Binay as Makati Mayor in 2016. In an interview, Junjun said he is ready to run against his sister to maintain the “Binay-brand of governance.” “She said many times that she is a different Binay [when it comes to governance]. [But] she will not go down to meet with the people,” Junjun said. Abby, on the other hand, is contesting the eligibility of her brother as a candidate due to his pending case. Junjun Binay’s legal counsel, election lawyer and former Comelec chairman Sixto Brilllantes, said the case is not a hindrance to his client’s candidacy. Brillantes said the case is not final and executory. “Nothing is final [in the case]. No ground for any disqualification [against Junjun Binay],” Brillantes said.

From prison director to senator

I AM too young to retire. These were the words of resigned Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and resigned Bureau of Correction (BuCor) direct general Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, when he filed his COC for a senatorial seat on Friday. Dela Rosa, who retired last April at the age of 56, said he still wants to serve the public as a senator to push for laws on law enforcement; safety and security; peace and order; and criminal corrections. Among his priority legislation, he said, is to bring back death penalty for heinous crimes like murder and death as well as drug trafficking. “If we will have death penalty, it will be a big deterrent for drug traffickers,” Dela Rosa said. He also said he decided to run to become a lawmaker upon the encouragement of President Duterte. “He said he will support me by his endorsement alone. But no financial support because the President doesn’t have

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Envoy to UN Locsin named next PHL foreign secretary

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HE Philippines’ envoy to the United Nations will head the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs as part of a revamp of President Rodrigo Duterte’s cabinet ahead of the Philippines’ 2019 midterm elections. Within hours of the official announcement of the appointment of Ambassador Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr., the chairman of the bicameral body that confirms Executive appointments and the former secretary of foreign affairs endorsed the choice, along with two key senators. Duterte said on Friday that he offered the post to Locsin Jr. and the envoy said on his personal Twitter account that he had accepted. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano will quit his post to run as representative in 2019. The deadline for candidacy in the elections is Oct. 17. A handful of cabinet officials are set to compete, with half the Senate posts, 297 House of Representatives seats and thousands of local government positions up for grabs. Senate President Vicente Sotto III, chairman of the Commission on Appointments, said of the appointment of Locsin: “One of the best appointments ever. Excellent choice. The PH cannot be bullied with him as DFA chief.” Sotto added, “TeddyBoy Locsin, although a fighter, I know, will always square his actions and

Nancy Binay files COC while siblings feud By Samuel P. Medenilla & Recto L. Mercene

Saturday, October 13, 2018

sufficient money,” Dela Rosa said. Even without financial backing of the President, he said the endorsement is already enough to encourage many people to vote for him. Dela Rosa decided to file his COC at 11 a.m. on Thursday based from the recommendation of feng shui expert so he will have good fortune with his candidacy. “That was the recommendation of the feng shui expert so that sun’s energy would be directly under me,” Dela Rosa said.

Off to Muntinlupa for BI officer

BUREAU of Immigration (BI) Office in Charge Deputy Commissioner Marc Red Mariñas announced that he will be resigning from his post to run as Mayor of Muntinlupa in next year’s midterm elections. Mariñas, concurrent head of the Bureau’s Port Operations Division (POD), said he will file his candidacy on Monday to formalize his entry into politics after nearly two decades of serving the BI. Under the law, government officials and employees are deemed automatically resigned from office the moment they file their candidacy for an elective office. “Since my teenaged days, it has always been my dream and passion to someday serve the people of Muntinlupa as their mayor and give them a lasting legacy of genuine public service,” the outgoing BI official said in a news statement. The 43-year-old Mariñas said he hopes his youth and idealism will energize and strengthen work ethic among employees of Muntinlupa’s City Hall so they will be inspired to render good service to their constituents. A career employee of the BI for 18 years, Mariñas served as a frontline immigration officer at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for 14 years before he was designated as the Alien Control Officer of San Fernando, La Union in 2014. He got his break in July 2016 when he was handpicked by then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Agurire to head the POD, deemed as the most important and sensitive office in the BI, and oversee the operations of the bureau in the various international ports nationwide. Samuel Medenilla and Recto Mercene

zcircumscribe his passions within due bounds!” The Senate chief said “he will definitely be confirmed by the CA.” A product of both Ateneo and La Salle, the Harvard-trained lawyer’s family published the premartial law Philippines Free Press, and himself later became publisher (Daily Globe and TODAY), and then lawmaker as three-term Makati congressman. Right after the 1986 Edsa revolt, he also served in the Cabinet of Cory Aquino as presidential speech writer and one time legal counsel. For his part, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario described Locsin as someone “known to be highly intelligent, articulate and independent-minded.” In a statement sent to BusinessMirror, del Rosario said: “There is no doubt that—with his multidisciplined skills to be combined with personal conviction towards advancing our national interest at all times - Amb. Locsin will be able to more effectively move forward our nation’s defined foreign policy pillars encompassing the promotion of our national security,

enhancement of our economic diplomacy and the promotion of the welfare of our Filipinos overseas. “I join others who would welcome Ambassador Locsin’s appointment as our Foreign Secretary.” For his part, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said: “Teddyboy Locsin is an excellent choice to replace Alan Peter Cayetano as Secretary of Foreign Affairs.” He added: “Ambassador Locsin has a good track record in public service, including his current stint as Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations—one of the country’s most prestigious and demanding diplomatic postings.” Gatchalian said, “Anyone with a Twitter account knows that Ambassador Locsin does not mince words. He speaks his mind passionately and tells it like it is, even if it is something that many people might not want to hear. His character is well-suited for the messy arena of international relations, where diplomatic double-talk often gets in the way of achieving real progress among the international community of nations. I am hoping that Ambassador Locsin will be able to cut through the diplomatic doubletalk in order to foster deeper, more meaningful ties with our allies and further advance Philippine interests across the globe.” Sen. Loren Legarda, who chairs the Senate foreign relations panel, congratulated Locsin. “He is fit for the job, honed by his long years of experience in public service, both as a journalist and public official. A lawyer by profession [who] worked with various Philippine presidents,

Locsin has vast knowledge of international and local issues surrounding the country and how the dynamics of world politics affect our nation. His stint as Philippine permanent representative to the UN seems to have foreshadowed his appointment as the country’s top diplomat.” As chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Legarda promised to work with him in advancing the Philippines’ diplomatic relations with other nations and upholding the four pillars of Philippine foreign policy.” The appointment of Locsin as top diplomat comes around two years since a pivot by Duterte to China, straining ties with the US. Locsin, however, has been known to speak with a certain level of independence. In his latest column in BusinessMirror (“Free Fire,” October 3, 2018) , he shared the remarks he made, as “personal intervention” at a recent forum in Yale University, where he likened engagement with a big country (apparently referencing China and Russia) as like “dancing in the dark with a bear.” One does not run away from a bear that can easily overtake him, nor fight it, as it will maul him to death. Instead, Locsin quoted a Central Asian ambassador (the so-called “-tan countries” have been “menaced” by Russia and China, Locsin noted) as pitching this mode: “What you do is run toward the bear and hug it tight. Of course, it can crush you against its chest. But not if you hug it really tight and dance with it.” Butch Fernandez, Bloomberg News

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PHL to showcase products, services in CIIE By Rudolph Jay Velasco

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Trade and Industry Development Specialist Market Innovation Division, DTI-EMB

LL roads lead to Shanghai, China, as the start of the first-ever China International Import Expo (CIIE) draws near. The CIIE is an international trade exposition that will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China, from November 5 to 10. It is the only trade show in China to date that features foreign exhibitors, with no Chinese companies on the exhibit floor. China is expected to import goods and services worth more than $10 trillion in the following years. This makes the CIIE a historic trade event for enterprises worldwide to enter

the burgeoning Chinese market. The Philippine delegation to the maiden edition of the CIIE will be led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and will feature 36 exhibitors representing sectors in food and agriculture, and consumer goods in the Enterprise and Business Zone. The 36 Philippine exhibitors will showcase an array of products and services the Philippines has to offer, such as fresh fruits and vegetables (mangoes, bananas), coconut

products (coconut sugar, coconut water, virgin coconut oil), sauces and condiments, snack foods, muscovado sugar, indigenous herbal infusions, noodles, alcoholic beverages, civet coffee, artisanal chocolates and personal-care products, among others. These companies have met the deadline and criteria set by the CIIE organizers. Aside from exhibition at the Enterprise and Business Zone, the Philippines will have a country pavilion that will highlight the country’s long-standing history and connection with China alongside 80 other countries. The tourism and education sectors will also be featured in the country pavilion. The DTI is organizing additional activities such as store visits and on-site business-to-business (B2B) matching for Philippine participants throughout the run of the exposition. The DTI’s partner agencies include the Departments of Agriculture, of Tourism, of Science and Technology and the Commission

on Higher Education. The DTI has also forged partnerships with the private sector through the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., the Cebu Chamber of Commerce (CCCI), the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alibaba and the Bank of China in Manila. So far, over 130 countries with 2,800 enterprises including 200 Fortune 500 companies have confirmed their participation in the CIIE. China was the top trading partner of the Philippines in 2017, with trade valued at $25.48 billion. However, the trade deficit with China registered at $9.4 billion. The CIIE is an avenue to increase Philippine exports and reverse this trade imbalance. Other Philippine companies interested in exporting to China can look forward to participating in 2019 as China plans to make the CIIE a continuing annual event.

BOI partners with IFC on investments policy, promotion

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HE Philippine Board of Investments (BOI), the country’s primary industry development and lead investment promotion agency (IPA), and the International Finance Corp.-World Bank (IFC-WB) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the further development of Investment Policy, Industrial Promotion and Local Supplier Linkages in the Philippines. The agreement was recently signed by Trade Undersecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo and IFC Country Manager for the Philippines Jane Yuan Xu during the BOI’s 51st Anniversary Program in Makati City on September 21, 2018. In support of the Philippine government’s implementation of the Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S), the MOU calls for the IFC to provide technical assistance and advisory support to the DTI-BOI through a foreign direct investments (FDI)-centric industrial promotion by repositioning the Philippines as a competitive location for next-generation investments in the Asean region. With further investment policy reforms and institutional framework, it will allow the country to be ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (otherwise known as Industry 4.0) with next-generation strategies dubbed as “Businessmen Environment 4.0” and “Investment Promotion Strategy 4.0.” “Industry 4.0 is potentially disruptive and poses a challenging task on how to sustain not only the level of FDI inflows but also the growth of manufacturing and services in the economy. We have to be ready on how to offset these challenges and disruption with new strategies and interventions tailor-made for industries so that they will able to maintain their growth and competitiveness,” Trade Assistant Secretary for Industry Development Rafaelita Aldaba said. Meanwhile, Yuan Xu said, “IFC is pleased to be supporting the BOI in achieving a resurgence of Philippine

THE Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) and the International Finance Corp. (IFC) of the World Bank Group signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in further developing investment policy, industrial promotion and local supplier linkages in the Philippines. The IFC will provide technical assistance and advisory to the BOI in support of the Philippine government’s implementation of the Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S). The agreement was signed by Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo (second from left) and IFC Country Manager for the Philippines Jane Yuan Xu (second from right) during the BOI’s 51st anniversary program in Makati City recently. On hand to witness the signing were Trade Assistant Secretary Rafaelita Aldaba (left) and Farida Lasida Adji, IFC senior private sector specialist.

industry and positioning the country as a competitive location for nextgeneration investment in Asean. We hope to work closely with the BOI in improving policies that will promote investments and increase the Philippines’s domestic value-added through strengthened local supplier linkages, as well as strengthening and upgrading investment promotion agencies’ work force.” “Since the i3S is designed to improve competition and innovation in the Philippine industry, the country will be able to capitalize on the opportunities due to rapid globalization and the dizzying development of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence,” Rodolfo said as he expressed confidence that increasing backward linkages among industries will deepen the supply chains and accelerate its further integration in the value chains not only regionally, but globally. The “FDI centricity” of the MOU will help cascade the i3S forward by sharpening the focus on developing innovative and globally competitive industries strongly linked to domestic and global value chains (GVCs).

Hence, the project complements the i3S, which aims to link and integrate manufacturing, agriculture and services to address supply-chain gaps, deepen participation in GVCs and develop globally competitive and innovative industries. To increase FDI among targeted sectors, the project intends to fully develop and implement a highly proactive investment promotion campaign repositioning the advantages of the electronics, automotive (including electric vehicles) and aerospace sectors and a branding campaign positioning the Philippines as a competitive investment location. The project will focus on shifting the emphasis from attracting the right investors for homegrown products toward developing the right products and premium investor servicing that will attract and secure the necessary investments in the future. The project will also channel its resources with programs toward skills and competency upgrading among employees of the IPAs so that they will be better equipped to handle the disruptive changes.

The MOU also calls for the local supplier development interventions to come in pilot initiatives covering electronics, automotive (including electric vehicles), aerospace and related sectors. The BOI serves as the primary policy-setting agency on investment and industry policy of the government of the Philippines. It is also tasked to prepare the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) which will provide the policy and strategic anchor for the interventions outlined in the project. To implement the project, the BOI and IFC will also work with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to pilot the local supplier development program and partner with relevant industry associations such as the Semi-conductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc.m Electronic Industries Association of the Philippines Inc., Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers in the Philippines, Electric Vehicles Association of the Philippines and the Aerospace Industry Association of the Philippines to execute specific activities.

24 food exporters represent PHL at world’s largest food innovation exhibition in Paris, France

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N a bid to highlight the country’s food innovations, top local brands and commodities will represent the Philippines in a high-impact exhibit at the Salon International de I’Alimentation (SIAL) at the Paris Nord Villepinte in Paris, France, from October 21 to 25, 2018. The Department of Trade and Industry, through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (DTI-Citem), will bring 24 Philippine companies in SIAL Paris to expand the market presence of Philippine food exports in the European Union, particularly on products that enjoy zero-tariff

privileges under EU’s Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+). The Philippines will return to France this year with a bigger delegation to showcase the country’s most in-demand food exports in Europe like banana chips, tuna and desiccated coconut,” said DTI-Citem Executive Director Pauline Suaco-Juan. SIAL Paris is regarded as among the biggest and most prominent food trade shows in the world. It is considered as a crossroad of world agri-business supply and demand, and a springboard for food companies in the global market. In 2016 the biennial food trade event

housed 7,020 exhibitors from 109 countries and welcomed 155,766 visitors from 194 countries. Its visitor profile includes importers, wholesalers, distributors, hotel owners and representatives, restaurant and bakery owners and online retailers across the world. Top 10 of its visiting countries include France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, China, Germany, Turkey and the United States. “Nine of the Philippine companies joining the delegation are participating in SIAL Paris for the first time, so European and other international

buyers can expect new exciting brands and products in the FoodPhilippines Pavilion,” Suaco-Juan said. “Most of these new companies are from Calabarzon as recommended by the DTI Region 4A and the Association of Laguna Food Processors [Alafop],” she added. The nine companies that are firsttimers in SIAL Paris 2018 include Century Pacific Agricultural Ventures Inc. with their coconut products; LTH Food Industries with their Jersey's oats, condensed milk, milk and cacao powder; and Snapsnax Ventures with their export-quality banana chips.

Potential of PHL food products for export to Russia anticipated By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

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OOD products from the Philippines—particularly fruits, coconuts, cacao, nuts, vegetables and fish—have a big export potential in Russia, the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Moscow (PTICMoscow) said. The team said some Russian importers, buyers and distributors showed interest in many locally produced goods during the World Food Moscow held recently in Expocenter participated in by 1,516 exhibitors and 44 country pavilions. Based on their discussions from the cold meetings they conducted with 26 Russian company-participants of the event, the improving trade relations between the two countries also opens an opportunity for the Philippines as an import source of Russia. “The best for us is to do frozen or individually quick frozen products because of the worries about transportation issues,” said Kristine Umali, commercial counselor of PTIC-Moscow. She cited, for instance, more interests in fruits such as bananas, pineapples and mangoes, as well as vegetables like cauliflower. There is mild interest, though, in exotic fruits like passion fruit, she noted. “Frozen fruits can be processed and sold as an ingredient,” Umali said. “Because of the healthier trends, fruits are often added as ingredients in snacks.” Meanwhile, coconut sugar, organic cacao and nuts have the potential for use in healthy snacks, Umali said. She added that organic products such as mango flour could be sold as either input or finished product. With regard to seafood and fish, there is a likelihood for Russia to outsource frozen tuna and tilapia from the Philippines. “But it has to be in fillet form because the demand of the Russian market is mainly for boneless fish,” Umali said. Seeing the local products’ promising future of penetrating the Russian market, the country’s trade and investment office there recommends World Food Moscow as among the top

choice shows abroad the Philippines should participate in for the promotion of local food products. Such global event focuses on 11 sectors: Confectionary, grocery, canned foods, oils, dairy products, meat and poultry, drinks, fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables, tea and coffee and organic products. The country’s participation in this international food exhibit organized by ITE, a British exhibition organizer, could be done either by setting up a pavilion or have Filipino exporters exhibit their products. This will be made possible with the support of either the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB), the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem) or DTI regional offices. “Based on observation and the experience of the PTIC Moscow team, World Food Moscow would be a good venue to have B2B [businessto-business] meetings for potential sourcing of Russian companies of food products from the Philippines whether as finished products, under private labeling or under the Philippine brand or as raw ingredients/ inputs to food that will be further processed,” Umali said. She emphasized that local company-participants must be prepared with the price lists of goods, costs of logistics and length of time to ship to Russia via Saint Petersburg, their choice of port, as well as ready with an offer to Russian buyers and importers. While most of the companies are interested in what Philippine exhibitors can offer, she said Russian companies still lack knowledge and information on local food products and goods, as well as about the Philippines in general. “Post further recommends that promo materials of the Philippine companies should be in Russian as only a few Russians speak English,” she further suggested. For continued dialogue, PTICMoscow plans to continue to engage with the Russian companies they met during the expo for follow-throughs and will also link them with EMB and Filipino exporters who would be interested to do business with and supply Russian buyers.

Top design, lifestyle brands take center stage at Manila FAME on Oct. 19-21

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ANILA FAME, the country’s premier trade platform for exports and design, will gather the country’s best micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from October 19 to 21 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. The biannual trade show—now on its 68th edition—will continue to stand as a blank canvas for the country’s skillful artisans, providing a platform that nurtures creative freedom among entrepreneurs. It will also showcase the distinct design imprint of the Philippines to the global audiences. For its October 2018 edition, Manila FAME will anchor on the shades of off-white and ivory, the palest pinks and skin-toned hues. These soft colors are basic, discreet, timeless and classic, the perfect base that leaves plenty of freedom to add more. “To emphasize the teeming ingenuity of local designers and entrepreneurs, Manila FAME serves as a springboard where they can explore their imagination. This will help us take Filipino craftsmanship to the next level,” said Paulina Suaco-Juan, newly appointed executive director of Center for International Trade Expositions and Mission (Citem), the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry and organizer of Manila FAME. As it aims to strengthen the country’s position as a viable source of high-quality and design-forward home décor and houseware products, Manila FAME will put together exporters, designers and retail brands

from all over the country to highlight Filipino artistry in the global marketplace. It will also gather the best products from homegrown MSMEs in the home, furniture, lighting, holiday and gifts, fashion, visual arts and “food as gifts” sectors. The upcoming edition of Manila FAME will also feature the third edition of “Design Commune.” This special setting was conceptualized to establish a steady designer-manufacturer relationship, where designers understand the skills of manufacturers, and manufacturers recognize the significance of product design and development. It will also conceive an output of well-designed products, creating an extensive showcase that meets the buyers’ expectation of a sourcing destination. The products to be developed will be segmented toward various markets including Europe, the US and Japan. Also, the main special setting will be designed by award-winning artist Tes Pasola who previously worked as a co-curator in the Product Design Consultancy Program during the April 2018 Edition of Manila FAME. A staple of Manila FAME, the Artisan Village, is a venue for masterfully made handcrafted pieces designed by Filipino MSMEs to be introduced in the international market. As part of Citem’s commitment to promote the participation of local communities in Manila FAME, handicrafts from the provinces of Antique, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, and Marawi will be displayed there.

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

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Saturday, October 13, 2018

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EQUITY FOR WOMEN AS a teenager, the two-time defending overall World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin has never experienced this level of nervousness before a race. AP

Dodging nerves, Shiffrin vows to enjoy ride

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N particularly stressful occasions, Mikaela Shiffrin can feel the anxiety build moments before her run. Her throat tightens, and her eyes water. Her suit feels way too tight, and her stomach churns. As a teenager, the two-time defending overall World Cup champion never experienced this level of nervousness before a race. Lately, that pressure has sometimes engulfed her. It first struck two years ago at an event and she thought it was just the flu. The feeling has overtaken her during several more races, including the Olympic slalom at the Pyeongchang Games in February when she finished fourth. This season, she’s trying something new after talking to a friend who doubles as a sports psychologist: Tune out expectations, enjoy the ride. “If I’m thinking about whatever everybody is expecting, it ruins it and that’s silly,” the three-time Olympic medalist said in a phone interview ahead of the World Cup season-opening giant slalom race on October 27 in Soelden, Austria. “I’m taking a minute to appreciate where I actually am in the sport.” The 23-year-old from Avon, Colorado, is coming off a season in which she won 12 races on her way to a second straight overall title. She earned two medals in South Korea, including gold in the giant slalom and silver during the combined. Recently, she got to meet tennis standout Roger Federer. Now that was nerve-wracking. “I was sweaty and my hands were clammy,” she laughed. “He’s so cool.” For the upcoming season, she’s taking on another role—leader. In years past, she hasn’t spent all that much time with the downhill team since she also had to fit in slalom and giant slalom training. But she recently attended a speed camp with the US squad in Chile, joining the likes of Laurenne Ross, Alice Merryweather and for a brief time Lindsey Vonn, who begins this season five wins away from breaking Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most by a World Cup ski racer. The group shared tips and tactics, something Shiffrin has been reluctant to do in the past because she didn’t view herself as a speed racer. That changed with a downhill win in Lake Louise, Alberta, last December. No more basic course reports relayed up the mountain to teammates. “I would call up and be like, ‘Everything is great. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. Have a good time,’” Shiffrin said. “I didn’t want to say anything that could possibly be misinterpreted. Now I feel more comfortable with my speed knowledge and experience.” Mention the Olympics and she audibly exhales. At the Pyeongchang Games, Shiffrin was the favorite to win not one, but multiple medals. Especially in the slalom, which she captured at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She embraced the pressure. Then, the weather played havoc with the Olympic schedule and led to changes. Nerves crept in. Shiffrin started things off strong by taking gold in the giant slalom. The next day was the slalom, her signature event. The anxiety struck and she threw up before her first run. In the second pass, she was too cautious and finished a spot off the podium in a race won by Frida Hansdotter of Sweden. Shiffrin had nothing left in the tank, not even emotions. “I felt indifferent,” Shiffrin said. “That’s when I know I’m tired. That I need to get some rest. But rest was the one thing I knew I couldn’t get during the Olympics.” She pulled out of the super-G and downhill events to conserve energy for the combined, where she earned a silver medal. AP

THE US team celebrates its 5-2 victory over Japan in the Fifa Women’s World Cup in July 2015. AP

By Anne M. Peterson

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The Associated Press

IFA is rolling out a global strategy to grow the women’s game in advance of next year’s World Cup in France. Soccer’s governing body has been ramping up its attention to the women’s side of the sport for the past several years, partly in response to calls for more equity. The result is a five-pronged proposal that starts at the ground level among Fifa’s 211 member-associations, Fifa Chief Women’s Football Officer Sarai Bareman said. “I think we’re trying to change the perception, that women’s football is not this kind of poor little sister waiting for the handout from the big brother of men’s football. We want to bring it into the mainstream,” Bareman told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “And it may be controversial to say this, but ultimately we’re trying to do ourselves out of a job here. And it may not happen in my tenure. But there shouldn’t be a need to

have a Women’s Football Division inside Fifa. Because everybody in Fifa, and across football’s governing bodies, should be looking at football as just football.” The framework of the strategy launched on Tuesday was approved by the Fifa Council last year and is linked with the Fifa 2.0 vision statement unveiled by Gianni Infantino in 2016 after he replaced Sepp Blatter as Fifa’s president. Soccer’s governing body wants to see women’s participation double over 12 years to 60 million worldwide by 2026. A key component will be insuring all associations have comprehensive women’s plans in place by 2022. The strategy also seeks to use the Women’s World Cup to drive growth. Fifa last month pledged to “significantly increase” prize money. The US earned $2 million of a $15-million pool for the 2015 tournament in Canada; France earned $38 million of a $400-million pool for its men’s title in Russia this summer. Prize money for the 2019 women’s tournament is expected to be announced this month.

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DEMONSTRATORS protest against the decision to project the barrier draw results for Racing NSW’s multimillion-dollar race, The Everest, onto the sails of the Opera House in Sydney on Tuesday. AP

SOARING FALCONS TRY TO GET BACK ON TRACK

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EAGUE-LEADER Adamson University tries to close out the first round with a bang when it battles De La Salle University on Saturday in Season 81 University Athletic Association (UAAP) men’s basketball action at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. The match is set at 4 p.m. with the vengeful Soaring Falcons (5-1 won-lost) eyeing a quick rebound from their 85-88 loss to the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws last week to keep the top spot heading into the second round. University of the East (1-5) and National

Fifa has been criticized for not yet committing to using video replay to assist referees at next year’s women’s tournament. Video Assistant Referees were used in the men’s World Cup for the first time in Russia. Bareman said a decision has not been made. Some have also complained the women’s final on July 7 is the same day as the Copa America final in Rio de Janeiro and the Concacaf Gold Cup final in Chicago, which could take attention away from the women’s game. Fifa has set a goal of having a woman on the executive committee of every member-association by 2026. Fifa also seeks to have women fill the seats of onethird of its committee members—up from the current requirement of one per panel. Former US national team forward Abby Wambach, an outspoken advocate of equity, praised Fifa for its effort but wants more details. “Whenever we’re talking about these big sweeping changes, for Fifa it’s a huge deal, but I also want to see it actually happen. I want to see not only the growth of the game, but I also want to see money get into the hands of

the women who are actually growing it,” Wambach said. The release of the strategy comes two years after Infantino appointed a woman, Fatma Samoura, as the organization’s secretary-general, and announced the creation of a new women’s football division. Bareman was appointed to oversee it. Samoura, however, did not have a very public role at the men’s tournament in Russia. While Infantino advocates growing the women’s game, there are persistent questions about how Fifa funding reaches women’s programs. In an August exhibition between Puerto Rico and Argentina, Puerto Rican players stopping after kickoff, gathered together and pointed to their ears, protesting a lack of funding for the women’s team. It’s not clear how much funding Puerto Rico received from the Fifa Forward program or what it went to. The women’s team did not play in one international exhibition match last year, when the team should have been preparing for World Cup qualifying. Some say they have not been paid for qualifying matches earlier this year. Puerto Rico’s players were inspired by the efforts of other women’s teams—including the US, Australia and Ireland—to secure more equitable compensation and treatment. “At this point for us, those federations and those players are at a different level than we are. We’re right now just asking for the basics,” Puerto Rico midfielder Nicole Rodriguez said. “Like fields to practice on that aren’t water logged, and that we’re not the second-choice clubs to have priority. We want friendly games so we can continue to improve our Fifa ranking and be adequately prepared. And camps, like four camps a year. We don’t have any of that. So yes it would be really awesome to get paid, but right now our focus is being able to continue our development and have the respect we deserve.” Fifa is communicating with its member-associations about how women’s soccer represents an area for growth. “One of the key things to the success of this strategy will be making sure that that message gets out. And we’re seeing it—I’m seeing it a lot,” Bareman said. “I see it from the increased level of investment that’s going in from the member-associations. We see it from more and more women’s leagues that are popping up around the world. We see it from the number of teams that are starting to participate now in the qualifying pathways for our competitions. “But there’s still a massive piece of work that needs to be done there. Making sure the decisionmakers, especially the ones who are responsible for the funding and the resources, understand how much an opportunity exists in the women’s game is a big, big part of our strategy.” Bareman said Fifa will start holding workshops with member-associations next year. “Some countries are already well advanced in this respect,” she said. “And to be honest, they’re not our target. We’re trying to reach those ones that need a lot more help and support from us in order to push the women’s game forward.”

University (5-1) shoot for much-needed victories in the first game at 2 p.m. Flawless in its first five games, the San Marcelino-based squad was sent crashing back to earth by a rampaging FEU crew in an overtime thriller last Saturday for its maiden loss in the tournament. That stunning defeat dragged the Soaring Falcons from achieving a first-round sweep. But instead of getting discouraged, Head Coach Franz Pumaren remained confident that the loss would only

lift the Soaring Falcons to greater heights entering the second round. “It’s just a learning experience for us. That’s the type of game that will make us a better team down the road,” he said. And the Soaring Falcons remained on top of the standings for a golden chance of extending their gap over FEU (5-2) and Ateneo (5-2). Pumaren will bank on his prized sniper Jerrick Ahanmisi, whose 21 points went down the drain in a

close call to the Tamaraws. Tipped to support Ahanmisi are Sean Manganti, who had 20 points, and Papi Sarr, who tallied a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds in the loss. But Adamson University’s bounce-back bid would be easier said than done, especially with the Final Four hopeful Green Archers standing in their way. Also coming off a 55-71 defeat to rival Ateneo, the Taft-based team (3-3) are expected to come out with an added fire to solidify their hold of fourth spot, as University of Santo Tomas (3-4) and University of the Philippines (3-4) are just lurking behind at fifth and sixth place, respectively. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

YDNEY—Thousands of angry demonstrators gathered outside the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday night to protest the use of its iconic roof to promote a horse race. Racing authorities projected 20 minutes of images of the draw for the starting positions for Saturday’s The Everest horse race at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse. Protesters yelled “Shame” and used lights to attempt to obscure the projected images. The New South Wales state government triggered a public backlash last week when it overturned a decision by the Opera House’s chief executive, Louise Herron, not to allow the World Heritage-listed building to be used to promote such a commercial event. Since last Friday, more than 250,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Herron’s decision to be upheld. Anti-gambling advocates say the controversy is evidence of the political sway of the horse racing industry. Racing NSW, the race organizer, had planned to project the draw live on to the Opera House. But they opted to conduct the draw hours earlier in case the protest disrupted the Opera House promotion. Betting was suspended between the time of the draw and when the result was projected. Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres called on Sydney to end the bitter division over the Opera House’s use. “I think it’s been a little bit hysterical to be honest with you,” Ayres told reporters. “This is a good opportunity for New South Wales and Sydney to come together.” The NSW Heritage Council, an adviser to the government on heritage issues, said it was disappointed with the government’s decision to turn the “international architectural masterpiece” into a billboard. “The use of the Opera House for the commercial advertising of this event is completely unsatisfactory and is an inappropriate use of this significant heritage place,” council chairman Stephen Davies wrote in a letter to state Premier Gladys Berejiklian delivered on Tuesday. The Everest has A$13 million ($9 million) in prize money and is billed as the world’s richest turf race. AP

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U.C.I. TO CREATE ESPORTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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BusinessMi

Saturday, October 13, 2018 | Editor: Jun Lomibao

HE International Cycling Union (UCI) has confirmed it will create an eSports World Championships and draw up rules for virtual cycling races for digital platforms such as Zwift. Virtual bike racing and training has become hugely popular in recent years due to improved technology helping time-strapped cyclists ride at home and avoid inclement weather or busy city roads. Esport bike races have already been held and broadcast online, drawing a virtual audience of fans. The CVR World Cup series for both men and women was held this year. The final race was in Vancouver, with donations creating a prize pot of over $50,000. The UCI attended the eSports Forum organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the summer and is determined to be ready for when, or if, eSports are included in the Olympic Games or other events. It is not clear when an eventual UCI eSports World Championships would be held, and the format of racing, but the UCI is keen to be involved. Zwift created a virtual copy of the 2018 Innsbruck World Road Race Championship course with Britain’s Dani Rowe using it to study and train for the world championships at home before traveling to Austria. “We’ve created the e-MTB world championships, with the first held in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, in 2019 but eSports is something else. We’re very interested in virtual sports, as well as traditional outdoor racing,” UCI President David Lappartient explained to Cyclingnews.

“We’re looking at the future of every aspect of cycling and so we’re keen to help virtual cycling develop. We want to ensure that happens properly by creating some clear guidelines and rules, including anti-doping rules. “Cycling as an eSport that is different to many other sports because it’s not virtual, you have to push on the pedals, so it’s a real physical effort. We could one day see Peter Sagan competing in eSport races. I think that would be great for cycling.” Sagan, meanwhile, confirmed he has agreed a new two-year contract with the BoraHansgrohe team. Sagan’s existing contract ends after the 2019 season, but under the new deal he will now race with the German-registered World Tour team until the end of 2021. “I’m very happy,” Sagan said in the new Bora headquarters not far from Kufstein, where Sunday’s road race will start. “I have to say to thanks to the sponsors because you gave me your trust. I feel good in this team. I’m happy here. We have a good team and good group, so why not. “We can build something new every year. There’s no need to step back to teach people what I

need and what I like. We have a good system here.” Bora-Hansgrohe Team Manager Ralph Denk has moved early to secure Sagan as team leader to avoid any transfer speculation and the risk of losing Sagan to a rival team. Both cooking extractor brand Bora and shower and tap producer Hansgrohe have already confirmed they will sponsor Denk’s team at least until 2021. Denk also confirmed that Juraj Sagan, Erik Baska, Daniel Oss, Maciej Bodnar and Marcus Burghardt will stay with the team until 2021. “I’m really happy we can announce this early after two years of successfully working together,” Denk said. “I think we achieved a lot already with the world title in Bergen, stage wins in the Tour de France and the biggest one-day victory at Paris-Roubaix. I’m proud of doing that with Peter. “Peter is not only a Classics rider and he can perhaps ride the Giro d’Italia in the years ahead. He started racing in Italy and so he could go back there. He won some big Classics and he could soon target others such as LiègeBastogne-Liège or even Lombardia. We’re looking forward to next three years and so thanks for your trust Peter.” Sagan hinted he could ride the Giro d’Italia as soon as 2019 but pushed back on setting goals beyond finishing Sunday’s road race. He has already raced for the last time in the rainbow jersey, and he is realistic about racing in Bora-Hansgrohe colors at least for one year. “I’ve maybe had it long enough. I did three nice years in the rainbow jersey and did a lot of good things. It’d be nice that someone else can hold it for a year, so that I can recover,” he joked. Cyclingnews

‘I CAN NEW world champion Alejandro Valverde says he will continue until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

AUSTRALIAN Amanda Spratt recounts her silver-medal ride at World Championships.

Spratt: This year it has all come together

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USTRALIA’S Amanda Spratt has admitted that new elite women’s road race world champion Anna van der Breggen was “on another level” at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. Writing on the L’Etape Australia web site, Spratt recounted her ride to the silver medal in the event over the weekend in great detail, and it’s clear that taking the runner’s-up spot means almost as much to her as if she’d won. “So much work by so many people has gone into this silver medal and it really feels like this year is the year it’s finally all come together,” she wrote. Spratt spent the last 40 kilometers of the 156.2-km race alone, “in time trial mode,” in pursuit of van der Breggen, with Italy’s Tatiana Guderzo

PETER SAGAN will not revert to Bora-Hansgrohe team colors and will instead wear the Slovakian champion’s jersey.

LANDIS CYCLING TEAM Floyd Landis sprints to the finish line after racing a 2.3-mile time

trial section during the Tour of the Catskills in Tannersville, New York, in July 2010. Landis is using money he earned by taking down Lance Armstrong to start his own cycling team. The man whose own doping saga cost him the 2006 Tour de France title and eventually helped expose Armstrong’s cheating, says he’s building a developmental team for 2019 that will be based out of Canada. AP

breathing down her neck in the bronze-medal position. She finished the race 3:42 behind the winner, with Guderzo coming home 1:44 behind her. “In the final hard training days before the Worlds, I was producing power I could only have dreamed of a year ago, so I knew I had prepared in the best way possible. My coach, Gene Bates, reminded me of this, and it gave me the confidence I needed to know just how far I could push myself,” said Spratt. “My Aussie teammates did an amazing job. Watch the coverage and you’ll see for yourself just how well they protected me and guided me through the first 100 km, so that I was ready to take my opportunity in the finale.” Van der Breggen’s devastating attack with 40 km to go initially saw Spratt attempt to follow the Dutchwoman. “As she accelerates past on a steeper part of the climb I quickly get on her wheel and know I have to suffer like crazy until the top,” Spratt recounted, replaying the day’s action. “With several steep ramps up to the top, I just count them down one by one. As I finish my turn at the front, I swing over and immediately I see her accelerate. “I try to follow, but I can’t get there. As I pass the feed-zone at the top, the gap is growing and the instructions from my national coach, Brad McGee, are clear: get into TT mode.” Having safely finished in second place, the feelings of relief were, Spratt said, overwhelming. “The emotion poured out of me. I cried in the team meeting after the race, too, as I thanked each of my teammates and my team for the support they gave me for this goal. “My parents, my partner, my coach, my friends.... So many of the most important people in my life were there in Innsbruck, too. Every day I feel lucky to have so many amazing people in my corner.” Cyclingnews

QUICK-STEP Floors pedals its way to the team time trial victory.

Team time trial mixed relay could make Olympics

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CI President David Lappartient is aiming to introduce the newly announced team time trial mixed relay race to the Olympic Games in the future. Lappartient did not set a date for this goal, but with the sports and disciplines already set for Tokyo 2020, the earliest it could happen is Paris 2024. Lappartient added that a test event for the relay could take place at the European Championships at the end of next summer, but no such event has been planned, and the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire could be the first live running of the format. “It’s not impossible that the World Championships will be the test event for the Olympic Games. In the future, though. Why not?” Lappartient said in Innsbruck on the final weekend of the 2018 Worlds. “This is a race where you don’t need more athletes to enter, and I know that the IOC [International Olympic Committee] is looking for more gender equality so that could be an option in the future for the UCI if it is a good success, to promote this race to enter the Olympic Games in the future, because we have no team race except on the track at the moment and this is also something that the IOC is looking for. “We will work on this. It is not impossible that the UEC will go in this direction and I think the European Cycling association will discuss it. So, maybe at the European level—the European Championships are supposed to take place in August—they could have the option of having a test event before the World

Championships. We will work on this but I’m not sure that we will be able to have a test event before this.”

TOO LATE TO CHANGE

THE team time trial relay will replace the trade team time trial, which was first held at the World Championships in Valkenburg in 2012. This year saw the last edition of the trade team event, which was won by Quick-Step Floors and Canyon-SRAM in the men’s and women’s competitions, respectively. Following the event, several riders voiced their disappointment that the trade team event would disappear. Lappartient hit back at the comments, saying that the teams organization—the AIGCP—had pushed for the ending of the trade team event and it was now too late to make changes. “I received a letter from the AIGCP before to say that they wanted to stop with this race, so that’s the reality. I don’t know if they had complete consultation among their members but it’s not my job to see when I have a letter form the AIGCP if they have full support,” he said. “When I receive a letter from the AIGCP, I believe it is with the full support of them. Of course, it was a long discussion last year when I was the president of the PCC. One part of the financial agreement was that they were sure this race would stop. It was a request from them so to complain now, I say to the AIGCP that it’s too late. You sent me this letter that you wanted to stop with the race, no problem. We

Despite Alejandro Valverde’s advanced years, the wins keep on coming. He may have lost out at LiègeBastogne-Liège, one of his big targets of the season, but he has nevertheless racked up 14 victories this year, including the Abu Dhabi Tour, the Volta a Catalunya and two stages in the Vuelta a España.

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EW road race world champion Alejandro Valverde says that he’s achieved everything he wants to achieve in cycling, and that any further achievements will be “a gift.” The Spaniard flew to Madrid to visit the headquarters of Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica, the parent company of his Movistar trade team sponsor, the day after having won the rainbow jersey in the elite men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria—and was greeted by Spanish media and around a hundred fans at the airport. “I can retire happy now,” Valverde told Spanish newspaper Marca. “But I’ll keep going until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.” Valverde, accompanied by Spanish national team selector Javier Mínguez, arrived at Madrid airport at before being driven to the Telefónica HQ in Las Tablas in north Madrid. The 38-year-old—who will have turned 40 by the time the Tokyo Olympics come around—then presented Telefónica CEO José María ÁlvarezPallete with a signed rainbow jersey over lunch, while another signed jersey was presented to the company’s sports museum. Valverde received a standing ovation from Telefónica employees, which reportedly lasted for over two minutes, before being whisked away to a reception at the Spanish Sports Council that afternoon, where he was congratulated by Spain’s Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, José Guirao. have some other solutions and I think the solution we have is wonderful for the sport.” Lappartient did say, however, that the decision to cancel the event had only come due to the pressure for the men’s teams. When questioned if it would have a detrimental effect on the women’s calendar, which has seen several new team time trial events added, Lappartient admitted that it could but said he believed the new event would create more opportunities for women’s cycling. “That could be a problem because the request was not coming from the women’s teams but more from the men’s teams but we can’t have one solution for men and another for women,” he said. “This was a solution for both. I consider that the reforms for women’s professional cycling will really bring some new opportunities. It’s true that today the team time trial was one of the real opportunities for the women’s teams to show themselves and have better TV coverage than in other races. I truly believe that with the reforms that we announced a few days ago it will really bring some new opportunities for the teams to have this.” Lappartient did not dismiss the potential return of the trade team time trial, should the teams want it, but said that it would likely return as a standalone event. “There could be a specific World Championships for the trade teams, this is something that we are open to discussing but not in the program of the UCI World Championships,” he said. “The program is eight days and we can’t have another race in this program. We are happy to discuss it with the teams but it would be a specific race and not a race during the World Championships.” Cyclingnews

irror CYCLING

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Saturday, October 13, 2018

N RETIRE HAPPY NOW’

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GERAINT THOMAS’S Tour de France trophy is stolen at cycling show.

THOMAS TROPHY STOLEN P

Valverde’s Worlds win was anything but a surprise, says coach. At 38, Valverde is the second oldest winner in history of the World Championships elite men’s road race. The Spaniard had looked to be on the back foot in the final week of the Vuelta a España and until Sunday in Innsbruck he held the all-time record for podium finishes in the Worlds without actually netting gold. But Mikel Zabala, the Movistar coach overseeing Valverde’s training throughout the season, believes that the victory in Innsbruck, which saw the veteran finally break through a glass ceiling that has been resisting him for 15 years, was definitely on the cards before Sunday. “He’s had an exceptional season this year and the Vuelta a España this year was very good for him, too,” Zabala told Cyclingnews. “It was an exceptionally fast Vuelta in the high mountains, this year, as hotly disputed as the Tour de France. Even so, he was up there still fighting for the win, with two days to go, and taking on riders ranging from Peter Sagan in the uphill sprints to Simon Yates on the climbs. So it was anything but a surprise for me.” Despite Valverde’s advanced years, the wins keep on coming. He may have lost out at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, one of his big targets of the season, but he has nevertheless racked up 14 victories this year, including the Abu Dhabi Tour, the Volta a Catalunya, and two stages in the Vuelta a España. According to

procyclingstats.com, Valverde’s total of 122 wins is now just two short of the all-time Spanish record of 124, held by 1970s allrounder Txomin Perurena. Zabala agreed with Cyclingnews that Sunday’s route bore marked similarities with La Flèche Wallonne, where Valverde holds the all-time record total of five victories, as well as with the Ardennes Classics in general. Valverde has been a reference point in such races since his first Ardennes Weekend double back in 2006, which came prior to his 2010 suspension for his implication in the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation. Valverde returned to competition at the start of the 2012 season. Like Flèche Wallonne, the 2018 Worlds course’s final ascent was short and brutally steep, preceded by a series of longer, draggy climbs, in some ways reminiscent of the côtes of Liege-Bastogne-Liege—ascents which, on Sunday, hollowed out the weaker riders from the pack, but which still saw around 50 riders at the foot of the Innsbruck “wall.” At the summit, when Valverde was left with just two riders, neither as fast as him in a small group sprint, the race was certainly tipping in his favor. It was also notable that, much like at in Flèche and Liège, Valverde was barely visible throughout the entire race prior to the decisive kilometers of the Worlds on the lower slopes of the Höll Climb. When the climb came, however, he was suddenly exactly where

he needed to be. “It was a route which suited Alejandro, more than when there are World Championships which have much more open kind of courses, which aren’t so good for him,” Zabala, a professor of sports science in Granada University, told Cyclingnews. “But I saw he was on a good day, and then on the steep part of the climb, he was well-positioned, even dropping back a little and moving in close to the right side of the road, where it was less badly tarmacked, to look for a bit more of a space. Then he came back up again quickly to find his place on that side, so you could see he was in control of events, handling it all.” At the top, rather than try to go on the attack and risk a counter-move organizing behind, Valverde preferred to stay with his two rivals, Michael Woods (Canada) and Romain Bardet (France). “Three riders probably worked together because they knew that they were all guaranteed a medal at the least,” said Zaballa, “and that’s always a help. So he played his best card strategically, and it worked out best.”

SPECIAL IMPACT

ZABALA, who has been working specifically with Valverde for the past four years—he has been with Movistar for the last six seasons— believes that the bad crash of the 2017 Tour de France provided the rider with an extra boost to his motivation in the twilight years of his career.

‘MY PERSONAL TOUR DE FRANCE’ J

AN ULLRICH has opened up about his struggles with substance abuse, publicly apologizing for his recent behavior and vowing to do everything he can to “fight for the second chance in life.” In an open letter published in German national newspaper, Bild, Ullrich reveals that he has just returned home from a week at a rehabilitation facility in Miami, describing it as “the first stages of my personal Tour de France.” He will now continue his recovery in Germanspeaking countries for the next six weeks before returning to the US for further treatment. “I learned a lot during the detox phase in Miami,” Ullrich wrote. “I was surrounded by people with a similar fate and by very good therapists and doctors. I am now aware that I am ill for reasons that I do not want to address today. “I have built the foundation for my new life with detoxification. I will be the old, new Jan, who will do everything and will fight to defeat his demons and to rediscover the light with new energy and zest for life.” Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, has had a troubled past few months in which he has struggled with substance abuse and found himself in trouble with the authorities. He was arrested in Mallorca and detained for 24 hours for trespassing, and then again in Germany after allegedly assaulting a prostitute. He has been photographed smoking three cigarettes at a time and is reported to have fired his air rifle at his television whenever an “enemy” appeared on screen.

JAN ULLRICH pens open letter about his substance abuse and road to recovery.

In August he was briefly admitted to a psychiatric hospital, but he now appears to be taking serious steps toward recovery. “I apologize sincerely to the people I have not treated with due respect in the recent past because of my illness,” Ullrich wrote. “Against people who want to accuse me wrongly of actions that I have never committed, I will defend myself with all my strength. “I realized that, despite my situation, I

won a lot. Because I understood that I have friends who were there when I needed them. Those who have supported me and tried to help, please know that I will not forget a name! I have four wonderful children who truly love me, no matter if I am successful or not. That outweighs any money in the world. “I know that my former competitor Lance Armstrong offered his help, like others. I am very grateful for that. However, I had to find

A big cloud had an equally big silver lining. “It marked a crossroads for him. He could have retired or, as he did, he could have rediscovered something fundamental for him, that he can’t conceive a life without cycling,” Zabala said. Despite 15 years of hitting the crossbar, as it were, at the World Championships, Valverde refused to give up on his quest for a rainbow jersey. But was Valverde obsessed with the Worlds? “I wouldn’t say that,” said Zabala. “But if you remember the way he cried when he made his first-ever podium of the Tour in 2016, it was a bit like the way he cried yesterday in Innsbruck. So many years of pressure, of not getting what he wanted, and finally the pressure lifts.” Valverde’s win has been headline news in Spain, with many of the main dailies featuring the Spaniard crossing the finish line as their front-page photograph. Marca even went so far as to have a special double-spread photo of the Spaniard on both front and back pages. Zabala believes that the Worlds has had a special impact on the country. “Unfortunately, I think Spain is overly used to success in sport, not just cycling,” Zabala said. “But I think there’s been a wave of support for him here after he missed out in the Vuelta, an appreciation that he’s only human. It has helped people see what his finally taking the World Championships, and his wearing the rainbow jersey next year, really signifies.” Cyclingnews my own way. And this path began with the realization that I needed help.” Ullrich explained that the doctor in Miami recommended he return home to continue his therapy in his native language, and he also stated his intention to spend more time with his children before returning to the US toward the end of the year. He issued a plea to fellow sufferers to open up about their troubles and to seek support from the people around them. “Not everyone affected has the possibilities that I do. I want to encourage people to be vigilant—be it in your circle of friends or at work—because there are many destinies, where a single friend can make the difference for a victim,” he wrote. “I want to motivate fellow sufferers to deal openly with an illness. And I ask fellow human beings never to condemn judgmentally for symptoms, but to treat sufferers with understanding and compassion. We all only have this one life. Making mistakes is part of being human. What matters is whether the one who falls is ready to get up and fight for the second chance in life. I’ll try that. And I will not hide anymore. “Nevertheless, I ask you to grant me the necessary rest in the next few weeks and to respect my privacy. I will keep you up-todate.” Cyclingnews

ARIS—Team Sky says the Tour de France trophy won by Geraint Thomas has been stolen from a cycling show in Britain. The team says police are investigating after the trophy disappeared during an event in Birmingham, where Team Sky displayed the three Grand Tour trophies won by its riders. In addition to this year’s Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, a rider for Sky also claimed the 2017 Spanish Vuelta title. Sky says “regrettably, during the clear-up operation at the end of the event, Geraint Thomas’s Tour de France trophy was momentarily left unattended and stolen.” Thomas, who won his first Grand Tour title this year, asked the thieves to return the trophy. Thomas says “it is incredibly unfortunate that this has happened. It goes without saying that the trophy is of pretty limited value to whoever took it, but means a lot to me and to the team. Hopefully whoever took it will have the good grace to return it.” Team Sky had loaned Pinarello Chris Froome’s Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia

trophies, alongside Thomas’s Tour trophy. Pinarello, which have provided Team Sky with frames since the team’s inception, were displaying all three trophies at their stand during the event. Team Sky said in a press release: “Regrettably, during the clear-up operation at the end of the event, Geraint Thomas’s Tour de France trophy was momentarily left unattended and stolen. The matter is now subject to a police investigation.” Managing Director of Pinarello UK Richard Hemington, who was appointed to the role just a few weeks before the show, added: “We are obviously devastated about this. We accept full responsibility and have personally apologized to Geraint. Obviously, we hope the trophy can be recovered.” Known as the Coupe Omnisports, the ceramic cup is decorated in 24-carat gold powder and made by Manufacture de Sèvrres, who have been making porcelain since the 18th century on the banks of the river Seine, just outside of Paris. AP and Cyclingnews

RIVERA FALLS SHORT C

ORYN RIVERA expressed her frustration at how the elite women’s race panned out for Team USA at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships. Caught in no man’s land in a bronzemedal position, Rivera eventually fell apart on the final climb and struggled to make it to the finish line in 31st place. “Since there was no one around, I was in contention for a medal, and I tried so hard to just stay up there for the bronze,” Rivera told Cyclingnews. “I exploded on the last time up the climb, and I had nothing left at that point.” Rivera formed part of a strong American team that lined out with three strong climbers; Megan Guarnier, Katie Hall and Ruth Winder. The team also fielded Alexis Ryan, Leah Thomas and Tayler Wiles. It was a long race at 156.2 kilometers that started with an 84-km loop from Kufstein to Innsbruck and included a steep 5-km climb Gnadenwald. They dropped down to the Innsbruck circuits for three laps at 23.8 km, which also had a climb to Igls before descending to the finish line. Rivera made it over the first big climb to Gnadenwald

CAUGHT in no man’s land in a bronze-medal position, Coryn Rivera falls apart on the final climb and struggles to make it to the finish line in 31st place.

with a reduced front group and then attacked in an attempt to get up the road and be available to help her teammates once the race kicked off on the three circuits in Innsbruck. “Honestly, I was trying to set up our climbers to have a good race,” Rivera said. “We had Hall, Winder and Guarnier, and I was trying to get ahead of them, and then hoping they would catch up to me at some point and I could help pace them or do whatever they needed. If I want to help them, I can’t be waiting around for the climbers to attack.” Rivera spent most of the first circuit racing alone until a small group that included Amanda Spratt bridged up to her on the second time up the climb. Spratt was one of the race favorites and so being in the breakaway caused some nervousness from the powerful Dutch team. Anna van der Breggen jumped from the field and rode across to the breakaway, which had started to fall apart. Rivera found herself alone, again, as the race for the rainbow jersey between van der Breggen and Spratt rode away from her. With no radio communication to the team director or her teammates, she said she didn’t know what was happening in the field behind. “It was unfortunate that I was by myself right from the start,” Rivera said. “As soon as I had ‘friends’ with me, Anna van der Breggen came over, and I did everything I could to stay there. “It was hard without radios because I didn’t know where my teammates were or what the time gaps were, so it was a frustrating race, and it was hard to know what was going on.” Rivera said she had nothing to give once a chase group that included bronze medalist Tatiana Guderzo (Italy), Emilia Fahlin (Sweden), Malgorzata Jasinska (Poland) and Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada) caught and passed her on the last lap. She ended up finishing the race 31st place at more than eight minutes behind the new world champion van der Breggen. “It was about surviving and hoping my teammates would come from behind to try their hand at a medal,” Rivera said in a Sunweb team press release. “Unfortunately, I went from going for the bronze medal to giving everything I can to keep up. It was a hard course, in a beautiful place, and I did everything I could to contribute to team USA and get the team ahead of the race and keep us in medal contention.” Winder was the best placed American rider in 10th followed by Guarnier in 16th and Hall in 21st. Cyclingnews

OurTime

A8 Saturday, October 13, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Growing fruits and vegetables keeps ‘Lola’ Vita fit and healthy C

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Soccsksargen bags 5 DSWD ‘Bayani Ka! Awards’ in 2018 OTABATO CITY—An indigenous peoples’ (IPs) leader and four volunteer groups from Region 12 (Soccsksargen) have won recognition during the fourth National Bayani Ka! Awards organized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) held in Cebu City. Zorahayda Taha, DSWD 12 director, said on Monday that the region won five awards, one for individual category and four for group category during the October 2 to 4 event that gathered hundreds of social-worker volunteers across the country. Soccsksargen is composed of the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, and the cities of Cotabato, Kidapawan, Tacurong, Koronadal and General Santos. Pintakasi Datu Wasay, a member of the IPs’ community in the coastal town of Kalamansig in Sultan Kudarat province, was a recipient of the Bayani Ka! Awards for Promotion of Just Peace Category. Also awarded from Sultan Kudarat was the United Volunteers for Community Progress of Barangay Sampao, Isulan town, that clinched

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Story and photo by Suzanne June G. Perante | Special to the BusinesMirror

ER love for fruits and vegetables keeps my Lola Vita stay strong at age 90. She had eight siblings who were fond of eating meat who have all passed away. She likes to cultivate and plant vegetables she loves to eat. She claims that too much meat protein is not good for the body. Instead, fish and seafood mixed with vegetables comprises her balanced diet. “At my age, I noticed that eating meat products, especially processed ones, causes body aches,” she said. Her source of protein is mung beans or munggo. She claims it’s one of her favorites because of its versatility. “You can cook it with coconut milk, add muscuvado organic sugar to make a perfect snack or cook it with fish sauce either with malunggay leaves or ampalaya to come up with a delicious dish, ” she said. Besides, planting munggo keeps the soil fertile because of the rich nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its root system that creates humus, the organic component of soil that decomposes leaves. Lola Vita also said she plants ginger not only because of the spicy aroma it provides to varieties of delicacies, but she noticed it is an effective pain reliever. Likewise, she keeps growing native pandan that also provides a captivating aroma when she cooks rice.

Iloilo City elderly get own ambulance

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LOILO CITY—Senior citizens in this city have expressed appreciation over the move of the local government to provide them with an ambulance. Three ambulances were presented to city government employees following Monday’s regular flagraising ceremony. “As promised, one ambulance will be given specifically to our senior citizens. In case they have problems, they will be brought to hospitals using this ambulance,” Mayor Jose Espinosa said. The mayor said it is up to the senior citizens to determine how the ambulance would be used. “We will put personnel who have knowledge on geriatric care,” the mayor said. The two other vehicles would be for use of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. All three ambulances will be equipped with radio facilities for proper communication, he added. Elpidio Asuelo Jr., head of the Office of the Seniors Citizens Affairs (Osca), said that with the new ambulance, it would be easier for them to visit elderlies who are hospitalized, bed-ridden or incapable of moving around. “We are fortunate enough to be given a vehicle. We have been anticipating this because Mayor cares for us,” he said. The city government has also provided additional benefits to the elderly. This year, the city government has increased the local incentive it gives to centenarians to P50,000 from the previous P10,000. PNA

The fully laden bilimbi or kamias tree she planted at the backyard of our ancestral home in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, is a hand-reached source of fresh ingredients for her porridge or sinigang combined with lemon grass. She also claims that bilimbi fruits are perfect against sore throats and colds. Lola Vita grows spring onion, horse radish, bitter gourd, string beans or sitaw, eggplant, wing beans, bell pepper, siling labuyo, lima beans, okra and sweet potato ­—the so-called “bahay kubo” vegetables that are always available when she likes to cook the original Ilocano pinakbet dish. Lola Vita also plants salad vegetables, including the flowering pechay, romaine and iceberg lettuce, radish, carrots and cabbage, not only for their rich fiber contents but for the health benefits they provide. Aside from the Perante Oranges, the legacy named after my late grandfather Leonardo Perante who bred what is said to be the

World’s oldest barber is 107 and still cutting hair full time

AMONG the plants grown by Lola Vita Perante in her backyard in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, is the “thousand bananas” variety, which always merits a second look from curious passers-by.

first Philippine oranges, my Lola Vita still grows at our ancestral farm fruit trees like citron, lemon, pomelo, calamansi, chico, lanzones, longan, coconut, rambutan and the rare “thousand bananas” variety

grown organically. “I do not have to go to the public market to buy vegetables from other provinces when I can grow them myself, and serves as my daily exercise to keep me fit,” she said.

William Baker, who righted a US Army wrong from 1906, dies at 86

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N the late-1930s, in rural Georgia, a former slave told his grandson a story about a case of racial injustice that had occurred three decades earlier and gone all the way to the White House. The story began about midnight on August 13, 1906, when a flurry of gunfire erupted on a street in Brownsville, Texas, leaving a white bartender dead and a white police lieutenant wounded. Soon, the city’s mayor and other white citizens had accused about 20 unidentified black soldiers stationed nearby, at Fort Brown, of having shot up the town. “Dastardly Outrage by Negro Soldiers” read the headline in The Brownsville Herald the next day. The soldiers, members of the segregated 1st Battalion, 25th Infantry (Colored), as it was known, professed their innocence. Their white commander said he believed all the black soldiers were in their barracks at the time of the shooting, and their rifles did not appear to have been fired. But the white citizens said they had seen black soldiers on the street firing indiscriminately, and they produced spentshellsfromArmyriflestosupport theirversionofevents.Despiteevidence that the shells had been planted, investigators accepted that account. President Theodore Roosevelt, as commander in chief, promptly and summarily discharged all 167 members of the unit, asserting they had engaged in a “conspiracy of silence” by refusing to confess or incriminate fellow soldiers. A US Senate inquiry two years later upheld his action.

the Bayani Ka! Awards for Sustained Group Category. The Bayani Ka! Awards for Indigenous Peoples Welfare Category went to the Pinamulaan Tribal Association of Banisilan, North Cotabato. The Tinumigues Persons with Disability Association of Barangay Tinumigues, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat, won the Bayani Ka! Awards for Persons with Disability Category, while the Bayani Ka! Awards for Elderly Category went to Barangay Poblacion 1 Senior Citizen Association of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat. Taha said the awardees were recognized for their contribution in improving the lives of their sectors, as well as their help in propagating government development programs in their respective communities. The Cebu awards night was also attended by more than 600 volunteers of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services, or KalahiCIDSS of DSWD. Patterned after the CIDSS program, the Kalahi provides the primary framework for fighting poverty in the Philippines. PNA

The grandson who heard this account, William Baker, would grow up to become a lieutenant colonel in the Army, and by 1972 he had been assigned to the Pentagon to work in the newlymintedArmyEqualOpportunity Program, for which he helped develop a systemforblacksoldierstoexpresstheir concerns to the chain of command. While he was there, the Army, prompted by Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins, California’s first black member of Congress, agreed to reinvestigate the case. Hawkins had been inspired by John D. Weaver’s book The Brownsville Raid (1970), which argued that the discharged soldiers had been innocent. Indeed, skeptics had said all along that evidence against the soldiers might have been planted. Hearing about the reopened investigation, and remembering the story his grandfather had told him, Baker asked for and received permission to help. His joining the investigation proved critical. The Army was poised to reaffirm the original 1906 decision again when documents about the case crossed Baker’s desk. After reviewing the matter, he concurred with the original findings by the post commander that the troops had been in their barracks when the shooting spree took place. He successfully persuaded the Army to reverse Roosevelt’s 1906 ruling in 1972, and all 167 soldiers were belatedly granted honorable discharges. The Army said their punishment had been a “gross injustice.” A few historians disputed the Army’s new findings, and some Texans

criticized them as politically correct revisionism. But in January 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation compensating the survivors and widows. Baker died at 86 on September 24 in a hospice in Martinsburg, West Virginia. His wife of 58 years, Dr. Bettye Foster Baker, said the cause was complications of multiple myeloma and a cerebrovascular accident. He had homes in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Bettye Baker said rectifying an injustice from nearly three decades before he was born had been her husband’s proudest achievement. William Baker was born on November 26, 1931, in Amsterdam, a hamlet in southwestern Georgia just across the Florida border, to Julianne Lee and Roosevelt Baker. His mother died when Bill was 11 months old, and his father remarried. He was adopted by his grandparents Angeline and Ned Keaton. Ned Keaton, a farmer, had once been a slave in the Carolinas. Angeline Keaton worked as a maid for local white families. Enrolling in a college preparatory program at the Attapulgus Vocational High School in Georgia, William graduated in 1949 as valedictorian of his class. He won a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington, where he majored in German, economics and accounting and graduated cum laude. He was also honored as the top student in his Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. New York Times News Service

ANTHO­NY MANCI­NELLI trims the hair of a custo­mer at Fanta­stic Cuts, a hair salon in New Winds­ or, in upsta­te New York, on September 27. Manci­nelli­, 107, began cutti­ng hair when Warre­n Hardi­ng was presi­dent, and has been recognized by Guinn­ess World­Records as the oldest barber in the world. NYT PHOTO

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EW WINDSOR, New York— Anthony Mancinelli shook out a barber towel and welcomed the next customer to his chair in Fantastic Cuts, a cheery hair salon in a nondescript strip mall, about an hour’s drive north of New York City. “Hey, paisan—same as usual,” said John O’Rourke to Mancinelli, who began layering O’Rourke’s hair with his steady, snipping scissors. “I don’t let anyone else touch my hair,” said O’Rourke, 56, of Cornwall, New York. “The guy’s been cutting hair for a century.” Actually, O’Rourke was off by three years. Mancinelli is 107 and still working full time, cutting hair five days a week from noon to 8 p.m. He has been working in barbershops since he was 11. Warren Harding was in the White House. In 2007, at a mere 96 years old, he was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest working barber. Since then, the commendations have rolled in—from local civic groups, elected officials and barbering companies— all congratulating him: 100 years, 101, 102 and so on. Mancinelli just keeps outdating the awards. The salon’s speakers were playing hip-hop on a recent afternoon. “He’s used to the windup record players,” O’Rourke teased. Mancinelli has a trim build, a steady hand and a full head of hair, albeit snow white. He spends much of his day on his feet, in a pair of worn, cracked black leather shoes. “People come in and they flip out when they find out how old he is,”

said the shop’s owner, Jane Dinezza. “He never calls in sick,” she said. “I have young people with knee and back problems, but he just keeps going. He can do more haircuts than a 20-year-old kid. They’re sitting there looking at their phones, texting or whatever, and he’s working.” Asked—for the umpteenth time —about his longevity, Mancinelli offered only that he has always put in a satisfying day’s work and he has never smoked or drank heavily. But no, longevity does not run in his family, and he was never big on exercise. Diet-wise, he said, “I eat thin spaghetti, so I don’t get fat.” He has all his teeth and is on no daily medication. He has never needed glasses, and his hairstyling hands are still steady. “I only go to the doctor because people tell me to, but even he can’t understand it,” he said. “I tell him I have no aches, no pains, no nothing. Nothing hurts me.” One reason he continues to work, he said, is that it helps him stay busy and upbeat after the death of his wife of 70 years, Carmella, 14 years ago. He visits her grave daily before work. Mancinelli lives alone, not far from the salon in New Windsor. He drives to work, cooks his own meals, watches television—he is a big prowrestling fan—and is adamantly selfsufficient. He still trims the bushes in his front yard with no help. “He won’t even let anyone sweep up his hair clippings,” said his son, Bob Mancinelli, 81, who noted his father even gives haircuts to himself. New York Times News Service

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Saturday, October 13, 2018 A9

Filipino entries triumph in Next-Image Awards WORLD-RENOWNED photographer Alec Soth said, “When you start photography, my advice is to try every kind of photography that you can—sport, blackand-white, street photography, etc. and then listen to your voice and pursue what you need to pursue. One cool thing about the Huawei Next-Image Awards is that they allow experimentation, which ties in with this advice.” Huawei is known for leading the technology in smartphone photography. As a brand that makes everything possible, its vision is to always expand on visual expression. This resulted in the Next-Image Awards, a competition where people around the world can show how they express themselves and art through the power of photography. Leading up to the final round of the this year’s Next-Image Awards, Huawei held local competitions to further strengthen the brand’s vision and to allow its consumers an expert in photography. The increasing popularity of mobile photography was evident this 2018 because the total number of submissions doubled compared to 2017. The Philippines alone submitted a total of 10,431 entries, up from 3,378. The most popular categories that Filipinos used was Hello Life, Good Night, Faces, Check-in, Timeline and Storyboard. Several entries from the Philippines caught the attention of many and made it to the Top 50 runners-up of this year’s Next-Image Awards. A photo submitted by Bernard Pasatiempo Recirdo II is an example of how Huawei and Filipinos share a similarity—making things possible even if it seems impossible. Using a Huawei Nova 2i, Bernard was able to capture how eager the kids are in trying to read a book despite having only candlelight to support their reading. It was clearly shown that both kids won’t let the difficulty in their lives stop them from learning. Another entry is from Mark Daiz. Using a Huawei Mate 8, he was able to show the many sides of how people deal with depression. Depression is an issue that most people should talk about. In the photo, Mark was able to show how people with mental illness face their everyday lives. Other Filipino participants also made it to the Top 50 runners-up: ■ Rhon Velarde Category: Faces Entry Title: “Dark Side” ■ Mary Aileen Tiamzon Saldana Category: Hello Life Entry Title: “Ready, Set, Dive” ■ Jamir Lyndon Lumbao Category: Hello Life Entry Title: “Ready, Set, Dive” ■ Mario Bejagan Cardenas Category: Check-in Entry Title: “Banjarmasin” This 2018 Michael Wesolek from Poland was named as the Grand Winner and Best-In-Category Award winner for the Good Night category. The second annual Huawei Next-Image Awards was held together with the International Center of Photography (ICP), the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Michael won a grand prize of $20,000, a Huawei P20 smartphone, a Huawei Matebook X Pro laptop and will also enjoy the enviable opportunity of his photography being widely displayed in cities around the globe. From November 8 to 11, Huawei will display the winning works from the Next-Image Awards and the Editor’s Picks as part of a special photo exhibition at the annual Paris Photo, the first international art fair dedicated to the medium of photography. This will take place at the iconic Grand Palais, situated just off the Champs-Élysées.

BERNARD RECIRADO II’S photo titled Bedtime, captured from Huawei Nove 2I, won runner-up in the Goodnight category of the Huawei Next-Image Awards 2018.

UP engineering students Gabrielle Seva, Nicole Tan, Moira Cruz and Sellina Sy use mobile data and the Internet to research for school, communicate with friends and promote their organization’s advocacies.

SMART LTE posted speeds of almost 300 Mbps at the Sunken Garden in UP Diliman.

Women empowerment in science and engineering PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

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URING my time as a student at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, only the students who came from families who were well-off had typewriters. Those whose dads were executives had the privilege of having their papers typed by their fathers’ secretaries. Research was done at the library. Groupmates and classmates who had complete encyclopedia volumes at home were very much sought-after. We learned things the hard way. For example, my Psychology professor, who was based in Germany, appeared at the start of the semester. She just gave us three questions to answer. She didn’t hold any classes; we just had to answer those three very difficult questions. At the end of the semester, she appeared again to get our papers. So many people in our class failed because not everybody had resources to the information needed for the answers. If they did, they didn’t know how to find it. Well, things are done differently these days. It is the birthright of every student to have a smartphone with mobile data. When a student enters a restaurant, he or she immediately asks the waiter if Wi-Fi is available and what’s the password. Projects and other papers are submitted via e-mail, unlike the old

UK court blocks suit against Google on alleged iPhone breach LONDON—A British court has blocked a suit against Google on allegations that it had collected personal data on some 4 million iPhone users. Britain’s High Court was ruling on Monday on whether a mass legal action could proceed against the Internet giant for allegedly collecting sensitive information from some 4.4 million iPhone users. The legal challenge claimed Google had bypassed privacy settings on the iPhones between August 2011 and February 2012 to scoop up data for advertisers. The suit by campaign group Google You Owe Us hoped to win £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in compensation. A lawyer for the campaign group told Judge Mark Warby that the activity was exposed by a PhD researcher in 2012 and Google has already paid millions to settle claims in the US. AP

days when we had to go to our instructors’ homes at midnight to submit our requirements. There’s no need to go to libraries, too, as nearly everything can be found online. At the UP Diliman, an online course management system called the University Virtual Learning Environment, or UVLê, allows instructors to create online spaces for their classes to support and supplement classroom instruction. “Most of our classes involve online submission,” said Moira Cruz, a fourth-year Civil Engineering student. “It’s like having online classes.” This kind of reminds me of my Psychology class, except that here, the teacher doesn’t need to fly in from Germany. Professors post slides and online quizzes on UVLê, said Gabrielle Seva, who is in fifth year in Industrial Engineering. “It’s important to have a fast and reliable Internet connection, especially if you have to e-mail something right away.” Smart Communications has been upgrading its LTE sites in Metro Manila and other parts of the country to improve customers’ mobile data experience. “Smart LTE has a strong signal anywhere on campus. Connection is always at full bar...very reliable,” said Seva. Other students find it difficult to get a connection on the fourth floor of the College of Engineering building, but not Sellina Sy. The graduating Materials Engineering student said her Smart mobile data has never let her down whenever she needs to access the Internet—even when she’s at the Engineering Thinking Space, a study area on the fourth floor. Nicole Tan keeps her mobile data turned on. “I use it everywhere on campus. I use it to access resources and communicate with my friends,” said the fifth-year student who is majoring in Industrial

Engineering. “It is definitely easier for our generation to access information because we have it at the palm of our hands. It’s easy compared to when my parents were studying. They had to go to the library to get information. With mobile data, we can just access it through our phone,” added Tan. What these four Engineering students have been doing, together with other members of the UP Women in Engineering, are also part of an organization promoting the interest, competence and leadership of Filipino women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). “We noticed that in the Philippines, the STEM field is male-dominated,” said Seva. She adds that she has personal knowledge of cases of discrimination against women in certain courses. “UP Women in Engineering started last year. We believe that women and men should be given the equal chance to work in the STEM field. It is a matter of empowerment,” said Sy. “We started an empowerment series, a career talk for senior high school students to promote the science and engineering field,” said Cruz. The group is trying to correct the notion that STEM is a very tough field and that it is mainly for men. The group will soon go to all-girls schools like Miriam College and Poveda. Like most people who belong to the younger generation, the group members use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to announce events and projects. Also in the pipeline is the Female Friday project, wherein they would feature a Filipina in the STEM field on their Facebook page every Friday. The organization also recently launched its official brand, I AM, which has its own Facebook page where updates on an incoming product line will be posted. The merchandise that has empowering words and promotes feminism, ecology and body positivity. ■

A RIFT AT FACEBOOK AFTER EXEC ATTENDS KAVANAUGH HEARING NEW YORK—The appearance of a Facebook executive behind Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his contentious confirmation hearings created some rifts at the company. Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy, is a friend of Kavanaugh and worked with him during the George W. Bush administration. Kaplan was seated in a section reserved for Kavanaugh’s friends and family during the September 27 hearing, following the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault decades ago. Kaplan wrote Facebook staff in a memo following his appearance that he was aware that this was a “deeply painful” moment, according to several media outlets. Those reports say that some employees took his appearance as an endorsement of Kavanaugh.

According to the reports, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff at a regularly scheduled meeting that Kaplan didn’t break company rules. The issue was expected to come up again at a another meeting. In a statement, Facebook said its leadership “made mistakes handling [recent] events and we’re grateful for all the feedback from our employees.” The internal turmoil comes at a difficult time for Facebook. Less than two weeks ago, the cofounders of Instagram resigned abruptly amid disagreements with Zuckerberg. The company recently disclosed a massive hack it found affecting as many as 50 million users. And this week, child advocacy groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission saying its kid-focused messaging app violates federal rules against collecting data on kids under 13 without parental permission. AP

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NEW Google Pixel 3 smartphones are displayed in New York, on October 9. Google introduced two new smartphones in its relentless push to increase the usage of its digital services and promote its Android software that already powers most of the mobile devices in the world. AP

VIRTUAL REALITY LETS YOU TIME TRAVEL TO THE PAST IN 360 DEGREES

Google brings camera twists, big�er screens to Pixel phones BY ANICK JESDANUN & MICHAEL LIEDTKE The Associated Press

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EW YORK—Google’s new Pixel phones mirror an industry trend toward lusher, bigger screens and add twists on the camera for better pictures. The third generation of Pixel phones unveiled on Tuesday at an event in New York features screens that span from one edge to another. It’s the first time Google has embraced the format, which Samsung has had for a few years and Apple adopted last year. But Google is undercutting Apple on price. The Pixel 3 will be available on October 18 starting at $799—$200 below the least expensive iPhone XS. A larger version, the Pixel 3 XL, costs $100 more. Google is also hiring photographer Annie Leibovitz to take pictures with the new Pixel in an effort to persuade consumers that its camera is superior. The camera, for instance, promises better low-light and close-up shots by using artificialintelligence software to combine multiple shots taken in succession. It will also warn you if someone blinked or if the shot is otherwise poor. The camera automatically takes about three seconds of shots, at lower resolution and will recommend an alternative. The Pixel joins LG’s V40 in sporting a second front lens to fit more people into selfies. But it lacks a zoom lens on either side, something available on some

iPhones and Samsung phones. Instead, Google uses software to mimic that effect. Beyond the camera, Google is using artificial intelligence to help screen calls. Just tap on a button for Google’s voice assistant to ask the caller about the purpose of the call. You see a transcript of the response on the screen. You can choose to pick up or ignore the call. Callers are warned that they are talking to a robot and that a transcript would be made. Although the Pixels have barely made a dent in the market since their debut two years ago, Google uses them to highlight what it considers to be the best features of its Android operating system. A previously announced feature in which software will call businesses to make appointments and restaurant reservations for you will debut on the Pixel first, for instance—initially in New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, Arizona and the San Francisco Bay Area. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the Pixel 3 doesn’t break new ground on hardware, but “software is a different story. It’s mostly about convenience here.” As usual, the Pixel phones focus heavily on Google’s search engine, maps, digital assistant and YouTube video service. Google has sold an estimated 7 million Pixels over the past two years, almost imperceptible next to the 3.6 billion phones shipped during that time, according to IDC. Apple alone sold 388 million iPhones during the same period. Tuesday’s announcements come a day after Google

disclosed a flaw that could have exposed personal information of up to 500,000 users of its Plus social network. Google declined to address that further on Tuesday, though executives emphasized privacy and security throughout the event in New York. For instance, the camera’s features for better shots will take advantage of software on the device itself, so that nothing gets sent to Google’s servers—unless you enable a backup feature with Google Photos. The Pixel 3 will have a new chip, called Titan, to store keys to the most sensitive information, including those needed to unlock the phone and descramble stored data. Many other phones already have similar hardware for security. Google also rolled out Home Hub, which couples a small display screen with an Internet-connected speaker. That’s similar to Amazon’s Echo Show and a new Facebook device called Portal. In another apparent nod to privacy concerns, Google didn’t put a camera on its Home Hub like Amazon and Facebook did with their respective devices to enable video calls. Again, Google is attacking its rivals on price. The Home Hub will sell for $149 when it comes to stores on October 22. The new version Echo Show starts at $229, while the least expensive Facebook Portal sells for $199. There’s also an upcoming tablet featuring Google’s homegrown Chrome OS system. It will run Android apps, but offer functionality that’s closer to a desktop. The Pixel Slate starts at $599; a keyboard costs $199 more and a stylus another $99. ■

TECH start-up I AM Cardboard Philippines (IAC PH) recently launched another virtual-reality diorama in partnership with Ayala Museum, titled Emergence of the Filipino Nation, featuring iconic Philippine heroes Emilio Aguinaldo and Andres Bonifacio in a 10-minute, fully immersive 360 degrees virtual-reality experience. The live-action diorama leverages innovative technology, combining it with great storytelling and rigorous historical research to deliver a historical recreation of key moments in the lives of Aguinaldo and Bonifacio, which includes four major events that led to the country’s independence—the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the Tejeros Convention, the Trial of Andres Bonifacio at Maragondon and the Declaration of Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite. It was helmed by Cannes award-winning director Marco Biemann and was produced by IAC PH for the Ayala Museum. The diorama can be viewed using a pair of virtual-reality goggles provided by IAC PH. “Using VR as a tool to innovate the museum experience can entice the younger generation of Filipinos to learn more about our history. Telling a story using high-quality 360º video and virtual-reality technology revolutionizes the interaction between the museum visitor and the content. With this innovation, we are letting them view history from a firstperson perspective, making them feel that they’ve actually traveled to the past,” I AM Cardboard Philippines CEO Ibba Bernardo shared. “Emergence of the Filipino Nation” is the second VR content made by IAC for Ayala Museum, and comes after diorama series The Future of History, which dramatized Jose Rizal’s execution in Bagumbayan when it was launched in 2017. The Future of History recently clinched a Silver Boomerang for Visual and Audio Excellence under the Digital Craft category during the 2018 Boomerang Awards. Awarded by the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines since 2008, the Boomerang is given to advertisers and agencies who excel in digital marketing and content creation. “We are really honored to receive this Silver Boomerang. As we retold the history using virtual reality, we’re also able to make history with Ayala Museum using this innovative approach to make the museum experience more immersive and engaging,” said Bernardo. Making virtual reality-based learning accessible to as many people as possible is IAC PH’s goal in the Philippines. By partnering with the Ayala Museum, IAC PH has successfully revolutionized the Philippine museum experience and made it more delightful and interactive for Filipinos. The Diorama Virtual Reality Experience: Emergence of the Filipino Nation can be viewed at the Ayala Museum. Admission fees apply.

Kaseya offers new backup solution for local SMBs BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor MULTINATIONAL Kaseya has launched its integrated backup system to help various industries in the Philippines to improve on business and cost efficiency. Banks, financials, telcos, business-process outsourcing, media outfits, manufacturing, food, hotel, leisure and retail companies, as well as small and medium businesses stand to benefit from Kaseya Unified Backup (KUB) powered by Unitrends. This system brings together enterprise-class backup, ransomware detection and cloud-based business continuity disaster recovery (BCDR) services in an all-in-one appliance-based platform. Combining KUB and Kaseya Cloud Backup gives clients a whole set of support solutions depending on the organization’s needs. “Kaseya Unified Backup is a natural evolution of the Kaseya IT Complete platform,” said Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya. “By offering the industry’s only unified growth platform, we have a responsibility to our customers to continually find new and effective ways to help them grow their business,” he added. Built into Kaseya’s Virtual Systems Administrator (VSA), this offering brings together the world’s best backup, cloud-based storage and BCDR services and

ransomware protection in one system providing high-quality protection. The need for information-technology (IT) administrators to be physically present to manually address technology challenges within the organization is now a thing of the past. With KUB, it also reduces money to pay for service delivery. The need for a company to allocate more resources is substantially reduced since the VSA by Kaseya can now resolve issues remotely and securely.

The latter makes IT management easy as administrators can monitor, through its remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform, movements and application usage within the organization using the dashboard, which provides both accurate and comprehensive information. While IT people fix issues, employees can continue with their tasks. Hence, business costs lost in downtime is cut significantly as technical problems are remedied within minutes.

By simplifying the company’s backup stack and managing everything in a single place, through one appliance, one cloud and one dashboard directly integrated with VSA, KUB makes deployment and monitoring a breeze. MSPs and enterprises have complete visibility into their entire backup universe, so they can monitor and manage everything from a single source of truth, saving both time and resources. KUB also offers clients an easily comprehensible report on their organization’s performance automatically. They can receive reports to rest easy knowing that their business will be kept up and running. The simplicity and effectiveness of the system give firms that extra time to focus on their core competencies and run the business to grow. Managed services, backup solutions, disaster recovery are tasks that KUB can now handle. “As part of our open platform commitment, KUB is another addition to our product portfolio that allows organizations to choose best-in-class technologies that immediately impact their bottom line. It’s a privilege to help our customers succeed,” Voccola stressed. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Kaseya is an IT management solutions provider with a presence in over 20 countries. Its solutions are distributed in the Philippines by NM Network Manager Sales Inc.

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Bots of the Internet, reveal yourselves! BY JONAH ENGEL BROMWICH New York Times News Service

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OBERT M. HERTZBERG’S hatred of bots is personal. Hertzberg is a state senator from California and last year, after he introduced a bail reform bill, he noticed that automated accounts on Twitter and Facebook were attacking him and his position. He is currently seeking reelection and one of his opponents in the Democratic primary was a bail agent. “The bail agents against me had hundreds of bots working in order to create the false impression that there were people against me,” Hertzberg said in a recent interview. For example, he said, one account rapidly responded to tweets about the bill in real time with the message: “Unconstitutional bail reform doesn’t work and is racist.” So Hertzberg introduced another bill this year, the first of its kind in the United States, that would compel automated social-media accounts to identify themselves as bots—in other words, to disclose their nonpersonhood. Because bots are only effective if they seem convincingly human. Right? Last week, Twitter announced it would remove tens of millions of suspicious accounts to crack down on the bots that can be bought (through third parties) by users who want to inflate the number of their followers. The company also said last month that it has been “locking” almost 10 million suspicious accounts per week and removing others for violating anti-spam policies. Still, bots are easy to make and widely employed, and social media companies are under no legal obligation to get rid of them. A law that discourages their use could help, but experts aren’t sure how the one Hertzberg is trying to push through, in California, might work. For starters, would bots be forced to identify themselves in every Facebook post? In their Instagram bios? In their Twitter handles? The measure, SB-1001, a version of which has already left the Senate floor and is working its way through the state’s Assembly, also doesn’t mandate that tech companies enforce the regulation. And it’s unclear how a bill that is specific only to California would apply to a global internet. Oren Etzioni, chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, applauded the spirit of

the law but was not as sold on its letter. “This is groundbreaking legislation,” he said. “We are on a trajectory where reality, the very fabric of the information we see, can be altered in an unprecedented fashion. When that’s done, as the law says, with an intent to mislead, that’s a huge problem.” But “you don’t want to measure twice, regulate once,” he said. “You don’t want to put the wrong laws on the books and have unintended consequences.” Jeremy Gillula, a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has been critical of the bill since its inception, said the first version was “a little like trying to treat the flu using chemotherapy.” “Not only will it not fix the thing you’re trying to fix,” he said earlier this month, but “it’ll cause a lot of collateral damage at the same time.” The bill was drafted by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that provides consumer ratings about the age-appropriateness of movies and TV shows, in collaboration with the Center for Humane Technology, a group of former employees of big tech companies including Google and Facebook who have banded together to regulate their former employers. Neither Hertzberg nor Jim Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, was overly concerned with criticism when interviewed about the bill in June. The senator called skepticism “the drivel of people who want to stop progress.” He said that the analysis he had seen had been influenced by lobbyists and was flat out wrong. But after they were interviewed and the bill moved through the Assembly’s committees, the content of the proposed law changed substantially. The definition of bot grew more precise (from “online account” to “automated online account on an online platform”), and language that recommended an online platform for reporting bots was scrapped. Furthermore, the bill now asks only bots that are hoping to sell consumers good and services, or to influence votes in an election, to identify themselves as bots. But even with the changes, the bill summons significant constitutional questions, said Ryan Calo, a codirector of the Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington, and Madeline Lamo, a former fellow at the lab. Lamo said that language in the bill about bots “influencing a vote in an election” ran into a problem that has plagued campaign finance regulations and election-related speech laws: It can be difficult to

TECHNOLOGIES CAN HELP LIVES BUT BOOST INEQUALITY

distinguish speech about political issues from speech explicitly intended to influence voters. Furthermore, she noted, the bill was simply not crafted to address the problem it had in mind. Insofar as bots have had sway over political views, they have acted at scale, with thousands of automated accounts working to spread a diverse array of messages. It’s hard to imagine, she said, that requiring individual accounts to identify themselves in a single state would do much to sap the strength of bot armies. All parties agree that the bill illustrates the difficulty that lawmakers have in crafting legislation that effectively addresses the problems constituents confront online. As the pace of technological development has raced ahead of government, the laws that exist on the books—not to mention some lawmakers’ understandings of technology—have remained comparatively stagnant. And, as Twitter’s action last week demonstrates, technology companies have the power to change dynamics on their platforms directly and at the scale that those problems require. Turning a bill into a law can take a long time. And then the law runs the risk of being inexact. ■

LIMITED EDITIONS OF NEW SAMSUNG FLAGSHIP RELEASED A POWER couple deserves a...power phone? If you ask Samsung, the answer will be a resounding yes as it releases limited-edition offers of its new flagship Note9. Ongoing until October 14, avail yourself of the offers and enjoy big discounts on select brand’s wearables, along with exclusive benefits from partner merchants. A purchase of the Limited Edition Samsung Galaxy Note9 512GB in Ocean Blue comes with a 46mm silver Galaxy Watch freebie. Perfect for the driven gentleman who loves to maximize productivity, the 512GB variant allows users to carry, manage and work on multiple files on the go with ease. This limited-edition model also supports

Saturday, October 13, 2018 A11

expandable memory of up to 512GB, enabling users to carry up to 1TB of storage. Samsung is also offering a Limited Edition Galaxy Note9 128GB in Frosted Lavender. This chic variant fits the fashionable woman who lives a stylish and dynamic lifestyle. Each purchase of the Frosted Lavender Galaxy Note9 during the promo period will come with 50-percent discount on select Samsung wearables, including the 42mm rose gold Samsung Galaxy Watch. To further upgrade their style game, new owners of the Galaxy Note9 Frosted Lavender model will be eligible for discounts on Zalora via the Samsung Members App. More information can be found at www.samsung.com/ph.

UNITED NATIONS—New technologies from artificial intelligence to gene editing hold immense potential to improve people’s live—but can also drive greater inequality and social dislocation, according to a UN report launched on Monday. The World Economic and Social Survey 2018 focused on whether leading-edge technologies can be used to meet UN goals for 2030, including ending extreme poverty, preserving the environment and promoting economic growth. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “frontier technologies—from DNA sequencing to 3D printing, from renewable-energy technologies to biodegradable plastics, from machine learning to artificial intelligence— present immense potential for the 2030 agenda.” “Good health and longevity, prosperity for all and environmental sustainability are within our reach if we harness the full power of these innovations,” he said in the foreword to the report. “However, these same technologies also raise serious concerns.” Guterres urged governments to adopt policies that ensure that frontier technologies “are not only commercially viable but also equitable and ethical.” While richer developed countries grapple with the opportunities of new technologies that can help eradicate disease and automate manual and repetitive tasks, the report said “many developing countries are yet to fully reap the benefits of existing technologies.” “A great technological gap persists,” the UN experts said, pointing to more than 1 billion people in developing countries without access to electricity and another 2.5 billion who experience weak connections and frequent power outages. The 175-page report said millions of people also still depend on “human or animal muscle power” to cultivate land and for other kinds of production and lack access to modern education that is crucial to adopt many new frontier technologies. At the same time, the report said, it has been possible for developing countries to “leapfrog” to some new technologies, for example, skipping landline telephones and going directly to mobile phones, and bypassing electricity lines and going directly to solar energy. But “without a minimum level of education, it is not possible to utilize digital technologies to buy or sell goods online, for example, or offer car services or rent out an apartment, even if the requisite electricity and Internet connections are in place,” it said. The report by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs said advances in automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence are also transforming labor markets and causing many job losses in richer developed countries. While technological progress is fundamental to achieve the UN goals for 2030, the report said, “there is no guarantee that this progress will be aligned with the most pressing needs of humanity: eradicating poverty and hunger, reducing inequality, generating shared prosperity and building resilience against climate change.” As an example, it said robots driven by artificial intelligence can help raise output but can cause significant job loss and impact the goal of promoting greater social equality. In the case of social media, the report said, targeted advertisements are increasingly used to “manipulate human emotion and spread misinformation and even hatred.” While artificial intelligence-based decision-making systems can improve access to public services, “they also run the risk of reinforcing existing biases and forms of exclusion.” The UN experts urged greater transparency and accountability for decisions based on artificial intelligence. AP

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The future of history THE TECHNIVORE ED UY

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HEN Heneral Luna came out in 2015, I honestly didn’t expect much. Our historic excursions in cinema has had a “history” of being boring, low-budget and usually forgettable. Personally, I know more about the brush strokes of Juan than the battles of Antonio, and my only recall of the general was his thick mustache from the postcards we were required to bring for our Sibika at Kultura elementary class. The genius of the Heneral Luna movie was that it was able to mold the narrative into something that’s accessible even to the most clueless of viewers. Suddenly General Luna became everyone’s favorite hero—endearingly brash but virtuous, almost a combination of all our best historical figures. Gen. Antonio Luna’s biopic invoked a mixed emotion of admiration, inspiration, frustration and anger; but, most important, it was entertaining as a movie. Because of the success of Heneral Luna, everyone was hyped about Goyo—the second part of Jerrold Tarog’s planned historic trilogy. But the bigger budget, grander production values, and Paolo Avelino couldn’t top Luna’s fiery charm. And even if Goyo did get a lot of positive reviews and critics couldn’t stop talking about it, sadly I still couldn’t find any box-office numbers and I don’t think it would have the same lasting effect as Heneral Luna. I guess that’s the tricky part about history: you can’t change facts, you can only try to make the presentation more interesting—which brings me to the point of this piece, because the Ayala Museum has just launched its second historical virtual-reality diorama. Last year the Ayala Museum allowed visitors to witness the execution of Jose Rizal via a game-changing immersive virtual-reality experience. Now, the museum is giving the VR treatment to two more iconic historical figures: Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. Ayala Museum once again teamed up with I Am Cardboard Philippines (IAC PH) to recreate one of the pivotal points in Philippines history, this time using the 360 goggles to give visitors a more immersive experience as they witness the defining moments of Bonifacio and Aguinaldo’s stories. (See related story on A10) The 10-minute, fully immersive 360º VR experience, titled “Emergence of the Filipino Nation,” is a live-action diorama that leverages innovative technology, combining it with great storytelling and rigorous historical research to deliver a recreation of key historical moments, which includes four major events that led to the country’s independence. It was helmed by Cannes award-winning director Marco Biemann. The diorama can be viewed using a pair of VR goggles provided by IAC PH. Making virtual reality-based learning accessible to as many people as possible is IAC PH’s goal in the Philippines. By partnering with the Ayala Museum, IAC PH has successfully revolutionized the Philippine museum experience and made it more delightful and interactive for Filipinos. Is VR the future of history? Maybe. But it also needs more quality content that is both accurate and engaging.

BEYOND LIMITS WITH THE HONOR 8X

WHEN Honor first made its debut in the Philippines a few years back, I was among those who made the switch because of the Honor 6Plus. Back then, it was dubbed the “flagship killer” for bringing high-end specs and features to the midrange market. With the return of the brand to the Philippines earlier this year, it quickly disrupted the local market with the consecutive releases of the Honor 9 lite, the premium Honor 10 and, most recently, the Honor Play. Now, all eyes are on the brand once again as it is set to release the Honor 8X—a smartphone that boasts of a big screen with a nearly bezel-less display, a dual-rear camera setup powered by AI, and a Kirin 710 chipset all housed in an elegant glass and metal body. The Honor 8X adopts a refreshing design philosophy that represents a fusion of cutting-edge technology and aesthetics that make it easily stand out. The back of the Honor 8X is made of 15 layers of 2.5D double texture aurora glass with a gradient finish. However, unlike the usual gradient effect you see on other smartphones, the Honor 8X has two separate textures—a parallel gradation body design that reflects light in different ways. On the front is a 6.5-inch Full View Display (with a “hideable” notch) and a 2340 x 1080 resolution at 396 ppi. The

screen supports full high definition (FHD) resolution and is said to utilize a video-enhancement technology that provides clearer, more detailed views of videos and movies. The Honor 8X impresses with its 91-percent screen-to-body ratio and a chin that is only 4.25mm. This is achieved by the newgeneration FullView Display 2.0 that uses an advanced chipon-film (COF) technology and a patented antenna design. Since you’ll probably be spending most of the time looking at the bright screen of the Honor 8X, you’ll be glad to know that it’s the very first smartphone to have an eye comfort mode that is certified by the TüV Rheinland. Turn on eye comfort mode to reduce blue light radiation emitted by the screen to prevent eye fatigue. The Honor 8X is equipped with Huawei’s octa-core Kirin 710 chipset. The chipset is a Cortex-A73 generation-based system on a chip (SoC) that uses 12nm process technology. Compared to the previous generation, the CPU single-core performance has increased by 75 percent, and provides excellent performance to support high-definition video playback, 3D gaming and everyday use. To meet the needs of even the most demanding gamers, the Honor 8X is equipped with a Mali G51 GPU further enhanced by revolutionary GPU turbo. GPU Turbo is a graphics processing acceleration technology that optimizes the mobile gaming experience, increasing overall GPU performance by 130 percent compared to the previous generation. Level up your photography game with the Honor 8X’s AI-powered cameras that capture social media-ready photos even without post editing. The Honor 8X has a dual 20MP + 2MP, F/1.8 aperture rear camera setup with artificial intelligence (AI) allowing it to recognize 22 different categories and 500 scenarios in real time. The AI then automatically adjusts camera settings and enhances photo quality based on your subject in order to achieve the best results. For those who love to take selfies, the 16MP front camera of the Honor 8X has an enhanced-ISO, with 4 Cell fusion technology and multi-frame image processing to allow two times more light to be captured by the camera. But perhaps the most noteworthy camera feature of the Honor 8X is its new handheld night mode—a feature that used to be unique to the flagship Huawei P20 Pro. The new Night Mode feature of the Honor 8X again uses AI to eliminate the blurring of photos when taking night shots under a maximum six-second exposure. The Honor 8X’s multi-frame stabilization technology is based upon machine learning allowing you to take those amazing night shots even without a tripod. The Honor 8X comes with a 4GB RAM and 128GB ROM and supports an expandable microSD card up to 400GB, allowing you to store even more photos and videos. The Honor 8X is powered by a 3750mAh battery, which can last for more than one day on a single charge. It also adopts Intelligent Power Saving technology—increasing the battery life by 33 percent. For security, the Honor 8X features both Face Unlock and a fingerprint sensor. The face unlock function, enabled by AI, can adapt to some difficult light conditions and small facial changes to make unlocking easier and more secure. The Honor 8X is now available for preorders at a price of P12,990.

Bill-shock stories may be a thing of the past, but it’s always better to be safe than ludicrously charged. I’ve tried both FlytPack and Smart Travel WiFi, and those are good suggestions if you are traveling with family or friends. The only downside is if there’s a data hog among your group who keeps using it for video calls. It’s also different when I’m with a media junket, as they usually provide us with a local SIM that comes with free data. But if you are traveling alone for a business trip and you don’t want to bring an additional WiFi device, activating your roaming service may still the most convenient. And with Smart’s new roaming packages, it might even be the most economical, whether you are a prepaid or postpaid subscriber. At the ongoing Smart Travel Sale Fair happening this weekend at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, the carrier is introducing its groundbreaking pre-booking feature for data roaming packages—a first in the country. This unique feature will allow customers to conveniently buy their data roaming services ahead of their trip, so they won’t have to worry about staying connected online while traveling and exploring the world. When you roam with Smart, you have all the travel information you need at your fingertips. You can also hail a cab using an app, book flights and hotels on the go, track your trip or map out your destinations, translate foreign words in a snap, and, most important, share all your travel experiences with loved ones in real time on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat and via top messaging apps. To easily purchase and monitor their data roaming activities while traveling, a subscriber only need to access Smart’s Data Roaming Manager, a one-stop portal that features all available data roaming products as well as keeps track of data roaming usage while on the go. To access simply go to roam.smart.com.ph and select your preferred Data Roaming Package and click “Subscribe.” More information is available on the web site.

SMART TRAVEL PLANNING

MIRRORLESS REINVENTED WITH THE NIKON Z SERIES

IN my previous trips abroad, the first thing I do as soon as the plane lands is to check my roaming status and make sure that its turned off.

EVOLUTION never ends for high-pixel-count cameras, as Nikon Philippines officially launched its first mirrorless camera: the Nikon Z.

Built and designed to deliver a new standard of optical excellence, the Z 7 has true Nikon heritage and craftsmanship in its DNA. Equipped with a newly designed and innovative mount system, experience incredible images like never before. Enter a world of bold creative possibilities and optical performance. Featuring 45.7 effective megapixels in a more compact body, the Z 7, Nikon’s FX-format mirrorless camera fully exploits the unprecedented optical performance offered by the new NIKKOR Z lenses and delivers overwhelming edgeto-edge detail in both stills and videos. In addition, its wide, 493-point hybrid AF system with superb focusing accuracy and the new EXPEED 6 image-processing engine contribute to achieving sharper images than ever. The 3690k-dot Quad-VGA electronic viewfinder provides a clear view and an amazingly comfortable shooting experience, thanks to Nikon’s advanced optics and imaging expertise. And with 10-bit N-Log, as well as 4K UHD and 8K time-lapse (requires third-party software) movie, it meets the needs of demanding video creators. Condensing all of this power into a compact yet robust body, the Z 7 promises to take you to a new world of truly amazing images. Experience phenomenal image quality with color and sharpness that will bring your artistic vision to life. The Z 7 includes a larger mount that exceeds all competitors in the full-frame category1, a full-frame Nikon FX-format CMOS sensor, and the latest image-processing engine that generates unparalleled image quality. A crisp and clear electronic viewfinder (EVF) delivers a new level of precision, and cinema-ready 4K UHD allows you to film your own cinematic masterpieces. The launch was held at the ballroom of Ascott Bonifacio Global City with representatives of Nikon Singapore including Raoul Bruma, senior manager; Shintaro Nishimura, international sales manager; and Rachel Goh, Sales and marketing executive. The event also formally introduced the Nikon Mirrorless Trailblazers—professional wedding photographer Jaja Samaniego and landscape photographer, conservationist and traveler Gab Mejia as the face of the Nikon Z mirrorless camera in the Philippines. ■