BusinessMirror September 01, 2018

BusinessMirror

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A broader look at today’s business n

Saturday, September 1, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 322

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ENDING THE BUDGET

STANDOFF

MEDAL TALLY R

Country

G

S

B

Total

1

China

112

78

56

246

2

Japan

62

50

69

181

3

Rep. of Korea

41

51

59

151

4

Indonesia

30

23

39

92

5

IR Iran

19

19

20

58

6

Chinese Taipei

16

17

26

59

7

Uzbekistan

15

19

20

54

8

India

13

21

25

59

9

DPR Korea

12

9

13

34

10

Bahrain

12

6

7

25

11

Kazakhstan

11

11

38

60

12

Thailand

10

14

40

64

13

Hong Kong

6

14

17

37

14

Malaysia

5

11

11

27

15

Qatar

5

4

3

12

16

Vietnam

4

15

18

37

17

Philippines

4

1

13

18

18

UAE

3

6

4

13

19

Mongolia

3

5

10

18

20

Singapore

3

4

11

18

21

Kuwait

3

1

2

6

22

Kyrgyzstan

2

6

12

20

23

Jordan

2

1

9

12

24

Cambodia

2

0

1

3

25

KSA

1

2

3

6

26

Macau

1

2

2

5

27

Iraq

1

2

0

3

28

Lebanon

1

1

2

4

29

Korea

1

0

2

3

30

Tajikistan

0

3

1

4

31

Lao PDR

0

2

3

5

32

Turkmenistan

0

1

2

3

As the House of Representatives and the Executive finally meet halfway to end the standoff over the shift from obligation-based to a cash-based budgeting system, experts weigh the risks along with the merits of such a fundamental change.

‘C

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

HANGE is coming” in the budgeting system as the government moves to shift from the old practice of obligation-based budgeting to the new cash-based system.

Although analysts appreciate the good side of this change, they also warn of some unintended consequences that it could bring and point out that the change in the budgeting system is just one of, and not the only solution to fully address the faster implementation of projects.

As opposed to multiyear obligation-based budgeting, the annual cash-based budgeting “limits incurring obligations and

disbursing payments for goods delivered and services rendered, inspected and accepted within the fiscal year.” This means that the extent of budget implementation is just one year.

Originally, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) also proposed that the Extended Payment Period just be limited to three months after the fiscal year. However, this was extended

further to six months after the House and the Executive met to resolve the budget impasse on the proposed 2019 budget of P3.757 trillion and agreed on a transitory cash-based system.

In other words, the government would have 12 months to obligate and 18 months to disburse its budget under this system.

Continued on A2

New CJ: Not bitter, but determined

B

By Joel R. San Juan

EING appointed as the country’s chief magistrate was something Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro never imagined.

Speaking to reporters days after President Duterte announced her appointment to the post in lieu of the ousted Maria Lourdes Sereno, de Castro said she has been tirelessly working on some projects since she was appointed in the SC in 2007­— all this, without ever entertaining the idea of occupying the top post.

Thus, de Castro intimated, she

is confident that what she would be leaving behind as her legacy when she retires as Chief Justice in October are not things she would work on for months, but are products of her more than 10 years in the High Tribunal.

“We should work as early as the time that we are first appointed to the Court and that was what I did. So, whatever legacy I may leave behind when I retire is

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.4340

NEW Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro smiles as she leaves after her first news conference following her appointment by President Rodrigo Duterte over the weekend on Tuesday in Manila, Philippines. De Castro, one of eight Supreme Court justices who voted for the ouster of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, will be holding the position only for over a month and her first task is to hear a petition against Duterte’s decision to pull out of the International Criminal Court. AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

not the product of two months or weeks. I’ve been working on this for many years already. In fact, even when the position of Chief Justice was beyond my imagination, I was already working on many projects, which I wanted to be done when I retire—not as chief [justice] but as an associate justice,” De Castro stressed.

She is so focused on seeking a satisfactory completion­— or at least substantial progress—in the initiatives she began a decade ago, that she swears even the recently filed impeachment complaint against her and six of her fellow magistrates before the House of Representatives would not interrupt her desire to fast-track the implementation of these key projects.

De Castro, who only has one month and one week (41 days)

to serve as Chief Justice, is expected to be replaced by another senior member of the SC considering President Duterte’s adherence to the seniority rule. Her historically short term had been seized on by critics as an indication that her appointment was some “payback” by the Duterte administration for her “role” in the events that led to Sereno’s ouster­ — she testified in House impeachment hearings that ended nowhere, and later voted in favor of a quo warranto petition filed by the Solicitor General to oust Sereno. Nonetheless, de Castro is unfazed and asked critics to move on, while Malacañang Palace repeatedly justified her selection as respect for the judicial seniority principle.

Continued on A2

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NEW CJ: NOT BITTER, BUT DETERMINED Continued from a1

De Castro, together with Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr. and Alexander Gesmundo, is facing an impeachment complaint filed by the Makabayan bloc in the House for granting the Solicitor General’s quo warranto petition to oust Sereno. The accusers said the justices violated the constitutional mandate that impeachable officers like Sereno may only be removed by impeachment, nothing else.

“I have no time to think about it [impeachment], because, you know…I have [just a] few weeks to work here in the Court, and I don’t want to be distracted by anything else. My schedule is full, I have so many activities set in the coming weeks, I do not wish to be distracted by that,” de Castro said.

Priority projects

THE Chief Justice said she would like to focus on the completion of

the various projects that have been in the pipeline for the Judiciary.

Under her leadership, the chief magistrate said, she would pursue the conclusion of the Judiciarywide enterprise information system program (EISP) that was conceived as early as 2009.

The information and communication technology for the entire Judiciary, according to de Castro, was approved by the Court during the time of Chief Justice Reynato Puno and was continued by his successor, the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.

During those times, de Castro recalled that she was the head of the Management Committee on Judicial Reforms Support Project (JRSP), which had three important projects, including the EISP, in the pipeline, but was stopped

by Sereno.

The EISP is actually a financial system that will record all the accounting and auditing of the leaves, absences and attendance of the employees and officials of the court for a more efficient management of the courts.

Another project, she said, is the Judiciary Care Management System (JCMS) that would help in tracking the progress of a case from the trial court to the appellate court up to the SC. She said during Corona’s term, her team had already prepared the terms of reference (TOR) for the bidding out of the consultancy both for the EISP and JCMS projects, but these were halted after Corona was

ousted at the end of an impeachment trial in 2012.

The third project in the pipeline is the SC Case Management System that intends to upgrade the case management system in the SC. The current system, according to de Castro, has been existing since 1994.

“Unfortunately all of these projects were stopped, they were already in the pipeline, and it will

be easy for me to revive these projects,” de Castro said.

De Castro assured that these projects will be updated within two to three weeks under her leadership.

“That will be very important and that will be beneficial to the efficient and effective operation of the Judiciary from the trial court up to the Supreme Court,” she said.

W hen asked how she wants the people to remember the SC under her leadership, de Castro replied: “I want the de Castro court to be remembered as the Court that restored collegiality in the Supreme Court, the Court which was able to institute several reforms in the judicial processes.”

De Castro also expressed confidence that she would get the much-needed support from her colleagues despite being ridiculed by some sectors for her role in the ouster of Sereno, with some even branding her as “ampalaya justice” (ampalaya is the bitter gourd) for admitting that she

was disappointed when thenPresident Beningo S. Aquino III appointed the very junior Sereno as Chief Justice in 2012.

“I’m happy that I have the support of all of my colleagues, they were all present during my first day of work, and I appreciate very much the warm welcome I got from all of them,” she said.

When asked whether she shares the view of Ombudsman Samuel Martires that she should be considered as the first lady Chief Justice, de Castro replied: “Technically, I think he is correct.” She meant that, as the quo warranto case concluded that Sereno was never qualified as Chief Justice for omitting basic requirements for submission to the Judicial and Bar Council, Sereno could not count as the first woman CJ. Whatever worth people may repose in distinctions, it’s obvious this incumbent CJ doesn’t care so much. Her eye is on the ball to finish what she started 10 years ago, and the finish line is just a month away. And the clock has started ticking.

ASKED if there are any risks to cash-based budgeting, he said there will be none since the new practice will make spending more efficient and more responsible because the government will be able to see those who really perform. “[We] really want to make the government more responsible and more responsible to the people; [so] that the schools, clinics and roads will be done much faster,” he said in Filipino.

Aside from this, he said it is easier to track a cash-based budget over an obligation-based budget since the former will enable the government to look closer at actual disbursements instead of intentions.

This system will also speed up the government’s budget utilization.

Former Budget Secretary Romulo Neri, in a message to the BusinessMirror, said he supports the shift to the new system as this will “force agencies to spend their budget as scheduled, otherwise they lose it.”

Public Administration and Governance, agreed with Mendoza that this is just one of the solutions to address the problem in terms of project implementation.

She suggested that the government focus instead on improving its procedures to fasttrack the completion of projects aside from just shifting to cashbased budgeting system.

Villamejor-Mendoza added the compromise was a “better option” since it paved the way for a threeyear transition period, and the period of payment for projects was further extended.

“If you want change, it cannot be done in a hurry. All the stakeholders that will be affected must be prepared first,” she said.

Although Diokno said that the extension of payment period will be “harmless,” Villamejor-Mendoza sees this is as a big thing, especially for the lawmakers.

“For them [Diokno], [the extension of period of payment] will not have much of an effect, because what is another three months? But for the proponents [of the projects] and for those in the legislature, who are being prodded by their constituents, the [additional] three months is big enough of a concession,” she said.

In an obligation-based budget, payment can also be done even after the fiscal year.

“When you hurry a project, that will incur additional cost,” she said.

Oplas also pointed out that improving the capacity of the government to manage projects can also be done along with the shift to cash-based system in order to avoid these risks.

“If the shift will be done, there should be a re-evaluation of people in the government and [one must] look at their capacities to implement projects, including planning and management.”

Although the logic behind a cashbased system over the current obligation-based one is “sound”, IBON Foundation Executive Director Jose Enrique A. Africa told the BusinessMirror in a message that he is not sure if the requisites for the advantages to materialize are in place.

Analysts: There are risks

Bloating

Despite a brief 41-day term, Chief Justice de Castro is confident she can leave behind a solid legacy because, she insists, the work of serious reforms began when she entered the Supreme Court more than 10 years ago. And nothing, not even an impeachment complaint, can derail her.

Ending the budget standoff Continued from a1

Since it is transitory, this means that this is a step toward the full implementation of a cash-based system in the future.

This system is different from the old practice, which allows budget implementation to go on even after the end of the fiscal year.

Budget Secretar y Benjamin E. Diokno told the BusinessMirror that he agreed on this arrangement since there will be some expenditures that may

be affected by the election ban (there are midterm elections scheduled in May 2019) or by any possible extreme case weather pattern.

He clarified, nonetheless, that it was the House, not the DBM, that proposed the extension of the Extended Payment Period.

The agreement, he said, will be “harmless” and won’t jeopardize their program.

“What’s three months’ delay? It will only apply to the projects,” he said, adding that the salaries and

purchase of equipment will not be affected by the agreement.

On the three-year transition period, which was requested by the lawmakers, Diokno said such was already stated in the budget reform bill.

He said he is just pushing it so that the new practice will be institutionalized within the President’s term.

With the three-year transition period, Diokno expects the cash-based system to be fully implemented by 2022.

No risks

CONTRARY to Diokno’s claim of no risks involved in the shift, some analysts think otherwise.

Ateneo School of Government Dean Ronald U. Mendoza said via e-mail that the shift is expected to introduce more discipline on line agencies to propose more reasonable budget targets.

However, he said the difficulty lies on the agencies with projects that have high capital expenditures, typically necessitating multiyear rollout.

“As long as the DBM can create ample arrangements to facilitate these types of projects, it should be possible. Otherwise, there is a risk that a cash-based approach can produce perverse incentives to break up projects into smaller parts, which, in turn, will require more friction [more and longer bidding processes due to multiple instead of consolidated projects] and entail less efficiency savings,” Mendoza pointed out.

He added t hat t he gover nment must a lso focus on t he long-ter m solution to underspend ing , which is prov id ing suppor t for t he capacit y of l ine agencies.

“A shortcut like immediately shifting to cash-based budgeting can produce some yield and help drive down the deficit; but the real solution is to capacitate our bureaucracy to budget and execute better,” he said.

Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza, dean of the UP National College of

MEANWHILE, Economics Professor Maria Ella C. Oplas of De La Salle University told the BusinessMirror that given the current capacity of government agencies, there is a tendency that there will be “bloating” of budgets because they may want to anticipate those unwanted events that may affect the projects’ implementation.

Although Oplas said she is not against the shift to cash-based budgeting, she warned that project proponents may also extend the timeline of the projects that they will implement to make sure that the projects will be done as scheduled even though there will be hurdles along the way.

“Given the current capacity [of the government], they will bloat the budget, not just increase the budget per se; they may also extend the timeline of the project,” she said. “For example, the program is just for three months, [but] he or she will make it nine months because he/she is afraid that under the cash-based system, he/ she will be losing the budget or will be pressured because of unanticipated events that can affect the implementation.”

More important, Oplas said, the cash-based budgeting may also result in “lesser quality” of projects and will be “prone to corruption” since agencies are forced to complete their projects at a faster time.

Challenges

“IT remains to be seen if agencies will be able to adjust quickly, especially those with large budgets like Department of Public Works and Highways [DPWH], Department of Education [DepEd] and Department of Health [DOH] and particularly those that deal with outside contractors,” he said.

“There may be unintended consequences. The shift introduces challenges for internal agency budget systems accustomed to the old system. The change may not be as smooth as hoped.”

The shift also depends on the capacity of outside contractors, according to Africa.

“If the DBM wants a guarantee of implementation within the year, there may be cases, especially when smaller contractors are involved, that this guarantee cannot be made. Meanwhile, larger contractors may not be available,” he said.

Africa also pointed out the absence of a thorough audit of the national budget is “indeed a glaring failure.”

“This is a matter of political will, though, that the shift to cash-based in no way addresses.

We also worry about the dangers from compelling spending amid such weak accountability. The shift is of course not intended to compromise or adversely affect current spending but we will have to see,” he said.

As any change will be met with resistance, the shift was earlier opposed by some lawmakers and later even led to a temporary suspension of the budget deliberations being conducted by the House Committee on Appropriations.

On the first day of budget deliberations, lawmakers noted with dismay the “budget cuts” in key agencies, such as the DOH, DepEd and DPWH. Diokno said, however, that the cash-based budget of agencies were based on the agency’s absorptive capacity and the readiness of their targeted programs or projects to be implemented within the fiscal year.

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Latest hack causes major apps to show anti-Semitic name

N

E W YOR K—Te c h nolo g y users got a sur prise Thursday morning when their social and lifestyle apps seemingly labeled the United States’s most populous city with an anti-Semitic header.

A number of people posted screenshots on Twitter showing “New York City” had been relabeled “Jewtropolis” on the Mapbox map used by companies and services such as Snapchat parent Snap, Citi Bike and Foursquare.

Mapbox, a provider of digital map technology, said it suffered a “malicious edit” by a person who tried to make more than 80 changes to its maps’ data in a “disgusting anti-Semitic tirade” across New York and other parts of the world.

All were quarantined for human review by the company’s artificialintelligence-powered algorithms, and only one edit made it into the actual map for less than an hour before being deleted.

“It shows that no matter how smart you build your AI, at the human review stage you can still have a point of failure,” said Mapbox Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eric Gundersen.

Nathan Roy, 25, was among users alarmed by the name change.

Though he lives in Boston, he was alerted to the issue by a friend from New York. He said his first reaction was shock.

“I know that a lot of people out there harbor these feelings,” Roy said. “It’s just always disappointing to see it crop up again and again.”

Evan Bernstein, a regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, seemed less surprised. He said people with anti-Semitic beliefs have been empowered since the 2016 election and are hiding behind the Internet.

“Haters are increasingly looking for ways to take advantage of new technologies and promote anti-Semitism,” Bernstein said.

“We see hate going online. This is just another perfect example of that.”

The League tracked a 90-percent increase between 2016 and 2017 in anti-Semitic incidents in New York state. Such incidents included physical assaults, attacks, harassment and vandalism.

Mapbox said it “ has a zero tolerance policy against hate speech” and its employees would “continue to investigate this act and make appropriate changes to further limit the potential for future human error.” AP

Saturday, September 1, 2018

A3

Rupiah falls to Asian crisis low as emerging market pain spreads

I

ndonesia’s rupiah slid to a twodecade low, spurring intervention from the central bank as the meltdown in Argentina and Turkey raises scrutiny on emerging markets with current-account deficits.

The rupiah fell to 14,750 per dollar, the weakest level since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, while the benchmark bond yields advanced 10 basis points to the highest level since 2016. The Jakarta Composite Index slipped as much as 1.3 percent. “ The rupiah ’s underperformance relative to the rest of emerging markets stems from Indonesia’s weak external payments position, especially the current-account deficit,” said Prakash Sakpal, Singapore-based economist at ING Groep NV. Still, “things now are far different than 20 years ago when the crisis originated in Asia and rupiah’s external creditworthiness was much weaker.”

As investors dumped Turkish and Argentinian assets, countries with large current-account deficits, such as Indonesia and

the dollar. It is set for the biggest monthly decline in three years.

EM spillover

India, have also seen their currencies and bonds come under selling pressure. T he rout in the Argentinian peso and Turkish lira end the recent stability bought by Bank Indonesia’s four rate hikes since mid-May, which has led to a return of foreign funds into its debt market.

The recent sell-off will put more pressure on the central bank to raise rates again, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“Just goes to show the external environment remains tough for

A clerk handles Indonesian 100,000 rupiah banknotes at a currency exchange office in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 7, 2014. Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg

Indonesia as we had anticipated,” said Mohamed Faiz Nagutha, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore. “We continue to expect more hikes for sure, with the exact magnitude to be determined by external rather than domestic fundamentals.”

Just goes to show the external environment remains tough for Indonesia as we had anticipated.”

—Nagutha

Intervention

The central bank is intervening in the foreign exchange and bond markets, according to Nanang Hendarsah, executive director for monetary management.

The rupiah is down 7.8 percent this year, and first came under pressure from a resurgent greenback and climbing US Treasury yields. The escalating trade war between the US and China, followed by the Turkey turmoil then added to its woes. It’s the second-worst performing major Asian currency this year, after the Indian rupee.

The rupee also fell to a new record low, trading 71.035 against

“ The spillover from the resurfacing emerging market turmoil in the Argentina peso and Turkish lira is weighing on EM Asia currencies,” said Ken Cheung, senior FX strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “ There was no solid relief sign for the China-US trade tensions, and the upcoming US tariff plan on $200 billion of Chinese goods, after the public-comment period due next week, could jeopardize sentiment.”

The rupiah’s slide has added to Indonesia’s current-account deficit. The shortfall increased to $8 billion in the second quarter, or 3 percent of gross domestic product, from $5.7 billion in the previous three months, according to the latest central bank data.

“For Indonesia, it’s the current-account deficit that we need to manage,” said Suahasil Nazara, head of fiscal policy office at the Finance Ministry. “The ultimate fix is through our structural reforms, allowing better and more conducive business environment, especially for manufacturing and upstream industries.”

Bloomberg News

Nafta deal close as negotiators rush to meet deadline–Trump

P

resident Donald J. Trump said the US is making progress w ith Canada to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement as negotiators stepped up the pace of discussions to meet a Friday deadline to reach an agreement.

“Canada’s going to make a deal at some point. It may be by Friday or it may be within a period of time,” Trump said on Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg in Washington. “I think we’re close to a deal.”

People familiar with talks offered different views on progress.

Three people said that a preliminary agreement appeared likely to be announced Friday. But three others said too many issues remain

unresolved to predict an outcome, even though there was positive momentum. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity because negotiations are private.

The people commented the same day that Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met several times in Washington with US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer to reach a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Her country rejoined face-to-face negotiations on Tuesday, a day after the US and Mexico announced a preliminary agreement in principle on Nafta.

Preliminary agreement

The Trump administration wants

Canada to sign on to the arrangement by Friday, when it will notify Congress of a deal that would allow current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to sign before his successor takes over on December 1. Trump must notify Congress 90 days before signing the pact, which will need the approval of lawmakers. Talks of some kind with Canada are likely to stretch into September even if the preliminary agreement is announced Friday.

Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have struck an upbeat tone this week as Canada rejoined discussions after sitting on the sidelines for more than a month while the US

and Mexico squared away their bilateral issues.

Freeland, the senior Canadian official in charge of Nafta, has said difficult issues must still be resolved, but that negotiators are making good progress.

A breakthrough will likely require a tradeoff between the two nations. The US wants access to Canada’s protected dairy market and Ottawa is prepared to offer some, two officials said. W hile other hurdles remain, an agreement where America softens its demands to eliminate a disputesettlement panel in return for Canadian concessions on dairy may pave the way for a deal.

The two countries haven’t made

progress yet on the issue known as Chapter 19 dispute panels, which Canada supports in the existing Nafta but the US wants to scrap, according to two people familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Speaking to reporters at about 8:40 p.m. in Washington, Freeland didn’t comment about the issue and said she’s returning to the negotiating table at USTR later Thursday.

Another key issue is US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, though it’s unclear whether relief from those will be included.

Mexico didn’t get any reprieve in its own agreement on Monday.

Bloomberg News

Friends call John McCain hero, maverick at Arizona funeral

By Melissa Daniels & Nicholas Riccardi The Associated Press

P

HOENIX—A former vice president, an NFL star and other friends remembered Sen. John McCain as a “true American hero”—and a terrible driver with a wicked sense of humor and love of a good battle—at a crowded church service Thursday for the maverick politician that ended to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” Addressing an estimated 3,500 mourners, former Vice President Joe Biden recalled “the sheer joy that crossed his face when he knew he was about to take the stage of the Senate floor and start a fight.”

Biden, a Democrat who was among the fast friends the Republican senator made across the aisle, said he thought of McCain as a brother, “with a lot of family fights.”

The service for the statesman, former prisoner of war and two-time presidential candidate unfolded at North Phoenix Baptist Church after a motorcade

bearing McCain’s body made its way from the state Capitol past Arizonans waving American flags and campaign-style McCain signs.

Family members watched in silence as uniformed military members removed the f lagdraped casket from a black hearse and carried it into the church. McCain died Saturday of brain cancer at age 81.

McCain’s longtime chief of staff Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general, drew laughs with a eulogy in which he talked about McCain’s “terribly bad driving” and his sense of humor, which included calling the Leisure World retirement community “Seizure World.”

Woods also recalled the way McCain would introduce him to new staff members by saying, “You’ll have to fire half of them.”

The church’s senior pastor, Noe Garcia, pronounced McCain “a true American hero.”

The ser vice brought to a close two days of mourning for the six-term senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee in his home state.

church to “My Way,” in tribute to a politician known for following his own path based on his personal principles.

McCain clashed openly with Trump, who mocked McCain for getting captured during the Vietnam War. Two White House officials said McCain’s family had asked that Trump not attend the funeral services.

Trump, who had been widely criticized for his muted response to McCain’s death, insisted in an inter view with Bloomberg News T hursday that he’d honored the senator appropriately.

“I’ve done everything that they requested and no, I don’t think I have at all,” he said in response to a question about whether he’d made a mistake and missed an opportunity to unite the country.

military honor guards carry the casket of Sen. John McCain, Republican-Arizona, after a memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church on Thursday in Phoenix. AP

A motorcade then took McCain’s body to the airport, where it was put aboard a military plane that flew to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, outside Washington ahead of a lyingin-state at the US Capitol on Friday, a service at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, and burial at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday.

Twenty-four sitting US senators and four former senators

attended the church service, according to McCain’s office.

Neither Biden nor other speakers uttered President Donald Trump’s name, but Biden made what some saw as a veiled reference to the president when he talked about McCain’s character and how he parted company with those who “lacked the basic values of decency and respect, knowing this project is bigger than yourself.”

Biden said McCain “could not

stand the abuse of power wherever he saw it, in whatever form, in whatever country.”

Dabbing his eyes at times, Biden also referred to his own son’s death from cancer, saying of the disease, “It’s brutal, it’s relentless, it’s unforgiving.” And he spoke directly to McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, in the front row: “You were his ballast.”

At the end of the nearly 90-minute ceremony, McCain’s casket was wheeled out of the

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BusinessMirror

APCC exec demands Harvard prof to apologize for vilifying coconut oil

T

HE executive director of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) is asking the Harvard professor who called coconut oil “pure poison” and “one of the worst things” humans could consume to retract her statements and publicly apologize to the 35 countries producing and using coconut oil.

In a strongly worded statement addressed to K arin Michels, Uron Salum said her irresponsible pronou ncement s and “such negative comments will potentially cause harm and have a disastrous effect on the social and economic livelihood of very poor coconut-growing

families around the world. Such false statements could jeopardize good commodity markets and affect farmers’ ability to sell or market their produce.”

The letter was dated August 24.

Salum said, “I am therefore officially requesting you to provide proof of this scientific evidence and/

or the basis from which you have made such a bold statement.

“The very fact that over 1 billion consumers of coconut oil are all still alive and healthy today proves your claims of ‘poison’ are already wrong,” he said.

“Under this circumstance, the international coconut community demands a detailed explanation from you. If you do not have any satisfactory explanation, then we call on you to apologize publicly for your false statements and you are also to retract publicly the false statements you have made or spoken against coconut oil,” he warned.

The APCC is an intergovernmental organization established

by United Nations and operating under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap).

Membership of APCC are the national governments of 18 countries

in Asia, Pacific, Africa and Caribbean. APCC relations and global reach with related coconut programs reaches up to 35 coconut-growing countries, he said.

“I am copying the APCC Scientific Advisory Committee on Health and the representatives of our 18 member-countries to inform their respective governments,” Salum said.

“I will also forward my letter to the most appropriate official from the UN bodies, including the UN, UN Escap, Food Aid Foundation, the World Health Organization, and other appropriate agencies for their information and appropriate action,” he said.

Salum said “the over 1 billion consumers of coconut oil and many thousands of healthy cultures that have used coconut and coconut oil every day for thousands of years have been insulted and offended by your claims.”

D.T.I.-B.O.I., SHOKO CHUKIN BANK FORGE M.O.U. TO PROMOTE INVESTMENTS

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its industry development and investments promotion arm—the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI)— signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shoko Chukin Bank Ltd. of Japan for a business cooperation on the promotion of investments on August 3 at the Laguna Technopark in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Signed by Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo (left) and Shoko Chukin Bank Ltd. Managing Executive Officer Takahisa Sato (right), the MOU establishes mutually beneficial cooperation to promote investment opportunities through investment seminars and missions; exchange information on doing business and industry structures; and other joint efforts that will foster economic and industrial linkages between investors and corporations from Japan and the Philippines. With the signing of the MOU, Shoko Chukin Bank Ltd. plans to strengthen its existing public-private sector partnerships and build new ones for its 70,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Japan, while the DTI-BOI commits to handhold investors as they establish their businesses in the country starting from registration until

full operationalization. The DTI-BOI recognizes the need to collaborate with Japanese banks for institutional support mechanism given the growing interest and optimism of Japanese investors in the Philippine market. To date, the agency has forged a total of four MOUs with Japanese banks, namely, Mizuho Bank Ltd., Resona Bank Ltd., Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Shoko Chukin Bank. In 2017 Japan was the largest source of foreign direct investments that amounted to $634.67 million from $569.75 million in 2016.

Manufacturing, real estate and financial and insurance activities were the top 3 industries that registered with the country’s investment promotion agencies.

PHL conducts 1st outbound biz-matching mission to Mozambique, visits S. Africa for 2nd time

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HE Philippines is set to embark on its first trade mission to Mozambique on September 2 and 3 this year. It also embarked on its second trade mission to South Africa on August 30 to September 1.

The country made its first successful trade mission to South Africa in June 2017.

The Philippine delegation to Mozambique will be led by Philippine Ambassador Joseph Gerald B. Angeles and Director Senen M. Perlada of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau.

They are joined by representatives of 10 companies in the sectors of

food and food supplements, beverages, garments, office machines and furnishings, processing and packaging equipment for food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and information-technology business solutions and consultancy.

The mission to Mozambique is in time for the Facim 2018, Mozambique’s prominent international trade show.

The Philippines is partnering with the Mozambique Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Economic Associations Mozambique (CTA) and with the Mozefo Business Group for the business-matching activi-

ties meant to bring together business people from both countries.

Meeting the Philippine delegates from the Mozambique government side are Prime Minister of Mozambique and officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

This mission is seen as a start of various strategic initiatives to improve Philippine-Mozambique trade relations following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Mozambique Chamber of Commerce and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry last year.

The Philippines partnered with the Johannesburg Chamber of Com-

merce and Industry for the business- matching activity on Friday, August 31, at the JCC House, followed by a meeting with Ambassador Angeles and some prominent Filipino and South African business people on September 1 at Philippine Embassy in Pretoria.

South Africa was a market for about $119 million worth of Philippine exports in 2017 comprised mostly of automotive parts and electronic components. Imports from South Africa, on the other hand, amounted to $56.32 million, which consisted of steel, iron and copper products, wood pulp and maize.

Top creative minds converge at CREATE PHL 2018

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ET ready to learn from the country’s top creative minds through a series of learning sessions on creativity, design and business during the second edition of CREATE Philippines 2018 on September 22 and 23 at the Globe Tower, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

“Attendees are set for an exciting and insightful experience in the second edition of CREATE Philippines, which will feature a master class, portfolio exhibits and a networking event,” said Paulina Suaco-Juan, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Organized by Citem, CREATE Philippines aims to give the country’s creative economy a strong voice in the global arena and make the Philippines a top destination in the Asia Pacific for creative content and services.

In this year’s edition, the event will focus on Communication Design, a multidisciplinary practice that shapes ideas and information delivered through various platforms, such as print and publishing, Web and app design, and motion graphics.

Enlivening the event is CREATE Philippines’s partnership with the Communication Design Association of the Philippines (CDAP), Globe Lifestyle, Creative Nation Academy and the International Design Conference (IDC) on September 21, in coordination with the Design Center of the Philippines.

“We have invited top creative industry leaders across the country to share innovative ideas and market insights on their fields of expertise— be it on new creative trends, aesthetics, and best practices highlighted with the success stories of their own projects,” Suaco-Juan noted.

As part of the event’s business curriculum, Love and Madness Clothing Corp. owner AJ Dimacurot will talk about “Learning to Design Around Life” with his background in creating iconic works on t-shirts, having designed for the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Michael Jackson. His roster of clients include Nike, Jordan Brand, adidas and Uniqlo, to name a few.

Cofounder of Happy Garaje Mark Joseph Deutsch is set to share insights on “How Creativity Boosts Business,” as he previously handled graphic-design work, galleries, film, picture books and many other projects. A professor of Master of Arts in Applied Art and Design Program, this Cebubased creative has collaborated with various clients, including Disney Asia, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, 500 Startups, The Four Seasons, Geeks on a Beach and The Abaca Group.

Another presenter will be Raxenne Dosher Maniquiz, a talented graphic designer and illustrator for Plus 63 Design Co., who will discuss the “Creative Process Behind Collaborating with Brands.” Her previous clients include Bratpack,

Digital Walker, Charles & Keith Philippines Cole Haan Philippines, Guess Philippines, and Honda Japan, to name a few.

Her work has been featured in books such as Asian Creatives: 150 Most Promising Talents in Art, Design, Illustration and Photography (Japan) and Creative Talk in Asia: Volume 2 (Hong Kong).

To help creatives safeguard their work, CREATE Philippines 2018 will also host a lecture on “The Business of Protecting Creativity” by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

Creatives who want to boost their technical know-how should attend Rollan Bañez’s discussion, titled “Faster and Better Product Visualization Using Adobe Dimension CC.” Dubbed as the Creative Cloud Evangelist of the Philippines, Bañez is a widely known Adobe Certified Instructor with ACI, ACE, CTT+ certifications. He is also an Adobe Creative Insider ambassador and the cofounder/ training manager of Creative Nation Academy.

“Rollan Bañez’s lecture, as a certified Adobe instructor, is certainly beneficial to attending creatives since many of them today use Adobe Dimension CC as a platform for their ideas to take shape,” Suaco-Juan said.

Creative Economy Council of the Philippines (CECP) President Paolo Mercado will give a talk on “Industry Overview on Raising the Value of Design.” Mercado, who serves as the senior VP for Marketing, Communication and Innovation for Nestle Philippines, will also present a case study on Modular Design Group Built by Independents.

“I’ll be giving an update on the state of the creative economy, the projects that we’re running at the Creative Economy Council. But what I’m most excited to talk about is the recently approved creation of a design hub within Intramuros,” Mercado said.

CDAP President and TeamManila Founder Jowee Alviar will talk on “Growing Your Design Business” as he presents a case study on his own award-winning design studio, TeamManila.

Meanwhile, Angel Guerrero, founder and CEO of Adobo Magazine, will discuss the “Business of Design from a Brand and Agency Perspective” with her 20-year career experience in the advertising industry, handling global and regional brands.

“In the two-day event, attendees can gather new insights on how they can improve their business portfolio as part of the formal economy, safeguard their intellectual property rights and develop new skills on running a creative business from our roster of experts,” Suaco-Juan said.

“This is also an opportunity for potential investors and businessmen to come up with new creative solutions for their companies since they will have the chance to avail [themselves] of a one-on-one consultation with our experts, partners and other creatives in the portfolio exhibit,” she added.

Seminar on ‘Mastering the Use of Import and Export Terminologies’ slated

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F you do import and export trade transactions or planning to trade goods, it’s a must to master Incoterms (International Commercial Terms used in shipping goods on land, air and sea). While the revised set of rules on Incoterms in all international trade transactions has taken effect globally seven years ago, many exporters and importers, traders, bankers, insurers, freight forwarders, carriers and the people handling such transactions, namely, business owners, treasurers, CFOs, procurement officers, trade negotiators and many lawyers are still unaware of these changes.

Don’t make mistakes when using trade terminologies that can

jeopardize your businesses. In collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce to educate the business community and the general public, the Center for Global Best Practices will have a rerun of the program, entitled “Incoterms: Revised International Rules in the Interpretation of Trade Terms,” scheduled on September 14 at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City. [Check www.cgbp.org for a complete list of International Trade programs, including “Best Practices Guide on How to Import Goods to the Philippines,” “Mastering the Use of LC for Import and Export,” “Revised ISBP on LC Transactions, ICC Model International Sales Con-

tracts,” “Best Practices in Handling Customs Tax Audits and Remedies” and many more. You may also call landlines in Manila [+63 2] 8427148/59 and [+63 2] 556-8968/ 69, in Baguio [+63 74] 423-2914, in Cebu [+63 32] 512-3106 or 07, or Legazpi City [+63 52] 736-0148.]

This revised set of Incoterms is a more concise version of the previous one and more relevant to business transactions and cargo security issues, which are now at the forefront of the transportation agenda of all countries and governments. Understanding these revised rules and incorporating their use in sales contracts will eliminate the uncertainties, errors and costly

mistakes in the interpretations created in trade transactions.

These new rules have tremendous impact on trade documentation and critical implications for businesses, especially in the carriage of goods between seller/ buyer, export and import clearance requirements, allocation of costs between seller and buyer, acquisition of cargo insurance and assumption of risks for loss and damage.

This special program will feature Singapore-based expert Victor Tan, an authority in the field of trading and banking, and with 15 years of banking experience covering areas of international trade finance, remittances, guarantees,

import and export. He has worked with various international banks since 1977, starting with Standard Chartered Bank, AmsterdamRotterdam Bank, Bangkok Bank, Royal Trust Merchant Bank and, last, Barclays Bank, where he was deputy head, Trade Finance. He is the accredited trainer of the International Chamber of Commerce in Southeast Asia. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Strathclyde, UK, and is a qualified Life Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London. He will teach everything one has to know on how to apply Incoterms for business advantage.

This program is open to the general public. Those into trading, import and export, banking, sales, insurance, logistics, treasury and finance, audit and entrepreneurs who has a need for movements of goods locally and internationally would benefit greatly from this event. Public officials and government employees attending training programs like this are exempted from the P2,000 limit set by the COA based on the DBM Circular 563 dated April 22, 2018. Interested participants are encouraged to avail themselves of the early-payment savings and group discounts for three or more registrants. Seats are limited and preregistration is required.

OurTime BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A life lived for children

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By Jennee Grace U. Rubrico | Special to the BusinessMirror

OL Moselina is a seasoned child-rights advocate. At 70, he continues to work with different organizations in pushing for the welfare of children and creating childfriendly environments.

(Editor’s Note: As part of Unicef Philippines’s 70th anniversary, the UN’s child-rights agency honors modern-day heroes committed to bringing a brighter future for the next generation of Filipinos. This is one such story.)

Having grown up in a farming community, Pol’s views on ensuring children’s welfare was formed by what he saw as a boy.

“My father himself was a tenant all his life, despite land reform. I saw children drop out of school because of poverty, and the poverty was because of the tenancy issue,” he said.

After studying at Columban College in Olongapo City, where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in education and immersed himself in the social sciences, Pol found himself in academe.

He eventually became dean of his alma mater in the early-1980s.

Pol caught the attention of organizations that work with children—and the ire of local officials—in 1979, when

his master’s thesis “Olongapo’s Rest and Recreation Industry: A Sociological Analysis of Institutionalized Prostitution,” was published by the Philippine Sociological Review.

“In my thesis, I said that the city government was the pimp,” he said, adding that this got him into trouble with a local official who insisted that there were no sex workers in Olongapo.

“But I told him, ‘Don’t you know I worked for six months in night clubs?’

I did participant-observation study, so I knew what was happening. And that’s when I discovered minors were involved.”

Shortly after, he, along with Columban College faculty, students and volunteer administrators, piloted a community-based program for street children and the urban poor in Olongapo.

In 1984 Unicef sent Pol, along with other participants, to Brazil for a month long study tour on street children. The trip is widely acknowledged as the beginning of the UN agency’s street-

children program in the Philippines.

“We saw later that street children were mainly the offspring of the urban poor. So that means, if you’d like to address the phenomenon, you should address the situation of the urban poor,” he said.

He and the other participants were asked to draft a proposal for addressing the street-children phenomenon upon their return. After they submitted the proposal, Pol was ready to go back to academe. But Unicef invited Pol to work with them as a consultant. He was then taken in as a project officer and later appointed Chief of Child Protection, a post he held until his early retirement in 2005.

In 1989 the Convention on Children’s Rights (CRC)—the landmark document that shifted the entire approach to child advocacy from focusing on their basic needs to recognizing their rights—was adopted. Unicef’s thrusts changed as well, focusing from child survival and development to human rights.

“We struggled with concepts. You only meet needs. But rights, you have to fulfill. When we say children’s rights, they’re entitled to those rights.

It’s not enough to target so many percent of children, now you must target all children, because they are all entitled to these rights,” Pol said.

“So we engaged the Council for the Welfare of Children [CWC] to also help us develop. It was all done together—Unicef, government, nongovernmental organization partners, working to develop a child-protection system at various levels.”

Pol was also instrumental in starting the Children as Zones of Peace campaign, which called for a ceasefire in the conflict-ridden places of Mindanao to allow children living in the areas to be vaccinated. This, he said, was the biggest challenge he faced then.

After leaving Unicef for health reasons in 2005, Pol’s child advocacy continued. Among others, he helped organize a national consultation among religious leaders for the Unicef. This later led the different religious organizations to establish children’s ministries.

Pol has also been responsible for Unicef Philippines’s Strategic Intent Memo for 2010-2020, which sets the direction of the organization for the period. He also wrote for the government the third and fourth periodic reports

on the implementation of CRC, and was tapped to draft the second and third Comprehensive Programs on Child Protection, as well as the “Guide for the Localization of the Comprehensive Program on Child Protection.”

In 2012 he penned for CWC its advocacy document, “Child-Friendly Philippines: A Caring and Protective Society for Children.”

Pol also maintained close links with NGOs, helping the SOS Children’s Villages Philippines conduct a rightsbased situation analysis on children without parental care and at risk of losing parental care in 2009. In 2014 he helped to update the study.

In 2010 he wrote a book on the Salvatorian Pastoral Care for Children’s (SPCC) experience in building child-friendly parishes. Pol also supported faith-based organizations in developing mechanisms to protect children and women.

“The reason why I continued with my advocacy for child-friendly institutions even outside of Unicef was because I saw that strategy as workable nationwide,” Pol said.

These days, Pol serves as a member of the CWC board, as well as of the Anak Natin Foundation. He is also active in the Foundation for Grassroots Studies and Social Action, an organization he founded in 2006. He likewise serves as a board member and consultant for SPCC. “I think the faith dimension is deeper because the way the social teachings of the church look at the rights and well-being of children and women is much, much deeper than what CRC and Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women provide. CRC and Cedaw only provide the minimum obligations, the minimum standards. But social teachings of the church, the biblical teachings on children and women, are deeper. That’s why I’m happy continuing on with the work with the faithbased organizations,” he said.

There are times when the work gets overwhelming, he admitted, especially with street children who, up to now, continue to grow in number.

But despite working for the welfare of children and mothers for so long, Pol has yet to waver in his persuasions.

“I remind myself of the three Ts. Things take time. But never give up.

Build on what is there. Everything is a beginning,” he said.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Saturday, September 1, 2018 A5

My great-grandmother’s legacy: Selflessness, kindness and love

By Bernadette Alejandrino Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE words selfless, benevolent and diligent describe my greatgrandmother, 93-year-old Gregoria “Ina” Nicholas Rioroso.

Growing up in the province and being the eldest among four children, Gregoria, at a ver y young age, learned how to sacrifice for the sake of her family. Though poverty did not allow her to experience education, she never complained. Instead, she helped her parents provide financially to support her siblings’ desire for education.

At the age of 8, she started selling food prepared by her mother around the different barrios in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija. Whether it was ice-candy, banana cue, kamote cue and other food, she carried the food she sold with pride and did not return home until she was sold out.

Despite being deprived of a proper education, life lessons taught her to be tough and skilled.

When she became a mother, she continued being a good help

Ordinances grant perks to firms employing elderly, PWDs in Calamba

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ALAMBA CIT Y, Laguna—The city government on August 24 announced two landmark ordinances that provide fiscal and tax incentives to private businesses in the city for employing senior citizens and persons with disability (PWDs).

City Mayor Justin Marc SB. Chipeco approved City Ordinance 648, which provides incentives to local private companies that hire the services of senior citizens, and City Ordinance 649, which grants incentives to companies that employ PWDs. The ordinances take effect immediately.

“With the help of our Vice Mayor Ross Rizal and city legislative councilors, I have signed immediately the ordinances giving incentives to investors and commercial establishments for you to hire and employ in your workplace our senior citizens and PWDs),” Chipeco said during the city’s 276th founding anniversary celebration at the “Kalan-Banga” landmark.

He described the ordinances as a historic initiative by the local government and acknowledged private companies for their corporate social responsibility.

“You are investing and gaining profit here, so why not share a little of your earnings with the people? You will receive incentives from our city government. I hope you will help the grandpas and grandmas, fathers and mothers of our constituents,” the mayor said.

He also enjoined city folk here to patronize establishments that employ senior

citizens and PWDs to encourage other companies to follow suit.

“Let us order, dine or buy at the establishments that hire our senior citizens and PWDs so we could ensure helping them,” Chipeco said.

“It is really a momentous day because we witness that through the cooperation and support of both the executive and legislative branches of our local government, we could do a lot better,” he said.

The business executives and representatives of various companies and establishments, senior citizens associations, such as the Calamba City Federation of Senior Citizens Associations, United Oldies, Elderly Council, Damayan Inc., and PWD organizations also took turns in signing the Covenant that was placed on a standee with Chipeco, Rizal, city councilors, Department of Labor and Employment 4A (Calabarzon) Assistant Regional Director Nepomuceno Leaño and DOLE Laguna Provincial Director Guido Recio.

The Covenant signatories, as representatives of their respective sectors, “wholeheartedly commit to support the effective implementation of the City Ordinances 648 and 649 series of 2018.”

The signatories also expressed full support for the Calamba city government’s advocacy to provide meaningful and gainful activities to all qualified senior citizens and PWDs, thereby uplifting their lives as productive members of the community. PNA

smile of gratitude at the sun A farmer in La Union looks up at the sun as he harvests his ripening rice grains. LAILA AUSTRIA

to her husband. She continued to sell goods and food to earn money. She was able to provide for the needs of her five children and even supported the desire of her granddaughter Betty to have proper education. In fact, she helped many of her relatives when they needed help.

But apparently, the good you do for others it not always reciprocated.

Just October last year, Gregoria, at the age of 92, was admitted to the hospital because of a mild stroke. She woke up unable to move half of her body.

She said that was the saddest point of her life when people thought she was going to die, and even her children thought she was leaving them.

Gregoria felt abandoned, she whose back was hunched due to decades of hard work, trying to help her family and relatives alike.

But she thanked God because not everyone turned their back on her. Betty, her granddaughter, and my mother, who she helped put through school, had faith and took charge of her recuperation.

Betty shouldered her grandmother’s hospital bills and took care of Lola Ina. After almost two months, Gregoria recovered. She regained her strength, and went back to Pantabangan to open her sarisari store, which she claimed was her life.

Lola Ina continues to thrive. Though she felt abandoned during the lowest point in her life, she never said anything that would hurt her relatives’ or children’s feelings. Not a single complaint came out of her mouth. Instead, she focused her eyes on Betty, who believed in her and gave her back the love and help she unselfishly lavished.

Betty, who opened our hearts and eyes, continue your good deeds.

And you, Lola Ina, though you’ll soon be gone, your kindness and story will remain in our hearts forever.

A6 Saturday, September 1, 2018 | Editor: Mike Besa

Titleist Vokey SM7 Wedges

How do you improve on the best?

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ob Vokey is one of the true household names in golf. He belongs to a select group of individuals who is recognized by golfers around the world for his marvelously efficient wedges. He mixes a wealth of knowledge, years of experience working with the best players in the world with boundless enthusiasm to produce arguably the best wedges on the market.

Everyone who’s anyone seems to have a brace of Vokey wedges in their bags. There are an abundant number of grinds for golfers of all ability levels and every situation.

Whether you’re shallow or steep into the ball and play on courses in every conceivable condition, there is a Vokey wedge for you.

Titleist’s new Vokey SM7 wedge builds on the progressive center of gravity shift that was introduced in the SM6 line. In a nutshell, in the lower-lofted wedges, CG was lower in the club head to increase ball speed and produce a more iron-like ball flight, while the CG in the higher-lofted wedges was placed higher in the club head in order to increase spin and lower ball flight, providing greater control around the greens. These CG locations were also meant to be placed in the area that golfers struck at impact—a bit lower on the club head in the lower lofts, and higher on the higher lofts—for better feel.

Apparently, Vokey felt they didn’t make enough of a weight shift as Titleist’s core audience would have liked so CG is even higher in the high-lofted wedges, and even lower in the low-lofted wedges. That will mean more spin with the sand and lob wedges compared to the SM6 wedges, and more ball speed with the pitching and gap wedges.

The amount of spin a wedge generates is a prime consideration when any of us plunks down our hardearned money for a wedge. We will miss more greens than any three pros combined so the wedge plays a yeoman’s role during a round. Titleist claims up to a 100 rpm increase in spin due to tighter tolerances with its Spin Milled machining process, but only with the plated wedges (Tour Chrome and Brushed Steel), as opposed to the Jet Black raw wedge. Seems the black wedges

don’t get the new machining process.

Titleist retains the now ubiquitous F, S, M, K and L grinds for the SM7 range and introduces the new D grind. The D-grind has high measured bounce, but also has a crescent-shaped grind to offer the player greater versatility (open-faced shots, different shots around the green, etc.). The D-grind could be thought of as a cross between the high-bounce K grind and the versatile M grind—you get the benefits of higher bounce, with a more versatile sole.

To shed light on the designs of the other wedges, the F and K grinds are generally better for golfers that play their short games with the clubface square to the target. Both are superb out of bunkers in the higher loft and bounce configurations, but it is the K that stands out.

The L and M are best for firm conditions and for players with shallow angles of attack that take small, shallow divots. They both have crescent shaped grinds that allow opening up the clubface without raising the leading edge unnecessarily.

The S is perhaps the most versatile of the grinds and will suit the greatest number of golfers. It’s good out of the sand and the ribbon ground out of the trailing edge of the sole allows it to cut through the turf more efficiently.

Is the SM7 advanced enough to get golfers to upgrade? If you have a set of SM6 wedges then, I’d say no. You might want to add the D grind to your arsenal but other than that, you should be good. If your wedges are more than two years old and you like to practice, chances are that you could really benefit from a set of Titleist Vokey SM7 wedges.

We don’t know how Vokey does it and to be honest, we really don’t care as long as he can keep making his wedges better with every generation. Titleist has long stressed the importance of fitting for the serious golfer, and it says the short game is an area that can see rapid improvement in a short time. Make an appointment for a fitting at an Empire golf shop near you. Titleist Vokey SM7 wedges are available at all Empire proshops for P10,550. Mike Besa

Tagaytay Midl The new jewel

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Story & photos

by Mike Besa

agaytay Highlands quietly opened the fifth nine holes on golf in their gargantuan development that spans the mountains of Cavite to the midlands in Batangas. The Lucky 9 was named by Belle Corp. Chairman Willy Ocier, as the opening of the golf course coincided with the opening of the City of Dreams, Belle’s first venture into the lucrative gaming market.

With two world-class championship golf courses already on the property, the pressure was on to deliver a golf course that would be equal, if not superior, to the stunningly beautiful Tagaytay Highlands International Golf Club and the first 18 at Tagaytay Midlands.

To this end, Belle Corp. enlisted the services of golf architect, John Olenoski. Although not exactly a household name, Olenoski initially worked with Arthur Hills and Associates before joining Jack Nicklaus Design, where he spent 13 years honing his skills and learning design at the knee of the greatest golfer of all time.

Although not as high up as the other golf courses on the property, the Lucky 9 still shares sublime vistas of Taal Lake and the surrounding countryside but counters with gorgeous perspectives of Tagaytay Highlands towering above it. If your game goes sour here, it isn’t difficult to distract yourself with the inherent beauty of your surroundings.

The addition of the Lucky 9 gives Tagaytay Highlands/Midlands a total of 45 holes of golf on offer for the intrepid golfer, making the leisure development the second largest golf complex in the country behind the giant Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club.

The Lucky 9 offers a very different flavor of golf and

adds impressively to the variety of golf available to its patrons. Although situated further down the mountain, the elevation changes one faces are more severe than that of Midlands.

It’s championship length for a nine at 3,453 yards from the tips. It’s a unique layout with three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s . The five pars are surprisingly long and two of them are the toughest holes on the golf course. The par 3s are gorgeous. They don’t have to work hard to impress you; they’re so pretty. The par 4s offer good variety; not too long with nicely defended greens.

A huge challenge for all that walk the Lucky 9 are the greens, some of which are remarkably small and feature blind approaches made from both natural and man-made obstacles. The elevation changes make just standing over the ball difficult in some instances.

The opening hole sets the tone for the round. It’s a short hole; a mere 306 yards from the gold tees. It begs for you to take driver and go for the green, but the green is a tiny target, hidden from view off the tee and heavily guarded by bunkers and a ravine beyond it.

The second hole is the longest on the property at a full 650 yards from the tips. Mercifully, the hole plays downhill, easing the golfer’s pain, somewhat. The shortest of the par 3s provides a respite before tackling the toughest hole on the course.

The view from the fourth tee will make most golfers weak in the knees. The 544-yard par 5 snakes down the side of the mountain, over a ravine then back up on the other side. The target off the tee seems miniscule; the hazard on the left and OB right compress your perception.

It’s the 1-handicap for a reason.

The next three holes all feature elevated tee shots making the most of the beautiful landscape. They are beautiful golf holes all and a real pleasure to play.

In contrast, seven plays completely uphill. The tee shot is arguably one of the most difficult on the golf course; a long carryover a ravine to a fairway far above the tee box. The green is far above the landing area and will not be visible until the ultimate approach shot in. Many will wonder at why the hole ranks as one of the easiest on the course.

Perhaps somewhat controversially, the course ends on a par 3

www.pinoygolfer.com | Saturday, September 1, 2018 A7

land’s Lucky 9 l in the crown The opening hole.

image by Rhoneil Cousart

Asian Tour CEO Blog –August 2018

By Josh Burack | Asian Tour CEO

Following the conclusion of the TAKE Solutions Masters, we have sanctioned 19 tournaments on the main Tour so far this season. Most definitely, we are on our way of meeting our goal of staging more than 30 events in 2018! As we enter September, we will have Asian Tour events on most weeks until mid-December. We are bracing ourselves for this hectic and very exciting time of the year.

In August we launched the third phase of our #whereitsAT campaign, themed “Tomorrow’s Stars Today.” The promotional videos, featuring our next generation of stars, will be showcased on Asian Tour’s official web site and social-media channels that include YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Weibo. The videos will also be shown on many of the Tour’s global television broadcasters, as well as Bloomberg TV, which is one of the official international media partners of the Asian Tour.

Our Newest Star—Justin Harding

During the past few weeks, we have witnessed history as South Africa’s Justin Harding became the first player on Tour to win twice in his first two starts in Asia. Before his participation at the Indonesia Open, we were notified by our counterparts from the Sunshine Tour about his brilliant form.

Harding was given an invite to play his first-ever Asian Tour tournament, and the rest is history. He won the Indonesia Open by a shot on 18 under par. Then at the Royal Cup, the in-form Harding shot 14 under par to win by six shots over another strong field. Following these two victories, Harding ascended into 13th place on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings and broke into the top 100 on the Official World Golf Rankings. We should expect more big things from this new and talented Asian Tour member in the future!

Major Success

Staying on the topic of our members, the Asian Tour was well represented at The 147th Open as we had 15 of our players tee it up at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland.

Our 2017 Order of Merit champion Gavin Green managed to make the cut on his Major debut, which was not an easy feat! The Malaysian eventually finished tied-61st together with fellow Asian Tour member Shaun Norris of South Africa.

Other Asian Tour players who made the cut were India’s Shubhankar Sharma and Japan’s Yuta Ikeda, who both finished tied-51st; Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura, who was Asian Tour’s lowest finisher at tied-39th; as well as 2013 Order of Merit winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who finished tied-75th. Congratulations to all of them!

Building a Better Future

and it’s a brute. 242 yards from the tips make this the toughest of the par 3s and a tough hole to end on. It lends credence to the idea that the Lucky 9 might grow into a Lucky 18 in the near future.

The many blind shots make this a golf course that needs to be learned before it can be truly enjoyed. The small greens put a premium on ball striking as does the The course offers sublime views of the Tagaytay ridge.

length of the last two of the par 3s. The breaks are subtle, making them somewhat tricky to read. The length of the par 5s and the nature of the tee shots will put a premium on driving the golf ball making the Lucky 9 the complete package. It’s a golf course that demands much of your golf game.

Many will not do well first time out here but that The view back to the tee from the fourth green.

shouldn’t be a big deal. Conditions on the course are as good as you can find anywhere, and the club works hard to keep it that way. You’re on one of the most beautiful properties in the country so there’s plenty to lift your spirits here.

Besides, it’s the nature of our game. Some bad, some good but enough to keep you coming back. The Lucky 9 is like that.

I’ll be back.

Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity has now reached the six-month mark. In early July I took part in a house-build in Jakarta with Asian Tour Chairman Jimmy Masrin, his daughter and her friends. It was an amazing experience that gave me a first hand appreciation of the very important work volunteers and benefactors provide to this worthy organization.

Thank you to all for your support!

Best regards, Josh #whereitsAT

Because Golf is for Giving

L

ate in 2008 a group of golf buddies from the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals decide to combine their passion for Christ and for golf. They wanted to live out their beliefs and the tenets of golf and pursued this principle with much zeal. Their desire to walk that path led to the creation of the Christians in Golf Association, more affectionately known as CIGA. Beyond the camaraderie, fellowship and golf, they played golf in the true spirit of the game, adhering to the rules and going so far as to minding their language on the golf course. That might seem a bit extreme to some but not to these Christian businessmen.

One of the tenets of being Christian is being a man for others. This drove CIGA to find a cause that truly needed their assistance. After much deliberation, they settled on gifting the indigenous people of Zambales, the Aetas, with a meaningful livelihood project.

The goal was to supply the Aetas with a herd of goats that they could raise, propagate and sell, and to ease their quality of life, they endeavored to supply a water line from the group’s water source more than 3 kilometers away.

CIGA’s ultimate reward came when they made the trek to Batiawan, Zambales, to gift the goats to the Aeta community. It was their Christ moment.

Today, their evangelical work continues with the running of the 3rd CIGA Cup, “Fore the Greater Glory” at the Orchard Golf and Country Club on July 27 of this year. Support for their cause has been strong and slots at the tournament have sold out. The list of sponsors was incredibly long, headed by 1st and 10th Tee Energy Bars, BITC Roof Tiles, CARP Builders, Estron, Generali Philippines and Texas Eagle. The Aeta’s future just got a whole lot brigher.

This all speaks to the generosity in all golfer’s hearts.

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BusinessMirror

Saturday, September 1, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

It’s all about the angle… and maybe a bit of Photoshop Primetime Dinna Chan Vasquez @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

H

ave you ever looked at someone’s images on Instagram and thought, “Why is he/she so perfect?” Seriously, there’s no one in this world who is perfect, right? Or is there?

Look at the pictures of most Instagrammers. Their skin is perfect, their bodies look like they have been sculpted, and their hair seems to have been done by professionals. The old me would have been tempted to say something snarky but since this column is about positivity, let me just say this: These Instagrammers need to look perfect or they’ll be criticized for being fat and/or ugly.

For instance, I don’t really blame beauty influencers when they edit the photos that they post online. Using Photoshop on a blemish or two isn’t something we should judge anyone over. In fact, I wouldn’t judge anyone for using Photoshop to make themselves look slimmer/more toned/beautiful/more attractive than they really are unless these photographs make young people feel bad about their looks.

Children shouldn’t be on Instagram or online without strict adult supervision, but let’s be real— they’re there. Do you know why so many YouTube content creators are so popular? Do you wonder why they don’t lose followers even when they do objectionable things? That’s because their followers are children who have access to their parents’ credit cards and PayPal accounts. Thus, they can buy merchandise or apps that these creators are hawking.

When their favorite content creators post pictures of themselves in bikinis looking hotter-than-hot, children most likely will think, “Why don’t I look like that?” I know this for a fact.

I have the utmost respect for people online who try to promote a positive body image and not make children feel bad about themselves. Sara Puhto (@ saggysara on Instagram), a Finnish fitness blogger, tells the truth about the booty and bikini pics that make us green with envy.

“You shouldn’t compare your everyday self to someone’s highlights on Instagram,” said Puhto in one of her posts.

I love how Puhto posts side-by-side photos on Instagram tagged “Instagram” and “Reality.”

“Don’t let society pressure you into thinking you need to change your body in order to be happy. You don’t need to crash diet or start working out excessively just to look good for summer!!!!!!!! We constantly see filtered, flexed bikini bodies on Instagram. But in reality nobody walks around life posing and flexing all the time with a filter slapped on,” said Puhto in one of her posts.

In the said post, Puhto showed two images of herself: one with a bubble butt and another with a normal one.

Perhaps one of Puhto’s most popular photos is one showing her in a red two-piece lying on her back vs. another of her lying sideways. This was the post that made me hit the “Follow” button.

“You know when you lie down on your back and feel leaner than normal, but when you lie on your side and all your tummy fat gathers together, and all of a sudden you feel slightly insecure? Well, you shouldn’t because it’s a completely normal thing that happens to everyone!! I used to get upset seeing all these lean people posing like the first photo and comparing it to my body while lying in bed like the second photo. Our bodies look different in different positions. We should love our bodies both ways because there is nothing wrong with either of them!! We can’t compare our bodies to anyone’s. We’re all unique and we all come in different shapes and sizes. No one is better than someone else because of their body. We are all equal.

Our bodies do not define our worth and we should not let our insecurities control our everyday thoughts.

You are amazing the way you are and you don’t need to change yourself!!” said Puhto in her caption.

Louise Aubery (@mybetter_self on Instagram), a French fitness blogger, is also someone who is helping women realize that being too critical of oneself is one thing we should all stop doing.

Like many body positivity advocates, Aubery walks the talk. She is not afraid to show her flaws, including a little pot belly sometimes.

“Years where I focused on what bothered me, where I wondered why it was like this and not like that. Until I realize (sic) one thing : there will ALWAYS be someone leaner than you, there will always be someone tanner than you, there will always be someone more toned than you. So why spend so much time comparing yourself to it and despising your own body for not being that way? Why not put this energy into accepting this body of yours and learning to celebrate its difference?” said Aubery in one of her Instagram captions.

The next time you feel bad about your body, remember that influencers like Puhto and Aubery have bared their souls (figuratively) to make us understand that what we see online is not always reality. While there is nothing wrong with posting only what looks good, we as the audience should learn how to discern.

Rights groups urge no censored Google search app for China

By Christohper Bodeen The Associated Press

BEIJING—More than a dozen human-rights groups have sent a letter to Google urging the company not to offer censored Internet search in China, amid reports it is planning to again begin offering the service in the giant Asian market.

The joint letter dated Tuesday calls on CEO Sundar Pichai to explain what Google is doing to safeguard users from the Chinese government’s censorship and surveillance.

It describes the censored search engine app, codenamed “Dragonfly”, as representing “an alarming capitulation by Google on human rights.

“The Chinese government extensively violates the rights to freedom of expression and privacy; by accommodating the Chinese authorities’ repression of dissent, Google would be actively participating in those violations for millions of Internet users in China,” said the letter That follows a letter earlier this month signed by more than a thousand

Google employees protesting the company’s secretive plan to build a search engine that would comply with Chinese censorship. The letter called on executives to review ethics and transparency at the company.

Google had previously complied with censorship controls starting in 2006 as it sought a toehold in the booming Chinese economy. But it exited the Chinese search market in 2010 under unrelenting pressure from human-rights groups and some shareholders to leave.

The letter, signed by groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, said China’s controls over the Internet have only strengthened since then amid an overall crackdown on civil liberties and freedom of expression.

“It is difficult to see how Google would currently be able to relaunch a search engine service in China in a way that would be compatible with the company’s human-rights responsibilities under international standards, or its own commitments,” the letter said.

According to online news site The Intercept, Google created a custom Android app that will automatically filter out sites blocked by China’s so-

called Great Firewall.

Google Cofounder Sergey Brin was born in the Soviet Union in 1973 and lived there until age 6 when his family fled. He has said his experience with a repressive regime shaped his and the company’s views.

Pichai, who became CEO in 2015 when Google became part of parent Alphabet, has said he wants Google to be in China serving Chinese users.

In December, Google announced it was opening an artificial intelligence lab in Beijing and in June, Google invested $550 million in JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce platform that is second only to Alibaba in the country. The companies said they would collaborate on retail solutions around the world without mentioning China, where Google services, including Gmail and YouTube, are blocked.

It was unclear whether Google had taken receipt of the letter. However, in a statement earlier this month, the company said, “We provide a number of mobile apps in China, such as Google Translate and Files Go, help Chinese developers, and have made significant investments in Chinese companies like JD.com. “But we don’t comment on speculation about future plans,” the

New laptops for the ‘modern avid gamer’

Lenovo Legion Y530

A global leader in PCs and smart devices development, Lenovo (www.lenovo.com) is launching two new laptops designed to meet the demands of the “modern avid gamers.”

“Through our market research, we have discovered that there is a subset of gamers being ignored—the modern avid gamers.

Most of these are millennials who carried their enthusiasm to adulthood but find it hard to continue due to their responsibilities at work, family and social life. They’re looking for a gaming PC that lets them partake in their passion but in a way that fits their lifestyle and time constraints. Our newest gaming machines are designed to meet their needs—a powerful, portable device with a stylish and minimalist exterior,” said Michael Ngan, country general manager of Lenovo Philippines. The new devices—namely, the Lenovo Legion Y530 and the IdeaPad 330—are built for more than just gaming.

Both can handle programs for work or study easily, but also allows you to watch movies and TV series, as these support digital performance like video, animation, and graphics editing.

The Legion Y530 comes in at only 24 mm thin and 5.1 lbs. light. Its bezels are 62 percent thinner compared to previous gaming laptops, making it more portable and easy to carry.

The portable gaming and office workhorse

The all-around productivity and entertainment booster

The new Lenovo Legion laptops are built for today’s on-the-go gamers who travel light. It has a subtle but compelling top cover texture that radiates out from the “O” in its Legion emblem. The laptop is fully equipped with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPUs, up to the latest 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processors and Windows 10.

With up to 16GB DDR4 2666MHz memory and up to 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD or 2TB HDD storage, it can fulfill both powering and storage demands.

Heat is no longer a bother to gamers as the new Legion Y530 features improved thermal layout with dual fan design and quad-vent cooling for increased airflow.

Users can enjoy clear and crisp audio with its Dolby Audio Premium.

Stacked with premium processing and discrete graphics options, the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 is as powerful as it is easy to use. Consumers can choose up to the 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, coming with the lightning-fast responsiveness and reliable performance.

The device supports up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics, perfect for graphics-intensive games and handle resource-intensive business applications. In addition, users can choose from up to 2 TB SATA HDD storage.

The laptop comes in 14-, 15- and 17-inch anti-glare screens, in HD and full HD resolution options. Starting at 4.6 lbs, the device is made up of sturdy PCABS material chassis, and promises up to eight hours of battery life.

Symantec simplifies cloud migration with Management Center 2.0 Symantec Corp., the world’s leading cybersecurity company, has announced significant enhancements to Symantec Management Center.

The centralized solution manages the network portfolio inside of the Symantec Integrated Cyber Defense Platform, allowing customers to seamlessly migrate to the cloud or a hybrid network security solution, simplifying the security challenges inherent in cloud generation transitions.

In order to maximize the value of Symantec Network Protection Solutions, including Symantec’s powerful, market-leading ProxySG, customers must be able to quickly and easily roll out, configure, monitor, manage and back up their deployments as they migrate from on-premises solutions to the cloud.

Now available globally, Symantec Management Center is a unified management platform that provides centralized visibility and control for Symantec network security products, to help reduce operational costs and improve return on investment. Management Center 2.0 includes these new features: AWS Support, which enables deployment to hosted virtual machines and allows customers to seamlessly transition to cloud-based Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions. The centralized, unified management extends the security benefits of Symantec Network Protection solutions to the cloud while streamlining operational policy, management and deployment.

Virtual Appliance Licensing options, which support up to 1,000 devices and allow virtualized infrastructure to scale as an organization’s business grows.

“Flexible and scalable deployment of Management Center is an effective way to help maximize the benefits of network security solutions including Symantec Secure Web Gateway,” said Wassim Tawbi, vice president of product management, Symantec. “Centralized management and reporting can streamline operational needs and improve visibility and effectiveness for customers as they evolve toward a cloud generation infrastructure.”

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BusinessMirror

Saturday, September 1, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Google denies Trump charge it rigs “Trump News” searches

By Darlene Superville and Barbara Ortutay

W

The Associated Press

ASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is accusing Google and other US tech companies of rigging search results about him “so that almost all stories & news is BAD”—and though he is offering no evidence, a top adviser says the White House is "taking a look" at whether Google should face federal regulation.

Google is pushing back sharply, saying Trump's claim simply wasn't true: “We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

The president’s tweets Tuesday echoed his familiar attacks on the news media—and a conservative talking point that California-based tech companies run by CEOs with liberal leanings don't give equal weight to opposing political viewpoints. They also revealed anew his deep-seated frustration over not getting the credit he believes he deserves.

The president, who has said he runs on little sleep, jumped onto Twitter before dawn Tuesday to rehash his recent complaints about alleged suppression of conservative voices and positive news about him.

He followed that up with vague threats in Oval Office comments.

“I think Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people, and I think that's a very serious thing. That’s a very serious charge,” Trump said, adding that Google, Twitter, Facebook and others “better be careful, because you can't do that to people.”

Trump claimed that “we have literally thousands and

thousands of complaints coming in. ... So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, they're really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.”

Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic adviser, told reporters later that the White House is “taking a look” at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation. Trump often points proudly to his cutting of government regulations as a spur for economic gains.

In his tweets, Trump said—without offering evidence— that “Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?”

He added, again with no evidence, that “96% of results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.”

A search query Tuesday morning, several hours after the president tweeted, showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others. A similar search later in the day for “Trump” had Fox News, the president's favored cable network, among the top results.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, said its aim is to make sure its search engine users quickly get the most relevant answers.

“Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology,” the company said in a statement. “Every year, we issue hundreds of improve-

ments to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users’ queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

Experts suggested that Trump's comments showed a misunderstanding of how search engines work.

Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a user’s query, even before he or she finishes typing. The answers that appear first are the ones Google’s formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant. Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well it’s designed and more.

Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. While some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias.

Media analyst Ken Doctor said it doesn’t make sense for mass-market businesses like Google to lean either way politically. He characterized the complaints as a “sign of our times,” adding that, years ago, if the head of General Electric was supporting a Republican candidate, people who disagreed wouldn’t then go out and boycott GE products.

“The temperature has risen on this,” Doctor said.

Steven Andres, who teaches about management information systems at San Diego State University, said people often assume that if you give a computer the same inputs, no matter where you are, that you “get the same outputs.”

But it doesn’t work that way, he said. "You're seeing different things every moment of the day and the algorithms are always trying to change the results."

Trump didn’t say what he based his tweets on. But conservative activist Paula Boylard had said in a weekend blog post that she found “blatant prioritization of left-leaning and anti-Trump media outlets” in search results.

Boylard based her judgments on the political leanings of media outlets on a list by Sharyl Attkisson, host of Sinclair Television's Full Measure and author of The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, Think, and How You Vote. Sinclair is a significant outlet for conservative views.

Trump began complaining about the issue earlier this month as social media companies moved to ban right-wing Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms.

The president also argues regularly — and falsely — that the news media avoid writing positive stories about him and his administration.

Jones is being sued for saying the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged. Jones has since said he believes the shooting did occur and has argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because he was acting as a journalist.

Trump has praised Jones’ “amazing” reputation.

The issue is also of concern on Capitol Hill, where the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, recently announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is scheduled to testify before the panel on September 5 about the platform's algorithms and content monitoring.

Study: Many teens–and parents–feel tethered to phones

Fashion, tech come together this September 3-Zalora cofounder

and CEO Paulo Campos (third from right) with the stylecouncil: (from left) Wonder.ph’s Sarah Santiago, makeup artist Jigs Mayuga, Globe Lifestyle Head Leah de Guzman, stylecouncil head mentor and designer Inno Sotto, Fashion Exchange International cofounder Carmina Sanchez-Jacob, and stylist Pam Quiones

4-Globe Senior Advisor for Creative Marketing and Multimedia Business Joe Caliro 5-Globe VP for Integration and Portfolio Management, Mic Coson

Get ready to strut your style as Globe Telecom, in partnership with Saga Events Inc. present stylefestph, a fashion and beauty festival, from September 7 to 9.

Stylefestph (stylefest.ph) brings together fashion, beauty and business in one platform, allowing local designers and design students, local brands, and young content creators to showcase their talents and merchandise to a local and international audience.

This fashion and beauty festival will have three major activities, all of which are indispensable for seasoned stylistas and casual followers of fashion alike: n stylespotting—Spot the next big trend in Philippine fashion and beauty at the home of stylefestph, the Grand Hyatt Manila, as the country’s most influential designers and brands take their latest creations to the runway. n stylespace—This brings together both local and international fashion and beauty retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers in a three-day exposition at the Globe Iconic (Bonifacio High Street Amphitheatre). It’s designed and curated to seamlessly connect digital and physical retailers. n styletalks—Learn from innovative thinkers from the fashion and beauty brands, digital retailers and influencers who will discuss and share their thoughts on the hottest industry topics during exclusive talks at the Grand Hyatt Manila.

Meanwhile, stylefestph’s Designer Mentorship Program gives the opportunity of a lifetime as eight winning emerging designers will be mentored by the stylecouncil, an esteemed group of fashion experts and mentors, plus have their very own collections released in both Zalora.com.ph and 0917 Lifestyle, and also sold at Globe stores and shop.globe.com.ph.

The stylecouncil is comprised of head mentor and renowned designer Inno Sotto; celebrity fashion stylist Pam Quiñones; Paulo Campos, cofounder and chief executive officer of online fashion retail portal Zalora Philippines; Sarah Santiago of Wonder.ph; Leah de Guzman, head of Globe Lifestyle; Carmina Sanchez-Jacob, cofounder of Fashion Exchange International; and Jigs Mayuga, professional makeup artist.

Stylefestph is made in partnership with Zalora Philippines and Grand Hyatt Manila. It is copresented by FrontRow and in cooperation with Globe myBusiness, Globe Postpaid and Globe Rewards.

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NEW YORK—Parents lament their teenagers’ noses constantly in their phones, but they might want to take stock of their own screen time habits.

A study out on Wednesday from the Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of parents are concerned about the amount of time their teenage children spend in front of screens, while more than a third expressed concern about their own screen time.

Meanwhile, more than half of teens said they often or sometimes find their parents or caregivers to be distracted when the teens are trying to have a conversation with them.

The study calls teens’ relationship with their phones at times “hyperconnected” and notes that nearly three-fourths check messages or notifications as soon as they wake up.

Parents do the same, but at a lower if still substantial rate—57 percent.

Big tech companies face a growing backlash against the addictive nature of their gadgets and apps, the endless notifications and other features created to keep people tethered to their screens.

Many teens are trying to do something about it: 52 percent said they have cut back on the time they spend on their phones and 57 percent did the same with social media. Experts say parents have a big role in their kids’ screen habits and setting a good example is a big part of it.

“Kids don’t always do what we say but they do as we do,” said Donald Shifrin, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who was not involved in the Pew study. “Parents are the door that kids will walk through on their way to the world.”

The study surveyed 743 US teens and 1,058 US parents of teens from March 7 to April 10. The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points. AP

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, September 1, 2018

A new day for night owls: Maybe your sleep problem isn’t a problem hate that Delta Air Lines commercial, the one called “4 am,” that mocks me from my in-seat screen.

It starts off with a montage of perky professionals, rising before dawn in homes and executive-class hotel rooms around the world, stretching their gym-toned bodies and firing up coffeepots at an hour usually reserved for mating fruit bats.

“Here’s to all 180 million of you early risers, go-getters and should-be sleepers,” the voice-over says, as Disney’s “Heigh-Ho” swells in the background. “Because the ones who truly change the world are the ones who can’t wait to get out in it.”

Yes, I get it. I have heard this all my life: Society likes morning people. Loves them, actually.

Early risers tend to be more punctual, get better grades in school and climb up the corporate ladder. These larks are celebrated as the high achievers, the apple polishers, the CEOs. It’s basically the idea that Ben Franklin touted more than 250 years ago—“early to bed, early to rise”—with everyone else cast as lazy or self-indulgent.

But what if they are wrong? What if night owls are actually the unsung geniuses? What if we are the ultimate disrupters and rule-changers, the ones who are better suited to a modern, postindustrial society ruled by late-night coders, digital nomads, freelance moguls and coworking entrepreneurs?

Perhaps it is finally time for the night owls of the world to rise! (Just not too early, of course.)

I certainly know what it is like to burn the candle at both ends. When I graduated from college, I found the morning rhythms of office life to be an eye-opener—though not literally, of course.

At my first job, as a newspaper reporter in Orange County, California, I was required to be at my desk at 8 am. I held that job for 14 months, taking only one week of vacation, but my body never acclimated.

Night after night I would lie awake until 1 am or later, freaking out about my inevitable exhaustion the next day, as the Santa Ana winds violently rustled the Italian cypress trees outside my bedroom window.

Even when I dragged myself in at 7:45 am, my boss had already been there for an hour, because bosses rise at the crack of dawn, right? That’s why they are bosses. In the corporate world, rising early has always served as a handy signifier of unbridled ambition, the will to succeed.

Among C-suite executives, that tradition is alive and well. Robert Iger of Disney, Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Indra Nooyi, the departing chief executive of PepsiCo, are all said to rise between 4 and 4:30, and they are relative lazy slobs compared with Tim Cook of Apple, who reportedly bounds out of bed at 3:45 am.

No surprise that “employees who started work earlier in the day were rated by their supervisors as more conscientious, and thus received higher performance ratings,” according to a 2014 study by the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

It’s the old “dress like your boss” formula for success, but with chronotypes, not clothes.

But what if the modern-day workplace no longer operates under that formula? What if being a night owl is no longer a handicap, but an asset?

CALL IT DSPS

HACKER HOURS

By Alex Williams

I

New York Times News Service

I knew I was different by the time I was 7 or 8 years old. My parents’ efforts to get me to sleep by 7:30 pm were pointless.

Years later, sleep doctors would diagnose me with what is commonly called delayed sleep phase syndrome, which refers to anyone who goes to sleep hours later than the, ahem, “conventional” time. The condition is often boiled down to scary sounding initials—DSPS—like so many life-threatening diseases.

And I have it fairly bad. My body naturally wants to go to bed around 2 am and rise around 10 am. Whenever I try to adjust to an early schedule, my brain is like mush. Conversely, I light up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree around 9 pm, and for the next few hours I am my most me: alert, clever, inspired to create.

Not that society has ever shown much flexibility toward my sleep cycle. I have had an office job for most of my adult life, and I am now married with two children under 10, so I regularly rise by 7:30 am, doing my best to fake some Fred Rogers good cheer as I pack lunches and get our sons off to school.

As a result, I suffer chronic sleep deficit. That is, I have a sleep problem, although technically, that is not accurate.

I sleep fine. It is everyone else who has a problem with it.

WHAT’S YOUR CHRONOTYPE?

My blue-pill moment came this year, when I read Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker, director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California at Berkeley.

The book details how every human runs on a 24-hour circadian rhythm, an internal clock, which coordinates a drop in body temperature, for example, as it prepares for slumber, and cranks back up when it is time to wake. What larks like my father never understood is that not everyone’s clock is the same.

According to Walker, about 40 percent of the population are morning people, 30 percent are evening people, and the remainder land somewhere in between. “Night owls are not owls by

choice,” he writes. “They are bound to a delayed schedule by unavoidable DNA hard-wiring. It is not their conscious fault, but rather their genetic fate.”

That might even serve an evolutionary purpose. When early humans lived in small tribes, as in the early scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, staggered sleep schedules bestowed a survival advantage: Someone was always awake to watch for prowling leopards and club-wielding rivals, according to the book.

But it has been downhill for us night owls ever since. The rise of agriculture brought fields to till at daybreak. The industrial revolution brought factories with 8 am time clocks. Night owls were forced to adapt, and that appears to have taken a toll.

‘DRESS LIKE YOUR BOSS’

The traditional 9-to-5 workplace is starting to fall out of favor, especially in Silicon Valley and creative sectors where the workday is no longer tied to daylight hours. And, with robots and artificial intelligence further eroding the old system by taking over the routine tasks, the new workplace culture is less about punctuality and more about creativity and breaking the rules.

Corporate America is catching up. Some 80 percent of companies now offer some form of flexible work arrangements, according to a 2015 survey by WorldatWork, a nonprofit human-resources association, and FlexJobs, a career site.

For many workers, this means “freedom from a crushing commute, from an interruptionfilled office, from a 9-to-5 straitjacket,” said David Heinemeier Hansson, a tech entrepreneur and an author of the book Remote: Office Not Required.

For night owls, this is huge. No longer must armies of professionals arbitrarily be rousted at daybreak, like groggy recruits heeding a bugle blowing reveille.

Indeed, late risers are organizing. Camilla Kring, a Danish business consultant and author, founded B-Society, a night owl advocacy group that is lobbying to end daylight saving time, promote flexible work schedules and adjust start times in schools, “to support different human chronotypes.”

“Companies can use the knowledge about circadian rhythms as a competitive advantage,” Kring said.

And maybe they already are. The term “chronotype diversity” is starting to find traction, as business managers explore concepts like team energetic asynchrony: staggered work schedules to make sure all workers are working at peak efficiency.

It is about time. Let’s hope the whole world finally wakes up to the idea that we night owls are more than laggards and sleepyheads.

Fast-forward to 2025, say, and I settle into my seat on a Delta flight, perhaps a supersonic one, to be greeted by a new commercial. It starts off with a montage of perky professionals in executive-class hotel rooms around the world, firing up the kettle for camomile tea and furiously tapping away at laptops as they race to meet deadlines at an hour usually reserved for James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke.

Can the current king of midrange smartphones thwart off challengers?

Continued from A11

MIDTIER BATTLE ROYALE

So how does the Nova 3i compare to the other phones?

Check out our comparison chart below.

When the Nova 3i came out last July, its closest competitors were the Samsung Galaxy A6, Vivo V9 and the Oppo F7, but now that the Oppo F9 is out, there are those who are trying to compare the Nova 3i even with the higher-priced F9.

DESIGN AND BUILD This can be a bit subjective, as there are those who’d prefer a metal back than glass. I still prefer metal but there’s no denying that the glass back of the Nova 3i makes it look more expensive. The trendy Nova 3 Series Iris Purple color is inspired by the Pantone color of 2018, Ultra Violet. Exuding strong techno vibes, the Iris Purple gradient color is perfectly realized on the textured film underneath the curved glass. The process to create this color is complex, and it took Huawei more than a year to develop the gradient color and is created by what is called the NCVM process. The entire process of coating takes four times as long as the industrial standard, and with only a 30-40 percent yield—this means one in three pieces of glass is discarded for failing to meet the quality standards.

Comparing the phones side by side, the Nova 3i is the clear winner with its elegant metal frame and glass back, plus the Iris Purple gradient is simply mesmerizing. If you want something that easily stands out, go for the Nova 3i. My next favorite is the newer Oppo F9 as the blue to black gradient finish is also cool and more masculine, followed by the Oppo F7, Vivo V9 and, lastly, the Samsung A6.

DISPLAY The Nova 3i, V9 and F9 all have 6.3-inch displays, while the F7 has a 6.23-inch display and Galaxy A6 a 5.6-inch display. As mentioned earlier, the Nova 3i has an IPS LCD full view display with resolution of 2340x1080 pixels, 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 409ppi. The F9, meanwhile, has a 6.3 FHD+ screen with the same 2340x1080 pixels and 409ppi. The F7 also has FHD+ (2280x1080) display and 405ppi pixel density but uses Gorilla Glass 5 up front for maximum screen protection. The Vivo V9 comes in with a similar 19:9 aspect ratio with a Full HD+ or 1080x2280 pixel resolution and 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for screen protection.

All of them have good displays and there’s little to complain about, but Vivo and Oppo wins this category for their Corning Gorilla Glass protection.

CAMERAS For me, comparing cameras is a bit like doing so with processing speeds as there are a lot of factors to consider. I wasn’t able to try out the

Samsung Galaxy A6 and I had already returned the Vivo V9 and Oppo F7 when I got the Nova 3i, so I really can’t compare the same photos.

On paper the Nova 3i easily beats the competition if the number of camera lens were our only basis. All of them have 16MP rear cameras but, unlike the Nova 3i and F9, which have a 2MP secondary rear camera, the Vivo V9 has 5MP. The A6 and F7 only have a single rear camera.

But after using the V9, F7 and Nova 3i, I think the Nova 3i still takes the best photos using the rear cameras. I also prefer its camera layout since you don’t have to go to the settings menu to make adjustments like the Oppo F7, and the AI does help in producing better photos.

Complaints about over saturation can be remedied by turning off the AI, but I do prefer sharper photos than dull-looking ones. The addition of the AR QMojis, AR stickers and background make it more enticing for younger users who love adding effects to their photos. I just wish they’d add more via OTA updates as Vivo and Oppo have more choices currently.

As far as the front camera is concerned the V9 and Oppo F7 beats the Nova 3i because the 3i seems a bit too eager to make you look flawless.

STORAGE What sets the Nova 3i truly apart from the competition is its combination of a 4GB RAM and a 128GB of storage—something you only see in flagship models. A good 64Gb microSD costs around P2k above so that already saves you a lot of money. Think of all the photos you could take, and the movies and music you could save on your phone.

FINAL WORD Just like the Nova 2i, it’s clear that Huawei again shook the market and “shookt” the competition with the release of the Nova 3i. Whether they admit it or not, the initial sales of the Nova 3i is reason enough for the sudden price drop of other midrange models to somehow minimize the intensity of Nova 3i’s impact in the market. It may be priced P1,000 higher than the 2i upon release, but the updated cameras, improved specs (especially the 128GB storage) and added features more than make up for slight price bump.

If you’re a Huawei user looking to upgrade your phone, the Nova 3i is an easy recommendation: the screen is larger, the performance is better, the body is more premium, it has double the storage, and the four cameras with a higher resolution will not disappoint.

Now, if you’ve been using another brand and are looking to try a Huawei phone, again the Nova 3i is a good buy, especially if you are looking for something eye-catching.

So, despite the price drops and increased competition, is the Nova 3i still the midrange smartphone to beat? For now, I’d say it still is, and you’ll have no regrets if you’re using one right now to read this piece.

A10

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, September 1, 2018

LIVING LA VIDA NOVA

Can the current king of midrange smartphones thwart off challengers?

The TECHNIVORE ED UY whereiseduy@g.mail.com

‘K

iller.” “Beast.” “Monster.”

If you’re a tito like me, and this article had been written in the 1990s, I’d probably be using those words to describe something evil like a convicted criminal, or perhaps a villain in some horror movie. But nowadays, these same words are being used over and over to describe and generate hype for a new smartphone.

“Flagship Killer.” “Beast in Class.” “Monster Specs.” Repeat.

I know they sound more more badass than, say, “contender,” and “beast” seems way more tempting to click; but a “camera beast” that makes you look beautiful just sounds a bit too contradictory for me.

To be clear, I’m not telling you to stop reading reviews, because I write a lot of them, too, and it’s always good to be informed. But let’s admit it, some sites make it even more confusing, especially those who just love to oversell every single gadget that comes out, just because they got first dibs and are looking to drive more traffic to their web sites. They change favorites as often as they transfer their SIM cards using the same superlatives to describe each and every single new phone that’s coming out.

FROM VICTOR TO VICTIM?

I’m telling you this because this particular review is about the Huawei Nova 3i—one of the most searched phones on Google Philippines the past couple of months, and what many consider as the current midrange smartphone king with its P15,990 price tag.

It was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated phones, based on the leaked specs and proven by more than the 20,000 people who lined to get it on launch day. But as they say, uneasy is the head that wears the crown, and the Nova 3i is facing an increasing number of challengers—from other brands that dropped the prices of their earlier 2018 models, to newer models like the Oppo F9 that are all looking to end the Nova 3i’s reign.

Some of those phones may have even become more attractive alternatives, but isn’t it a bit annoying that after driving you to buy the Nova 3i, these same reviewers are also the ones making you think about whether you made the right purchase, or if you should have waited a bit for their new favorite “beasts” with “unbelievable specs for the pricing”?

And if you’re still undecided, you probably want to know if the Nova 3i is still the best value phone for its price range, right?

So here’s my take on the Nova 3i, the James Reid phone and the heir to Huawei’s Mid-Tier Kingdom.

TWO IN A ROW FOR HUAWEI?

The Nova 3i is the company’s follow-up to their highly successful Nova 2i, which gained attention for its quad camera setup at a time when three cameras were already impressive.

The Nova 3i furthers the series’ reputation of setting new standards for the midrange price category, retaining the quad camera setup, but with updated internals and a look that stands out and literally outshines all other phones in its price range.

It has a nice heft and feel to it as it settles comfortably in your hand, but because the phone is encased in glass, it can be very prone to fingerprint smudges and slippery without a case.

On the back is a slightly protruding dual camera module that’s vertically oriented with the words “Dual Lens” and its aperture indicated beneath it. The fingerprint scanner is also at the back of the device and it’s as snappy as ever. There’s also the option of using it for gestures, such as sliding down to view notifications, swiping it from left to right to browse photos, touch and hold to take photos, stop alarms or answer calls.

You can access this by going to Settings > Security Privacy > Fingerprint ID. Moving to the right side, there’s the volume rocker and power button while on the left is the hybrid nano SIM tray. Up top is the secondary mic while the bottom houses all the device’s ports including the 3.5 mm audio port, main microphone, loudspeaker and a micro USB port.

Yes. I was hoping for USB Type-C, as well.

Power the device on and you’ll be treated to a nice 6.3-inch FHD+ FullView Display 2.0 with a 2340 x 1080 resolution equal to 409 ppi and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It has a hideable notch that houses the dual 24MP + 2MP cameras, the earpiece and LED notification light. Users can lower the resolution to HD+ (1560 x 720) or switch to Smart Resolution to save power. For a phone with its price, it has quite an impressive display, bright with good viewing angles, sharp text and images, and the colors when watching videos or playing games are vivid and punchy.

Sound quality, on the other hand, is just average. It’s loud and crisp enough when listening to music and or playing games or answering hands-free voice calls, but you can only do so much with a single speaker. Good thing it has a new Party Mode feature.

Party Mode is a first for the Nova series and lets you can connect up to seven Huawei phones

(via WiFi) and sync your music across the phones to create a surround-sound experience. It’s fun and easy to use, but the downside is that there is a bit of a loading time for each song to sync with the other phones. Once a song is loaded, you can play it instantly; just don’t quit the app or you’d have to reload each song again.

The Nova 3i is the first Huawei phone to use its proprietary new midrange chipset called the Kirin 710. This octa-core chipset clocked at 2.2GHz is paired with a 4GB RAM and Mali-G51 GPU. It can pretty much handle all the apps I often use—for Web browsing, checking out my social-media feeds, e-mail, photo and video editing, and for updating my blog. The Nova 3i also supports an AI gaming mode that pushes the performance of the SoC to the absolute max, while blocking noncritical notifications and calls that could diminish the gaming experience.

Now for the most important feature of the Nova 3i—its four cameras.

The Nova 3i has a pair of 16MP + 2MP rear cameras, and 24MP f/2.0 + 2MP front cameras.

The 2MP secondary sensors are used to give you that “bokeh” effect that used to be possible only with DSLRs. The camera app is rich with plenty of modes.

There’s your standard Aperture, Portrait, Photo, Video and the fun new AR Lens. Tap on “More” and you can access PRO, Night, Panorama, HDR, TimeLapse, 3D Panorama, Filter, Watermark, Document Scan, Slow-Mo (1280x720p 120fps) and Artist Mode if you want to turn your picture into an artwork instead. The cameras are equipped with AI scene recognition and it will automatically adjust the color depending on the object you are focusing on.

This is where the debates begin, as some say that AI mode can be a bit too aggressive. For me, it depends on your subject and lighting condition, as there are some instances when that AI boost makes a lot of difference. Another comment I often hear about is that the Nova 3i applies too much beauty effects when taking a selfie.I actually agree with this, because even with beauty level turned to zero, there is still going to be some smoothening.

New to the Nova 3i series is the AR Lens, which is actually fun to use, especially for younger users. While you can find stickers in a lot of apps, the Huawei Nova 3 series stands out for adding backgrounds (with music), a few 3D Objects and Huawei’s 3D QMoji, which is similar to the iPhone X’s Animoji. The selection includes a chameleon (that changes colors), a blowfish, wolf/dog, cat, rabbit, robot (my favorite), penguin and a cherry that’s wearing headphones. You can either do a 10-second video or create a GIF using this QMoji. It works pretty accurately (best in well-lit environs) and if your QMoji looks a bit angry, just move the phone a bit farther from your face.

As expected, the Nova 3i takes really good photos during daytime and in well-lit environments. Images are sharp and detailed, and the color is pretty accurate. Low light is also pretty decent but if you are not taking photos of people, I suggest you switch to Night Mode (but you’ll need a tripod for this mode). The Nova 3i’s photo quality is still one of the best in its price category. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for taking videos, as there is no video stabilization whatsoever in any resolution.

Continued on A10

A11

Sports BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, September 1, 2018

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

LADON IN BOXING FINAL J

By Jun Lomibao

AKARTA—Rogen Ladon dominantly punched himself past Thailand’s Yuttapong Tongdee in a men’s flyweight semifinal of boxing on Friday afternoon and moved just one victory shy of snatching the Philippines’s fifth gold medal in the 18th Asian Games.

Ladon, a Rio de Janeiro Olympian, followed his coaches’ instructions to the letter—while innovating on some of his punches—to score a 5-0 victory.

Standing in Ladon’s way to the gold medal is Uzbeklistan’s Jasurbek Latipov, who disposed of Kazakhstan’s Azat Uzenaliev, 4-1, in the other semifinal at the Jakarta International Expo Boxing Hall.

They square off for the gold at 2:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. in Manila) on Saturday with Ladon hoping to join weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, skateboarder Margielyn Didal and golfers Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go as the country’s gold-medal winners in these Games.

“I just followed my coaches’ instructions—to make full use of my straights,” said the 24-year-old Ladon, who moved one division up in weight for these Games.

“In the first round, I tried to get the feel of his [Thai]

ROGEN LADON is a picture of extreme relief as referee Bekjon Yusupov of Uzbekistan raises is hand after his flyweight semifinal against Thailand’s Yuttapong Tongdee on Friday. NONIE REYES/Canon 6D MKII

strategy and come the second round, my jab-straights found their marks,” said Ladon, who was immediately congratulated by Philippine Olympic Committee President Ricky Vargas and Chairman Abraham Tolentino.

Ladon was one of three Filipinos eyeing final slots in boxing later on Friday. The others were light-flyweight Carlo Paalam against India’s one-name boxer Amit at 6:15 p.m. and middlewight Eumir Felix Marcial opposite Uzbekistan’s Israel Madrimov at 7:45 p.m., both Jakarta time.

“I sort of confused the Thai by changing Rogen’s style in the first round,” men’s head coach Ronald Chaves said.

“The instruction was to tease the opponent with his right

and deliver the left straight.”

“In the first round alone, we knew Rogen had the Thai under control,” Chavez added.

Tongdee was a rugged customer but in all three rounds, Rogen—who is fighting with a three-fourth-inch cut in his right eyebrow and another cut, although short, in his nose bridge he sustained in his first bout—was the more stable fighter.

Alliance of Boxing Associations in the Philippines Secretary-General Ed Picson praised Ladon for having made full use of his experience.

“Rogen is a veteran of the World Championships and the Olympics. And he showed everybody how it is to be a

veteran of those tournaments,” Picson said.

“He established control because of his composure,” added Picson, who revealed that a Thai boxing official approached him and virtually conceded the fight to Ladon.

“It’s a perfect decision for Rogen to go up in weight—he kept on winning silvers at 49 kgs, so we told him ‘enough of those silvers,’” he added.

Against the Uzbek, both Chavez and Picson said they expect a thrilling fight between southpaws. But Ladon, they said,

would be more comfortable against a fellow left-hander.

“The Uzbek is a fighter, too. But he can’t take Rogen for granted,” Picson said. “Rogen is more determined. And he promised all of us to get the gold.”

Ladon, Marcial and Paalam were the last three boxers standing for the Philippines before Friday’s semifinals.

Joel Bacho, Mario Fernandez, James Palicte, Nesthy Petecio and Irish Magno all exited in the preliminaries.

KIMS BOOK MODEST FINISH IN ASIAN GAMES TRIATHLON

KIM MANGROBANG (right) winds up seventh and two runs down behind her is Kim Kilgroe.

J

AKARTA—Kim Mangrobang and Kim Kilgroe finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 18th Asian Games women’s triathlon dominated by the continent’s traditional top guns on Friday morning in Palembang.

The pace and humidity dragged most of the competitors down—but not Japan’s Yuko Takahashi, China’s Zhong Menying and Macau’s Hoi Long, the top three finishers in the 1.8-km swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run race that wound up in front of the Jakabaring Sport City Shooting Range.

Running in a tie for third after the 40-km bike race, Mangrobang strained to keep pace with her

rivals, eventually fading to No. 7 to breast the tape in two hours, five minutes and 20 seconds.

Filipino-American Kilgroe, who at one point was second overall during the bike leg, had a respectable Asian Games debut, clocking 2:06.57.

Takahashi won the gold in 1:59.29, handilly beating Menying (2:01.16) and Hoi Long (2:01.28).

“I’m still very happy with my result,” said Mangrobang, women’s gold medalist in triathlon’s debut in the Southeast Asian Games two years ago in Singapore.

“We all trained hard for these Asian Games, and it all boiled down on who was in her best elements today,” added the prize of

Santa Rosa, Laguna.

The 27-year-old Mangrobang, however, refused to blame the sweltering and humid weather, which reached a high of 30 degrees Celsius—10 degrees hotter than in Rio Maior in Portugal where she and the other Philippine triathlon team members are training.

“It was hot but manageable,” said Mangrobang, who improved on her ninth-place finish in Incheon four years ago.

A member of the national team since 2016, Kilgroe was delighted by her maiden Asian Games outing.

“Just being being here is already an awesome experience for me. To be able to play for our country a and get a good finish exceeded my expectations.”

Women’s team coach Ani de Leon Brown said she was generally satisfied by the performance of both her wards, but noted the hot conditions had affected Mangrobang “because she was coming over from Europe where the weather is still cool.”

“Had Kim [Mangrobang] managed to stay with the first pack, she could have wound up among the top five,” Brown said.

Brown pointed to the superb strategy of the Japanese duo of Takahashi, ranked No. 15 in the International Triathlon Union world ratings, and Yuka Sato in ensuring that her teammate won the gold.

“Sato ‘killed’ the rest of the field and acted as the buffer so that her compatriot would win,” noted Brown of the Japanese, ranked No. 20 in the world, who eventually bowed out just a few meters into the 10-km run leg.

Sato was one of four casualties of the event’s scorching conditions, reducing the 22-woman field to 18 at the finish.

Southeast Asian Games men’s triathlon champion Niko Huelgas and John Chicano are set to compete in the men’s triathlon on Saturday. Jun Lomibao

Yao Ming closely watching new gen Chinese five

J

AKARTA—He may no longer be playing but ex-Houston Rockets star Yao Ming remains a talismanic figure in Chinese basketball as he inspires a generation of Chinese National Basketball Association (NBA) stars toward a gold medal at the Asian Games.

A China team featuring Rockets center Zhou Qi and Dallas Mavericks guard Ding Yanyuhang looms as a heavy favorite to win the men’s final against Iran on Saturday.

The men’s basketball tournament has been somewhat overshadowed in Jakarta by the success of the combined Koreas women’s team,

which is also playing for gold.

Yao even took time out to watch the joint Korean women’s team, but his focus is clearly on one thing.

Now president of the Chinese Basketball Association after an eight-year NBA career with the Rockets, Yao is still very much the driving force behind basketball in his homeland and is credited with China’s resurgence at this Asian Games after the men failed to make the medal rounds at the previous edition in 2014.

“I think the most important thing is he introduced the two national teams system,”

Zhou Qi said of Yao’s decision to bring more players through the national programs in order to broaden the talent pool. “It gives the young players a lot of chances to play more matches to gain experiences. We get better by playing these competitive matches.”

Ding credited Yao’s experience at the highest level as the main benefit for lifting the current Chinese team.

Yao “has spent all these weeks with us. He is there to give us the feeling of security, which is very important,” Ding said. “He shares his experiences with us, gives us a lot of tactical advice. He helps the team a lot.” AP