BusinessMirror October 20, 2018

BusinessMirror AFTER BORACAY,

2018 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

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Saturday, October 20, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 9

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DENR draws up initial list of ecotourism areas ripe for ‘rehabilitation’

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

FTER the world-famous Boracay, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is targeting the rehabilitation of other ecotourism sites in the country that, like the island resort in the Municipality of Malay, Aklan Province, are also facing environmental concerns.

Environment Undersecretary for Solid Waste and Local Government Concerns Benny Antiporda said that after Boracay, the DENR may opt to take on Baguio, Puerto Galera, El Nido, Siargao, Subic, or Bohol. “These are some of the areas that are being considered to be rehabilitated,” Antiporda, also deputy spokesman of Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview. However, unlike in the case of Boracay, temporary closure to tourism activities may no longer be needed in these areas, consider-

ing that the DENR regional offices with jurisdiction over them have already started to crack the whip after President Duterte’s decision to declare the entire island of Boracay under a state of calamity. “There are already actions on the part of the DENR in those areas,” he said, adding that there are positive signs that the business establishments, as well as the communities, are “responsive.”

Milestone

LESS than a week before Boracay’s scheduled reopening to tourists on October 26, the DENR, which is spearheading the Boracay In-

ter-Agency Task Force (BIATF), claimed to have gained a significant milestone in the rehabilitation of the world-famous island paradise, particularly when it comes to addressing water pollution. No less than the DENR chief said Boracay Island is no longer a “cesspool” because the BIATF had already stopped the direct discharge of untreated wastewater, particularly by commercial and residential establishments along the beachfront. Water samples were taken for laboratory testing from the beaches, such as White Beach and Bulabog Beach, as early as September.

These indicated that coliform levels are well within the standard for recreational purpose, particularly bathing or swimming.

ECC-compliant

A MAJORITY of the establishments, Antiporda added, have already complied with or have filed applications for the lifting of the suspension of their environmental compliance certificates (ECC). “We have high compliance. But the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force will stay close to Boracay. We will create our own office here to monitor all activiContinued on A2

FROZEN MOUNTAIN The captive capital—estimated at a quarter of the size of the economy—of millions of Japan’s dementia sufferers is creating personal dilemmas for loved ones and anxiety for policy makers.

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By Yuko Takeo and Yuki Hagiwara | Bloomberg

APAN’S growing ranks of dementia sufferers are sitting on a mountain of frozen assets, creating personal dilemmas for loved ones fretting over how to handle that money and a drag on the nation’s economic prospects as the vast pool of wealth lays idle. PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.8910

The pile of captive capital held by sufferers of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in Japan swelled to ¥143 trillion ($1.3 trillion) in the year ending March 2018, according to research by Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute Inc. That’s equivalent to more than a quarter of the size of the overall economy. It’s a problem on various levels. Relatives often feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of dealing with the savings and investments; policy-makers must balance Continued on A2

A CUSTOMER withdraws money at a Japan Post Co. branch in Hachioji. YURIKO NAKAO/BLOOMBERG

n JAPAN 0.4784 n UK 70.6888 n HK 6.8747 n CHINA 7.7838 n SINGAPORE 39.1081 n AUSTRALIA 38.3057 n EU 61.9908 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.3652

Source: BSP (October 18, 2018 )

News After Boracay, what’s next? BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, October 20, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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ARD lessons must be learned from the mess that was the Boracay rehabilitation. The blind compliance of the Boracay Task Force with Duterte’s ‘cesspool’ showboating should never be repeated again. It made 36,000 workers suffer for six months with no significant rehab output to show for it except the clean-beach PR.”—Dulce Continued from a1

ties pertaining to the implementation of environmental rules and regulation. Those who failed to comply with all the requirements…will stay closed,” he said. Without giving specifics, Antiporda said “majority” of the tourism-related establishments on Boracay have already complied with environmental laws.

Hits and misses

ENVIRONMENTAL groups, however, criticized the DENR for failing to hit the hard targets, except for removing the cesspool tag, which it has foisted in its media releases. Citing various news reports, Leon Dulce, national coordinator of Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE), called the Boracay rehabilitation a mere “spectacle.” During the six-month full lockdown, Dulce said less than 10 percent of the establishments on the island have fully complied with the environmental laws. He said even the DENR’s own commissioned study on the carrying capacity of Boracay indicates that the problem is not really the influx of tourists, but the overpopulation of Boracay. The number of tourists, from January to June or during the so-called off-season, he said, is even way below the maxi-

mum allowable number, which means, “undercapacity.” “This means that the ecological footprint or effect of the people during this period is manageable. This only proves our point that Boracay should not have been subjected to full lockdown during the last four months that the island was closed to tourists,” he said.

Wetland rehab

DULCE said he smells “something fishy” in the DENR’s decision to partner with big corporations for the rehabilitation of Boracay’s wetlands. “This will only give the big corporations [the opportunity] to bring in more tourists to recover their investment in the rehabilitation of the wetlands. It is our experience that it is not easy to stop big corporations from developing these areas based on the carrying capacity of their deep pockets instead of the ecosystem,” he said. Unfortunately, Dulce said, despite what data indicate, the DENR claims success in the rehabilitation of Boracay “for so many reasons that never answer the hard data and hard-knock experiences of the people who lost their sources of basic living for six months.” “Hard lessons must be learned from the mess that was the Boracay rehabilitation. The blind compliance of the Boracay Task Force with Duterte’s ‘cesspool’ showboat-

AFTER Boracay, the DENR may opt to take on Baguio, Puerto Galera, El Nido, Siargao (in photo), Subic, or Bohol. ALEXEY KORNYLYEV | DREAMSTIME.COM

ing should never be repeated again. It made 36,000 workers suffer for six months with no significant rehab output to show for it, except the clean-beach PR,” he said. According to Dulce, consultations with both experts and the communities themselves must be one of the basis of any way forward in the rehabilitation program that will supposedly lead up to December 2019. “The same goes for their supposed plans to do the same lockdown on other ecotourism destinations, such as Palawan, Bohol, Puerto Galera, Siargao and the like,” he said. According to Dulce, privatization also entails restriction of the public’s access to what should be part of the public commons. “If rehabilitation and management of the wetlands are kept in the public domain through the government with a strong partner-

ship with the local communities themselves, we can ensure that the ecotourism area’s operation will be based on the public’s interest of environmental safety and sustainability,” he said. Sadly, he said, they did not see the DENR exploring its best option. “They could have declared the wetlands as protected areas and set up the government-community cooperation on management, such as through the Community Resource Management Agreements under the Protected Areas scheme,” he added. Sought for reaction, an apparently irked Antiporda hit back by questioning the legitimacy of Kalikasan-PNE.

“Who are these environmentalists? I don’t even know they exist,” he said. Antiporda said what is important is that the people in Boracay are thankful for the government’s effort to rehabilitate Boracay. “What is important is that the people here [in Boracay] are very happy, thankful and grateful for what we’ve done in Boracay,” he said. Antiporda argued that the DENR has decided to tap the big corporations in rehabilitating Boracay’s wetlands because of their capacity. Under the various memorandums of agreements, Boracay wetlands will be “adopted” by big corporations to revive the wetland

ecosystems and develop them into ecotourism sites. In an earlier interview, he said, the DENR is open to partnering with nongovernment organizations and people’s organizations as long as they have the capacity to rehabilitate the wetland ecosystems based on the plans of DENR experts. However, he rejected the idea of allowing co-management of the wetlands by the community. “The communities are the reasons why we have these problems. They encroached on these wetlands. Now, with our partnership with these big corporations, the big corporations will be the one to prevent illegal squatting in these ecosystems,” he said.

Frozen mountain Continued from a1

safeguarding the savings while ensuring they’re still used effectively to support economic growth; for brokerages the static savings represents lost business in an already shrinking market. “This is going to have a massive impact on the economy,” said Kohei Komamura, an economics professor at Tokyo-based Keio University who studies approaches to finance in an aging society. “We need to create new societal rules, financial products, and financial advice systems that address the cognitive capabilities of the elderly.” The problem of idled assets could be an even bigger headache in countries where people commit more of their savings to stocks: Japanese typically place about 15 percent of their assets in equities and investment trusts, according to Bank of Japan data, less than a third of the corresponding figure for Americans.

New products

BROKERAGES and banks in Japan are starting to wake up to the existence of the pile of drifting assets. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., Nomura Trust and Banking Co. and others are trying to create a range of products that enable those with dementia to put their money in trusts, or bequeath assets at an earlier stage. Some financial institutions are also following up on a government recommendation that sufferers should be allowed to split their accounts into living expenses and savings. The hope is that people who eventually act on behalf of those with Alzheimer’s will feel more comfortable using money that has already been designated to cover the sufferer’s living costs, leaving the rest available for investment. Yet, a government plan to

encourage people to appoint family members, friends or lawyers as financial guardians for the more than 5 million Japanese who have dementia still has a pickup rate of less than 5 percent. Recognizing the plan leaves relatives in at the deep end of sorting out savings and investments, the labor and welfare ministry is trying to make the program less daunting by providing more support from legal experts and advisers.

Scams, misunderstandings

THE government is also concerned about the misuse of savings held by the aged. Scamsters, largely targeting the elderly, defrauded Japanese people out of ¥20.2 billion in the first seven months of 2018, according to National Policy Agency data. In more than half those cases, the money was swindled simply by calling people up and saying, “It’s me, I’m in trouble.” People who transferred money to callers typically thought they were talking to a close family member. Most banks have responded to the scamsters by limiting the amounts that can be transferred by ATMs each day and plastering warning notices around the machines. In the financial securities sector, regulations designed to protect older people from buying risky products they don’t understand may be compounding problems by forcing seniors into sub-optimal investment choices. Current guidelines created by the Japan Securities Dealers Association require sales staff to get managerial approval before recommending complex products to clients who are 75 years old or more. Their superiors must also independently interview those clients. With the share of seniors rising, financial institutions in Japan

are exploring options to stop these industry measures becoming blanket rules that lock out able elderly investors. 83-year-old Toshiko Tanaka is one example of someone who would like to take on more risk with her investments, but is limited by current brokerage practices because of her age. “They think I’ve gone doolally just because I’m old,” Tanaka says, barely able to hide her frustration at not being allowed to invest as she pleases. “That’s infringing my rights.” Nomura Holdings Inc. has started joint research into financial gerontology— the study of the effects of aging—in partnership with Keio University to improve its understanding of the behavioral patterns and characteristics of the elderly. “We would have been walking away from our more elderly customers,” said Kenji Yamaga, a managing director in retail strategy at Nomura Securities Co., commenting on what a lack of action would have meant. And the problem is only going to get more acute as each year passes. Around 50 percent of securities and 40 percent of all financial assets in Japan are expected to be held by those aged 70 and over in 2035, according to Mizuho Research Institute Ltd. Nomura has also placed 180 staff specializing in older clients across its branches in Japan as it tries to offer seniors better service. “In the past, the fundamental assumption of economics was that human beings can take rational courses of action throughout their lives,” said Keio University’s Komamura. “That was the basis on which arguments were based, but we’re now moving away from that.”

ExportUnlimited

A4 Saturday, October 20, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

DTI leads 36 Filipino companies joining China’s largest expo

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S the Philippines’s main export and investment-promotion agency, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has organized the country’s participation in the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) from November 5 to 10 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China. This is in line with the DTI’s aim to further penetrate the huge Chinese market through country participation in trade expositions and facilitation of its business-tobusiness linkages. Dubbed as China’s largest expo, more than 100 countries are anticipated to join the CIIE, while over 100,000 professional Chinese buyers have registered to attend the event.

The weeklong expo will also include side activities, such as businessmatching meetings, as well as trade and investment forums. Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez will lead the country’s CIIE participation, along with DTI Trade and Investments Promotions Group Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado. “China is a priority market for the

Philippines, and we want to push for the export of our products and services. We are also keen on attracting Chinese investments,” Lopez said. Under the theme “Partner Philippines: Building Value Together,” the Philippine National Pavilion will showcase the country’s initiatives in the areas of trade, investment and tourism at the CIIE. The pavilion will highlight traditional Filipino performances and a video installation depicting the milestones of Philippine-China relations, which dates back to the 16th century. Lopez and Terrado will represent the country at the Hongqiao International Forum and at the official opening ceremony of CIIE, which will be presided by Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 5. “Our Philippine Trade and Investment Centers in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai will be arranging business meetings for our major Chinese buyers and our Filipino exhibitors

during the CIIE,” Terrado said. “We will gauge our success by the number of new business connections we will be able to establish during this CIIE participation.” As part of the country’s goal to cater to the diverse Chinese consumer market, a total of 36 Filipino exhibitors are set to feature topnotch products and services from the Philippines. Out of the 36 exhibitors, 28 will promote food products including snacks, alcoholic beverages coconut, mango, nuts, chocolates and coffee at the Food and Agricultural Products Halls 7.2 and 8.2. China currently serves as a top export-market destination for the Philippines, with $940 million or 15.3 percent of the latter’s total exports in August, according to the latest trade data by the Philippine Statistics Authority. This recorded a 34.4-percent increase from the export value of $699.5 million in the same month last year.

DTI, Eaga Committee of Philippine Congress hold halal industry exhibit

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O support the implementation of Republic Act 10817, known as the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act of 2016, the Special Committee on East Asean Growth Area (Eaga) of Philippine Congress and the Halal Section of the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) held a Philippines Halal Industry Exhibit from October 8 to 11 at the North Wing Lobby of the Philippine Congress. The exhibit showcased the Philippine halal-certified products and services and to affirm what Trade Undersecretary Abdulgani M. Macatoman said—that “there are simply more people who need halal products and services”—as more than 40 companies, ranging from small to big businesses, participated in the exhibit. The participating companies, mostly micro, small and medium enterprises exhibited food and beverage products, nonfood products; like garments and textiles, costume jewelleries, cosmetics and healthcare products. Other companies providing halal services­—including halal certification, travel and

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WENTY Philippine exporters are set to participate in the World Food and Beverage Great Expo (Fabex Kansai) in Kansai, Japan from October 23 to 25. Fabex Kansai is Japan’s largest general trade fair for commercial food, cooking ingredients, equipment and containers. The initiative is a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service and Office of the Agriculture Attaché at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo headed by Dr. Samuel V. Animas, and Department of Trade and Industry through the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers (PTICs)-Osaka and Tokyo, and the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB). Products that will be showcased are fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, such banana, mango and asparagus, coffee, fruit jams, coco products, such as sugar, skimmed milk and milk, banana chips, dried fruits and frozen seafood products. Commercial Counselor Buster Alevado Jr. of PTIC- Osaka said one of their advocacies is to increase Philippine vegetable exports to Japan. Thus, last September, a Food Safety Network Seminar was conducted to tackle the market situation in Japan, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control

T PHILIPPINE Trade Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman addresses participants and visitors to the Philippine Halal Industry Exhibit held from October 8 to 11 at the North Wing Lobby of the Philippine Congress.

logistics—also joined the exhibit. The opening of the exhibit on October 8 at the North Wing Lobby was attended by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, together with guests and participants from the Philippine Congress, executives

and officials from various government agencies, as well as special guests from embassies of Islamic countries, like Brunei Darussalam, Republic of Indonesia, Libya, Pakistan, Qatar and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

consumers in Australia also to manufacturers’ continuing innovation to cater for growing consumer demand for healthy products. Within food, it cited the focus on natural ingredients and a switch to low-sugar varieties. Concerns on fat consumption have been allayed by reports, which highlight the place of healthy fats, such as avocados, within a varied diet. In beverages, Australian consumers continued to turn away from sugar-laden drinks, such as

carbonates and juices, and opted for healthier alternatives, such as carbonated and flavored water and cold-pressed juices. “Manufacturers continued to promote the functional use of their products to enhance the energy and overall well-being of consumers,” the report said. It noted the use of natural ingredients to promote sustainable energy as a trend observed in beverages. The Euromonitor Digest said concerns around ethical and sustainable food production remained key driv-

Canada bans artificial trans fats in food products

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By Myrtle Faye Solina

Trade and Industry Specialist (TIDS) Food and Agri-Marine Division (FAMD) DTI-EMB

Points and Japanese Food Safety Requirements. The information session aimed to prepare the Philippine exporters for the market regulatory requirements of Japan, increase competitiveness, and to ramp up export sales to Japan. This in turn is also expected to help in the utilization of the existing free-trade agreement between the Philippines and Japan. Under the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, 80 percent of Philippine exports to Japan, consisting of 7,476 products, such as food products, garments and textiles, furniture, metal manufactures, minerals, machinery and equipment parts, electronics, motor vehicle parts and chemicals, is duty-free. The companies will proceed to Tokyo for business meeting, market sensing and meeting with associations to explore leads and expand market after the conclusion of the fair. The activity will be headed by PTIC-Tokyo through Commercial Counselor Dita Angara-Mathay. Rose Marie Castillo, Division Chief of the Food and Agri-Marine Division of EMB, said the collaboration is aligned with the thrust of the Philippine Development Plan Chapter 15, which aims to ensure a sound macroeconomic policy through provision of support and promotion of products where the Philippines has comparative advantage and has the potential for competitive advantage and the priority sectors under the Philippine Export Development Plan 2018-2022.

PHL govt highlights infrastructure opportunities to British investors

As part of the activity, a seminar on “Strengthening the Philippine Halal Eco-system through Legislative Agenda” was conducted on October 9, at the Speaker Gil Montilla Function Room, Second Floor, South Wing Annex Building.

Demand for health, wellness packaged food, beverages in Australia rising HE demand for health and wellness packaged food and beverages is growing in Australia due to the continued increase in health consciousness. “Health and wellness concerns remain a key focus guiding the food and beverage purchasing decisions of Australian consumers,” said a report by a market research firm, Euromonitor. The Euromonitor Digest, released by the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau, attributed the rise of health-conscious

PHL exporters set to showcase in largest general trade fair in Japan

HE Philippine Embassy in Ottawa said the government of Canada has banned artificial trans fats in food products. The announcement came after the majority of Canadian members of Parliament supported the law that would completely rid food products of artificial trans fat within two years —the grace period given to domestic manufacturers and retailers in Canada. The US Food and Drug Administration has banned artificial trans fats from American products since 2016. Artificial trans fats or trans fatty acids are manufactured through an industrial process that uses hydrogen to transform liquid vegetable oils into solid. Artificial trans fats are popular because they are inexpensive to produce, have long shelf life, and enhance food

taste and texture. Trans fats, however, elevate bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein or LDL) levels and lower good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein or HDL) levels in humans, enhancing risks of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. Since New York City and several counties in New York state implemented a restaurant ban on trans fats in 2007, a study found that hospital admissions for heart attacks and strokes in those areas shrank by 6 percent starting three years after the ban vis-a-vis counties without the ban. This translates to 43 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 100,000 people, said Dr. Eric Brandt, a Yale University cardiology fellow.

ers in the growth of organic food and beverages in Australia. “Organically grown produce also appeals to the health and wellness concerns of consumers, as these products are free from pesticides and the use of other strong chemicals, which are considered harmful to one’s health,” it said. The report added organically grown food is likewise promoted as being more nutritionally dense and better tasting than nonorganically grown food. Philexport News and Features

RADE Secretary Ramon M. Lopez and a Philippine infrastructure development team composed of top government officials have discussed with high-level representatives of British companies several Philippine infrastructure investment opportunities, as well as the Philippine government’s “Build, Build, Build” program. The Philippine delegation include Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar and Bases and Conversion Development Authority President and CEO Vivencio Dizon. During the “Investing in Philippine Infrastructure” forum organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in London, United Kingdom, on September 26, 2018, infrastructure complementarities focusing on engineering and design, as well as technical solutions were identified. “President Duterte’s administration focuses on providing a comfortable life for all Filipinos, which is the main mission of our massive infrastructure program. Efficient infrastructure facilitates trade, opens new markets develops growth centers, and enhances micro, small and medium enterprises in the countryside. With the Philippines’s rich pool of talent, plus your expertise in infrastructure development, our collaboration

would be a win-win,” Lopez told 23 British company executives who attended the roundtable. The Philippine trade chief highlighted the country’s growing number of engineering professionals and skilled graduates who can be employed by foreign companies. The Philippine infrastructure development team assured British companies that the Philippines is an open market ready to do business with any country following President Duterte’s independent foreign policy. Meanwhile, Arup—a British firm expert in airport planning, tunnel design, maritime, railway and bridge engineering—expressed its interest to provide technical solutions in various projects of the Philippine government. Villar said the country’s priority projects have been subjected to rigorous tests and standards—where resilience and sustainability were among the factors considered—by international organizations. Wood Plc.’s Senior Vice President Alex Haynes opened the possibility of developing renewable-energy technologies for airports. Tugade said he is very interested in this as “airports are the No. 1 producer of carbon footprints.” The transportation secretary pushed for more RE sources such as solar farms, that will support the airports. Further talks are slated to continue at Clark Global City in Pampanga.

PHL underscores areas of collaboration with Thai companies

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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) highlighted certain areas of collaboration with Thai companies, such as garments, retail, medical and retirement tourism. This was revealed during its October 10 meeting with the Thailand-Philippines Business Council, led by Chairman Visit Limprana. “As Asean neighbors, we can see a lot of possible investment collaborations between Filipino and Thai businesses. The industries we’ve mentioned—like garments—are very promising, considering our massive domestic consumer market, growing middle-class earners, and the growing manufacturing industry com-

plemented by our rich pool of talents and professionals,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said. Lopez underscored the Philippine growth story and the government’s reforms to promote ease of doing business, as well as the massive infrastructure program to facilitate trade, open new markets and develop growth centers. He encouraged the business delegation to expand their manufacturing operations in the Philippines and widen its market access to other trading partners. Meanwhile, Limprana expressed his appreciation to the Philippine government for participating in the business forum

organized for Thai businesses and said they are looking forward to collaborate with Philippine businesses in the future. Thailand-Board of Investment Senior Investment Advisor Pannee Chengsuttha also relayed to DTI officials their drive to encourage Thai businesses to invest in other partner countries, like the Philippines. Likewise, they intend to invite Filipino conglomerates to expand their businesses in Thailand. Bangkok Bank VP and Branch Manager Nattika Kanpawong conveyed Bangkok Bank’s support to assist Thai investors coming into the Philippines. Bangkok Bank currently has a branch in Makati.

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

Sports

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 20, 2018

A5

A.I.B.A. SAGA CONTINUES L EGYPT’S Youssef Ali Karar Ali Moussa shows his agony after losing to Great Britain’s Karol Itauma in a boxing light heavy semifinal during the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Tuesday. AP

AUSANNE, Switzerland—The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has set an October 30 target to judge a Kazakh official’s appeal to be accepted as a candidate against an alleged heroin trader from Uzbekistan in the International Boxing Association (Aiba) presidential election due four days later. CAS says it also registered a separate appeal, by the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation, seeking to delay the election scheduled for November 3 in Moscow.

Serik Konakbayev wants to stand against Aiba interim president Gafur Rakhimov, who the US Treasury Department called “one of Uzbekistan’s leading criminals.” Rakhimov’s assets in American jurisdiction were frozen. Aiba excluded Konakbayev, one of its vice presidents, from a list of approved candidates. CAS says all parties agreed on a faster timetable for Konakbayev to get a hearing with its judging panel.

Leaders Ateneo, Adamson U take on separate opponents

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EADERS Ateneo and Adamson University face separate foes on Saturday with hopes of widening their gap from the rest of the field in Season 81 of the University Athletics Association of the Philippine men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. First up are the Soaring Falcons (6-2 won-lost) against the De La Salle Green

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EW YORK—Canelo Alvarez is boxing’s new $365-million man. Alvarez has signed an 11-fight deal that his promotional company says is the richest athlete contract in sports history, guaranteeing the Mexican middleweight champion at least that much money to have his fights shown on the sports-streaming service DAZN, beginning with his next bout. Alvarez will move up in weight to challenge World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding on December 15 at Madison Square Garden. A massive moneymaker when he fought on pay-per-view, Alvarez will be able to be seen for much cheaper through the subscription service that launched in the United States in September and now features perhaps the two biggest figures in boxing in Alvarez and heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. “We have No. 1 and No. 2. They’re the two most important fighters in the world,” DAZN Executive Chairman John Skipper said. “Canelo fighting on DAZN, we believe that that will help us attract some of the other fighters, some of the other premier fighters.” Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) is coming off a victory over Gennady Golovkin in a middleweight showdown in September. That fight, like most of boxing’s biggest, was shown on pay-per-view. It cost $84.95 to be seen in high definition. And while planning his next fight, Golden Boy Promotions also needed a place to put it. With HBO bowing out of boxing after this year, the company had talks with Showtime, ESPN and Turner Sports about televising Alvarez’s future bouts. But Skipper made an aggressive offer for DAZN (pronounced Da-Zone) when he met with Golden Boy about two weeks ago and the deal was quickly finalized. “John came with the best deal. John Skipper came, he wasn’t playing games,” Golden Boy President Eric Gomez said. “He said, our first meeting with him over two weeks ago, he came to our office and said, ‘I’ve got a blank check, I’m not leaving until we make a deal.’ And he put his money where his mouth is.” Skipper said it wasn’t quite a blank check, but one that ensured Alvarez wouldn’t be taking a pay cut to leave payper-view. He said Alvarez’s last three fights generated 3.6

Canelo Alvarez has signed an 11-fight deal that his promotional company says is the richest athlete contract in sports history. AP

ALVAREZ: $365-M MAN

million buys and nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, making him someone who can be transformative to a subscription service focused largely—at least for now—on combat sports. “So I’ve got to find those fans,” Skipper said. “They are going to want to watch his fights, and they’re going to get to buy them for a lot less expensive than they did before.” It will cost them $9.99 a month for a subscription in the US. Under the five-year partnership, Golden Boy also will

put on up to 10 fight nights per year that will stream live on DAZN beginning in early-2019. Gomez said Alvarez is committed to fighting 11 times during the deal and willing to fight any of the contenders at 160 or 168 pounds. Alvarez said for now, his plan is to return to 160 after the bout against Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs), a British fighter who appeared significantly taller than Alvarez, who will be trying to win a title in his third weight class. A third fight with Golovkin would be a natural after their draw and Alvarez’s narrow victory in the rematch,

Belingon hopes to draw support from Filipinos in Singapore fight

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NE interim bantamweight world champion Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon is expecting a massive turnout from Filipino fans when he takes on reigning champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes at One: Heart of the Lion in Singapore on November 9. Home to thousands of overseas Filipino workers, the Singapore Indoor Stadium has enjoyed a huge Filipino crowd whenever One Championship hosts an event in the country known as “The Lion City.” When Eduard Folayang challenged thenOne lightweight champion Shinya Aoki in November 2016, the stadium exploded from the screams of Filipino fans that filled every section of the state-of-the-art showground to support the beloved Filipino mixed martial arts superstar. “Fighting in Singapore is almost like fighting in Manila. Thousands of Filipinos are based there, and they never fail to show support when their fellow Filipino is scheduled to compete at a One Championship event,” Belingon said. “I was there when Eduard Folayang pulled off the unexpected against Shinya Aoki to capture the title in 2016. Filipino fans were

cheering for Eduard from start to finish, and the stadium erupted from the chants of countless Filipinos when he was officially crowned as the new champion,” he added. Now more than ever, Belingon is banking on crowd support when he takes on Fernandes in their highly anticipated rematch. “I expect the same support, and hopefully an even bigger turnout from Filipino fans when I challenge Bibiano Fernandes. Our country is known for its passionate and knowledgeable fans who never fail to show massive support for one of their own,” he said. Should the usual massive Filipino crowd show up, Belingon feels that it would help him muster an inspired performance to get crowned as the undisputed champion. “I know how big of a following One Championship has from Filipino fans. I’m confident that they will flock to the stadium and show support in what would be the biggest and most important bout of my career. A huge Filipino crowd will surely help bring out an inspired performance from me as I attempt to bring the gold-plated belt back to the Philippines,” he said.

SHOOTING EXPERT World shooting icon Jethro Dionisio, president of the Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers Inc., leads the shooting proficiency training for lady members of the Bureau of Customs-Enforcement and Security Service under Director Filemon Yogi Ruiz. The training was initiated by Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña.. Dionisio is inviting gun enthusiasts to free seminars on gun handling and responsible ownership at the Defense & Sporting Arms Show at the SM Megamall from November 15 to 19.

but there would be plenty more options at middleweight if they don’t meet again. Whoever he ends up with, at least Alvarez knows now where it can be seen. “I’ve always said that when one door closes another one opens, and we’re very happy with this new alliance that we’ve made with DAZN,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “Forget about what the price is, the amount of money that we’re making. The most important thing is that fans can enjoy this fight at a very low price.” AP

Archers (5-3) at 2 p.m. The Blue Eagles, also on top with a 6-2 card, take the floor next at 4 p.m. against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws (5-3). Adamson University bounced back from two games down with a 69-58 win over National University last Wednesday to tie Ateneo atop the heap. Jerrick Ahanmisi tallied 21 points, while Papi Sarr added 16 points and 10 rebounds to tow the Soaring Falcons to the easy win over the hapless Bulldogs. Adamson University Head Coach Franz Pumaren acknowledged that the path toward the playoffs is going to be tougher. “It’s like a pothole, we will still continue our journey. Along our ride, we will hit slight bumps,” Pumaren said. Ateneo, meanwhile, wore down University of the Philippines, 83-66, last Sunday. Thirdy Ravena provided the numbers with his 20 points, 10 rebounds and two steals for the Blue Eagles. Tyler Tio chipped in 12 points and five assists, while Raffy Verano and Jolo Mendoza tallied 10 points apiece. Out to pull off upsets are De La Salle and FEU. The young but talent-laden University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers pulled off a massive triumph over the Tamaraws, 78-70, also last Sunday. Arvin Tolentino was the only double-figure scorer from FEU with his 11 points that went with 11 rebounds. The Tamaraws dropped to their third match in eight games. The Green Archers, on the other hand, handed the UE Red Warriors a lopsided 79-59 win last Wednesday. Rookie guard Encho Serrano came up big with 18 points, Andrei Caracut contributed 16 markers and six boards, while Leonard Santillan and Justine Baltazar chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Keino hands himself in corruption case

N

AIROBI, Kenya—Running great Kip Keino handed himself over to police in Kenya on Thursday and is under arrest, set to face charges of corruption and abuse of office that threaten the reputation of one of track and field’s most revered figures. The 78-year-old Keino, former Kenyan sports minister Hassan Wario and two other former sports ministry officials surrendered to police to meet a 6 a.m. deadline. They are due in court Friday to plead to the charges relating to the misuse of more than half a million dollars meant to fund Kenya’s team at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Keino was president of the Kenyan Olympic committee at the time. Keino is a two-time Olympic champion, an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee and was one of the first athletes to be inducted into track and field’s half of fame in 2012. He was the forerunner for generations of Kenyan distance-running champions, winning gold in the 1,500 meters at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. He is accused of playing a role in the misappropriation of more than $545,000 of government money set aside for Kenyan athletes at the Rio Games two years ago. Keino and six other current and former Olympic and government officials were accused by prosecutors of the embezzlement of more than $200,000 and misuse of more than $300,000. Relating to the misuse, prosecutors allege the seven wasted more than $150,000 on unused air tickets to Rio, overpaid allowances amounting to nearly $150,000 and incurred tens of thousands of dollars of other expenditure on “unauthorized persons”—people who were not Olympic officials or athletes. The Daily Nation newspaper in Kenya reported that Keino will be charged with giving his son nearly $25,000 of Team Kenya’s money for an air ticket to Brazil and spending money in Rio. The exact charges against the four who reported to police on Thursday morning will be published when they appear in court. Three other officials, current Olympic committee Secretary-General Francis Kinyili Paul, Rio team manager Stephen Arap Soi and former sports ministry official Richard Ekai, appeared in court on Monday. They were charged with multiple counts of corruption and abuse of office. They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail, with a judge saying the trial of all seven would start on November 16. Keino, possibly Kenya’s most respected sportsman, handed himself over to police at about 5.30 a.m., the Daily Nation reported, to beat the deadline. Wario is a former member of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet and now the ambassador to Austria, meaning the corruption case reaches upper levels of the government. Ekai, his former sports ministry colleague, was recently appointed Kenyan ambassador to Russia. AP

A6 Saturday, October 20, 2018 | Editor: Mike Besa

Beyond the

These golf courses have som Jeremy on the tee Elmer Lapena

Teeing it up for Down I

n every cell in the human body there is a nucleus, where humor. Everyone at the club knows and loves him and looks genetic material is stored in genes. Genes carry the codes after him. responsible for all of our inherited traits and are grouped along Jeremy loves his golf. I first met him at the Tee up for Down rod-like structures called chromosomes. Typically, the nucleus golf tournament, which is organized by dad Elmer and Luis of each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, half of which are Harder for the benefit of the Down Syndrome Association of the inherited from each parent. Down syndrome occurs when an Philippines. Jeremy was the tournament poster boy and its star. individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. His game was a tad off when we played but that didn’t This additional genetic material alters the course of dampen his spirits. He took it upon himself to chauffeur me development and causes the characteristics associated around Tagaytay Midlands that day, in fact, he never let me with Down syndrome. A few of the common physical traits drive the golf cart. He was quick to joke with the caddies and of Down syndrome are low muscle tone, small stature, an always stopped for me when I walked off to my next shot. upward slant to the eyes and a single deep crease across Elmer and Agnes have done a marvelous job with Jeremy, the center of the palm—although each person with Down but his environment plays a huge role in his development syndrome is a unique individual and may possess these and I think it is obvious that he’s developed much of his characteristics to different degrees, or not at all. confidence and social skills on the golf course. In the Philippines one baby with Down syndrome is born Golf is a wonderful game run by some of the best people. every four hours, which makes roughly 1,875 Down infants born The game’s core values infect everyone around it and that, every year in a country with 1.5 million live births per year. That is in turn, positively affects the people around them. Growing a relatively small percentage of our population. but that does little up in a community that cares about him and looks after to ease the burden of these children’s parents. him has done wonders for Jeremy. The golf community has All children with Down syndrome have some degree of rallied around the Tee it up for Down golf tournament and has learning disability and delayed development, but this varies generously supported it for the past 15 years. widely between individual children. Children with Down may be I wish we could be as generous with others that have needs slower to learn skills like sitting, standing, walking and talking. like Jeremy’s. There is little doubt that golf could affect them in They will develop these skills eventually, it just takes more time. the same positive manner as it has the younger Lapena. Perhaps, In my experience, children with Down syndrome are now is the time for golfers to give back in other ways besides generally shy and introverted but that changed when I providing financial support. It seems feasible to create programs met Jeremy. for differently abled individuals so that they can share the game Jeremy is the son of Elmer and Agnes Lorenzana Lapena. we love and learn its core values. Now, 22 years of age, Jeremy must be the most sociable, best It would be a scenario where everybody wins. Mike Besa adjusted person with Down syndrome that I have ever met. And he has a burning passion for golf. I had the pleasure of playing a round of golf with Jeremy, his dad Elmer and our good friend Luis Harder recently at Tagaytay Midlands Golf Club, one of Jeremy’s home clubs. Few people with his condition are as confident and as social as he. Watching him interact with the staff of Tagaytay Midlands was an eye opener; Jeremy is a celebrity there. He wanders around unaccompanied and spends time with everyone that takes time to greet him. He’s completely Cart buddies—Jeremy Lapena with the author. Mike Besa engaging and has a wicked sense of

R

Story & photos by Mike Besa

atings are a generally a good thing. They provide a basis to compare similar things to convey the quality of the experience to others. But as good as they can be, ratings really don’t tell the whole story. I’ve been rating golf courses for golf publications for over a decade and have been blessed to have played the country’s best. But some of my favorite golf courses will never make the top spot on any of my lists. But just because they don’t measure up to the standards set by the authors of these ratings, it doesn’t follow that they aren’t any good. Quite the opposite is true. These golf courses have intangibles that aren’t reflected in the ranking sheets. They are unquantifiable but add immensely to the golf experience. Take Calatagan Golf Club. While Calatagan does very well when judged on its aesthetics, design and shot memorability, it cannot compete with the longer, tougher golf courses when

graded on its resistance to scoring and conditioning. It is short by modern championship standards and because it isn’t an all-weather design and doesn’t feature modern ultradwarf turf grasses on its greens, it doesn’t do well in the rankings. But Calatagan is one of my favorite golf courses and the golf on offer here is sublime. Calatagan is the kind of golf course that you think your way around. The mature trees give supreme importance to shot placement; find the wrong part of the fairway and you could find yourself without a shot to the green. There are so many subtleties to a good round of golf here that it takes a few rounds here to learn them all. It is where the golf course twists and turns on itself that this becomes most important. I may not be the biggest fan of RTJ Jr’s designs but this one is special; it doesn’t look or feel like any of his other golf courses in the country. From first hole to the last, you must pay careful attention to where you put your golf ball. It allows you to play some interesting shots and rewards you handsomely if you pull it off. The tee shots on three, 10 and 14 are my favorites. If you can carry each of these doglegs, you’re rewarded by a very easy shot to the green. Fail

and the penalties are potentially severe. The zoysia greens are absolute delights. They’re fast and roll true. They are grainy but that’s zoysia’s nature and isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just something you need to get used to. Calatagan provides the complete golfing experience. It’s true, the fairways are carabao grass and play very differently to all-weather golf courses in many respects. The ambiance and the feeling you get when you finally walk off the golf course rank up there with any golf course in the country. The other course that I truly enjoy but does not figure in the rankings is Camp John Hay Golf Club (CJHGC). As those of who you follow me will know, I have a special affinity for the city of Baguio. It was here that I first stretched the wings of independence from my parents. Many memories here. Baguio City has always been coveted as the perfect locale for golf. The weather is the wild card here; it is a unique pleasure to be able to play in this climate in a tropical country. The experience is unmatched in local golf. The golf course holds its own in terms of conditioning, aesthetics and shot memorability, but succumbs in resistance to scoring particularly for those more gifted with length. As

The lake fronting the 8th and 11th holes at Calatagan Golf Club.

Jeju winds key CJ Cup scoring

U.S. PGA Tour field still taking the measure of new venue, in Year II

J

EJU ISLAND, South Korea—When the US PGA Tour visited The Club at Nine Bridges last year for the inaugural CJ Cup, the October event punctuated nearly 20 years of strategic design tweaks from course architect David Dale. With the second CJ Cup scheduled for October 18 to 21, such prep is largely done and dusted—fitting for a course that so impressed players, Tour officials and a worldwide television audience. But the reality is, a sizable chunk of last year’s compelling impressions relied on something quite ephemeral: the trade winds that materialized here on Jeju Island over the weekend. These breezy conditions Friday-Saturday-Sunday kept the 2017 field from going low (Justin Thomas won at nine-under par, besting Marc Leishman in a playoff), while revealing the track’s strategic teeth. “I think we were all very pleased with what we saw. It was a great event. But I think the Jeju winds definitely helped,” said Steve Wenzloff, vice president and player liaison with PGA Tour Design Services. “The winds here are more than an element. They’ve been factored into the design in quite specific ways. We were fortunate to see that play itself out over the weekend last year.” The Club at Nine Bridges—located on Jeju Island, some 7 miles off the Korean Peninsula’s southern coast—is merely the latest elite club whose competitive reputation rests on its ability to conjure windy conditions during tournament week. The course’s design reputation is secure (GOLF Magazine’s World Top 100 list ranks Nine Bridges at #41; Golf Digest rates it #79 on the planet, #23 in its list of courses outside the US). But without the Jeju winds, it’s something of a sitting duck, like every other course the Tour frequents. “This isn’t exactly news, but these Tour guys are incredibly

good,” said Nine Bridges course architect Dale, a partner with Santa Rosa, California-based Golfplan (www.golfplan.com). “At its Open venues, the USGA chooses rough, fairway width and green speed to defend par. That’s why, when the wind does come up, it can get a little crazy out there—like we saw on Saturday at Shinnecock in June. “At Nine Bridges, we’ve tried like the dickens to use design elements to create that resistance to scoring—but we did so with the Jeju winds [and how they traditionally blow in October] firmly in mind. The proof is in the pudding: The golf course, with the wind blowing, defended par. I’m pretty sure Justin Thomas shot nine-under the first day [he did, in fact, go 63-74-70-72]. Then the wind showed up. The winning score was nine-under. Bingo.” Dale said some of these design elements are straightforward. He created a new back tee on the par-5 18th, for example, to ensure that players going for that green in two would have at least a 250-yard approach shot—to cover the bunker guarding the island green. On Sunday, when Jeju’s trade winds were blowing in the players faces, that’s exactly the risk/reward approach shot both Thomas and Leishman were obliged to make, twice—once in the regulation, then again in the playoff. “Without the wind blowing as it normally does, both those guys are hitting mid-irons,” Dale said. “There’s a similar but more nuanced equation playing out on several holes at Nine Bridges. At 16 [a Cape-style, bite-off-whatyou-dare par-4 measuring 427 yards], the position of the fairway bunkers that form the Cape element—and where fairway gets narrow in the landing area—are calibrated very specifically to lure players into a potentially hazardous/ rewarding shots off the tee. But it’s all based on the prevailing

wind being up—so I say, let it blow!” Dale, who remembers hitting a persimmon driver when the course was christened in 2001, acknowledged the cat-and-mouse nature of defending par against such skilled players, armed with state-of-the-art technology. “I’d say the sixth hole was too easy for them,” Dale said of the 428-yard par 4. “They blew it right over my spectacle bunkers! We still plan to pull the tees back 15 yards, to make them more relevant. But no. 8"—a driveable par 4 with its Het Girdle green, one of several homages here to the King’s Course at Gleneagles, in Scotland—“was very exciting. To see Justin Thomas hit it through the green and make 4, to see K.J. Choi nearly drive the green and walk away with 7? I imagine that was as fun for me as it was for everyone watching on TV.” On some level, the balancing act Dale described takes place at most every Tour stop, the world over. But Wenzloff explaind that terrain and design make the formula especially nuanced at Nine Bridges, for which there are few comps in the world of tournament golf. “The course is great and what we did prior to last year’s event has worn very well,” Wenzloff said. “The routing is very good. It sits in there very well and on the terrain. David [Dale] didn’t move a lot of dirt, which is unusual for Korea or any mountain golf course—but it is a mountain course. I think the best comparison on Tour is Kapalua [home to the Tournament of Champions each January]. At Kapalua, because of the topography, the trade winds uniquely affect the competition there.” As it happens, Justin Thomas won the 2017 Tournament of Champions at 22 under. Dustin Johnson prevailed at last January’s tourney, shooting -24. As

www.pinoygolfer.com | Saturday, October 20, 2018 A7

e Ratings

mething special for you with Calatagan, this means that it will never see the top spot of the rankings. Also, like Calatagan, this take does CJHGC a glaring disservice. The golf course is short, better suited for recreation and enjoyment than for competitive golf. But, this again, is part of its charm. Because of the cool climate, imported grasses thrive here. The greens are among the best in the country; they roll perfectly and are as quick as lightning on the cool afternoons of golf season. Their secret is the cool season bent grass used to cover the greens. Bent is the same grass that they play on at Augusta National Golf Club— home of the Masters. It thrives in the cool of Baguio and provides a putting surface few clubs can match. With a bit of speed and the slope built into the greens to help them drain, the greens can be a formidable challenge. This synthesis makes it the perfect resort course for those weary of the heat and humidity of the lowlands. It is perfect for the higher

handicap golfer, offering him or her a chance of occasional glory on its fairways. The golf is most enjoyable. Camp John Hay Golf Club is home to the most beautiful opening hole in Philippine golf. The par 5 plays downhill all the way and is easily within the reach of those long off the tee. It is a spectacular hole and a wonderful way to start your round. The short par fours here are beautiful. They offer the long hitters a chance at all kinds of birds; eagles and albatrosses included. The Philippine Golf Tour makes a stop here every year and a 59 is not uncommon. But to judge it to that standard is to do the course a disservice. The enjoyment a round of golf here brings easily makes up for any complaints about its unsuitability to host the best golfers in the country. The par threes are beautiful and deadly. A poor shot here can have severe effects on your score but the holes’ inherent beauty dull the sting of a blowup hole. Fifteen is the most beautiful of them

all. It’s also potentially the most embarrassing as the tee box is just at the side of the clubhouse’s veranda. During busy season, a crowd will be around to witness the parade of golfers that stroll up to the tee to try their luck. The facilities of Camp John Hay exceed all expectations. They are homey and elegant, the staff is impeccably trained and express a genuine care for their guests. The food is just superb. The hotel has the best customer service anywhere on the islands; it is a place that begs you to put aside your cares and stay on. So, if your golf course isn’t on the list of the best golf courses in the country, don’t despair. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t any good. It may not meet the criteria but there are other things that make for a great golf experience. It’s the intangibles. It’s how it makes you feel just being there; never mind the golf. It’s the vibe the golf course exudes. Sometimes that means a whole lot more than a round of golf.

Hole No. 15 at Camp John Hay.

Wenzloff noted, the Plantation Course at Kapalua was also designed to function in strong trade winds (the 18th hole there traditionally plays downhill and downwind some 660 yards—players routinely hit it in two). But the balance is a fine one. Johnson won his first ToC there in 2013, when the

event was shortened to 54 holes because inordinately strong trade winds rendered the course unplayable for three days. Barring freak storm conditions, Dale doesn’t see that ever happening at Nine Bridges: “But what I think the CJ Cup and Kapalua show us is how precariously the competitive equation is

The finishing hole at The Club at Nine Bridges is a stunning way to end a round.

perched at certain tournament courses. We’ve seen how wind can suspend play on British Open courses, as well—when the ball is being blown around on the greens. That situation isn’t ideal, but we need to acknowledge that up until that point when it gets out of hand, it might be the most compelling tournament golf there is.”

A8 Saturday, October 20, 2018

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Get your daily dose of K-drama with Globe Postpaid and Viu GLOBE partners up with Viu to give postpaid customers access to their favorite Korean and Asian content anytime, anywhere. A localized digital platform in the Philippines, Viu legally provides premium content from South Korea, Japan, Thailand, China and Hong Kong, with English and Chinese subtitles (for selected titles). From dramas and rom-coms to music and variety shows, Globe customers can now marathon their favorite Korean shows wherever and whenever they want with their postpaid plans. With Globe Postpaid ThePlan or ThePlan Plus, K-drama fans can experience the best of Viu on their mobile phones. Mobile postpaid customers can opt to get a 30-day Viu Premium subscription for just P99 per month by texting VIU99 to 8080. With Viu Premium, they can watch the latest episodes of the best Korean dramas and variety shows as early as eight hours after the original Korean telecast, download unlimited videos, get complete access to premium content and enjoy full HD resolution. They can also enjoy the free 30-day Viu Basic included with the GoWatch bundle on their plan. With this special content promo for videostreaming platform Viu, Globe strengthens its commitment to the #PlayItRight advocacy against piracy. This allows Globe customers to enjoy their favorite Korean entertainment from legitimate sources and recognized platforms only.

Saturday, October 20, 2018 A9

Upping the gaming experience PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

U

P until last year, I never fully realized that PC gaming was such a big industry as my friends who have sons have repeatedly pointed out. The demands of gaming content have changed so that technology needs to keep up in order to get the gamers’ attention—and, of course, cash. The Samsung 960 Pro has dominated the enduser, performance NVMe SSD market because of its excellent performance with an affordable price tag. But it seems to now have a worthy, if not equal, contender. Western Digital Corp. recently introduced a high-performance Western Digital WD Black 3D NVMe SSD featuring the company’s proprietary SSD architecture and controller. The drive accelerates data for PC applications to

enable users to quickly access, engage and capture high-resolution video, audio and gaming content. These days, PCs need to have the capability to run intensive applications and enable 4K/Ultra HD graphics and video. To move the immense amount of data quickly and seamlessly, Western Digital has developed a new breed of SSDs to help remove the traditional storage bottleneck. This M.2 drive features a new NVMe architecture and controller, which optimally integrates with Western Digital 3D NAND. The brand’s new vertically integrated SSD platform was engineered from the ground up, specifically architected to help maximize performance for NVMe SSDs, with advanced power management, durability and endurance for the growing range of applications benefiting from NVMe technology. “Today’s gaming applications require increasing capability from their PCs, and this will only continue to advance. With our new architecture and controller, the Western Digital WD Black SSD integrates our 3D NAND technology with the NVMe interface to enable new levels of performance. Whether it’s a new gaming rig or a video-editing workstation, our innovative NVMe drives will power many existing and future environments that enable data to thrive,” said Mark Grace, senior vice president, Devices Business Unit, Western Digital. Because I don’t know much about PCs (or even mobile gaming), I looked up the reviews online.

“The WD Black NVMe 1TB SSD has an endurance rating of 600 TBW when it comes to lifetime writes. That works out to meaning that you can write roughly 328.8 GB of data to the drive per day over the five-year limited warranty period. The Western Digital WD Black NVMe SSD series looks pretty much like any other M.2 2280 ‘gumstick’ drive. You have black PCB with a sticker covering all the major components,” said Nathan Kirsch in www.legitreviews.com. “Leave it to the hard drive titan, Western Digital, to come up with a solid-state drive that goes toe-to-toe with Samsung’s best. Not only does the new WD Black NVMe SSD keep up with Samsung’s latest 970 Evo, but it’s also the fastest-writing drive we’ve ever tested,” said Kevin Lee in www.techradar.com. With exceptional sequential read (up to 3,400 MB/s for the 1TB and 500GB model) and write performance (up to 2,8001MB/s for 1TB model) combined with up to 1TB capacities, the new drive is ideal for enhancing user experiences in gaming environments. The drives feature up to 500,000 random-read IOPs (for 1TB model) to deliver extreme throughput, which is ideal for multi-threaded applications and data-intensive multitasking environments. The Western Digital WD Black 3D NVMeSSD is available in the Philippines in capacities of 250GB (P4,900), 500GB (P9100) and 1TB (P20,000). The new drives are available in select Western Digital retailers, e-tailers, resellers, system integrators and distributors. ■

How Wi-Fi works in midair and how to protect your files at 40,000 feet BY RECTO MERCENE FOUR-STAR Philippine Airlines is one of few international players that offer free Wi-Fi on board, says the blog GeeksMate, which claims to be the fastest-growing community that speaks of new technology, delivers the latest tech updates, provides honest gadget reviews, the Internet of Things and geeky opinions in world of technology. The other big players offering such connectivity onboard are Emirates, JetBlue, Turkish Airlines, Air China, Hong Kong Airlines and Nok Air. GeeksMate noted that many premier airlines have announced to offer free Wi-Fi in their flights like Finnair, Srilankan Airlines, Kuwait Airways, TAAG Angola Airlines and WestJet. Some of the 80 passengers were able to avail themselves of PAL’s free Wi-Fi, when the carrier took delivery of their latest acquisition, the wide-body A350-900 from Toulouse, France, to Manila in July. In a September feature, GeeksMates asked: “Ever Wondered How Does In-Flight Wi-Fi Work?” Of course, it goes on to explain just that, apart from justifying the high cost of availing the technology while high above the cloud. It also offers advice on what steps to take for faster Wi-Fi during your next flight. Today, flyers would not miss an important e-mail because they are connected to everything on earth even while airborne. “Technology like the in-flight Wi-Fi is slowly spreading over and is changing the way people fly.” So, how does the new technology provides passengers with their favorite Netflix all the way to 40,000-foot altitudes? Air-to-ground (ATG) is one method where the signals are sent from the ground towers to the airplane, while the second is the satellite-based IFC where networking is done with the help of satellites. ATG is mostly used in the domestic flights. It uses

two antennas located in the planes belly “for signal reception and transmission,” working in conjunction with the communication towers located on the ground. However, it has its limitations. “As the plane cruises at around 900kph [560 miles an hour], it needs to frequently switch between the stationary towers on the ground to maintain connectivity, but [this] sometimes causes network interruption.” ATG has slower speeds, despite major improvements. Also, there are no ATG signals for flights over large bodies of water, such as flying across the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, South China Sea,

Atlantic Ocean and so on. This is when satellite IFC mechanism takes over. “Data is transmitted via the antenna, located on top of the aircraft, and it connects to the nearest satellite signal. Information is passed between the ground and the plane via the satellite. Plane passengers receive Wi-Fi signals through an on-board router.” There are three types of satellite IFC communications used widely in the aviation industry. They are the L band satellite, the Ku band satellite and the Ka band satellite. The L band refers to satellite signals in the 1-2GHz

range. Signals are transmitted by a small satellite dish. This type of connectivity is the slowest and offers a speed of around 432 kbit/s. Ku band satellites, meanwhile, lie in the 12-18GHz range. They offer speeds of up to 50Mbps and are good for light use only. They are advanced compared to the L band but lag behind the Ka band satellites. Ka band satellite connectivity offers the most advanced in-flight connectivity. It uses the 26.5-40GHz segment of the electromagnetic spectrum. Passengers can enjoy speeds of up to 12Mbps individually while using Ka band satellite connectivity. However, IFC is costly. Air carriers usually charge up to $7 (P378 at an exchange rate of P54 to $1) to access the Internet through IFC, which is mostly used in international flights. “Most airlines control the data flow in such a way that each user gets equal bandwidth, irrespective of whether you are reading mail or streaming Netflix. So, the connection is the fastest with the least number of passengers onboard.” Here are tips for faster Wi-Fi during your flight: ■ Ensure that all the apps are updated, so they don’t get updated automatically as you connect to the Wi-Fi. ■ Disable photo backup, and try to download the movies and music (you intend to peruse) before boarding the plane. ■ Turn off all the tasks that your device performs on “WiFi only” and avoid using multiple apps at a time. ■ Be aware that in-flight networking could be hacked to steal your sensitive information. ■ Use VPNs to hide your identity, since most of the networks are not secure despite showing the “secure connection” notification. ■ Disable Bluetooth and other file-sharing applications. You should log out from all the accounts before you close the browser.

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A10 Saturday, October 20, 2018

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Purging long-forgotten online accounts: Worth the trouble? K-pop scores more than 14.2 billion streams globally on Spotify LAST week, when K-pop group BTS took the stage at New York’s Citi Field, international #BTSArmy members showed up in droves, some traveling from across the country to camp out weeks in advance for the promise of catchy beats, a chorus that hooks you, and charismatic dance moves. Just a few years ago, a sold-out show at one of America’s biggest stadiums may not have been in the cards for a young Korean band. And yet, BTS has inspired fans of all ages, races, cultures and genders not just in Asia, but in the US and around the world. Call it an official global phenomenon. K-pop’s popularity has reached a fever pitch: on leading music streaming service Spotify, more than 14.2 billion K-pop tracks have been streamed globally, and fans have spent over 46 billion minutes since July 2015 listening to their favorite Korean tracks. These numbers grow each day, making K-pop one of the most-streamed genres across the globe. Its fast tempos, thrilling visual components, and resonant use of melody and storytelling have captivated fans on every continent—and on the service’s dedicated K-pop hub. “K-pop or the Hallyu wave is truly an Asian success story. For a genre that’s in a different language and from a very different culture, it is inspiring to see how K-pop is making its mark on the global stage,” says Eve Tan, shows and editorial team leader for Spotify, Southeast Asia. “It is our aim to be a platform of discovery for both artists and music lovers, and we are excited to help Spotify fans across the world enjoy and be inspired by Korean music.” K-pop first captured the world’s attention with PSY’s 2012 viral sensation “Gangnam Style.” Since then, the genre has evolved into a diverse and popular subculture internationally. Driven by social media fan fever and Korean TV dramas, the so-called Korean Wave—an increase in global popularity of South Korean culture and entertainment—has broken through to the US, Latin America, Europe and beyond. Recently, K-pop hit some major international milestones. In September 2017 the genre had its first Billboard Top 10 debut with BTS’s “Love Yourself: Her.” This past July, GOT7 became the first K-pop act to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and last month, BTS, in partnership with UNICEF, became the first K-pop group to deliver a speech at the United Nations. To capitalize on their rising popularity across the globe, many K-pop artists now record songs in multiple languages. GOT7 recently dropped their new album title track “Lullaby” in four languages: Korean, Mandarin, Spanish and English. Some bands have even formed subunits to target different audiences, like supergroup EXO, who perform in both Korean and Mandarin. NCT even has three subunits—NCT U, NCT 127 and NCT Dream—each focused on reaching different age groups and demographics. From the latest K-pop tracks to Korean OSTs (dramatic and highly addictive love songs), there’s a suitable Spotify playlist within the service’s dedicated hub. First introduced in 2015, the K-pop hub is as addictive as the music itself, leading to a significant increase in streams and sharing of Korean music on Spotify. Its K-Pop Daebak playlist (daebak is Korean for cool) hosts exclusive access to vertical video premieres from emerging and chart-topping acts. The latest news, dance tutorials, and all things K-pop can be found at the official Spotify K-Pop Daebak Twitter account (@SpotifyKDaebak).

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BY BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated PresS

EW YORK—The Internet is riddled with long-forgotten accounts on social media, dating apps and various shopping sites used once or twice. Sure, you should delete all those unused logins and passwords. And eat your vegetables. And go to the gym. But is it even possible to delete your zombie online footprints—or worth your time to do so? Earlier this month, a little-used social network notified its few users that it will soon shut down. No, not Google Plus; that came five days later, following the disclosure of a bug that exposed data on a halfmillion people. The earlier shutdown involved Path, created by a former Facebook employee in 2010 as an alternative to Facebook.Then there’s Ello sending you monthly e-mails to remind you that this plucky but little-known social network still exists somehow. It might not seem like a big deal to have these accounts linger. But with hacking in the news constantly, including a breach affecting nearly 30 million Facebook accounts, you might not want all that data sitting around. You might not have a choice if it’s a service you use regularly. But for those you no longer use, consider a purge. Plus, it might feel good to get your online life in order, the way organizing a closet does. Take dating apps such as Tinder, long after you found a steady partner or gave up on finding one. You might have deleted Tinder from your phone, but the ghost of your Tinder account is still out there—just not getting any matches, as Tinder shows only “active” users to potential mates. Or consider Yahoo. Long after many people stopped using it, Yahoo in 2016 suffered the biggest publicly disclosed hack in history, exposing the names, e-mail addresses, birth dates and other information from 3 billion active and dormant accounts. This sort of information is a goldmine for malicious actors looking to steal identities and gain access to financial accounts. Trouble is, cleaning up your digital past isn’t easy. For one, finding all the old accounts can be a pain. For some of us, it might not even be possible to recall every dating site and every would-be Twitter that never was, not to mention shopping or event ticketing sites you bought one thing from and forgot about. Then, you’ll have to figure out which of your many e-mail accounts you used to log in to a service, then recover passwords and answer annoying security questions—assuming you even remember what your favorite movie or fruit was at the time. Only then might you discover that you can’t even delete your account. Yahoo, for instance, didn’t allow users to delete accounts or change personally identifying information they shared, such as their birthday, until pressured to do so after the breach. Even without these hurdles, real life gets in the

way. There are probably good reasons you still haven’t organized your closet, either. Perhaps a better approach is to focus on the most sensitive accounts. It might not matter than a news site still has your log in, if you never gave it a credit card or other personal details (of course, if you reused your bank password you might be at risk). Rich Mogull, CEO of data security firm Securosis, said people should think about what information they had provided to services they no longer use and whether that information could be damaging should private posts and messages inadvertently become public. Dating sites, in particular, can be a trove of potentially damaging information. Once you’re in a relationship, delete those accounts. It’s wise to set aside a time each year—maybe after you do your taxes or right after the holidays—to manage old accounts, said Theresa Payton, who runs the security consulting company Fortalice Solutions and served under President George W. Bush as White House chief information officer. For starters, visit haveibeenpwned.com. This popular tool lets you enter your e-mail addresses and check if

it has been compromised in a data breach. Ideally, the attacked company should have notified you already, but that’s not guaranteed. Change passwords and close accounts you don’t need. You might also check justdeleteme.xyx, which Payton said could help navigate the “complexities of saying good-bye.” The site has a list of common and obscure services. Looking through it might remind you of some of the services you’ve used back in the days. Click on a service for details on how to delete your account. You might discover that some services simply won’t let you go. That could be an oversight from a start-up prioritizing other features over a deletion tool. Or, it could be intentional to keep users coming back. There’s not much you can do beyond deleting as many posts, photos and other personal data as you can. What to do with accounts of people who have died is a whole other story. That said, the prospect of the Grim Reaper—and what sorts of information about you may be exposed after you shed this mortal coil— might just be the motivation you need to clean up your online trail. ■

Smart travel fair testament to Filipinos’ wanderlust–and wanting to stay connected BY PAULINE JOY M. GUTIERREZ FILIPINOS are among Asia’s top travelers, says Visa Inc. in a report, titled “Mapping the Future of Global Travel and Tourism in Asia Pacific.” The multinational financial services corporation also projects a 65-percent increase in international travel in the region in the coming years. Increased online connectivity was seen as one of the factors that fueled this growth, which is why telecommunications giant Smart Communications was quick to tap the emerging global traveling class in its first-ever Travel Sale Fair. From October 12 to 14, the telecom company brought together major airlines, agencies and booking partners at the World Trade Center in Pasay to offer inexpensive travel deals to consumers. “This is a huge celebration of the Filipinos’ growing passion for exploring the world and sharing all these memorable travel experiences with loved ones,” said Kat Luna-

SMART'S Kat Luna-Abelarde and Alice Ramos

Abelarde, FVP and Group Head of International Roaming & Carrier Business for PLDT and Smart, during the event. She added, “That’s why aside from giving the best airline promos and hotel discounts, the Smart World Travel Sale Fair also offers new and improved Smart data roaming products so you can enjoy more

convenient and worry-free getaways in over 153 destinations.” Smart’s suite of new data roaming products extend to the data-packed GigaRoam, which offers 1GB data roaming valid for five days for as low as P999; and Roam Lite, which offers light Web surfing and social-media apps access valid for 24 hours for as low as P150. Data packs are also

available for social-media use and browsing, starting at P150, valid for 24 hours. In addition, Smart customers can easily purchase and monitor their data roaming activities with Smart’s Data Roaming Manager, a one-stop portal that features all available data roaming products; it also keeps track of their data roaming usage. During the three-day fair, the company also introduced a pre-booking feature for its data roaming packages, which is a first in the country. This feature allows customers to conveniently buy their data roaming services ahead of their trip, so they won’t have to worry about staying connected to the Internet while abroad. “When you say ‘roaming’ it’s associated with so many negative things—it’s expensive, it’s not seamless—and we wanted to change that. We want to take our travel products to the next level, and the way to do that is by improving our user experience,” said Abelarde.

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BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 20, 2018 A11

Protect businesses from cyber attacks, says Acer exec

THIS undated product image provided by Pinterest shows new Pinterest products like this search. In another step toward revenue growth and to give users something they’ve been asking for, the company has announced that it’s making more of its “pins,” the photos and illustrations users post and save for inspiration, “shoppable.” PHOTOS: AP

Can Pinterest succeed as the ‘un’-social network? BY BARBARA ORTUTAY | The Associated Press

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EW YORK—If Instagram is the dream vacation you’ll never go on and Facebook is Thanksgiving with too many relatives arguing over politics, Pinterest is sitting on the couch by yourself, watching a homeimprovement show and absent-mindedly flipping through an old issue of Gourmet magazine. Pinterest has long shunned being labeled a social network. Because of that, it doesn’t push users to add friends or build connections the way rivals have done to grow quickly. But while this has meant that Pinterest is smaller than, say, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the service has also avoided much of its peers’ troubles around misinformation, hate and abuse. “Social media is about sharing what you are doing with other people,” Evan Sharp, Pinterest’s cofounder and chief product officer, said in an interview. “Pinterest isn’t about sharing. It’s mostly about yourself, your dreams, your ideas for what you want for your future.” That means not bugging you to add friends and see whom you know. Comments are there, but not essential. If you want, you can do Pinterest all alone. Still, if Pinterest is to start selling shares to the public, as it’s widely expected to in the coming year, potential investors will be looking at how much money it makes and how much it will grow. In another step toward revenue growth, the company announced on Tuesday that it is making more of its “pins”—the photos and illustrations users post and save for inspiration—“shoppable.” The eight-year-old company has a deliberate, slower growth mentality— as opposed to, say, Facebook’s “move fast and break things.” But it’s hard to tell how much of this slower growth is truly deliberate rather than a sign that Pinterest is merely a niche service. “Sometimes slow and steady can win the race,” said Andrew Lipsman, an analyst at research firm eMarketer. Given the mistakes hyper-growth socialmedia companies have made over the years, he added, “maybe there is actually an advantage in this, once you get yourself out of that Silicon Valley mindset.” Pinterest’s main goal is discovery and inspiration, catching people at big life moments such as weddings,

EVAN SHARP, Pinterest cofounder and chief product officer

their first kid or first apartment—and everything in between—to help them find ideas of what an outfit, a meal or a dream home might look like. It’s a visual search app, too, letting users find related objects by taking photos of stuff in real life. Pinterest was founded in 2010 by Sharp and Ben Silberman. It was different from the start. The San Francisco-based service attracted women from the Midwest and central United States, rather than young people, Silicon Valley insiders and nerds in the know. Even back then, it was reminiscent of Oprah’s O Dream Boards, a place where you “envision your best life” through a digital billboard of sorts. The business strategy is to make the boards something more than pretty things to look at. The boards would feature something to buy, something to make, something a business would want to get in front of a potential customer in the form of an advertisement. With Tuesday’s announcement, users who’ve been pinning collections of wedding dresses, welcome mats or wool slippers will now be able to see prices and links to retailers’ web sites to buy them. While Pinterest already had such “buyable pins” where people could buy stuff, the company says these new “product pins” cover many more products and will be easier to find. In addition, if the exact item is not available,

Pinterest is making it easier for people to find similar ones. While a brown leather couch is a brown leather couch when you type it out in text, it is more complex when it comes to images. When you’re looking for that perfect leather couch, you simply know when you see the right one. Pinterest wants to be the company that will show it to you even when you can’t put it in words to type it into a search engine. Though Pinterest doesn’t take a cut when people buy stuff through pins, it makes advertising revenue when businesses promote pins in users’ feeds. EMarketer estimates that Pinterest will grow 45 percent next year to more than $1 billion. The service has 250 million users, compared with 335 million for Twitter and over 1 billion for Instagram. Pinterest says users feel happy and optimistic about the future when they use the service, even if there may be less of them, at least for now. Pinterest might have kept people happy by simply avoiding social-media’s mistakes. “By not creating a public forum, they have avoided a lot of the downsides,” Lipsman said. “Generally there is a more positive, upbeat vibe to it. It’s not a place where people might feel bad about themselves.” An initial public offering of stock, and how Pinterest does afterward, might show whether the tradeoff was worth it. ■

THE Philippines is one of the countries susceptible to cybersecurity attacks. From hacking of government web sites before elections, to online bank cyberheist, the country’s defenses against these attacks have yet to be fortified. Recognizing this need, the government created the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to establish a system that will safely provide Filipinos access to vital information and communication technology (ICT) structures and services. Through the formulation of the National Cybersecurity Plan 2022, the DICT aims to assure continuous operation of the country’s critical infostructures, implement cyber resiliency to respond to threats, coordinate with law-enforcement agencies, and cultuvate a cyber-secure educated society. Echoing the government’s mission, Acer Philippines, a leading ICT company, calls on institutions that are highly vulnerable from cyber threats, like businesses, to strengthen their data security by maximizing available hardware and software. Acer Philippines Sales and Marketing Director Sue Ong-Lim said, “Technological advancements will continue to bring security issues if we don’t know how to utilize them. Cybersecurity has always been a problem in the country and it’s about time we do something about it. Globally, 43 percent of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses and with 230,000 new malware samples created every day, the number of data breaches are expected to rise in the coming years.” Malware, or malicious software, is harmful to computer users and can easily spread, especially for Filipinos who thrive on being online. But online threats are not the only issues Filipinos should be wary of. One can transfer malware through unsafe transport of data though corrupted hard drives and USB devices. In short, viruses can ride on physical devices through manual transmission and connection. “Protecting your company’s information is not just an online activity but also a proactive offline effort. Threats are not just found online or within the software component of your devices but also in the physical parts of unprotected computers. We always recommend to our clients and business partners to choose hardware that provide security features,” explained Ong-Lim. As a top ICT company, Acer puts thought into their designs of both software and hardware. Designed to protect companies’ assets from harm and theft, the tech giant developed the Acer Security Suite—a complete hardware and software package that encrypts any program file, computer, and user-set passwords, and can leverage trusted platform module technology for totally secure computing. Aside from the suite, Acer also offers commercial desktops such as Acer Veriton, which is designed with durable security locks that companies can utilize for protection. At the same time, it’s also equipped with security command plug-ins that will give users the liberty to move storage of important information, and the urgency to act upon any threat. “Aside from updating your software, purchasing tools and devices that can protect businesses from cyber threats is a worthwhile investment. Businesses might not be aware but proactively safeguarding their data is less costly than fighting off an attack. Whether it’s a database of their customers, or proprietary data, information is currency for every business, and technology should be utilized to stop threats from ever reaching them,” said Ong-Lim.

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

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 20, 2018 A12

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RICHARD YU, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG, shows off at a London event the latest smartphone hotness from the company, the Huawei Mate 20 Series.

Huawei unveils white-hot Mate 20 Series in London W

E’RE not exactly sure if it was mid last month, from all the coverage we consumed of the IFA 2018 in Berlin, Germany, that we came across a news report in which a top executive of Huawei teased that consumers should hold off from buying the just-released Samsung Note 9 until they’ve seen what the leading global provider of information and communications technology will be launching in a mere few weeks. Well, at a grand event held on October 16 in London, Huawei (consumer.huawei.com/en) unveiled the Huawei Mate 20 Series, one of the most highly anticipated smartphone series of the year. Representing a momentous milestone in the history of the series, the Huawei Mate 20 Series “embodies the pinnacle of innovation,” says the company. “Designed with the industry’s most powerful and sophisticated process technology, the latest Huawei flagship devices set a new bar by which all 2018 smartphones will be measured.” In a media release, the company says, “The Huawei Mate 20 Series is powered by the company’s densest and highest performing system on chip (SoC) to date—the Kirin 980. Manufactured with the advanced 7nm process incorporating the powerful Cortex-A76-based CPU and Mali-G76 GPU, the SoC offers improved performance and an unprecedented smooth user experience. The new 40W Huawei SuperCharge, 15W Huawei Wireless Quick Charge and large batteries work in tandem to provide users with the best battery life. The Matrix Camera System includes Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens that lets users not only see wider but also closer with its new macro distance capability. The Hyper Optical Pattern on the glass back plays with light and shadows, producing an iridescent optical effect that is immediately captivating. The Matrix Camera System adopts the iconic Four-Point Design that exudes personality, giving the device a unique visual identity that is recognizable even at a distance. The Huawei Mate 20 Series is shipped with the highly customized Android P-based EMUI 9 operating system, on which consumers can enjoy all productivity and entertainment features easily and conveniently with a few simple taps and swipes. Available in 6.39-inch, 6.53-inch and 7.2-inch sizes, the

Huawei Mate 20 Series encompasses four devices: the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS. “Smartphones are an important entrance to the digital world. The Huawei Mate 20 Series is designed to be the best ‘mate’ of consumers, accompanying and empowering them to enjoy a richer, more fulfilled life with their higher intelligence, unparalleled battery lives and powerful camera performance,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG. The SoC at the core of smartphones has a determining factor in a device’s performance and efficiency. Manufactured with the cutting-edge 7nm technology process, the SoC fits 6.9 billion transistors within a die the size of a fingernail. Compared to Kirin 970, the latest chipset is equipped with CPU that is 75 percent more powerful, a GPU that is 46 percent more powerful and an NPU that is 226 percent more powerful. Furthermore, the efficiency of the components has also been elevated: the CPU is 58 percent more efficient, GPU is 178 percent more efficient and the NPU is 182 percent more efficient. The Kirin 980 is the world’s first commercial SoC to use the Cortex A76-based cores. Huawei has innovatively designed a three-tier architecture that consists of two ultra-large cores, two large cores and four small cores. This grants the CPU the flexibility to allocate the optimal amount of resources to heavy, medium and light tasks for unprecedented levels of efficiency, simultaneously improving the performance of the SoC while enhancing the battery life. The Kirin 980 is also the industry’s first SoC to be equipped with Dual-NPU, granting it higher On-Device AI processing capability to support any and all AI applications. Moreover, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the world’s first smartphone to support the 4.5G LTE Cat. 21 standard, allowing consumers to experience download speeds of up to 1.4Gbps. It also supports the world’s fastest Wi-Fi connection speeds—a 2GB footage requires only 10 seconds to download. The top-end flagship also supports dual-band (L1+L5) GPS positioning technology. The AI GPS Satellite Selection technology enhances the positioning accuracy across a wide range of scenarios.

Besides superb performance, the new series also features groundbreaking improvement on battery life. The Mate 20 Pro houses a large, high-density 4200mAh battery and supports the 40W SuperCharge, which gives the device 70-percent charge in 30 minutes. The safety of the technology is certified by TÜV Rheinland. Moreover, Mate 20 Pro supports 15W Wireless Quick Charge, the industry’s fastest wireless charging solution, and Wireless Reverse Charge, which enables the device to work as a power bank for selected electronic devices supporting wireless charging. The Huawei Mate 20 X supports an ultra-large 5000mAh battery, and is equipped with a revolutionary “super cool system” that uses a combination of graphene film and vapor chamber to deliver outstanding cooling performance. With the cooling system in place, the CPU and GPU embedded in Mate 20 X can remain at full throttle for an extended period of time and deliver the smoothest and most satisfying gaming experience to consumers. The super cool system also marks the first time graphene is utilized to cool smartphones. Building on the foundation of Huawei P20 Series’s camera system, the company augmented the Mate 20 with a powerful addition—16mm Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens. This wider perspective creates a sense of spaciousness and a three dimensional effect to the images. The new camera system also supports macro distance, which produces crisp images of objects that are placed as close as 2.5 cm from the lens. The added ultra-wide angle lens and macro support completes the feature set of the camera system, elevating it to a truly all-round camera that is ready to capture any and all action. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is equipped with a 40MP main camera, a 20MP ultra wide-angle camera and an 8MP telephoto camera. Together, the trio of lenses supports a wide range of focal lengths (equivalent to the performance of a 16-270mm zoom lens), enabling it to mimic the results from professional cameras. Of course, there’s much more to be said about the latest hotness from the Chinese consumer electronics giant. We’ll have a fuller report in an upcoming review. WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY GERARD S. RAMOS

Shanghai airport automates check-in with facial recognition BY ERIKA KINETZ The Associated Press

A WOMAN passes an entrance with a facial-recognition system in Korla, China.

SHANGHAI—It’s now possible to check in automatically at Shanghai’s Hongqiao airport using facial-recognition technology, part of an ambitious rollout of facial-recognition systems in China that has raised privacy concerns as Beijing pushes to become a global leader in the field. Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport unveiled self-service kiosks for flight and baggage check-in, security clearance and boarding powered by facial-recognition technology, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Similar efforts are underway at airports

in Beijing and Nanyang city, in central China’s Henan province. Many airports in China already use facial recognition to help speed security checks, but Shanghai’s system, which debuted on Monday, is being billed as the first to be fully automated. “It is the first time in China to achieve self-service for the whole check-in process,” said Zhang Zheng, general manager of the ground services department for Spring Airlines, the first airline to adopt the system at Hongqiao airport. Currently, only Chinese identity card holders can use the technology. Spring Airlines said on Tuesday that passengers had embraced automated checkin, with 87 percent of 5,017 people who took Spring flights on Monday using the self-

service kiosks, which can cut down check-in times to less than a minute and a half. Across greater China, facial recognition is finding its way into daily life. Mainland police have used facial-recognition systems to identify people of interest in crowds and nab jaywalkers, and are working to develop an integrated national system of surveillance camera data. Chinese media are filled with reports of ever-expanding applications: A KFC outlet in Hangzhou, near Shanghai, where it’s possible to pay using facialrecognition technology; a school that uses facial-recognition cameras to monitor students’ reactions in class; and hundreds of automated teller machines in Macau

equipped with facial-recognition devices to curb money laundering. But increased convenience may come at a cost in a country with few rules on how the government can use biometric data. “Authorities are using biometric and artificial intelligence to record and track people for social control purposes,” said Maya Wang, senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch. “We are concerned about the increasing integration and use of facial-recognition technologies throughout the country because it provides more and more data points for the authorities to track people.” ASSOCIATED PRESS RESEARCHER CHEN SI CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT

OCTOBER 20, 2018

WHAT’S INSIDE:

Saturday Edition

Bloomin' Apple Few desserts are as iconic as an apple pie. While these baked, sweet, steaming pies scream American countryside, a few other countries have their versions too. Apple pies are popular for a number of reasons. Apples are relatively inexpensive, and with the addition of a few common ingredients, can be transformed into the perfect blend of sweet, tart and spicy.

TAPERIA POBLACION Spanish cuisine is arguably the most influential in our local food. While the Chinese come a close second, just looking at any fiesta table, it’s easy to see that until now, our dishes still contain a heavy dose of what our conquerors brought to our shores.

GAGA FOR GAJA Saying that Korean culture has made a big splash on our shores is a huge understatement. From songs to TV shows to fashion to food—their culture has actually become part of the mainstream.

HALLOWEEN GOOSE BUMPS AT F1 HOTEL MANILA F1 Hotel Manila presents monsterrific packages so you can share this season’s scariest stories and the most bone-chilling moments with your family and friends, amid such comfort and luxury!

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EW desserts are as iconic as an apple pie. While these baked, sweet, steaming pies scream American countryside, a few other countries have their versions too. Apple pies are popular for a number of reasons. Apples are relatively inexpensive and, with the addition of a few common ingredients, can be transformed into the perfect blend of sweet, tart and spicy. Think of apple pie and it is difficult to imagine it without the image of golden lattice pastry or some kind of crumble on top. While those versions look good, too much pastry or crumble can overwhelm the fruit itself. For this month’s recipe, let me share my version of a “naked’ apple pie. Without the extra pastry or crumble on top, this version lets the apples and spices shine through. By carefully arranging the apple slices, you can form a floral pattern that looks as good as it tastes.

COOK CONNECTING FOODIES

PUBLISHER T. ANTHONY C. CABANGON BUSINESSMIRROR EDITOR IN CHIEF LOURDES M. FERNANDEZ COOK MAGAZINE EDITOR IN CHIEF DINO H. DATU MANAGING EDITOR MAGNOLIA S. SILVESTRE GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR EDUARDO A. DAVAD GRAPHIC ARTIST SHAIRA MAE B. BARNUEVO ONLINE EDITOR RUBEN M. CRUZ JR. PRESIDENT BENJAMIN V. RAMOS VP FINANCE ADEBELO D. GASMIN VP ADVERTISING SALES MARVIN N. ESTIGOY ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER MARLON A. ALDENESE ACCOUNT MANAGERS MARIBEL C. AVELIS LEAH CALING-BONOTAN MICHAEL N. PITUC EVENTS & MARKETING OFFICER CARLO M. ABALOS

Rose Apple Pie BY CHEF GEL SALONGA

INGREDIENTS: CRUST 1 1/4 cups 1/2 tsp 8 tbsp 1/4 to 1/2 cup

all-purpose flour salt butter, cold ice water

FILLING 6 to 8 pcs 3 tbsp 1/2 cup 1/2 cup 1 tsp 1 tsp

medium Granny Smith apples lemon juice granulated sugar brown sugar cinnamon nutmeg

PROCEDURE: TO PREPARE THE CRUST 1. Whisk the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter, working until the mixture resembles a coarse meal or has small lumps. Add four tablespoons of ice water. Work with hands until the dough comes together. If the dough is still crumbly, add more ice water a tablespoon at a time. 2. Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it a few times, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

2 BusinessMirror Cook October 20, 2018

TO PREPARE THE FILLING 1. Peel the apples and cut them into very thin slices. Put them in a large bowl with enough water to cover. Squeeze lemon juice in the water to prevent the apples from browning. 2. In a separate bowl, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir to combine. 3. Place the apple slices in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, stir to coat and let sit for 30 minutes. TO ASSEMBLE 1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. 2. Roll the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface. Wrap around a rolling pin and carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. 3. Working in batches, remove the apples from the cinnamon-sugar mixture and carefully squeeze to remove excess moisture. Place the drained apples in a separate bowl. Set aside the excess liquid as this will be used to make the caramel sauce. 4. Working from the outside, line the apple slices on the pie dough by overlapping each slice to create a rose shape. As you reach the center, roll one apple slice tightly—this serves as your bud. 5. In a saucepan, bring the cinnamon-sugar mixture to a boil or until it thickens and pour this on top of the apples. 6. Bake for at least 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. 7. Remove from the oven and let cool.

CIRCULATION MANAGER ROLANDO MANANGAN PRODUCTION MANAGER JOMAR ESCALICAS PRE-PRESS SUPERVISOR RODANTE B. INGLES Contact us: Editorial: Tel. no. 814-0134 to 37 local 108; Website: www.cookmagazine.ph; e-mail us at editor@cookmagazine.ph. Advertising: Tel. No. 814-0134 local 152, 0915.769.0022 or e-mail advertising@cookmagazine.ph Circulation: for subscription; purchase back issues; and inquire about bulk orders; please call 893-1662 or e-mail circulation@cookmagazine.ph Copyright 2004 By Philippine Graphic Publications Inc. No reproduction without permission of Philippine Graphic Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Entered as second class mail at the Makati Central Post Office under permit no. 722-00 - NCR dated August 21, 2000. Subscription Rates: P1,800.00 for 2 years (Metro Manila); P3,000.00 (Provincial); P960.00 for 1 year (Metro Manila); P1,560.00 (Provincial). Cook Magazine - Connecting Foodies (ISSN:0119-9900) is a monthly publication of Philippine Graphic Publishing Inc. with editorial office at Dominga Bldg. III, 2113 Pasong Tamo cor. dela Rosa St., Makati City. Telefax No. 814-0134

Taperia

Poblacion

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BY CHEF DINO DATU

PANISH cuisine is arguably the most influential in our local food. While the Chinese come a close second, just looking at any fiesta table, it’s easy to see that until now, our dishes still contain a heavy dose of what our conquerors brought to our shores. Being familiar brings with it some added pressure, though. Unlike other foreign cuisines, we have our own cooking to compare to Spanish dishes. Having the same flavors, similar ingredients and cooking methods as ours, Spanish restaurants have the possibility of losing to lola’s or mama’s specialties. Good food and good cooking, though, translates no matter the cuisine and this is what I came to expect from Taperia Poblacion. It’s no secret that I admire Chef Ariel Manuel, as do many others in the food industry. His Lolo Dad’s restaurant was an icon in the 1990s and early 2000s. His current namesake restaurant—Bistro Manuel—is, for many, the best fine-dining establishment in the Metro, myself included. But Chef Ariel has always been known for French and Frenchinspired dishes. The question now is

how do his talents translate to a cuisine that is very different from French? Taperia Poblacion is not your typical Spanish restaurant. They don’t really claim to be authentic either. While the menu is definitely Spanish, Chef Ariel has taken liberties with the food, interpreting classic dishes his way. If it were any other chef, I’d be worried. Spanish food is already great, sticking to tradition is an easier route. But as with any great chef, stamping one’s signature is not a matter of ego, it is their way of trying to improve on something good to make it great. And what is Chef Ariel Manuel’s signature? At least for a fan like me, it is his ability to balance textures and flavors, his use of the very best ingredients, his straightforward approach to food. He cooks the best ingredients available in the best way possible. How can you beat that? No gimmicks, no fanfare, just really good eating.

JUNIOR Pintxos Assortment

GAMBAS with Almonds

ARROZ Valenciana

SANGRIA

CALLOS

SOPA de Ajo

PUGON Lechon

CHEF Ariel Manuel

LECHE Flan

I would describe the food at Taperia Poblacion as Spanish cuisine via the Filipino palate, but done at the highest level. There is a certain honesty with how Chef Ariel cooks, and it always shows in his food. He cooks to feed his patrons well, not for fame, not for likes on social media, not for acclaim. On our visit, we had a very classic Spanish-Filipino meal. Favorites include Sautéed Angulas Pintxo, Gambas with Almonds, Sopa de Ajo, Rib Eye Salpicao,

US Rib Eye Salpicao

Arroz Valenciana and Pugon Lechon. I also have to mention that they serve the best Callos I have ever tasted. If only for the Callos, I’d go back to Taperia Poblacion again and again. And just like in previous visits, chatting with Chef Ariel is always worth the trip. Like a true chef, he’s always there to make sure the food and service are topnotch. Taperia Poblacion is at Six Axis Center, 4347 B. Valdez Street, Poblacion Makati City. BusinessMirror Cook October 20, 2018 3

BY CHEF JOJO CUESTA JAVIER

Bloody Halloween Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS: 3/4 cup butter 2 pcs eggs 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 2/3 cup milk 1 tsp baking powder 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 tbsp red food color ICING 200 g Magic Whizk instant whipping cream 2 tbsp cold milk red food color for bloody red decoration on top PROCEDURE:

1. Preheat oven at 350˚F. 2. In a medium bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder. 3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla. Pour milk then add in dry ingredients (alternate liquid and dry ingredients). 4. Scoop batter into size 3 ounces cupcake liner and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out with crumbs clinging to it. 5. Cool thoroughly before decorating.

Nummy Mummy Heads

INGREDIENTS: 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp cornstarch 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1/2 cup packed lightbrown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 pc large egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

PROCEDURE: 1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. 2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt then sift. 3. Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla mix to combine. Add the chips. 4. Add dry ingredients and mix until combine. Do not overmix. 5. Spoon one tablespoon of cookie dough and arrange on the baking sheet, an inch apart. 6. Bake for 20 minutes or just until the edges are set. 7. Let the cookies cool from pan before removing them.

Ghost Truffles INGREDIENTS: 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tbsp cocoa 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar 2 pcs eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/3 cup sour cream 1 tsp coffee powder 1/2 cup water

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PROCEDURE: 1. Preheat oven 350˚F. 2. Melt chocolate over a doube boiler. Set aside to cool slightly. 3. Sift dry ingredients. Set aside. 4. Beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy about 2 minutes. At low speed add melted chocolate. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients and water alternately. 5. Pour into cupcake paper. Bake for 20 minutes.

TO ASSEMBLE INGREDIENTS: 250 g dark sweet chocolate ready-made candy eyes available at any baking stores PROCEDURE: 1. Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

2. Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. 3. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. 4. Place on waxed paper to set. Decorate.

Gaga for Gaja BY CHEF DINO DATU

RIBIMBAP GALBI-JJIM

SAMGYEOPSAL Kimbap

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AYING that Korean culture has made a big splash on our shores is a huge understatement. From songs to TV shows to fashion to food, South Korea hasn’t just influenced our daily lives—their culture has actually become part of the mainstream. As a chef, I’ve always thought of Korean food as an easy pleaser. Having a couple of dominant flavors and a few essential ingredients like Korean chili and miso pastes, you’d be hard-pressed to find really bad Korean food. It all seems so simple, a bit of meat or seafood, some garlic, leeks, a bit of Gochujang paste and sesame oil and you have a decent Korean dish. For me, consistency and simplicity make good eating, and with a few kitchen staples, cooking and eating Korean is pretty foolproof. The seeming simplicity of Korean cooking can, of course, be doubleedged. If most places serve okay to good food, how can a Korean restaurant rise above everyone else and serve patrons great meals? How, with similar flavors, basic ingredients and cooking methods can a restaurant distinguish itself from the ho-hum? As most someone who has been to quite a few Korean restaurants, I tend to already know what to expect. Good meats to be cooked at the table, check. Homemade Banchan that’s unlimited, check. Fresh vegetables, good rice plus a few standard dishes from the kitchen, check. That’s usually all we’ve come to expect from any decent Korean place. So when I got the invite to try out Gaja Korean Kitchen, I was pretty confident I’d be having an agreeable meal because “who does bad Korean?” As soon as I entered Gaja, I thought to myself, “Oh, it’s modern Korean. I hope they don’t do fusion.” Unlike the normal Korean restaurants with chimneys and grills at every table, old wooden furniture and food and drink posters serving as art adorning the walls, Gaja’s interiors are bright and airy, very upscale Asian bistro. There are

OSAM

digital murals that cover entire walls, decorative patterned wooden dividers and a lighted display wall that creatively uses Soju bottles as décor along with some earthen jars. What I didn’t know was that there was something hidden behind that wall, but I’ll get to that later. With our host, coowner Terence Lim telling the Cook team all about Gaja, we got on to the best part— the eating. We started with Deep Sea Pajeon, a crispy on the outside, chewy and briny on the inside Korean pancake. My worries about being served “food with a twist,” that cliché that fusion restaurants always use to describe what they do, were laid to rest from the first appetizer we had. It was straight-up Korean, done well but plated better. Since my worries were gone, I was now excited for the rest. Next up was their Bulgogi and Kimchi Mandu, a Korean pot sticker similar to Japan’s Gyoza. Sweet and savory beef, sour and spicy Kimchi and velvety cheese all wrapped in thin dumpling dough, shaped into a pillow and steam-fried. Another Korean classic is Kimbap, their version of what we more popularly know as maki rolls. Gaja’s Samgyeopsal Kimbap is a marriage of two popular Korean foods, using the popular grilled pork belly slices to wrap the Samjjang rice and pickles. Genius. Among classic Korean dishes there are few that are as iconic as Bibimbap, Galbi-jjim and Osam Bulgogi. These dishes are popular for a reason— they already taste awesome! While I appreciated the little tweaks they did for the appetizers, I was unsure if Gaja’s chefs can still pull it off for such iconic main dishes. To the Cook team’s collective surprise, their reinterpreted Korean classics were amazing! Just like what they did with the appetizers, changes were done to enhance and improve the dishes, not to confuse the diner. The alterations were done with dining pleasure in mind, to improve on the dishes, not to feed the chef’s ego or

DEEP Sea Pajeon

just to look creative and current (which so many “modern” restaurants do). Upon meeting the man at the helm of Gaja’s kitchen, I was pleasantly surprised. Here was this young, unassuming man who obviously knows what he’s doing. Chef Marc Justin Tee isn’t your typical brash, in-your-face young gunslinger. He was modest and worked hard and studied Korean cuisine well. He took advantage of a scholarship offer in Korea and lived and breathed their food and culture, and it shows in his menu. As much as he has altered, he has retained. The soul of Korean food is intact in all his dishes, no matter how updated and tweaked they may be. Gaja’s Ribimbap is an example of how they modernize and improve classics. And no, that wasn’t a typo, it’s really Ribimbap, named after the cubes of beef rib-eye that replaces the chopped beef in the normal version of the dish. Served with blanched veggies and a Gochujang butter that makes the dish milder than your normal Bibimbap but richer and more savory. Another must-try dish is the Galbijjim, this time without the sweet broth it usually comes with. Gaja’s version is cooked low and slow under vacuum, sous vide as it’s more popularly known. The 48-hour slow braise ensures not only fall-off-the-bone tender meat, the vacuum also helps in letting the seasoning seep deep inside the meat. The result is a large piece of Kitayama Wagyu short rib packed with concentrated Galbi-jjim flavor. If you can imagine the usual Galbi stew, concentrate the broth and inject it into the meat fibers—that’s how Gaja’s Galbi-jjim tastes like—different but the same and definitely better. Osam is Korea’s answer to surf and turf. Squid and pork belly may not be a common combination in other countries, but the Koreans do theirs really well. Gaja’s Osam may not be recognizable to the average Korean, but their

JJAJANGMYEON

KIMCHI Sour

KOREAN Chili Lava Cake

deconstructed version has some purpose to it. Instead of mixing all the ingredients and serving it on a hot plate as what’s traditionally done, Gaja’s version of Osam has the whole chunk of pork belly cooked crispy, which makes the dish even better than the original. Served with Kimchi rice-stuffed whole squid, Gaja’s Osam is a smart reinvention of the original dish, which is good, but can get tiresome after a few bites. After all that sumptuous food, we of course still had room for dessert and drinks. For the sweet endings, we got to try their Korean Chili Lava Cake, a spiced version of the well-loved dessert; and their Black Sesame Crème Brulee, a Korean play on the classic custard. Now back to that display wall I was talking about. Among the Soju bottles decorating that wall was one that served as a switch. Pushing down on the bottle opened up what seemed like a wall covered in a modern Korean image. Behind the trap door is a whole new world hidden from the diners— The Odd Seoul, a Korean-themed bar. This hidden bar serves as place for some Soju-based drinks, craft beers and an area to unwind and party the night away. Among their specialty drinks are the Kimchi Sour and Smoking Tiger. While I am not much of a drinker, I did enjoy their creative cocktails. The bar’s interiors make you feel as if you stepped right into Gangnam district through the subway. There is nothing better than enjoying good food and having a few drinks after. With Gaja Korean Kitchen and The Odd Seoul, you get to do both in one place. If, like many Filipinos, you enjoy Korean food and culture, you owe it to yourself to visit Gaja and Odd Seoul. They may have taken liberties in interpreting the Korean experience, but trust that what they’ve done was make it better. Gaja Korean Kitchen and The Odd Seoul are located 8445 Kalayaan Avenue, Poblacion, Makati City. BusinessMirror Cook October 20, 2018 5

HALLOWEEN GOOSE BUMPS AT F1 HOTEL MANILA

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AKE way for Spookier Nights as we welcome Halloween’s forthcoming arrival. F1 Hotel Manila presents these monsterrific packages so you can share this season’s scariest stories and the most bone-chilling moments with your family and friends, amid such comfort and luxury! Halloween monsters come alive as F1 Hotel Manila invites children of all ages to experience and enjoy a faBOOlous Trick or Treat Halloween Party themed Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween in partnership with Columbia Philippines at the Infinity Ballroom on October 27 (Saturday) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They can dress up as a Werewolf, Witch, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, or be their own favorite monster character for a spooktacular

celebration. For only P1,700 net per person, indulge your little monsters to participate in inclusive activities, such as face painting, Trick or Treating, and many more shenanigans that would make your kids crazy for Halloween. Spooky nights just got better! The Fright Night Room Package will send shivers down your spine as the hotel thrills you with an overnight stay in a City Suite for the package promo of P5,600 net, inclusive of buffet breakfast for two persons and a 20-percent discount on the Trick or Treat Halloween Party. Start the fun at “The Home of Happy Experiences” with F1 Hotel's EEARIEsistable packages this Halloween season, located at the heart of Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries, e-mail inquiry@ f1hotelsandresorts.com.

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HALLOWEEN BOOS AND BOOZE AT RICHMONDE HOTEL ORTIGAS

ILL up on fun surprises and intoxicating brews this Halloween at Richmonde Hotel Ortigas. From October 31 to November 4, book a thrilling staycation in the city for as low as P3,600 net for a Superior room with breakfast buffet for two persons. Up the ante and go for more treats to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve with the Boos and Booze Package, starting at only P4,200 net and inclusive of a carafe of Zombie cocktail and nachos to go with your ghost story-telling session or horror movie marathon with friends, and breakfast buffet for two. All rates also come with Wi-Fi access, free parking for one vehicle, and complimentary use of the gym and heated indoor pool.

At The Exchange, scary turns to happy on October 31st as Richmonde Ortigas’s bar lounge presents “Fright Night,” an ’80s-inspired Halloween happy hour party. Be spooked by the iconic creepy characters from the decade’s pop culture, and even the era’s hairstyle and fashion, but you’ll surely delight in the well-loved retro music as you relish a drink-allyou-can spree of San Miguel beer products, Smirnoff Mule, featured cocktail drinks, white wine, iced tea and sodas; and binge on delectable bar chow. The Halloween Happy Hour is priced at only P798 net and is from 6 ‘til 10 p.m. (bar chow buffet is open until 9 p.m. only). Live musical entertainment starts at 7:30 p.m. All guests also get the chance to win hotel gift certificates in the raffle.

ONCE UPON A TIME, A DIAMOND HOTEL HALLOWEEN EVENT Kids get a chance to win a Lego Grand Showcase

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N a land of princesses, villains, elves, dragons, and where heroes save the day, you can be just about anyone. On October 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Diamond Hotel Philippines, get ready to become part

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of a bedtime story filled with adventure, magic and a whole lot of fun. Find the secret to happy ever after in Once Upon a Time, A Diamond Halloween Event that comes with lots of surprises for all. Purchase your event ticket for

only P1,000 net per person inclusive of a take-home snack box and access to the Halloween fairytale quests and activities. Wish upon a star and you might just win a Lego Grand Showcase in the Grand Raffle Draw. Experience the thrill of your greatest adventure yet. Start your search for sweet treats or tricks around the hotel. For a fun and artsy kind of activity, unleash your creativity and join the kids for some arts and crafts making. You may need some fairy dust along the way so head over the face painting or glitter tattoo booths for that shimmer fix. Make sure to keep all the good memories of the day with the family and drop by at the photobooth for some snapshots. Catch enthralling live stage performances and don't forget to visit the food and beverage stations for yummy delights. Wear your most charming fairytale costume for a chance to win a special prize. The magic continues with the Enchanted Room Promo available

from October 25 to November 5. Priced at P5,500 net per night, spend a blissful stay in a Deluxe Room inclusive of buffet breakfast for two, complimentary use of Health Club and Spa facilities, and swimming pool, Wi-Fi access, a 20-percent discount on food and beverage in all outlets, massage and laundry, and shuttle service on weekends to Intramuros, MOA and Robinsons mall. You may also avail the room promo for only P6,000 net per night and get one complimentary ticket to the Halloween event. Use the promo code ENCHANTED to book your stay from now until October 28 at www.diamondhotel.com. Room promos are for applicable for local residents only and other conditions apply. You may purchase Halloween tickets via onlineshopping.diamondhotel. com. Diamond Indulgence members are entitled to a P100 discount for a maximum of four tickets.

THE FEED

Diana Stalder celebrates 22nd Anniversary!

ONCE UPON A HALLOWEEN AT HOTEL H2O

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ALLOWEEN is the special time of the year when you can be someone different by dressing up in a scary or just a fun costume. Hotel H2O is ready to welcome you with spooky lunch buffet, activities such as trick or treat, face painting, photobooth, magic show, Manila Ocean Park Creepy Crawlies Show and Tell and film showing. The Once Upon a Halloween will take place at the Pacific Ballroom on Wednesday, October 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Guests are encouraged to register by 10:30 a.m. The event will start with Manila Ocean Park’s Creepy Crawlies Show and Tell, where the animal trainers will tell you the importance of iguanas, snakes and other reptiles in our ecosystem. Plus, you will have a chance to touch the eerie yet friendly species. In addition to that, guests—especially the kids—will be kept entertained with a magic show, fun games with amazing prizes from Cook magazine and Manila Bulletin. The event is priced at P799 for adults and P599 for kids aged 4 to 10 years old. Prices are already inclusive of VAT. For reservations, call Hotel H2O at 238-6100 or e-mail sales@hotelh2o.com or you may also visit http://bit.ly/ HalloweenReservation. For more information, visit www.hotelh2o. com/promos.

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