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VOL. 7 NO. 278

THREE FOR ACTION Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez support pressing the Philippines' victory over China in the South China Sea dispute.

LYN RILLON / PDI

Philippine rebels: Peace pact ‘best antidote’ for extremism

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group said Monday a peace accord it’s trying to implement with the government is “the best antidote” for violent extremism exemplified by a bloody siege of southern Marawi city by Islamic State group-

aligned militants.

Government and rebel representatives submitted a new draft law to President Rodrigo Duterte which aims to establish a more powerful Muslim autonomous region in the country’s south under a 2014 peace deal that stalled in Congress under his predecessor.

“This is the best antidote to the violent

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82% approval rating proof of hope, support of Pinoys under Duterte

8 New Democrats to form government in B.C. for the first time since 2001 ❱❱ PAGE 16

❱❱ PAGE 6 Philippine rebels

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Aquino to be indicted over Mamasapano

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Optometrists cry foul over new requirements

BY JOCELYN R. UY AND MARIEJO S. RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer

politics was involved in declining the application for accreditation of the OAP as a provider of educational units necessary to renew licenses.

“There is no ‘politics’ involved, as they were likewise given certification as a continuing professional development provider which was canceled in 2016

A GROUP of optometrists has raised objections to the operational guidelines drafted by the Board of Optometry for a law requiring practitioners to earn educational units to renew their licenses, saying the board was allowing the retroactive application of points earned prior to the full implementation of the law this month.

The Optometric Association of the Philippines (OAP) also questioned why Continuing Professional Development (CPD) units had been issued to practitioners in the last three years when renewal of licenses had been allowed without such conditions before the enactment of the CPD Act last year.

OAP president Dr. John Paul Lam pointed out that Republic Act No. 8981 or the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Modernization Act of 2000 repealed the provision of Republic Act No. 8050 that required CPD (then the Continuing Development Education) as a condition for the renewal of licenses of optometrists.

“That means there is also no CPD council [that should be issuing points].

But what is happening right now is that the Professional Regulation Commission is saying there are accredited CPD providers,” Lam told the Inquirer.

Authored by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Republic Act No. 10912 or the Continuing Professional Development Act lapsed into law in July 2016.

It requires all professionals to take additional formal and nonformal learning before they can renew their licenses under the regulation of the PRC in view of the impending Association of Southeast Asian Nations integration.

Under the law, optometrists should earn a total of 45 points in three years to renew their licenses.

Lam noted that the board was allowing CPD points issued by the CPD Council for Optometry since June 7, 2014, to be credited within three years from issuance.

But Lam said this was questionable since the law was only fully implemented this month following the issuance of the Implementing Rules and Regulations by the PRC in February.

OAP international affairs chair Dr. Carmen Abesamis-Dichoso also said they had applied for accreditation as a CPD provider in October last year but the CPD Council for Optometry continued to defer their application.

Another organization, the Integrated Philippine Association of Optometrists, has been accredited as a CPD provider, Dichoso said.

She said practitioners were paying as much as $300 to $400 for these seminars to earn CPD points from accredited providers.

But the Board of Optometry denied www.canadianinquirer.net

because they had not complied with the implementation guidelines,” Dr. Teresita Yambot, chair of the Board of Optometry, told the Inquirer. ■

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Philippine rebels... extremism that has wrought havoc” in many Muslim areas, Moro Islamic Liberation Front Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar said during the presentation of the proposed autonomy bill to Duterte at the presidential palace in Manila.

Once established, the autonomous government, to be called Bangsamoro, “would be at the forefront of keeping public order and safety, dispensing justice within the bounds of law and addressing the basic requisites of a good life,” Jaafar said.

Duterte pledged to back the bill in Congress as long as it adheres to the Philippine Constitution and promotes the plight of minority Muslims.

“I am for this,” Duterte said to applause from officials and the insurgents, who came in business suits. “Within the context of the Republic of the Philippines there shall be a Bangsamoro country.”

The rebels, who dropped their secessionist bid in exchange for broader autonomy, signed a pact with the government to establish a region with more powers and funding for minority Muslims in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation and end a decades-long rebellion.

The conflict has left about 150,000 ❰❰ 1

people dead and stunted development in the resource-rich but poverty-wracked region.

The peace pact would have been a major legacy of Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, but the legislation stalled in Congress in 2015 after some rebels from the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front became entangled in fighting that killed 44 police commandos during an anti-terrorism raid in southern Mamasapano town.

The commandos managed to kill top Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir, who had long been wanted by the United States, but the large number of police deaths sparked public outrage and prompted lawmakers to stall passage of the autonomy bill.

Rebel leader Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said amid growing frustration among Muslims over the bill’s failed passage, extremist groups in the south emerged.

“These misguided people have filled the vacuum created by our failure to enact the basic law and fed into the frustration of our people,” Murad said at the ceremony, which was attended by leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives.

“Today, we watch with utter disgust at the destruction that violent extremism has inflicted in the city of Marawi,”

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte does the peace sign with members of the Government of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panels during the turn over of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law. KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Murad said.

Irene Santiago, a government official dealing with the rebels, said public and congressional support for the Muslim autonomy bill is crucial. “The dangers are staring at us in the face,” she said.

Officials say more than 550 people, including 411 militants, have been killed in nearly two months of fighting in Marawi, a bastion of Islamic faith in the south.

On Sunday, troops cleared 50 more buildings and houses after clashes that left eight militants and two soldiers dead, military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano told reporters.

Troops are bracing for a “final push to really break their line and finally clear the whole area of Marawi,” Ano said, adding that “the battleground is now down to less than a square kilometre area.”

Duterte is expected to announce this week whether he will extend a 60-day declaration of martial law in the southern region to deal with the Marawi insurrection, the most serious security crisis he has faced since assuming power in June last year. ■ Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.

Pinoy illegals urged to take Saudi amnesty offer

BY JULIE M. AURELIO Philippine Daily Inquirer LABOR OFFICIALS are making a lastminute appeal to Filipino workers to avail themselves of the Saudi government’s extended amnesty program for undocumented foreigners.

Around 600 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Riyadh have been repatriated in the past few days, with 600 more expected to come home, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said.

The Dole continued to process the papers of the stranded OFWs in Saudi Arabia so they could make the July 24deadlinefor the extended amnesty program, Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say said.

“We urge them to take advantage of the amnesty extension and immediately avail of the amnesty grant, and the government will take care of the repatriation process,” he said.

Stranded or undocumented foreigners have 10 days to apply for the extended amnesty program, which initially www.canadianinquirer.net

concluded its 90-day run in June.

Qualified to apply are the undocumented and overstaying foreigners, OFWs with expired residency permits or those without the said permits and those who escaped or were abandoned by their employers.

Say encouraged the stranded and un documented OFWs to avail of the extended amnesty program, since the Saudi government would launch their crackdown once the amnesty was lifted.

“Some OFWs choose to stay, stressing that they could still work for at least amonth and save money before going back home … Those eligible, we urge them to register and let the government bring them back home,” he said.

He noted that some Filipino workers were not eligible for the amnesty because of other violations and cases of absconding.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has sent an augmentation team to Saudi Arabia to accommodate more applicants for the amnesty and to expedite the processing of the OFWs’ documents. ■

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Philippine rebel chief refuses to broker for city attackers

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press

said, and the government and the rebels worked to establish “peace corridors” through which trapped residents were extricated to safety.

A group of Muslim ulamas, or religious scholars, managed to enter the conflict zone in past weeks and urged some of the militant leaders to end the siege and withdraw from the beleaguered city.

“After a series of dialogue, they came up with a proposal, they said, ‘we will leave but the MILF should intervene,” Murad said of the militants’ demand that was relayed by the ulamas to his rebel group.

“I said it’ll be hard for us to intervene because the president is very clear in his statements that he will not negotiate with the terrorists,” Murad told AP, adding he asked the religious leaders to convince the gunmen

renzana has said in recent weeks that Hapilon, among the most-wanted terror suspects by the United States, may still be MANILA, PHILIPPINES — in Marawi, hiding in a mosque.

The leader of the Philippines’ Murad’s rebel group has a largest Muslim rebel group says vast encampment in Butig Islamic State-linked militants town, near Marawi, and hunwanted his group to broker dreds of its fighters have been their possible withdrawal from ordered to stay in a designated Marawi city during the major zone to prevent them from bemilitary offensive against them ing entangled in the ongoing but he refused to intervene. clashes. Ceasefire monitors Al Haj Murad Ebrahim of the from the government, the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front group and foreign peacekeeptold The Associated Press in ers have been stationed in Butig an interview late Tuesday that to prevent any problem, he said. intervening would have been Murad travelled to Manila to difficult because President Rowitness government and rebel drigo Duterte has declared his representatives submitting to government would not negotiDuterte a new draft legislation ate with terrorists. that aims to establish a more powThe nearly two months of erful Muslim autonomous region insurrection in Marawi is the in the south of the predominantly worst he has seen in his more Roman Catholic nation. than four decades as a rebel in The autonomy deal would the country’s have been a masouth, Murad jor legacy of said, adding the Duterte’s preattackers are decessor, Benow wracked by After a series of dialogue, they came nigno Aquino up with a proposal, they said, ‘we will infighting and III, but the legleave but the MILF should intervene.’ have expressed islation stalled through religious in Congress in emissaries they 2015 after some are ready to fight rebels from the to the death.

1 1 ,0 0 0 - s t r o n g The violence underscores the “to just withdraw so this will Moro Islamic Liberation Front urgency for the government stop” without any mediation. became entangled in fighting and the Moro rebel group to imThe gunmen chose to fight it that killed 44 police commanplement a 2014 Muslim auton- out, he said. “What they said, if dos during an anti-terrorism omy deal to help stop the rising nobody will intervene, then we raid in the south. The massive tide of extremism, he said. will die here,” Murad said. police deaths sparked public More than 550 people, inAfter weeks of battle setbacks, outrage and prompted lawmakcluding 413 militants, have been the militants have grown desper- ers to stall passage of the bill. killed in Marawi since May 23, ate, he said. One of the leaders, Wearing a business suit, the when hundreds of gunmen, Abdullah Maute, had a deadly 69-year-old Murad, who says waving Islamic State group- rift with another militant. “What he met late al-Qaida leader style black flags, stormed into happened was, he was able to Osama bin Laden when he was the city centre, occupied com- kill their member and he was sent as a young insurgent for mercial buildings and villages wounded,” Murad said, citing in- combat training in Afghaniand took hostages. Duterte or- formation his rebels received. stan decades ago, underscored dered troops to crush the attackMaute’s brother, Omarkhayy- that, if the autonomy deal was ers and declared martial law in am, had also been wounded in set in place, the more moderate the south for 60 days, which he battle and is no longer seen on rebels in his group can provide now wants to extend up to the the ground, he said. crucial help in dealing with the end of the year to deal with the Murad’s remarks echo ear- smaller but radical groups that worst crisis he has faced in his lier military statements that have emerged in the south. yearlong presidency.

Omarkhayyam Maute has been The deal aims to create a reAmid the intense fighting that wounded early in the fight- gional police force, which may has forced nearly 400,000 people ing and that the militants have enlist qualified insurgents, who to flee from their homes, Murad been beset by infighting as the fought and grew up in the batsaid his group met with the presi- siege dragged on. tlefields in the south that may dent and offered to help rescue A militant leader, Isnilon now be transformed into proshundreds of residents, who have Hapilon, “is no longer being perous communities. been trapped and starving in seen but his whereabout has “The revolutionaries are their homes in the battle zones. not been confirmed,” he said. very, very, very knowledgeable Duterte welcomed the offer, he Defence Secretary Delfin Lo- of the terrain,” Murad said. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

House Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia (center), along with Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro (right), and committee on ways and means chairman Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua (left), face the media to discuss the highlights of the accomplishments of the House of Representatives PHOTO COURTESY OF PRESS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS BUREAU

82% approval rating proof of hope, support of Pinoys under Duterte — House leaders PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Two ranking leaders in the House of Representatives commended the result of a new Pulse Asia survey showing President Rodrigo Duterte as the most appreciated government official with 82 percent approval rating.

In a statement on Tuesday, House appropriations committee chair Karlo Nograles said President Duterte’s leadership has inspired the country to become more hopeful, especially the poor Filipinos who “are clearly brimming with hope for a better life.”

“This marked optimism of the Filipinos should pave the way to reach our collective dream of becoming a peaceful and progressive nation,” Nograles said.

“We should seize the momentum,” he added.

Conducted on June 24 to 29, the survey showed the Chief Executive improving in his approval rating from 78 percent in March to 82 percent in June.

He received the highest rating among the top government officials included in the survey.

“This is no longer the time to oppose and to rebel. More than

ever, this is the time for Filipinos to unite under the most trusted and most appreciated presidency,” Nograles said.

For his part, House dangerous drugs committee chair Robert Ace Barbers said the increased approval and trust rating of the President is an indication that he still draws support from the public.

“The results only prove that the Duterte Administration remains resolute despite various controversies. Admittedly, there are those who do not approve of the President’s style.

But the fact that his trust rating recovered from 78 percent to 82 percent only shows that majority of Filipinos believe in him,” said Barbers.

“I am also very pleased that the President’s rating rose in the face of martial law in Mindanao. It may be an unpopular decision for some, but for us Mindanaoans, we are certain that the martial law will bring peace to our homeland,” Barbers added.

The survey was conducted a month after Duterte declared martial law and suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao as clashes between the government troops and the ISIS-linked Maute group erupted on May 23. ■

Philippine News

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Aquino to be indicted over Mamasapano Ombudsman finds probable cause to indict former President, 2 others as ‘coconspirators’ in the botched raid that led to the massacre of 44 police commandos in 2015.

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer

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FORMER PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III was ordered criminally indicted on Friday and could face imprisonment if convicted in connection with the botched Mamasapano raid that left 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos dead in one of the biggest crises that hit his administration.

In a resolution on Friday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales held Aquino and two other former police officials criminally liable for what had become infamously known as the Jan. 25, 2015, “Mamasapano Massacre.”

Morales, who administered Aquino’s oath of office and was appointed by him as chief antigraft prosecutor after she retired from the Supreme Court, named former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima and sacked SAF commander Getulio Napeñas as Aquino’s “coconspirators” in charges of usurpation of authority and violation of the antigraft law.

The graft charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and four years for usurpation.

“There is no gainsaying that President Aquino was fully aware that the Office of the Ombudsman had placed Purisima under preventive suspension at that time,” Morales said, referring to her order to suspend the former PNP chief over an anomalous gun license delivery deal.

She said text messages between Aquino and Purisima, which were disclosed during a Senate investigation, showed that the “suspended police chief played a major role in the botched operation.”

She said Purisima usurped authority by playing an active role “to the point that he was exercising a degree of authority and discretion over Napeñas and consequently, over the operation” in Mamasapano.

Morales said Aquino was complicit in Purisima’s usurpation when the former President “assented to or at the very least failed to prevent Purisima” from getting involved in the operation.

The law says a suspended public officer “is barred from performing any public func- tions and from meddling into the affairs of the government.” Purisima would not have been involved “were it not for the complicity and influence of President Aquino,” Morales said.

According to Morales, usurpation of authority is “committed by any person who shall knowingly and falsely represent himself to be an officer, agent or representative of any department or

Army troopers guard the Pumping Bridge at Barrio Fort in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur last July 7 against Maute terrorists incursion.

agency of the Philippine government” and unlawfully performing functions of that official.

Morales said Aquino violated a provision of the antigraft law prohibiting any public officer from inducing or influencing another to perform an act that violated duly promulgated rules and regulations.

The Ombudsman, however, dismissed a complaint of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide against Aquino, Purisima and Napeñas, saying the deaths of the commandos were caused by “the intentional act of shooting by the hostile forces” beyond their control.

The mission to arrest two militants went disastrously wrong when SAF commandos were ambushed and outnumbered by rebel gunmen.

The commandos killed one of the militants, top Malaysian terror suspect and bombmaker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan. But the brutal deaths sparked public outrage.

The fallout from the carnage, which also left 20 Moro fighters dead, included the refusal by Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law which would have crowned Aquino’s efforts to bring lasting peace to rebellion-torn Mindanao.

Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon said he respected but disagreed with the Ombudsman’s decision to indict Aquino, his party mate.

He said in a statement that the Senate committee on public order did not find Aquino criminally liable.

Merlyn Gamutan, widow of SAF Senior Insp. Joey Gamutan, said she wanted the charges pursued against Aquino and his coaccused “until they are jailed.”

“They should pay for his negligence,” she told the Inquirer. “Our husbands would still be alive if not for their negligence.”

www.canadianinquirer.net

OLIVER MARQUEZ / PNA

Aquino’s spokesperson Abigail Valte said he and his lawyers were studying the Ombudsman’s order “with the end view of filing a motion for reconsideration.”

“An initial reading shows that there may have been a misappreciation of some facts surrounding the incident, leading to some erroneous conclusions,” Valte said.

In a statement, President Duterte’s spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Malacañang respected the Ombudsman’s decision.

“The President recognizes the heroic sacrifice of the Philippine National PoliceSpecial Action Force 44, and it is his—and the nation’s—hope to finally bring justice to the victims and families of the Fallen 44 and put closure to the issue as part of the healing process,” Abella said.

Morales issued her resolution against Aquino a day after she appeared in the television show “Direct Talk” on Japan’s NHK World, in which she spoke about the dangers of “blind loyalty” to an official who appoints another to a government position.

“Some people believe that gratitude is a virtue,” she said. “So you are appointed by a particular person and so you believe that you owe it to him that you are appointed and so you are loyal to him.

There’s this blind loyalty irrespective of whether the appointive power is right or wrong.”

Liberal Party president Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the party “stands by former President Aquino in his lifelong commitment to the peace process in Mindanao and see his actions in relation to Mamasapano as imperatives in good faith to advance the cause of justice and peace in Mindanao.”

He said he believed Aquino could defend his actions and trusted that the Ombudsman would act “with fairness and credibility.” ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

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Supt. Marcos not ‘reinstated’

BY JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE AND PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Army troopers guard the Pumping Bridge at Barrio Fort in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur last July 7 against Maute terrorists incursion.

OLIVER MARQUEZ / PNA

Duterte acknowledges US, China military assistance in Marawi siege

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer PRESIDENT DUTERTE has acknowledged military assistance from the United States and China, and said he would welcome any aid from Russia in the fight against Islamic State (IS)-inspired militants in Mindanao where he had declared martial law.

Addressing diplomats in Davao City on Friday, the President said the Philippines would “stay with the Americans” under a 66-year-old defense treaty, but he again reminded Washington not to meddle with the way he runs the country, especially his human rights record and his bloody war on drugs.

“Let us give credit where credit is due. The United States helped the Armed Forces in this fight, and China committed and delivered a lot of firearms for us,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech to delegates attending the 11th Ambassadors’ Tour.

“I don’t know about Russia but [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, he said he will help.

I welcome all of that,” he added.

He told diplomats there were no strings attached to the P370 million worth of arms and ammunition from China that he had personally received on June 28 during turnover ceremonies at Clark Air Base in

Pampanga province.

“You have to make friends, and there is a need for you to acquire the kind of firearms and they are there. There are no attachments there,” he said.

He said no head of state would say, “‘Oh, I’ll give you but you should be loyal.’”

“There’s nothing like that,” he said, adding that leaders would just say, “‘Yes, we can help you.’

That is all.”

The US Embassy had earlier donated counterterrorism weapons and equipment to the Philippines. These included 300 M4 carbines, 200 Glock 21 pistols, four M134D Gatlingstyle machine guns and 100 M203 grenade launchers.

Philippine defense officials said US Special Forces also were helping government troops fighting IS-linked gunmen in Marawi City by flying surveillance planes and drones. The Americans were not involved in ground combat, which is prohibited by the Constitution, they said.

The government has also accepted similar assistance from the Australian government.

Mr. Duterte said the 1951 Philippines-US Mutual Defense Treaty was “still there, so I cannot enter into military alliances with other nations because I would be violating the US-RP agreement.”

THE 19 policemen implicated in the killing of Albuera, Leyte, Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. were not really reinstated but only reverted to duty, Camp Crame said on Friday. Malacañang also downplayed suggestions that official actions on Supt.

Marvin Marcos and the others undermine the law and would demoralize security forces.

The 19 policemen implicated in the killing of Albuera, Leyte, Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and his fellow detainee Raul Yap were not really reinstated but only reverted to duty, Camp Crame said on Friday.

Malacañang also downplayed suggestions that official actions on Supt. Marvin Marcos and 18 other policemen involved in the killings undermined the law and would demoralize security forces.

But Public Information Office (PIO) head Chief Supt.

Dionardo Carlos disputed such claims and said Marcos and the 18 other policemen were not exonerated and continue to face criminal and administrative charges.

❱❱ PAGE 13 Duterte acknowledges

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Aside from the criminal charges, Carlos said that Marcos and his coaccused also have pending demotion and suspension cases with the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS).

Just following SOP

Carlos told journalists that Marcos and his 18 coaccused were automatically placed on leave of absence when they were charged with murder and detained on orders of the court.

That, he explained, is the standard operating procedure in cases of policemen being charged with nonbailable offenses. “[But] when the case was downgraded to homicide, (which) allowed them to post bail, the leaves of absence of these PNP personnel (were) lifted,” he said.

“Thus, with the lifting of the leaves of absence they were placed on (active) duty status,” the PNP spokesperson pointed out.

No pressure

Carlos said the leaves of absence were lifted on July 11, a day before President Duterte’s speech at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology’s anniversary celebration.

During that speech, Mr. Duterte expressed his wish that

Marcos and other policemen involved in the November 2016 raid at the subprovincial jail in Baybay City be returned to active duty.

Consequently, Marcos was assigned officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group regional office in Central Mindanao, Carlos said.

“We respect that. That’s their right,” he said, reiterating that Marcos and his men have not been found guilty of any crime.

The spokesperson said the policemen cannot even be deemed suspended because they appealed an earlier ruling by the PNP-IAS. Not yet off the hook

But that does not mean the 19 policemen have been cleared of the charges, Carlos stressed.

PNP officials said Marcos and his menwould still have to answer for the deaths of Espinosa and Yap until they are acquitted by the court.

For instance, Marcos is a member of Philippine National Police Class of 1996 and, at age 44, still has more than a decade before mandatory retirement.

Possible reversal

The PNP chief, Carlos said, is ❱❱ PAGE 10 Supt. Marcos

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Lawmakers want to regulate Uber, Grab

BY FILANE CERVANTES Philippines News Agency TO REGULATE and set clear requirements, guidelines, and standards for the operation of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Grab.

House appropriations committee chair Karlo Nograles and his brother, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Partylist Rep. Jericho Nograles, filed House Bill 6009 in light of the controversy over the recent decision of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to suspend the operation of some Uber and Grab vehicles.

The two lawmakers said the bill will provide a legal framework that would address the distinct character of TNCs as a public conveyance, thus removing the impasse on the issue of public welfare versus existing transportation regulations on the use of such applicationbased ride-hailing platforms.

“This is a classic case of a clash between what is good and what is legal.

Obviously, a lot of people patronize Uber governing public conveyances is not fuland Grab because of our horrible public ly applicable. transport system but at the same time “The concept of Uber and Grab is new the LTFRB must exercise its mandate to us so therefore new regulations must to ensure that all public conveyances be set to ensure that they are properly should possess a franchise to operate. managed. Unfortunately, we don’t even This issue would be addressed by our need to go through this kind of trouble proposed law on TNCs,” Karlo said. if only we have an efficient public transHB 6009, also known as the Trans- port system and an MRT that doesn’t portation Network Service Act, seeks to break down too often,” Jericho said. institutionalize the TNCs as an alternative mode of public transport.

The measure also This is a classic case of a clash between good and what is legal. stipulates the regulations for the operation of transportation network services “to ensure that the paramount interest Under the bill, TNCs and Transportaof the public is protected and conserved, tion Network Drivers (TNDs) are declared while encouraging free enterprise and as common carriers for purposes of determining the liability and degree of dilieconomic development.”

Both lawmakers stressed the need gence that must be observed in the course to enact a law governing the operation of transportation network services.

The presumption of negligence in case and regulation of TNCs, which is a completely new concept in the country’s of breach of contract of carriage shall transport sector and the general rules likewise apply to these common carriers.

The TNCs shall be required to secure a permit from the LTFRB upon compliance with the pertinent requirements and in turn, the TNCs shall be required to exercise the diligence of ensuring that all their driver-partners would comply with all the requirements and obligations set by law.

To be able to operate a TNC, one must do the following: create an application process for a person to apply for registration as a transportation network driver; maintain an updated what is database of the TNC’s transportation network drivers; maintain a website; conduct a safety inspection of the personal vehicle that a driver will use; and maintain an insurance policy for its driverpartners and their passengers.

The bill also mandates TNCs to strictly adopt a zero tolerance policy for drug or alcohol use for its driver-partners and all their network vehicles must be safe and comfortable. ■

Supt. Marcos... ❰❰ 9

just being careful with the established procedure because that can also be used in the fu-

ture.

“At the end of the day, we do not want that, once the PNP chief’s term ends, his decision will be reversed on a technicality,” Carlos said.

“I just hope they understand that this is the established procedure. We did not go beyond the established procedure. It just so happened that it was favorable to the accused policemen,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malacañang defended President Duterte’s order to reactivate Marcos and his men.

Probe welcomed

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the administration will cooperate with any Senate investigation into the reactivation of Marcos and his men.

“The government will cooperate. I mean the government through the PNP will cooperate with any investigation.

We have always participated in any hearing and we will continue to abide by that,” he said.

Abella clarified that Marcos’ return should not be considered a “reinstatement” since he was only suspended.

“It’s not a reinstatement. He was never dismissed. He was simply suspended,” he said.

“And he’s eligible back to duty. In other words, he’s abiding by the rule of law,” he added. www.canadianinquirer.net

No demoralization

When asked if Marcos’ return to active service would demoralize honest policemen, Abella said: “As far as we know, the morale of the Armed Forces is pretty high.”

“The President has the well-being of the nation in his heart and he will continue to do so,” Abella said.

He also downplayed the claim of Sen. Richard Gordon that the President was wrong in defending Marcos and that Mr. Duterte was getting bad advice from his advisers.

You only think he’s wrong

“That’s assuming too much, presuming too much of the President. The President is a listener. However, he is really his own. He also makes his own moves,” Abella said.

“It may be unorthodox, it may be out of the box. But definitely he listens. And whatever the good senator has said, it’s really his opinion,” he added.

Besides Marcos, those reactivated are Supt. Santi Noel Matira, Chief Insp.

Leo Larraga, Senior Insp. Fritz Blanco, Senior Insp. Deogracias Diaz, Insp. Lucredito Candilosas, SPO4 Melvin Cayubit, PO3 Johnny Ibañez, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, PO1 Lloyd Ortigueza, PO1 Bhernard Orpilla, SPO2 Benjamin Dacallos, PO3 Norman Abellanosa, PO1 Jerlans Cabiyaan, PO1 Clixto Canillas Jr, SPO1 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO2 John Ruel Doculan, SPO2 Antonio Docil and PO2 Jaime Dacsal.

Philippine News

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

‘Yolanda’ victims ask: Where’s our housing?

SAF 44 kin seek closure amid calls to reopen Mamasapano probe

BY JAYMEE T. GAMIL Philippine Daily Inquirer Survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Samar urged President Duterte to fulfill the promises he made during his last State of the Nation Address and investigate what they described as “anomalous housing projects” for survivors of the 2013 disaster.

Community of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP), a coalition of 163 communities devastated by Yolanda, complained that many of the housing projects are substandard or nonexistent.

“We find it shocking that after four years, we’re still in talks for permanent housing for the survivors,” said Florina Reyes of Eastern Samar province.

“The Duterte administration made a commitment to speed up the transfer of survivors in relocation sites. But in our area covering eight municipalities in Eastern Samar, four towns are just starting to put up evacuation sites while the four others have not even started,” Reyes said.

There are around 4,753 relocation beneficiaries from these eight towns alone, Reyes added.

Dhon Daganasol of Katarungan, one of the local groups under CYSP in Eastern Samar, said some of the housing units are so substandard, beneficiaries filed a “notice of refusal” with the National Housing Authority (NHA) last month.

“The hollow blocks and cement are so weak, they’re brittle to the touch,” Daganasol said.

“Instead of having peace of mind, we can’t accept such housing units. We might have survived Yolanda, but we’ll most likely get killed with these

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency

Typhoon Yolanda was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record.

YMPHOTOS / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

[houses],” Daganasol added.

‘Dancing houses’

In Barangay Cansumangkay in Balangiga town, Reyes said the model relocation houses have been derisively called “dancing houses” because “if you shake them, they will move.”

In the same barangay, CYSP said they found substandard, including what looked like sardine cans used as downspouts.

“Is that within standards of materials for [government] housing?” Daganasol asked.

The problem, Daganasol said, was that the sites were planned without consultation with the beneficiaries.

The NHA’s designs for the houses appeared to be for urban areas and are not suitable for farming and fishing communities. “Where will they place their livestock, their tools for their livelihood?” Reyes said.

“We’ve been [meeting] with the NHA regional office for four years, but it’s like they’re playing deaf to our appeals,” Daganasol said.

Although the NHA started surveying the relocation sites

11

last year, there has been no follow through since.

Reyes cited NHA data as of February that for the whole of Eastern Visayas, the government has only completed 29 percent of the targeted number of housing units, or 13,238 out of 45,208.

“This is a very small number for a period of four years,” Reyes said. “Transitional housing have almost rotted away because of natural wear and tear over the years and over many weather disturbances, yet the plans for permanent housing are still unclear.”

Lack of land

Another problem in Eastern Samar, Reyes said, was the lack of land for the socialized housing, considering a Commission on Audit requirement that the lots should be titled.

“The problem is, in Eastern Samar, 70 percent of the land aren’t titled,” Reyes said.

In Palawan province, CYSP claims almost none of the 8,760 resettlement units for Yolanda survivors in Agutaya, Busuanga, Coron, Culion and Linapacan towns have been completed. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

MANILA — Sen. Grace Poe on Monday said that she saw the need to reopen the Senate probe into the 2015 Mamasapano clash noting that the families of victims were looking for closure.

“Narinig ko rin yung sinabing apila ng isang byuda ng Mamasapano, malaking bagay rin ang pag-usad ng kaso (I heard what a widow said about the case advancing being a big deal for her),” Poe said in a radio interview. “…Pag meron talagang pagtulak mula sa ating pangulo, siguro dapat ipaalala ang paghilom ng ating bayan ay napakahalaga dito sa usaping ito kaya dapat unahin din ang kaso at tapusin na agad (If there is really a push from our President [Rodrigo Duterte] then we should remember that the healing of our country is a very important issue that is why it should be prioritized and completed),” she added.

Last year, it was Pres. Duterte who first expressed interest in reopening the probe to know what really happened.

Poe also welcomed the decision of the Ombudsman to recommend the filing of charges against former Pres. Benigno Aquino III and other key officials.

“Mabuti na meron na ring kaso ang Ombudsman na isasampa sapagkat unang-una, dapat magkaroon na ng pagtatapos ito, pangalawa, pagkakataon na rin na marinig mismo

sa bibig ng dating pangulo ang kanyang punto at ang kanyang naging partisipasyon ukol dito (It’s a good thing that the Ombudsman recommended the filing of charges because first, there should be closure and second, this would give the former President to explain his involvement in the case),” Poe said.

She further said that she sees no problem with the decision of colleague Sen. Richard Gordon to reopen the probe especially if there was new evidence to present. “…Kung merong maaaring ipresenta na hindi namin natalakay noong nakaraang pagdinig, bakit naman hindi, katotohanan ang puno’t dulo nito (If new evidence can be presented that wasn’t discussed during the previous hearings, why not, if the search for truth is the main objective?” the senator said.

“The decision to reopen the Mamasapano inquiry is the prerogative of the chairman of the blue ribbon committee,” she added. “Whatever new and relevant information that can be unearthed from this inquiry, in aid of legislation, will be beneficial not only to the families of the SAF 44, but also to the Filipino people.”

Poe, however, said that the Senate panel should be prepared for the possibility that when called to testify, President Aquino could invoke his right not to talk about the case as it is already being handled by the court. ■

12

Philippine News

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

3 SC magistrates inhibit from Philippines’ Duterte Imee, Ilocos 6 omnibus petition asks Congress to extend martial law

BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD T. CALIWAN Philippines News Agency

MANILA — Three justices of Supreme Court decided to inhibit from hearing the omnibus petition filed by Ilocos Governor Imee Marcos and the six detained provincial officials to stop the congressional probe on the alleged misuse of PHP66.45 million tobacco funds by the Ilocos Norte government.

SC spokesman Theodore Te announced the directive was issued following Tuesday’s regular en banc session of the magistrates.

The three magistrates were Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, to whom the case was assigned, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and newly appointed Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr. “The Omnibus Petition was re-raffled upon the inhibition of the Member-in-Charge.

The Chief Justice and Associate Justice Andres B. Reyes Jr. also recused themselves,” Te told reporters during the press briefing held at SC. The case was raffled to Peralta but he recused himself from participating in the case as he is a relative of one of the respondents, House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.

Sereno and Reyes also inhibited from the case after earlier issuing a joint statement calling on the House committee on good government and public accountability to recall its show cause order against the three Court of Appeals (CA) justices who ordered the release of the “Ilocos 6.”

The high court was supposed to tackle the case in regular session on Tuesday.

Because of the inhibition, the SC had to set another raffle to determine which magistrate

BY TERESA CEROJANO The Associated Press

PNA

will be assigned as member-incharge of the case. The justices then decided to reset deliberations on the case to their next session on July 25.

In their 67-page omnibus petition filed last July 13, the petitioners asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the investigation of the House committee on good government and also asked SC to order the release of the six provincial officials and assume jurisdiction on the writ of habeas corpus case pending before the Court of Appeals (CA), who earlier ordered for their release but was ignored by the House body.

Aside from this, the petitioners asked the Court to issue a writ of amparo against the said House Committee in order “to protect the actual and threatened violations and infringement of their constitutionallyguaranteed rights to liberty and security of person.”

The committee on good government and public accountability has been conducting an investigation into the provincial government’s alleged misuse of tobacco excise funds amounting to PHP66.45 million.

Six provincial government officials have been in House detention since May 29 after they were held in contempt for giv-

ing “evasive answers”.

They elevated the case to the High Tribunal after the House repeatedly and deliberately defied the order of the CA special fourth division for their release.

The six Ilocos Norte officials currently detained at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City are provincial treasurer Josephine Calajate; provincial budget officer Evangeline Tabulog; provincial planning and development office chair Pedro Agcaoili; and Provincial Treasurer’s Office employees Genedine Jambaro, Encarnacion Gaor, and Eden Battulayan.

The mode used in the purchase of vehicles was through cash advances, using the province’s share from excise taxes derived from locally produced cigarettes or the special support fund under Republic Act No.7171.

Under RA 7171, the 15 percent share of Virginia tobacco producing provinces shall be allotted for livelihood projects and infrastructure projects as a special support for tobacco farmers.

The petition named as respondents House majority leader and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, House committee chair and Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Johnny Pimentel and House sergeant-atarms Roland Detabali. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Congress to extend martial law in the southern third of the country until the end of the year because the rebellion there will not be completely quelled by July 22, the end of his 60-day martial law proclamation, his spokesman said Tuesday.

Duterte declared martial law on May 23 following a bloody siege of the southern city of Marawi by Islamic State groupaligned militants, the most serious security crisis he has faced since assuming power in June last year.

In a letter to the Senate and the House of Representatives read by his spokesman Ernesto Abella, Duterte said that after consulting security officials, he has concluded that the rebellion in the south will not be quelled completely by July 22.

He asked Congress to extend martial law until Dec. 31.

Under the constitution, in case of invasion or rebellion, when public safety requires it, the president can declare martial law for no more than 60 days. He can ask Congress to extend such a proclamation to a period of time to be determined by the lawmakers.

More than 550 people, including 413 militants, have been killed in nearly two months of fighting in Marawi, a bastion of Islamic faith in the south.

U.S. Ambassador Sung Y. Kim said the United States will be sending two surveillance aircraft to help Philippine forces battling the militants

in Marawi. The two Cessna 208 aircraft fitted with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment “will be turned over to the Philippines in a couple of weeks,” he told ABS-CBN News Channel.

“We’re deeply concerned about the security situation in Marawi,” Kim said. The U.S. has been providing munition, intelligence and surveillance equipment and special operations troops to advise the Philippine military in the south. It will also assist in rebuilding Marawi, he added.

Duterte met with lawmakers late Monday. He called for a special session of Congress, which is on break, on Saturday to tackle the proposed extension of martial law.

Congress opens its new regular session on July 24, when Duterte delivers his State of the Nation address.

Opposition lawmakers said they will oppose the extension and question its basis.

“It is totally not justified” and “just a whimsical misuse of power,” said Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, adding that the military says the number of militants was down to 60.

“I have already forewarned the public of Duterte’s authoritarian tendencies and this is further proof of it,” he added.

Rep. Tom Villarin of the leftwing political party Akbayan said it was “a whimsical proposal that has no substantive grounds other than the president’s wishes.” ■

Immigration

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

13

When may oil drilling resume at Recto Bank in Spratlys?

BY RONNEL W. DOMINGO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DOE) is ready to resume drilling for oil and natural gas on Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea, but when work will restart is up to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which suspended the exploration in 2014 as the Philippines pursued international arbitration to resolve a territorial dispute with China. “[There is no ‘go’ yet from the DFA, but [a new] contracting round will push through,” Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said in an interview on Thursday.

AFP PHOTO / CSIS ASIA MARITIME TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE / DIGITALGLOBE

Award process

Fuentebella was referring to the sixth installment of the DOE-administered Philippine Energy Contracting Rounds (PECR), which the DOE intends to carry out this year.

The PECR is a process through which the DOE awards service contracts for the exploration and development of various energy resources, including oil.

During the fifth PECR, the DOE offered contracts for 11 sites, including Area 7 of Recto Bank, which has an estimated resource potential of 165 million barrels of oil and 10.5 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

The available resource at the Malampaya project is less at 8.1 trillion cu mof natural gas.

The DOE said Malampaya, which provides fuel to major power plants in Luzon, might run out of gas by 2024.

“The instruction of Secretary (Alfonso) Cusi is that the DOE should be able to assure those who will conduct the activities of their safety,” he said.

“If the DOE says go for it, then it’s a go with the assurance that [doing so] will be safe,” he added.

Ismael Ocampo, director at the DOE’s Resource Development Bureau, told reporters on Wednesday that the agency

expected the suspension to be lifted in December.

He said a directive from the DFA directing the DOE to resume oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea was already in the works.

No comment was immediately available from the DFA on Wednesday.

Territorial dispute

China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, claims Recto Bank, known internationally as Reed Bank.

A survey ship contracted by Forum Energy Ltd., an affiliate of PXP Energy Corp., formerly Philex Petroleum Corp., was reportedly almost rammed by Chinese patrol vessels.

In 2014, the DOE suspended exploration on Recto Bank as the administration of then President Benigno Aquino III challenged China’s claim to nearly all of the South China Sea in the UNbacked Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

On July 12 last year, the tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines, invalidating China’s extensive claim and saying Beijing had violated Manila’s sovereign rights to fish and explore for resources in the West Philippine Sea.

Recto Bank is in the West Philippine Sea, waters within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. Mending relations

After coming to office last year, however, President Duterte refused to pressure China to accept the arbitral ruling, preferring to mend relations with Beijing that had been frayed by the arbitration case.

Duterte acknowledges...

“We stay here with the Americans,” he added.

However, the President said he had “misgivings” about the alliance, especially with Americans lecturing him on human rights.

“Nobody should teach me how I should do it. America started with these human rights commissions. They were talking before the public through media ... with the admonition and criticizing me,” he said.

“So, I just let it pass. It’s the media. But then, the US Department of State and then the spokesperson of their presi❰❰ 9

dential office criticized meand castigated me. I fought back,” he said.

He said former US President Barack Obama then talked publicly about him and his leadership.

“So I told him—and these [are] my exact words ... ‘Son of a bitch. Do not tell me what to do,’” Mr. Duterte said. “I am not a Federal Postal employee. I said, ‘You can go to hell, Mr. Obama.”

“Why would you scold me? I am a head of state, you are a head of state. You are a President, I am a President. You have your own race, your tribe to protect, I have mine,” he added. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

In May, former Speaker Jose de Venecia, speaking at a business forum in Beijing, called for joint exploration and development in the Spratlys, a group of resource-rich islands in the middle of the South China Sea. But Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, then Mr. Duterte’s foreign secretary-designate, said De Venecia, the DFA special envoy for intercultural dialogue, was only speaking in his personal capacity.

President Duterte was also in Beijing at the time, attending the new Silk Road conference sponsored by China for international cooperation.

Mr. Duterte assured Chinese President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting that the Philippines would seek a peaceful resolution of Manila’s territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea. As recently as March, however, Philex group chair Manuel V. Pangilinan expressed his desire to continue work at Recto Bank.

Forum holds Service Contract No. 72, which covers a block of Recto Bank where the Sampaguita natural gas prospect is located.

According to the DOE, the estimated resource potential of the Reed Bank Basin is as much as 60 trillion cu m of natural gas. ■

Opinion

14

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

PUBLIC LIVES

Why are young and bright Turks being targeted?

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer LIKE a bolt of lightning in a stormy sky, the ambassador of Turkey to Manila, Esra Cankorur, has revealed that terrorists from her own country are active in the Philippines, using private schools, civic forums, and business organizations as fronts. Philippine officials are expected not to take this exposé lightly, coming as it does in the wake of reports that foreign jihadists have reached Mindanao and have been sighted in the fighting in Marawi.

Two of the schools that Ms Cankorur named—the Fountain International School, located in one of the busiest streets in San Juan, Metro Manila, and the Tolerance School in Zamboanga City in Mindanao—are known for the high quality of education they offer.

These international schools have taught, over the years, children of middleclass and professional families, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

The Turkish envoy claims that these institutions are part of a global terrorist network known in Turkey as “Feto,” or Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization. It seems that she feels justified in using the terrorist label because some members of this group have been implicated in the bloody military coup attempt against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdo-

gan on July 15, 2016. But, outside tution called “Tolerance School.” ment disparagingly calls them of this purely domestic event, she What a fine mix of virtues in a trou- “Feto,” describing them as a “cult” offers no evidence of the group’s bled land, I told Father D’Ambra, fanatically worshipping at the involvement in any terrorist at- who, noting my curiosity, offered feet of their master, Gülen. Inside tack anywhere in the world. The to introduce me to the school’s Turkey, the Erdogan regime porspiritual leader of the group, M. Turkish principal. Expecting a trays Gülen as the head of a hidden Fethullah Gülen, is accused of be- school modeled after the madrasah “parallel state” manned by trusted ing the brain behind the coup at- schools I once saw in Indonesia, I disciples inside the judiciary, the tempt. But, again, the role played was surprised to find one that fol- security agencies, and top layers of by the ailing 75-year-old US-based lowed an advanced curriculum the bureaucracy.

Following the attempted milipreacher has not been proven in with special focus on science and tary coup of July 2016, a brutal an impartial investigation. The US math.

It was my first encounter with purge aimed at everyone who government has so far ignored the Turkish government’s demand for the Turkish lay missionaries who had any links to Gülen or Hizmet the extradition of Gülen, who has form “Hizmet,” a term that means caused the dismissal of more than 150,000 civil serlived a reclusive vants and the delife in rural Penntention of more sylvania.

We hardly talked about religion. They have probably than 50,000 indiIn her commendone more to promote goodwill between Turkey and the viduals from busitary carried by the Philippines than our own respective governments can ness, the press, the Philippine Star, hope to do. academe, the miliAmbassador Cantary and the police, korur concludes: “Thus, Feto does not only consti- service. I have since had a chance etc. But, in reality, the campaign tute a national security threat for to interact with their Manila-based against suspected “Gülenists” in Turkey but also for any country in members, who have settled here the government and in the media which its affiliates find existential with their families. I found them to began as early as 2013, after the and operational ground. This is be, far from being secretive, open police started investigating highly why we call on the international and extroverted. We hardly talked placed officials of the regime for community, or allies and friends to about religion. They have probably corruption.

Before that, Hizmet enjoyed done more to promote goodwill bebe vigilant against their activities.”

There are indeed Turkish inter- tween Turkey and the Philippines great influence in the ruling AKP national schools in the country, than our own respective govern- (Justice and Development Party), but I am not aware they are run by ments can hope to do. In a better and Gülen himself was known to terrorists. Many years ago, I was a time, they should be recipients of be a friend and adviser of President guest of the Italian Catholic mis- diplomatic medals in recognition Erdogan. I personally witnessed sionary, Fr. Sebastiano d’Ambra, at of their valuable contribution to this myself while visiting Turkey his retreat center in Zamboanga fostering good relations between in 2010 as part of a small academic delegation, headed by the presicalled “Harmony Village.” Next to the two nations.

Today, ironically, their govern- dent of the University of the Philhis place was an educational insti-

ippines, on the invitation of Fatih University in Istanbul. A constitutional referendum was then in progress, and I could see how our hosts shared in the triumph of the constitutional reforms being pushed by the Erdogan government.

We met professors and scholars in the sciences and modern professions, trained in the most advanced institutions in the United States and Europe, who seemed to draw fulfillment in the seamless articulation of their scientific work with fidelity to the values drawn from their faith tradition. How strange, I said to myself, that it is in the lives of these highly educated Muslim academics that I would see the blending of faith and reason that Pope Emeritus Benedict had often written about.

It is difficult to see in the work of these young, bright, and modern Turks the seeds of a sinister type of terrorism. But, having declared them to be enemies of the state, the Turkish government appears bent on using its consulates abroad to destroy their credibility and lifetime work. Fearful families could begin withdrawing their children from their schools. I hope our government does not compound such a mistake by launching a witchhunt against them or, worse, by sending them back to Turkey, where persecution likely awaits them. ■

DOH readies nationwide smoking ban

BY JULIE M. AURELIO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) is preparing to enforce a nationwide ban on smoking, inspired by the success of such a ban in Davao City that started when President Duterte was still the city’s mayor.

The nationwide smoking ban, according to Dr. Enrique Tayag, would be enforced starting on July 23.

“Those who cannot comply with the requirements of the smoking ban might end up as an example of an offender,” said Tayag, spokesperson for the DOH, also the lead implementing agency of the ban as mandated by Executive Order (EO) No. 26.

Tayag said the public and es-

tablishments must heed the President’s executive order or face penalties.

EO 26 mandated the designation of smoke-free public and enclosed areas nationwide.

It was supposed to take effect 60 days after May 24, when it was supposed to have been published in a newspaper of general circulation.

Mr. Duterte’s EO listed areas where smoking would be prohibited. These include schools and recreational facilities for minors, elevators and stairwells, areas with fire hazards, hospitals and clinics, and kitchens and other areas for food preparation.

Establishments, like restaurants and bars, should heed the EO’s provisions to avoid being penalized, Tayag said.

The EO requires establish-

ments to put up “No Smoking” signs that measure at least 8 by 11 inches (20.3 by 27.9 cm), with a “No Smoking” symbol occupying at least 60 percent of the sign.

Tayag also suggested that establishments should display signs that said “Designated www.canadianinquirer.net

Smoking Area” with graphic warnings on smoking’s harmful effects on health.

The EO said areas where smoking was allowed should be open or rooms with adequate ventilation and separated from other rooms.

“There should also be a buffer

zone in designated smoking areas,” Tayag said.

Tayag also said the EO could be implemented without implementing rules and regulations, or IRR, that are normally required for the enforcement of new laws.

“An IRR is not necessary in implementing the smoking ban,” Tayag said.

“However, we still hope to come up with it in order to clarify some provisions of the EO,” he added.

Health and antismoking advocates have been lobbying the President to duplicate nationwide the successful smoking ban that he so zealously enforced in Davao City as mayor, that an unverified report spread about him punishing a violator by making the smoker swallow his cigarette. ■

Opinion

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

15

AT LARGE

Displeasing personalities

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer JUST WHAT exactly is a “pleasing personality”? While on the surface it could mean simply a pleasant, friendly demeanor, why would it be phrased as “pleasing”? In time, “pleasing personality,” especially when referring to a young (or youngish) woman aspiring for employment, was taken as code for not just a pretty face and alluring figure, but also for a penchant for “pleasing” others, especially superiors. And if the process of pleasing happened to involve sex, well, wasn’t that a matter of privacy between two (or more?) consenting adults?

Well, no. The rather racy implications of “pleasing personality” is one reason the term was dropped from recruitment notices, along with requirements specifying age and civil status. These, some authorities and employers’ groups ruled,

made for discrimination, requiring something that applicants were not responsible for and unjustly barred them from jobs for which they were otherwise qualified.

I thought “pleasing personality” had gone the way of the muumuu (if you have to ask, then you’re too young), until the term was resurrected in the flap over a letter signed by Assistant Communications Secretary Kissinger Reyes. In the letter, addressed to the president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (who is Leny de Jesus) but with the salutation “To Whom it may Concern” (booboo #1), Reyes informs the recipient that the Presidential Communications Operations Office is part of a committee preparing for the 50thanniversary celebration of the Asean.

Reyes then asks the institution to refer at least 40 volunteers to serve as ushers, with the

qualifications that they should be females only, equipped with communication skills, and, yup, bearing a “pleasing personality” (booboo #2-3).

Aside from the sexism inherent in the request, the letter was also criticized by netizens for numerous grammatical mistakes and awkward idiom (booboos #4-5).

But wait, there’s more. In a statement, Reyes pinned the blame on a female staffer, saying he had not read the letter and that the staffer “basically used my digital signature” and had been reprimanded (booboo #... wait, I’ve lost count).

One wonders what the folks over at the PCOO, paid by our taxes, are smoking on the job. If a lowly staff member is able to send out a letter in behalf of her boss and to attach his “digital signature” without the official’s knowledge, what else have they been able to do in the name of the government?

*** Which now brings us to the question: Does the new “girlfriend” of President Duterte have a pleasing personality, too?

As gleaned from a report published in a Davao-based tabloid, Mr. Duterte, addressing the 11th Ambassador’s Tour at the SMX Convention Center in Davao, admitted that he has a “young” girlfriend. This revelation was made in the process of denying that the President had ever—or ever been tempted—to steal from the national coffers.

What does the young woman have to do with corruption?

Beats me, but we should be used by now to the way the President’s mind works. He may have been speaking tongue in cheek, or making up the story of his young girlfriend, only to turn around and chide the media and the public later for being so gullible or not having a sense of humor, if not irony.

Or he may have brought up his new, younger lover, real or fake, as a smokescreen to stop any further interrogation on corruption allegations, which have hounded him since even the campaign. Clever parry that, provided his critics buy it.

But did he have to insult his estranged wife and his current longtime companion in the process? As if to explain his having a younger lover, the President pointed out that the two were “rather old.” Meaning what—old in age, capacity, or simply novelty? His partner Honeylet is a nurse and, according to loose talk, the one who takes care of his medical needs. Is this any way to repay her faithful service? I wonder what Kitty, his teenage daughter with Honeylet, would have to say to that? After all, the girl has shown quite a sharp tongue in her social media posts—definitely not a “pleasing personality.” ■

LOOKING BACK

The murmur of a brook in Dapitan

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer BEFORE I first set foot in the Rizal Shrine in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, I knew Dapitan only as a busy street behind the University of Santo Tomas campus in Manila. Lined with eateries and boarding houses, that Dapitan is one of many streets in old Sampaloc that refer to Rizal’s life and work: Dimasalang and Laong Laan (his pseudonyms), Maria Clara, Sisa, Elias, Tiago (characters from his “Noli Me Tangere”), Simoun, Isagani (characters from his “El Filibusterismo”), and Craig (pronounced the Spanish way, “Cra-eeg” was his American biographer Austin Craig).

Some of the street names are odd; the lead character of the “Noli” is given two streets: Crisostomo and Ibarra.

Today, to get to Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte, one takes a flight of an hour and 25

minutes from Manila to Dipolog, then a 12kilometer land trip from Dipolog. In 1892, the remote and sleepy town must have seemed like the end of the universe for Rizal whohad previously lived in Madrid, Paris, London and Berlin. A lesser man might have wallowed in depression and loneliness, but Rizal took it as a challenge and applied everything he knew to making his place of exile a better place: He ran a school and medical clinic there; he made the plaza beautiful by lining it with trees and building a relief map of Mindanao across the church; he built a water system for the town; he taught its residents how to fish with a net, and amused them with simple magic tricks that some mistook for divine power.

Rizal was exiled in Dapitan because like nearby Dipolog it was a Jesuit mission. It was hoped that the Jesuits could convince this Ateneo alumnus to turn away from his subver-

sive and separatist ideas as well as his “shipwreck of Faith.”

When Rizal arrived in Dapitan in the evening of July 17, 1892, he chose to stay with the commandant, Capt. Ricardo Carnicero, rather than the Jesuit parish priest whose unacceptable conditions for the home stay were that: Rizal publicly retract his religious errors and correct his antiSpanish and separatist ideas, make a general confession, and live the life of a fervent Catholic and Spanish subject.

Rizal and Carnicero became fast friends, and the “prisoner” was allowed to move about freely. On Sept. 21, 1892, the mail boat Butuan brought welcome news: Lottery ticket 9736 shared by Rizal, Carnicero and Francisco Equilior of Dipolog had won the second prize jackpot of P20,000. (When he was a student in Madrid, Rizal’s weekly budget included onetenth of a lottery ticket. His persistence had finally paid www.canadianinquirer.net

off.) From his P6,200 share of the jackpot, Rizal gave P2,000 to his father and P200 to his friend Jose Ma. Basa in Hong Kong. The balance he used to buy idle land from various owners in Talisay, a kilometer away from Dapitan.

It is not well known that Rizal was a licensed land surveyor who saw promise in idle land.

His beach-front estate is now jointly protected as a reserve by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

OnDec. 19, 1893, Rizal described his life in exile to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt: “I shall tell you how we live here. I have three houses: one square, another hexagonal, and a third octagonal, all of bamboo, wood and nipa. My mother, my sister Trinidad and a nephew live in the square house; my boys or some good youngsters whom I teach arithmetic, Spanish and English live in the oc-

tagonal house; and my chickens live in the hexagonal house.

“From my house I hear the murmur of a crystal clear brook which comes from the high rocks [behind the property]; I see the seashore, the sea where I have small boats, two canoes or barotos, as they are called here. I have many fruit trees: mangoes, lanzones, guayabanos, baluno, nangka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.

“I rise early, at five, visit my plants, feed the chickens, wake my people up and get them busy [for the chores of the day]. At half-past seven we take breakfast with tea, pastries, cheese, sweetmeats, etc.

Later, [in the day] I treat indigent patients who come to my land; I dress, I go to the town in my baroto, treat the people there, and return at noon when lunch awaits me. Then I teach the boys until four p.m. and devote the afternoon to agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying.” ■

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JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Canada News New Democrats to form government in B.C. for the first time since 2001 THE CANADIAN PRESS VICTORIA — British Columbia’s New Democrats will get their first taste of power in 16 years at a swearing-in ceremony in Victoria this afternoon.

The New Democrats won 41 of the legislature’s 87 seats during last May’s election, two less than the governing Liberals.

But NDP Leader John Hor-

gan managed to broker a deal with the B.C. Greens, who won three seats, paving the way for him to form the narrowest of minority governments.

Horgan will inherit not only the keys to power later today, but also responsibility for a B.C.-wide state of emergency, which has seen wildfires displace thousands of people across the province’s southern and central Interior.

New Democrat MLA Carole James says her party is committed to a seamless transfer of power, which includes keeping Liberal politicians updated on the wildfire situation.

Outgoing Transport Minister Todd Stone says there is no place for politics when it comes to the crisis and he and his Liberal colleagues will do whatever they can to help the new government deal with the fires. ■

NDP Leader John Horgan.

BC NDP / FLICKR

Feds unveil plans to stop ‘unfair’ business tax advantages reaped by individuals

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD The Canadian Press OTTAWA — The federal government is proposing measures to tighten what it calls “unfair” loopholes for private corporations that enable many wealthy Canadians, including professionals like some doctors, to reduce the amount of tax they pay.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau unveiled plans Tuesday designed to prevent some business owners from using a number of legal strategies to shield part of their income in order to gain tax advantages that are out of reach for most Canadians.

Even Morneau himself, who had a successful business career before entering politics, admitted that if the changes are introduced he will likely pay more taxes going forward.

“We see these approaches to managing people’s affairs through a private corporation as creating an unfair playing field,” Morneau said.

“I don’t want to see one small subset of the population advantaged because of our tax code, so it is about creating fairness ...

All Canadians should be willing to pay that fair share, including myself.”

The suggested changes include steps to prevent business owners from using their private corporations as a way to shift some their income to family members, including minors, who are subject to lower personal tax rates — even if those relatives are not involved in the business.

The Finance Department believes about 50,000 families in Canada do this, a practice the government calls “income sprinkling.”

When asked later Tuesday in an interview to describe the businesses associated with these families, Morneau said “a lot of professionals.”

“There’s been a big increase in professionals that have been using these structures,” he said.

Morneau said doctors and lawyers are among the examples, but he added that they also include many other types of professionals.

To help address income sprinkling, the government is proposing measures such as stricter age-related requirements for family members and tests to ensure their contributions to the business are “reasonable.”

Doing so would provide an estimated $250 million per year in additional federal revenue,

or about $5,000 per family, the government said.

The government also released proposed changes to target those who gain tax relief through passive investment income, which enables corporate owners and employees to make one-time investments from $100,000 of pre-tax income and retain them for 10 years.

The feds are calling for the elimination of the tax-deferral advantage on passive income earned by private corporations.

Ottawa is also looking to address a tax-planning approach that converts income into capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate.

It has yet to say how much additional federal revenue could be provided by closing those loopholes.

There will be a 75-day public consultation period to allow stakeholders to examine and weigh in on the three sets of proposals announced Tuesday.

Morneau said he expects to get some push back from Tuesday’s announcement.

“Of course, when you change things in a way that make it less advantageous for some people, they’re not going to be happy about it,” he said.

The president of the Canadian Federation of Independent www.canadianinquirer.net

Business said in an interview Tuesday that he’s concerned Ottawa’s proposed tax changes could have unintended, negative consequences on small and medium businesses.

Dan Kelly, whose organization represents more than 100,000 members, said smaller firms in Canada are already preparing to face challenges such as rising minimum wages in some provinces, planned increases in premiums for Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.

He added they are also bracing for changes to NAFTA. “This is a pretty worrisome set of proposals out of the federal government,” Kelly said.

“That uncertainty alone, given all the other knocks small businesses are taking right now, is just not a particularly welcome development.”

Kelly stressed that he doesn’t take any issue with the government pursuing tax cheats, nor does he have a problem with steps to ensure rules are not abused.

The government believes the use of private corporations to lower tax rates is an increasing trend in Canada and has been exacerbated by the shift toward more of a services-based economy.

The number of Canadiancontrolled private corporations grew from 1.2 million in 2001 to 1.8 million in 2014, the Finance Department said.

From 2000 to 2016, the department said the proportion of incorporated, self-employed individuals almost doubled.

While these tax-savings practices are legal, Morneau said they are unfair.

“I have seen these for years,” Morneau said when asked about whether he came across these practices first-hand during his business career, which included serving as executive chairman of Morneau Shepell, the country’s largest human resources consulting firm.

“I have not looked at my personal implications from these changes as we’ve gone through them and I’ve done that on purpose because I want to make sure the system is fair and I don’t want to consider my personal situation.

“My expectation is that these changes, over the long term, will mean that I’ll end up paying more tax.” ■

Canada News

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

17

Canadian retailers Public consultations intensify as launch of worry as Trump pushes for higher cap NAFTA renegotiations looms on duty-free goods

BY JOAN BRYDEN The Canadian Press

BY ALEKSANDRA SAGAN The Canadian Press DONALD TRUMP may have unwittingly resurrected an issue that has been hotly contested for years in Canada’s retail industry when he unveiled his list of objectives for the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations.

The White House is demanding Canada raise the value of goods American stores can send to Canada without having to pay taxes or duties. That threshold currently sits at C$20, but the U.S. wants that limit hiked to about US$800 — a move some retailers north of the border fear would spell disaster for their businesses.

“It would be a catastrophe for retail in this country,” Larry Rosen, CEO of Harry Rosen, said in an interview Tuesday.

“There isn’t going to be a person in the country that isn’t going to take all their business to online U.S. retailers.”

He said such an increase would be a boon for U.S. border cities like Buffalo because Canadian retailers including his own would move parts of their businesses such as warehouses south of the border.

The C$20 limit was set decades ago, and some say it’s time for an increase, particularly in an era when more Canadians are buying products from the U.S. online. And of the litany of proposals on Trump’s 16-page NAFTA wish list, it has a broad consumer appeal that the federal government may be willing to budge on.

But Karl Littler, a spokesman for the Retail Council of Canada, said such a measure would have consequences for all businesses in the country, regardless of their size.

“It would literally be an incentive from government for Canadians to shop anywhere but Canada,” Littler said.

“Is it reasonable to have two completely different tax and duty regimes — one for those who hire and invest here, which would be more negative than the one for those who are outside shipping in?”

There have been questions about the C$20 threshold. Just this spring, federal auditor general Michael Ferguson issued a report saying there was no net revenue for the government on charging duties on U.S. goods with a value of less than C$200.

Robert Wolfe, a professor emeritus at Queen’s University, said while Ottawa has to consider the interests of the private sector during NAFTA talks, it also has to keep in mind consumers.

“It certainly would be to the advantage of the Canadian consumers if we changed this,” said Wolfe, who taught at the university’s School of Policy Studies.

He said it may be premature to say whether the government will concede and raise the threshold, adding that it’s possible a compromise will be reached where a cap less than US$800 is phased in. ■

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is extending public consultations to find out what Canadians want to see in a new North American Free Trade Agreement.

The consultations were to end today but officials say the government will continue indefinitely to accept responses to its online survey, which asks Canadians to identify their priorities for a renegotiated deal, what elements of NAFTA they want to preserve, what should be improved and what new issues need to be addressed to modernize the 23-year-old agreement.

The government will also be staging a number of townhallstyle meetings to further canvass Canadians’ views on the matter.

The townhalls are to take place before mid-August, when formal negotiations are expected to begin.

The intensified effort to hear from Canadians comes after the United States revealed Monday its wish list for a new NAFTA that will deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to get a better deal for Americans.

“It is important that we do engage with people so that they can understand the benefits of NAFTA and the benefits of the Canada-U.S. economic relationship,” said Adam Austen, spokesman for Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Since Americans embraced Trump and his unabashedly protectionist, America-first agenda last November, the

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Trudeau government has spared no effort to build bridges to the new administration, and cultivate pro-trade allies in Congress, trade-reliant states and the U.S. business community.

That includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s speech last week to a meeting of governors, where he reminded Americans there are 9 million U.S. workers whose jobs depend directly on trade with Canada, which is the top export market for twothirds of all states.

The federal government has also enlisted premiers and Canadian business leaders to bolster its sales pitch to Americans.

At home, it has received some 12,000 written submissions and consulted extensively with some 450 stakeholders, primarily management and labour in the industry sectors most dependent on maintaining an open border with the U.S. — automotive, aerospace and food processing sectors among

them.

But so far the sales job to ordinary Canadians has been more low-key, notwithstanding Trudeau’s admonition that political leaders must do a better job of explaining the benefits of freer trade to anxious workers who feel they’ve been left behind by globalization.

In part, officials say a full court press domestically hasn’t been necessary because the anti-trade sentiment that has swept the U.S. and Europe is largely absent in Canada, where people realize the country’s relatively small market depends on trade for jobs and economic growth.

Polls have suggested that just half of Americans support NAFTA, whereas as much as 80 per cent of Canadians are behind the trilateral trade deal between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

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World News

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Health care bill collapse leaves divided GOP at crossroads

BY ALAN FRAM AND ERICA WERNER The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The implosion of the Senate Republican health care bill leaves a divided GOP with its flagship legislative priority in tatters and confronts a wounded President Donald Trump and congressional leaders with dicey decisions about addressing their perhaps unattainable seven-year-old promise of repealing President Barack Obama’s law.

Two GOP senators — Utah’s Mike Lee and Jerry Moran of Kansas — sealed the measure’s doom late Monday when each announced they would vote “no” in an initial, critical vote that had been expected as soon as next week. Their startling, tandem announcement meant that at least four of the 52 GOP senators were ready to block the measure — two more than Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had to spare in the face of a wall of Democratic opposition.

“Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said in a late evening statement that essentially waved a white flag.

It was the second stinging setback on the issue in three weeks for McConnell, whose reputation as a legislative mastermind has been marred as he’s failed

to unite his chamber’s Republicans behind a health overhaul package that’s highlighted jagged divides between conservatives and moderates. In late June, he abandoned an initial package after he lacked enough GOP support to pass.

The episode has also been jarring for Trump, whose intermittent lobbying and nebulous, often contradictory descriptions of what he’s wanted have shown he has limited clout with senators. That despite a determination by Trump, McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWis., to demonstrate that a GOP running the White House and Congress can govern effectively.

Now, McConnell said, the Senate would vote on a measure the GOP-run Congress approved in 2015, only to be vetoed by Obama — a bill repealing much of Obama’s statute, with a two-year delay designed to give lawmakers time to enact a replacement. Trump embraced that idea last month after an initial version of McConnell’s bill collapsed due under Republican divisions, and did so again late Monday.

“Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!” Trump tweeted.

But the prospects for approving a clean repeal bill followed by work on replacement legislation, even with Trump ready

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to sign it, seemed shaky. Trump and party leaders had started this year embracing that strategy, only to abandon it when it seemed incapable of passing Congress, with many Republicans worried it would cause insurance market and political chaos because of uncertainty that they would approve substitute legislation.

McConnell’s failed bill would have left 22 million uninsured by 2026, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, a number that many Republicans found unpalatable. But the vetoed 2015 measure would be even worse, the budget office said last January, producing 32 million additional uninsured people by 2026 — figures that seemed likely to drive a stake into that bill’s prospects for passing Congress.

That would seem to leave McConnell with an option he described last month — negotiating with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. That would likely be on a narrower package aimed more at

keeping insurers in difficult marketplaces they’re either abandoning or imposing rapidly growing premiums.

“The core of this bill is unworkable,” Schumer said in a statement. He said Republicans “should start from scratch and work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides long-term stability to the markets and improves our health care system.”

Similar to legislation the House approved in May after its own setbacks, McConnell’s bill would repeal Obama’s tax penalties on people who don’t buy coverage and cut the Medicaid program for the poor, elderly and nursing home residents. It rolled back many of the statute’s requirements for the policies insurers can sell and eliminated many tax increases that raised money for Obama’s expansion to 20 million more people, though it retained the law’s tax boosts on high earners.

Besides Lee and Moran, two other GOP senators had previously declared their opposition

to McConnell’s bill: moderate Maine Sen. Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul of Kentucky. And other moderates were wavering and could have been difficult for McConnell and Trump to win over because of the bill’s Medicaid cuts: Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Dean Heller of Nevada, probably the most endangered Senate Republican in next year’s elections.

The range of objections lodged by the dissident senators underscored the warring viewpoints within his own party that McConnell had to try patching over.

Lee complained that the GOP bill didn’t go far enough in rolling back Obama’s robust coverage requirements, while moderates like Collins berated its Medicaid cuts and the millions it would leave without insurance.

McConnell’s revised version aimed to satisfy both camps, by incorporating language by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas allowing insurers to sell skimpy plans alongside more robust ones, and by adding tens of billions of dollars to treat opioid addiction and to defray consumer costs.

His efforts did not achieve the intended result. ■

Australians see woman’s shooting by police as US nightmare

BY KRISTEN GELINEAU The Associated Press SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Half a world from where an Australian woman was shot dead by a Minneapolis police officer, Tuesday’s front-page headline in her hometown Sydney newspaper summarized Australia’s reaction in blunt terms: “AMERICAN NIGHTMARE.” In Justine Damond’s native country, news of the meditation teacher’s baffling death has dominated the airwaves, newspapers and websites for days,

feeding into Australians’ longheld fears about America’s notorious culture of gun violence.

“The country is infested with possibly more guns than people,” said Philip Alpers, a gun policy analyst with the University of Sydney who has studied the stark differences in gun laws between the nations.

“We see America as a very risky place in terms of gun violence — and so does the rest of the world.”

While police officers carry guns in Australia, deadly shootings by police are exceedingly rare; there are only a handful

reported each year, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology. And though the U.S. doesn’t keep a national database of deadly police-involved shootings, even incomplete statistics show there are hundreds every year.

America’s reluctance to strengthen its gun regulations and its seemingly endless stream of shooting deaths have long been a source of confusion and concern in Australia, which instituted tough gun ownership laws in 1996 following a deadly mass shooting. At the time, then-Prime Minister www.canadianinquirer.net

John Howard — a conservative — warned Australians against following America’s lead on gun control, saying: “We have an opportunity in this country not to go down the American path.”

The Australian government’s official travel advice to those heading to the U.S. specifically warns tourists to be on guard for gun crime, and urges Australians living in the U.S. to be familiar with “active shooter” training drills. Australian media coverage of America’s frequent mass shootings is often tinged with disbelief — “another day, another shooting in

America” is a common refrain on newscasts.

The death of Damond, a 40-year-old meditation teacher who was reportedly dressed in her pyjamas when she was shot by a police officer late Saturday, has sparked a similarly stunned reaction. The story has led network newscasts and was splashed across newspapers’ front pages. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph ran an editorial headlined “A senseless and tragic death.”

Authorities have released ❱❱ PAGE 25 Australians see

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World News

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Public consultations... the Conservatives, have committed to presenting a united, non-partisan, Canadian front on NAFTA and have been echoing many of the same arguments in favour of free trade.

“We believe that trade is good for both countries but when we’re in the U.S. we can’t just ask them to do it out of the goodness of their heart,” newly minted Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said in a recent interview.

“We have to make the economic case and show the thousands of Americans that have jobs thanks to trade with Canada.”

However, New Democrats are demanding that Trudeau “come clean” on his own priorities for the renegotiations and make it clear that he’ll fight Trump’s proposed changes, which the NDP maintains “could have disastrous consequences for many Canadian industries, including dairy and steel.”

Among other things, the Trump administration wants better access for U.S. agricultural exports, freer trade in telecommunications and online purchases and an overhaul of the dispute resolution mechanism.

While U.S. law required the administration to disclose its negotiation objectives, there is no similar requirement in Canada and no desire to reveal what changes the Trudeau government might ❰❰ 17

be willing to accept. Officials are adamant that they won’t conduct negotiations in public.

Still, Monday’s disclosure of the U.S. wish list was greeted with a sigh of relief in Ottawa, where government officials were pleased that it stuck to predictable proposals and did not include any of the extreme rhetoric about ripping up NAFTA that Trump has employed in the past. Indeed, the toned-down nature of the American objectives was taken as a sign that Canada’s intense outreach effort in the U.S. is already paying off.

“I think they’ve done the best possible job they can with an administration where they can’t predict where they’re going to go,” said Andrea van Vugt, the Business Council of Canada’s vice-president of North America and one-time foreign affairs and trade adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper.

“In negotiations, the things that are most important are to have a really good relationship with your partner so when things get tough you’ve got the relationships to call and say, ‘I know this is tough so we’ve got to work our way through it.’ I think that they’ve worked on building a good ground campaign amongst congressmen and governors to support NAFTA.” Van Vugt said the U.S. objectives amount to “an update” of NAFTA, “a bit bigger than a tweak.” ■

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Trump had second conversation with Putin in Germany

BY ALAN FRAM AND ERICA WERNER The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had another, previously undisclosed conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Germany this month.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer and National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton confirmed that Trump and Putin spoke at a dinner for world leaders and their spouses at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

The conversation came hours after Trump and Putin’s first official face-toface meeting on July 7, which was originally scheduled to last just half an hour but stretched on for more than two. The two worldleaders were also captured on video shaking hands and exchanging a few words after they arrived at the G-20 summit of industrialized and developing nations earlier that day.

Anton would not specify the duration of the conversation. But he said the discussion was casual and should not be characterized as a “meeting” or even a less formal, but official, “pull-aside.”

“A conversation over dessert should not be characterized as a meeting,” he said.

The dinner, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was open only to world leaders and their spouses, as well as one translator per couple, according to a senior White House official who described the event on condition of anonymity despite the president’s criticism of unnamed sources.

The official stressed that Trump spoke with many leaders over the course of the dinner and said he spoke briefly with

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Putin, who was seated next to first lady Melania Trump, as the event was concluding. Trump spoke with Putin using Russia’s translator, since the American translator did not speak Russian.

But Ian Bremmer, who said he spoke with two people who attended the dinner, said that Trump and Putin spoke for nearly an hour while sitting among the other world leaders and their spouses at the dinner. Bremmer is a foreign affairs columnist and the president of the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm.

Attendees described the meeting as startling, said Bremmer, who was told Trump was very animated as he spoke with Putin, often using his hands to gesture.

Trump defended the dinner in a pair of angry tweets late Tuesday that noted the dinner had been on his public schedule.

“Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick.’ All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!” he wrote.

A few minutes later he added: “The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!”

Trump and Putin’s relationship has been under scrutiny since the election campaign, when Trump repeatedly praised Putin as a strong leader and publicly encouraged him to hack then-rival Hillary Clinton’s emails. Trump aides have since said he was joking.

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the Russian government meddled in the 2016 election in order to help Trump. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on their findings and dismissed investigations into potential collusion between his campaign and Moscow as a “witch hunt.” ■

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Community News

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Unilever, a crowd favourite at the Pinoy Fiesta 2017 The Company’s Cream Silk conditioners and Lady’s Choice spreads star at this popular Filipino event TORONTO – The Pinoy Fiesta & Trade Show Toronto, is one of the biggest indoor celebrations in North America, attracting over 15,000 Filipinos and over a hundred vendors to the Metro Convention Centre. This year Unilever’s Cream Silk conditioners and Lady’s Choice spreads made their presence felt, receiving a huge welcome from visitors, as they are popular brands that many Filipinos have grown up with back home.

Filipinos are passionate about good food, which explained the excited crowds at the Lady’s Choice tent. A popular brand of spreads, Lady’s Choice promoted their variants through a free recipe leaflet, and a ‘Spin the Wheel’ game, with much-appreciated prizes from Unilever, like the Lady’s Choice Sandwich Spread, La-

dy’s Choice Tuna Spread, Knorr Tamarind Soup base, Knorr Liquid Seasoning, and attractive lunch boxes. Visitors were eager to win the spreads to try our featured recipes, and enthusiastically cheered on the winners.

The attractive Cream Silk tent was a huge draw with peo-

ple lining up to play the ‘Toss the Ring’ game. Players had to ring a Cream Silk cut-out to win the actual product as a prize. There was excitement all around, as many mothers and daughters lined up to play together, with the onlookers cheering them on. The popular Cream Silk conditioners come

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in three variants, all of which benefit users with healthy, shiny, beautiful hair.

While Cream Silk products were the stars of the show, Cream Silk sponsored and created another star, Miss Cream Silk, at Pinoy Fiesta’s Miss Philippines-Canada Beauty Pageant. The contestant with

the best hair was bestowed with the title of Miss Cream Silk, and a cheque of $1,000. A delighted Miss Denise Palencia was chosen as the very First Miss Cream Silk winner for 2017. The winner of the Miss PhilippinesCanada 2017 pageant, Miss Resham Saed, also received a prize if $1,000 from Cream Silk. ■

Immigration

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

23

Investment implications of the Bank of Canada’s rate hike

BY TYLER MORDY, CFA WITH THE Bank of Canada’s decision on Wednesday to hike its benchmark target overnight rate by 25 basis points, to 0.75%, Canada has become the first country in the G7 to join the U.S. in raising interest rates.

This has fed speculation that the world’s central bankers are entering a durable tightening cycle. What gives?

A key theme our Investment Team has been monitoring is a move to “normalize” monetary policy. Remarkably, almost 10 years after the global financial crisis, policymakers still have emergency measures in place – from ongoing quantitative easing programs to negative interest rates in many parts of the

world. This cannot last.

Now, a shift has occurred in the last month with abrupt and seemingly coordinated hawkish commentary of late from central bankers around the world.

Predictably, fears have emerged that higher rates coupled with a potentially disorderly unwinding of unorthodox policies could derail the nascent global growth momentum.

Are these concerns warranted? To some extent, yes. Canada still lies on several macro fault lines – including highly indebted households (which just cracked the two-trillion-dollar ceiling, representing household liabilities of 100.5% of GDP), weak corporate investment, and the end of a multi-year uptrend in commodity leadership. What’s more, the stronger

Canadian dollar is weighing on profit margins, particularly for the oil patch that sells its products in U.S. dollars and pays expenses in Canadian dollars.

However, global central banks, including the Bank of Canada, will almost certainly adopt a gradualist approach to tightening policy. Economic growth and reflation have been encouragingly synchronized across global regions this year, but are modest in historical terms. Inflation is still stubbornly low. And so-called “escape velocity” will likely be impossible given structural impediments such as aging demographics and high debt levels.

In general, a slow and steady recovery would be a favourable backdrop for risk markets – providing a stable operating

www.canadianinquirer.net

environment for businesses while limiting prospects for aggressive tightening.

Investment implications

Central bank normalization is very definitely one of our “Super Trends.” In the same way that investors took more than a decade after 1980 to believe that inflation would not rise again into double-digit figures, today’s investors – conditioned by at least 35 years of disinflation and declining interest rates – will take years to become convinced that the secular environment has changed.

In this environment, bond rallies will still present themselves.

However, for Western bond market exposures, keep duration strategically short and only tactically take on longer-dated

exposures when bonds become overbought. Also, emerging market debt continues to be very attractive, given increasing credit quality and higher yields.

Looking ahead, expect a gradual reversal in yields that will play out glacially over many years. And while a spike in rates is clearly detrimental to fixedincome investors, a slow and steady rise allows for a higher reinvestment rate without incurring large capital losses. This is wonderful news for retirees who have had considerable difficulty generating sufficient income in an abnormally low interest rate environment. ■ Courtesy Fundata Canada Inc. Tyler Mordy, CFA, is President and CIO of Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc.

24

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Entertainment Jake Zyrus up close and personal A change of identity brings joy to the artist formerly known as Charice, whose young life has gone through sorrow

BY THELMA SIOSON SAN JUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer BACK IN college at La Salle Taft in the 1980s, “Jake” was a generic term of endearment among certain barkada, used interchangeably with chong and pare. So, when these friends and their acquaintances bump into each other on campus, one of them is likely to say, “Hey, Jake, ayos ba tayo diyan?”

These days, it is the title of esteemed filmmaker Mike de Leon’s new movie, “Citizen Jake,” and also the new name of the music artist formerly known as Charice—Jake Zyrus.

Now a self-proclaimed “transman,” the fruition of what he calls his dream—leaving behind his female gender at birth in 1992 and a transitory lesbian stage in 2013—Jake says he chose his new name at random because it sounds good, and he feels “excited” every time he hears people say it.

To complete the identity change with physical attributes, Jake underwent a mastectomy and has been taking testosterone pills to stimulate male hormone therapy—the

most noticeable effect of which is the growth of a mustache and an altered vocal timbre.

He has mentioned about having sex reassignment surgery in the future.

The difference in his singing voice is remarkable—gone is the trademark high pitch that first drew raves on YouTube, which led to several stints on TV shows of Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey, and culminated in the recording of an international album produced

by David Foster, not to mention guest appearances on the American TV series “Glee” and cameo roles in the Hollywood “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” and “Here Comes the Boom.”

His voice now has a lower pitch, not quite deep as a man’s big bass tone, but more tenor, although apparently still like a teener’s as in Justin Bieber’s, but with a distinct rasp that Jake says gives him a thrill.

Jake’s coming out for the second time, which he recently announced on Twitter, is, by his own admission, a happy moment in his life.

It would seem that happiness, in Jake’s case, had been fleeting, if not elusive, despite

having a successful career.

I have followed the highs and lows of that career—first, as a journalist reporting Jake’s triumphs as Charice, and then as one of dozens of godparents who witnessed his baptism as a Catholic on May 22, 2010.

Dilemma

In 2009, four years before first admitting that he’s lesbian, Jake “secretly told close friends” about his gender dilemma, sources with direct access to the artist told Lifestyle.

In one instance, Jake—then still nicknamed “Cha”—sat in a drinking session with male buddies. Though he neither drinks, being allergic to alcohol, nor smokes, he stood up and declared, “Lalake ’to, ’tol (You’re looking at a man, brothers).”

It has also been said that, even in earlier years, during amateur contests, the budding adolescent singer was observed to be attentive more to girls than boys.

Around age 10 he professed to having a crush on then 9year-old Alyssa Quijano, who became his live-in girlfriend for four years until their breakup last year.

The concept of being a “tom-

@JAKEZYRUSMUSIC / INSTAGRAM

boy” appeared to be clear to the young Charice, although mom Raquel believed it was just a passing phase.

On hindsight, it was Raquel who taught her child to cultivate a tough attitude, especially before, during and after singing contests, other sources said.

During rehearsals, Charice was made to stop singing and start all over again if she made a mistake in enunciation or if she hit the wrong note.

It normally took 20 takes before a rehearsal ended.

Whenever she lost a competition, Charice was said to be prohibited from expressing disappointment in public. If she felt like crying, she could do so only on the tricycle ride home.

Raquel was said to have shown tough love to her child, to the point that hurtful words were heard when Charice first broached the idea of coming out in 2013, until the situation became so untenable she decided to run away from home.

As Jake starts over, it seems all that really matters now is how he can channel his newfound identity and freedom to take his singing career to new heights.

Judging from the music videos on his Facebook page and recent live performance on “Gandang Gabi, Vice,” the future is bright.

What matters is how he can channel his newfound identity to his singing career. ■

Cinemalaya — not just a PH indie showcase

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer “THE FASTEST way to know more about a country’s culture is to see its films,” said film and TV director Laurice Guillen, also chair of the Cinemalaya Foundation.

Guillen also said that the 2017 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 4 to 13, does not only take pride in producing Filipino indies, but also in featuring some of the best films in the region through its Asian

Showcase category.

“Through the years, Filipinos have managed to successfully develop their taste in food. We have Thai restaurants all over. We also have Malaysian, Japanese and Korean food. It’s now time to also develop our taste for Asian films,” said Cinemalaya festival director Chris Millado.

To be screened at the Cultural Center of the Philippines this year are: “Poolside Man” (Japan), “Reflections” (Philippines, Japan, Cambodia), “Above It All” (Laos), “Singing in Graveyards (Malaysia, Phil-

ippines) and “A Gift” (Thailand).

“This is what Cinemalaya offers. You experience different cultures,” Guillen said at Thursday’s media presentation of this year’s nine full-length and 12 short film finalists. The weeklong festival carries the theme, “See the Big Picture.”

“Not all of us get to travel, and we don’t normally get to see these [Asian] films because, usually, only American films are being shown in local theaters,” Guillen observed.

Millado also presented what he called Cinemalaya festival www.canadianinquirer.net

mainstays: Panoptika, the documentary section; Festivals’ Best, which showcases the best movies from different local festivals, and Indie Nation, a special section on independently produced films.

There will also be an “Outdoor Screening” (formerly called Green Carpet Screening), as well as the best of animation in Animahenasyon and the Cinemalaya Institute Showcase.

Another highlight is the film and exhibit retrospective on actress Lolita Rodriguez, and a tribute to filmmaker Gil Portes.

Introduced at the media

event were the following fulllength features: Perry Escaño’s “Ang Guro Kong ’Di Marunong Magbasa,” Mes de Guzman’s “Ang Pamilyang Hindi Lumuluha,” Joseph Israel Laban’s “Baconaua,” Zig Dulay’s “Bagahe,” Sonny Calvento’s “Nabubulok,” Thop Nazareno’s “Kiko Boksingero,” Nerissa Picadizo’s “Requited,” Treb Monteras II’s “Respeto” and Iar Lionel Benjamin Arondaing’s “Sa Gabing Nanahimik ang mga Kuliglig.”

The Cinemalaya Awards Night is slated on Aug. 13 at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

Lav Diaz teams up with Charo Santos again

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer IT’S ROUND Two for the “Ang Babaeng Humayo” tandem.

Filmmaker Lav Diaz will reunite with Charo Santos, the lead star of “Ang Babaeng Humayo,” which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Entitled “Ang Saka ni Henrico (Henrico’s Farm),” the DiazSantos reunion movie was made possible by the Singapore International Festival of the Arts and will be filmed in the city-state next month.

With this new movie, Diaz is “paying homage to the Filipino woman.”

The film is a “thank-you letter [to Filipino women] … for taking care of our sorrowful republic.”

“Ang Saka ni Henrico” tells the story of a 65-year-old domestic worker who, after three decades in Frankfurt, returns home. She meets her compatriots during a stopover in Singapore, en route to Manila.

“Her interactions with her fellow Filipinos help her reflect on the nature of her loss, the cycle of sacrifice and longing that marks them all,” according to the Singapore fest’s website.

The film was reportedly “inspired by Diaz’s real-life encounter with a Filipino migrant worker in Frankfurt.”

Diaz told the Inquirer: “I see them everywhere in the world, working, sacrificing, suffering, giving, vanishing.”

He recalled: “I was in Singapore a month ago, doing location hunt, and I met them everywhere in the city—in homes, stores, malls, under the bridg-

es, and at the Lucky Plaza, of course.”

The award-winning filmmaker often bumps into OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) in his travels all over the world.

“I was in Madrid, Spain, three weeks ago and I saw them in the streets carrying babies, doing marketing, pushing old and sick people in wheelchairs, working in hotels and restaurants,” he related. “Then, I was in Basel, Switzerland, a week ago, and again, the same sight.”

In a recent trip to Milan, Italy, “some of the cleaners and waitresses at the hotel where I stayed were Filipinos.”

In each encounter, he makes it a point to engage his countrymen in heartfelt conversations.

“They shared their stories: joyful, hopeful and sad. Some stories were really devastating and I wish I can just lift them out of their miseries, but all I could do was just weep,” he volunteered.

Diaz’s “Humayo” star is looking forward to this latest collaboration. “It’s always a learning experience,” Santos said of working with Diaz.

She described his directorial style as “collaborative.” “We have a lot of discussions about characterization, but he gives you the freedom to breathe life into the character. The set becomes your playground. That’s what makes working with Direk Lav exciting,” Santos asserted.

“Working with Charo was quite a breeze,” Diaz agreed.

“We understood each other.

She’s a very sensitive and intelligent woman. Parang barkadahan lang ang atmosphere ’pag kasama siya. I hope it’ll be the same with this new film.” ■

Australians see... no details on what prompted Saturday’s shooting, which occurred after Damond called police to report what she believed to be an active sexual assault in an alley near her home.

Damond’s Sydney-based family issued a statement on Monday saying they were trying to come to terms with the tragedy and understand why it ❰❰ 18

happened. On Tuesday, her father spoke out publicly for the first time.

“We thought yesterday was our worst nightmare, but we awoke to the ugly truth and it hurt even more,” John Ruszczyk told reporters. “Justine was a beacon to all of us. We only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death.” ■

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Look in the mirror and what do you see? Not enough diversity, says report

BY TERRY PEDWELL The Canadian Press OTTAWA — The portrayal of Canada’s diversity on television has improved over the last decade, but there’s still a lack of programming representing people with disabilities and the Indigenous population in particular, according to a research report prepared for the country’s TV regulator.

The findings were provided to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in March, shortly before Heritage Minister Melanie Joly launched public consultations to examine how the federal government could support the creation of Canadian content, but were only released last week on the government’s public opinion and polling database.

The report, based on questions posed to a half dozen focus group sessions in mid-January, found there was a “widespread impression” among participants that Canada’s broadcasters have improved their portrayal of certain segments of the population in their programming. But near equal numbers indicated that, compared with visible minorities, women and members of the LGBTQ community, they saw fewer TV shows portraying Indigenous people and the disabled.

Research firm Phoenix SPI, which conducted the focus groups in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax, stressed that the views of participants could not be extrapolated to represent the beliefs of Canada’s overall population. Rather, the findings were a snapshot of how specific groups of people from divergent backgrounds saw themselves reflected in the broadcasting system.

Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement or disagreement with the statement: “Canadian television is becoming a mirror in which all Canadians can see themselves.”

“Just over half expressed disagreement with it compared www.canadianinquirer.net

Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black.

to just over one-quarter who agreed with it,” said the report.

The CRTC was widely criticized in May when, as part of the five-year license renewals for broadcasters Bell, Corus and Rogers, it set minimum funding requirements for “programs of national interest” at five per cent of the license holder’s revenues. That’s the amount the broadcasters are required to contribute to the creation of Canadian dramas, documentaries, scripted series and awards shows honouring Canadian culture.

Prior to the license renewals, the trio of broadcasters had each spent up to 10 per cent of revenues on such programming.

Unions representing Canadian producers, screenwriters and actors warned the decision could result in dramatically reduced investment in Canadian content, and have asked the Trudeau Liberals to overturn it.

Some industry analysts, however, predicted the broadcasters would likely spend much more than the required minimums, thanks to the popularity in Canada and abroad of homegrown programs such as “Orphan Black” and “Rookie Blue.”

But participants in the focus groups said some segments of Canada’s population were severely underrepresented in Canadian-made programming.

“In the words of many participants, Indigenous peoples are virtually invisible on Canadian networks,” said the report.

GAGE SKIDMORE / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Even when Indigenous Canadians appeared in programs, they weren’t seen in the best light, according to summary assessments for individual groups.

“There was a widespread impression that depictions of Indigenous peoples tend to be stereotypical (e.g. depicted as poor, alcoholic, sniffing glue or gas).”

Participants also found very few characters or personalities with disabilities in Canadian programming, but unlike the Indigenous segment, they found that when people with disabilities were depicted, they tended to be positively portrayed.

The focus groups also perceived news coverage in Canada sufficiently relevant to wide segments of the population.

But, as might be expected, participants from individual segments suggested their issues should receive more attention in the media.

As examples, women participants said they’d like to see more attention paid to issues such as sexism in the military and violence against Indigenous women while visible ethno-cultural minorities suggested they wanted more new coverage of racism in police forces and the condition of Syrian refugees in Canada.

The heritage minister has promised to unveil the government’s plan to overhaul the country’s broadcast regulations and media landscape before the end of this year. ■

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JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Lifestyle Ambeth Ocampo, on why Arturo Luz is the ‘cheapest’ National Artist But critic Leo Benesa called him ‘the painter with the mandarin sensibility’

BY ERIC S. CARUNCHO Philippine Daily Inquirer WHAT HAPPENS when a historian meets a modernist?

One obsessed with what has gone before, the other reaching for what is yet to be realized: Can they find a common ground?

The answer may be found in “First Light,” historian Ambeth Ocampo’s painstakingly curated retrospective exhibit of the works of National Artist Arturo Luz, which runs until the end of July at Ayala Museum.

Or it may not.

In either case, it’s worth a look, if only to get acquainted with the work of this most enigmatic of the modern Filipino masters.

Barest essentials

In the continuum of modern art in the Philippines, Luz stands alone.

Although his early work from the 1950s shows him mining the same populist vein as predecessors such as Manansala, Ocampo and Legaspi (scenes drawn from daily life in postwar Manila), Luz soon abandoned this for a more rigorous formalism that pared down what remained on the canvas to the barest essentials of line and color.

As Luz himself put it: “I was slowly beginning to realize that, for me, the subject was becoming less and less important,

until, as a consequence, my Enviable collection paintings became simpler and Ocampo’s initial response simpler and I eventually wound was typical. up with a few objects, mostly “I didn’t like his work at all,” still life. It wasn’t the subject as admits the avid art collector, such that interested me, but the who met Luz in 2002. “I went shapes, the linear structure.” to see him because I wanted to Over years and decades, Luz buy one of his silver sculptures. would keep coming back to the Since I was there, his assistant same subjects—still lifes, land- showed me some of his other scapes, cyclists and musicians— work. I started looking. It dedoing hundreds of variations, veloped from there.” trying to exhaust all the possiOcampo came home with a bilities. As his friend, the artist painting. He kept looking, and is what scares many people off.

Fernando Zobel put it, he “had the artist and his art grew on It is cold—but it works.” the patience of a spider.” him. Eventually, the two beLuz remains relatively un“My work is relatively sim- came friends. Ocampo now dervalued, despite the current ple; there’s nothing compli- owns an enviable collection of feeding frenzy in contemporary cated about it,” Luz wrote. “It Luz’s works, some of which may Philippine art. involves the same problems be seen in the Ayala Museum “People recognize him, but except that I keep changing the exhibit. whether they accept him is anmedium. My work is linear and “He’s a very erudite, well- other thing,” Ocampo says. geometric and that’s it, essen- read person, and when you tially.”

Underrated In many ways, In 1979, after Luz’s aesthetic a 10-year hiatus goes against the in which he did grain of FiliThe visual language in the early mostly sculpworks is clearly Philippine in subject pino sensibility: tures, Luz made and form, developing like the “cool” where Fil3,000 artworks country into a world where national ipino tastes run in a 15-month boundaries are slowly blurred into the “hot,” concerned creative spurt. international and global. with ideas rather From these, he than feelings, inselected 250 for tellectual rather a retrospective than emotional. exhibit at the Unlike many of his contem- talk, he makes a lot of sense,” Museum of Philippine Art. Not poraries, Luz’s work isn’t im- Ocampo says. “[Art critic Leo] a single one was sold. mediately engaging. To ap- Benesa called him ‘the painter “Luz is the cheapest National preciate it, the viewer has to with the mandarin sensibility.’ Artist,” adds Ocampo. “He’s approach it in an almost con- Luz’s sensibility runs against underrated. Bencab and Ang templative frame of mind. the grain of Pinoy horror vacui. Kiukok fetch millions, but I Which is probably why Luz Its strength lies in its balance think most collectors still don’t leaves many viewers cold, at and restraint. It’s too sparse, understand the appeal of Luz. least at first. too intellectual for some, which If he didn’t become a National

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AMBETH OCAMPO / FACEBOOK

Artist, he wouldn’t be selling at all.”

Ocampo hopes to redress this injustice with “First Light,” which he curated in honor of the artist’s 90th year. Gathering works from all stages of the artist’s career, in roughly chronological order, the exhibit allows viewers to see how Luz’s work has evolved over six decades.

As Ocampo writes in his curatorial notes: “An arc can be traced from the genre, color and pictorial representation of Luz’s work in the 1950s to the muted colors and simplified lines and shapes of the 1960s. He abandoned painting for sculpture in 1969, and progressed into three decades of purely abstract works in sculpture, painting, collage and prints. Echoes of his early work can be discerned in works from the 1990s and early 2000s. The return is in a different form, not mere repetition, but the attempt of the artist to explore and exhaust all pos❱❱ PAGE 28 Ambeth Ocampo

Lifestyle

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

27

No ‘right’ time line for new romantic relationship after death of spouse: experts

BY SHERYL UBELACKER The Canadian Press TORONTO — When it was disclosed that comedian Patton Oswalt planned to remarry 15 months after the death of his wife, he was met with a flurry of condemnation on social media.

How, his critics implied, could he move on to a new romantic partnership so quickly?

Oswalt, whose spouse Michelle McNamara died in her sleep in April 2016 due to a combination of prescription medication and an undiagnosed heart condition, became an online target after fiancee Meredith Salenger announced their engagement last week on Twitter, with the actress calling herself the “luckiest happiest girl in the universe!”

“Wife dies in her sleep and he’s married a year later?

Nope!” one social media user said, while another wrote, “Like good for them and all but, personally, I’d like to be mourned for more than a couple months.”

Oswalt, 48, pushed back online against what he called these “bitter grub worms” after receiving numerous messages of support, including one from widowed blogger Erica Roman,

who chastised the social media posters for their unsolicited judgments based on “sensibilities rooted in old Victorian traditions.”

Still, the debate does tap into societal expectations about when it’s appropriate to resume couplehood after the death of a spouse.

So just how soon is too soon?

And is it anyone’s business?

Aruna Ogale, executive-director of Bereaved Families of Ontario (BFO) - Toronto, isn’t sure where the idea arose that there’s an acceptable period of mourning, but she does know that each person processes grief differently.

“It doesn’t mean that if you were able to move forwards into finding someone else to share your life with quicker that you loved or appreciated what you had with your spouse any more or any less,” she said.

“So I think that’s one of the misconceptions, that the longer you wait, it means that you loved your spouse more or you cared more deeply or you’re grieving more deeply. That’s just not true. People just move at their own pace.

“And I think that’s what’s happening with Patton Oswalt.”

Jock Maclachlan of Toronto

can relate. He lost his wife Lynn to colon cancer in early 2010 after 25 years of marriage.

After going to grief counselling, Maclachlan later became friends with a woman whose husband had died about a year earlier. The two acted as supports for each other as they each mourned their lost spouses.

But over time, their relationship began to evolve into something more — the pair began dating and now are in a committed relationship.

“Some friends thought I was rushing it,” conceded the 56-year-old father of two, who volunteers as a facilitator of the BFO’s support groups for spousal loss.

“It’s easy to fall into judgment, to judge, because people have a notion and they think there’s this ‘respectful time’ that someone must observe before moving to another relationship. But those people are not walking in the other person’s shoes.

“If you’ve experienced good relationships in the past and this person and this opportunity is before you, to love again, so be it,” said Maclachlan, stressing that there is no place for others to speak out against the life decisions made by Oswalt

or anyone else who’s been widowed.

Sadly, such negative reactions are all too common in the “widow community,” said Carole Brody Fleet, a U.S. grief recovery expert and author of a number of books, including “Happily Even After: A Guide to Getting Through (and Beyond) the Grief of Widowhood.” “‘It’s too soon. How could you possibly go on after you’ve lost the love of your life?’ I’ve heard it all, I’ve experienced some of it,” said Brody Fleet, whose husband died from ALS in 2000, followed by the death of her father four months later.

When she started dating after two years of working through her grief, she too got some unwelcome reactions. “Someone actually said to me: ‘How does it feel to dance on your husband’s grave?”’ Brody Fleet said from Orange County, Calif.

“People are quick to bifurcate life and love into an either-or proposition,” she said.

“You either love your past and the person you lost ... and get this once-a-widow, always-a-

widow head space and stay there, or you can recognize that the heart expands infinitely to embrace all of the love that it wants to.”

She advises people who have lost a spouse or partner to treasure and honour their past, but not to live in the past.

“This is a new life that (Oswalt’s) in now and he’s entitled to a new love in his new life, just as I found, just as anyone is who makes that choice to find love again,” said Brody Fleet, who remarried in 2009.

“Nobody can dictate that, and I’m appalled that anybody, especially someone who hides anonymously behind a keyboard and screen, feels that they have that right.

“You cannot live your life by opinion poll.” ■

Art in the garden: placing the right work in the right spot

BY KATHERINE KONO The Associated Press FOR MANY landscape designers and homeowners, a garden isn’t complete without the right art. But how do you find the right spot for a piece of outdoor art and choose the plants to complement it?

The first step is finding a work that really speaks to you, and then “allow the art to help define the landscape,” says landscape architect Edmund Hollander. He recommends working with an artist or gallery, when possible, to create a relationship between artwork and garden.

“It’s really not so different from the relationship between a house and its surrounding

landscape,” he says.

Susan Lowry, coauthor with Nancy Berner of “Private Gardens of the Bay Area” (The Monacelli Press, October 2017), says art in a garden should enhance its surroundings. “Scale, texture and light all play off the object, and there is also an emotional content that influences how we see the garden itself,” she says.

Less is more, she cautions: “We have seen many a garden ruined by too many extraneous voices jumbled into the frame.”

The most common mistake when placing art in gardens, Hollander warns, is “sticking a work where there’s too much other stuff. It’s as if a museum hung a painting on a wallpapered wall instead of on a white one.”

So experts recommend that

works be placed against quiet backdrops like evergreens, hedges or lawns.

Karen Daubmann, associate vice-president for exhibitions and public engagement at the New York Botanical Garden, has helped design plantings around works by glass artist Dale Chihuly and others. The principles for selecting and showing art in a home garden are similar, she says.

“It’s nice to go for something as a larger focal point — something you can see from your window and enjoy all year round, and then some smaller works that you only discover up close,” she says.

“And when you’re decided where to place something, don’t forget to look up. It’s a nice surprise to look up and see a perwww.canadianinquirer.net

gola, chandelier or lantern.”

Most important, Daubmann says, is to choose art you really love. “Chances are, if you’re placing it in a garden you have designed and planted yourself, it will work, because it’s the same esthetic,” she says.

Keep in mind when and from where the work will be viewed.

From the kitchen window? The living room? If you’ll be viewing it at night, consider lighter colours, she says.

“White glass or white flowers make for a great moonlight garden, while dark blues will tend to get lost in the evening,” Daubmann says. “A mossy, shaded garden can be spiced up quite a lot with light colored art.”

And the artwork doesn’t have to be expensive. “I sometimes find wonderful pieces in an-

tique shops or at barn sales that really spark my imagination,” Daubmann says.

Hilary Lewis, chief curator and creative director at The Glass House, Philip Johnson’s iconic house and surrounding landscape and structures in New Canaan, Connecticut, helps plan the installations there.She says works should be visible from various parts of the property, should feel like an extension of the landscape, and should draw people in.

For inspiration, experts suggest visiting sculpture gardens, museums or botanical gardens.

“There are lots of sculpture gardens of all kinds around these days, and the combination of landscape and art, when done right, can be very inspiring,” Hollander says. ■

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Lifestyle

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

AT THE TURN:

Handmade in Halifax, leather covers turn heads worldwide

BY JAMES MCCARTEN The Canadian Press OTTAWA — For many Canadians, golf is a family affair. For the Bishop brothers, it’s become a family business.

The parallels between playing the game and becoming an entrepreneur are not lost on the Nova Scotia-based Bishops, the brains behind startup Dormie Workshop, whose custom-designed, handmade leather headcovers have been taking the golf world by storm since their debut in 2014.

Like golf, running a small business can be demanding, time-consuming and downright maddening — but also deeply rewarding, so long as you put in the work, stick together, try to have fun and know when to seize the moment.

“The one thing that our family has always done is that whatever we’ve done, we’ve done together,” says Todd Bishop, 46, who runs Dormie Workshop out of a 1,500-square-foot facility in Halifax with his brothers Jeff, 36, and Alex, 34.

“Jeff was really the one that had the passion to say, ‘Oh, man, I really like these leather headcovers ... that’s how it all came about, because he saw an opportunity.”

Serious golfers know a thing or two about the old-school bag-candy revolution of recent years, be it the knitted pompom argyles or rugby stripes of Rocket Tour Golf or Jan Craig, or the boutique leather creations of U.S. upstarts like

Headgear, Stitch Golf or Cru. If you’ve been to Cabot Links, the 36-hole coastal links sensation on the west coast of Cape Breton Island, you’ve probably seen Dormie Workshop’s handiwork. The white leather putter cover with the simple Cabot logo and tartan liner is the flagship of the fleet.

Cabot has come to represent the singular Canadian golf experience, precisely the sort of brand identity to which Dormie Workshop aspired, Bishop says. The fact the company was based in Nova Scotia made the partnership a match made in heaven.

“We got this gigantic map of Canada, and got the top 100 courses, and mapped it all out, and we just drew circles,” Bishop recalls. “We had a couple of triple circles around ones that we knew we had to become partners with, and Cabot was Number 1.”

So what’s behind all the headcover hoopla?

First and foremost, consider camouflage: a premium driver can run $600 and a 3-wood $275, while high-end collectible putters can easily run into the thousands of dollars. Advertising the contents of a golf bag with a manufacturer’s headcovers can be an open invitation to thieves.

Then there’s the fact that until recently, those spandexand-vinyl sock covers could be all but impossible to pull over a massive 460 cubic-centimetre driver head. The vintage boxing-glove style favoured by leatherheads is the hot thing

now — perfect timing for the Bishop boys.

What’s more, golf is in the throes of a full-blown customizing craze.

Drivers have swappable weights and shafts. PGA Tour players stamp their wedges with personal symbols or inspirational sayings. Fans of marquee putter designer Scotty Cameron spend thousands to trick out their flat sticks with special finishes, colour accents and aftermarket grips. Ball manufacturers are boosting sales with custom logos, stamps and play numbers.

“Our Dad used to get our last names put on pretty much anything and everything, so it was always in us anyway to kind of just mark your gear,” says Bishop. “It’s an opportunity to reflect who you are and kind of express yourself ... something to keep you happy when you’re on the golf course.”

That’s not always easy, something Bishop knows from experience: he and Jeff are both PGA professionals who tried their hand at playing the game for a living before their entrepreneurial spirits took over. Today, they coach elite juniors out of Grandview Golf and Country Club in Dartmouth, N.S., when they’re not hunched over sewing machines or elbows-deep in swatches of rawhide.

For nerve-racked golfers, a soft swath of leather can be like a fidget spinner on the fairway.

“When I’m walking, I’ve always got my hands just resting on those covers,” Bishop says.

“That leather feel, that’s basi-

cally the oldest technical fabric known to man, and it has been around forever and it never will go away. And there’s a reason: it just feels amazing.”

Dormie sets itself apart from an increasingly crowded marketplace, says Bishop, thanks to exceptional craftsmanship, unmatched customer service and a sky’s-the-limit approach to customization that owes a lot to youngest brother Alex’s talents as a graphic designer.

Prices for Dormie Workshop’s current offerings vary from about $70 for a basic putter cover to $150 for a driver model that features more elaborate designs and multiple colours and leathers.

Custom orders can go up from there, like the guy from California who paid more than US$1,000 for a set of four covers that featured family emblems, sayings and an array of custom artwork.

“I would be surprised if his clubs are equal in value,” Bishop chuckles.

In their first year of operation, Dormie Workshop moved about 1,500 units. The following year they set up shop at the four-day PGA Merchandise

Show in Orlando, ground zero for a golf-themed equipment startup. They matched the previous year’s sales in just those four days.

This year, Bishop says they’re on pace to sell upwards of 14,000 units. Impressive, yes, he notes. But taxing nonetheless.

“There’s been times where I’ve been looking at Jeff at 4:30 in the morning as we’re sitting on sewing machines, going, ‘This is a 911 order. And we have no other way to get this to where it needs to go, other than by you buying a ticket tomorrow morning and flying this sucker out there.’

“And that’s what happened.”

Which, of course, is ultimately what makes Dormie Workshop a true golf business, and its founders well-suited to use the spirit of the game to navigate even the most daunting challenges: focus on the process, take it one step at a time, and let the outcome take care of itself.

“There’s all kinds of different ways this thing could go,” Bishop says, a trill of excitement in his voice.

“It’s kind of fun.” ■

Luz liked to go back to the same themes years, or even decades, later, but approach them from a totally new perspective.

In Luz’s words: “It completes a cycle alternating between objective and pictorial reality. The transition from picture to painting is complete: We are fixed with an object which speaks entirely in plastic terms, with little or no reference to the visible world, where lines and

shapes and colors are made to conform for their own sake, existing in a visual, created reality of its own.”

The exhibit also shows some of Luz’s sculpture. In 1969, the artist took a nearly decade-long break from painting to focus on sculptural work. As with his paintings, Luz’s sculptures— first in wood, then later in stone and metal—are explorations in pure geometric forms. Luz

created several monumental works in metal, many of them as set-pieces for buildings designed by his friend, the architect Leandro Locsin, such as the Philippine International Convention Center and the old Philippine Plaza Hotel.

Apart from his own works, Luz was also hugely influential on the Philippine art scene as the owner and curator of Luz Gallery. For more than four de-

cades, until it closed its doors in 2002, the Luz Gallery showcased the best local artists. Luz also invited artists he liked from other Asian countries to show in the gallery, and once a year, he would sell artifacts and antiquities he had gathered from his extensive travels through India and Southeast Asia.

“He had a global sensibility for someone who was essentially homegrown,” Ocampo says. ■

DORMIE WORKSHOP INC. (@DORMIEWORKSHOP) / INSTAGRAM

Ambeth Ocampo... sible variations on a theme…

“The visual language in the early works is clearly Philippine in subject and form, developing like the country into a world where national boundaries are slowly blurred into the international and global.” ❰❰ 26

Global sensibility

The exhibit also shows how

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29

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

Sports Keeping up with Kobe Hailed as the future of the Gilas program, Kobe Paras has Philippine basketball at his feet. But the 6-foot-6 star feels he’s got more to offer than just his hardcourt skills

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer KOBE PARAS walks out of Gilas Pilipinas practice wearing a loose, colorful aircool basketball shorts under a vintage black shirt. The teenage basketball sensation had slipped into a pair of dirty white Vans sneakers, before putting on a light brown leather backpack and a yellow cap.

There’s an air of swag as the 6-foot-6, 19-year-old leaves the gym. His looks depict his personality—young, creative and carefree. Make no mistake about it, Kobe puts so much thought into his style, just like the way he works on his game.

“I’m trying to make wearing basketball shorts a new trend,” says Kobe. “It’s different. You don’t see this everyday and I love vintage shirts.”

Kobe’s eyes light up when he talks about fashion. His Instagram feed is equal parts basketball, fashion and family.

“I was in LA (Los Angeles) and that’s where it started,” says Kobe on his interest in fashion. “Everyday in LA is a fashion show. You don’t really need to dress to impress, but when you dress good you feel good. But that’s just me, I just like to stand out.”

As the son of former PBA Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Benjie Paras, basketball excellence runs in Kobe’s blood. The high expectations come with the territory as he is part of basketball royalty in this hoops-mad country.

Kobe moved to California four years years ago to take his game to the next level. As one of the top high school talents in Los Angeles, he was recruited to play for University of California in LA (Ucla), where he could have teamed up with current Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball. But Kobe withdrew his application as he failed to meet academic requirements.

Gilas romps Chinese Taipei B for second win in Jones Cup

BY JOANN SANTIAGO Philippines News Agency

@_KOKOPARAS / INSTAGRAM

Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, came calling, but Kobe hardly saw time on the court for the Blue Jays in his first NCAA season, leading to his decision to transfer to California State UniversityNorthridge.

“I didn’t play much last season, so that still fuels me to play and want to prove something,” he says. “I still have three more playing years and four more years in college, so I’m going to take it year by year, day by day.”

As he waits for the start of the school year in the United States, Kobe is keeping himself busy representing the country, most recently in the Fiba 3x3 World Cup in Nantes, France.

He is expected to play a key role for Gilas in both the ongoing Jones Cup in Taipei and the Southeast Asian Games next month in Kuala Lumpur.

At Gilas, Kobe has the opportunity to showcase his talents.

He’s been hailed by coach Chot Reyes as the future of the national team program and he has responded with flashes of stellar play in Gilas’ tuneup games.

“I’ve told Kobe that he’s going to be a big part of the future of Philippine basketball,” Reyes says. “But in the meantime, he has to be more patient, not to get too hard on himself, let the game come to him, and continue to learn and to grow. It’s the first time he’s been exposed to this level of competition. This will go a long way in his development

and maturity and I have very high hopes because his talent and potential are limitless.”

Kobe says the feedback from Reyes comes in handy as he works on his game. “I’m just glad that coach keeps it real,” he says. “Sometimes I try to do too much and Kiefer (Ravena) and the guys tell me that I don’t have to prove anything. It just lifts me that I have teammates who understand my situation.”

He has plenty of time. And with coaches like Reyes and Gilas legend Jimmy Alapag guiding him in the national team, he’s in a perfect environment to grow as a player. “I’m the type of player who doesn’t care who I go up against,” says Kobe. “I just want to give my all playing my own game, but coach tells me to relax a bit.”

Says Alapag: “I think he’s the youngest of the group, and anytime you’re the youngest, there’s an opportunity to learn and just to continue to improve. I know he has not played enough the last year and a half, but I think being part of the [Gilas] program gives him that opportunity. Getting some tough competition will serve him as well through his time in college.”

Kobe’s talent is undeniable.

His size and athleticism make him an asset for the national team. But what stands out is Kobe’s work ethic, says Alapag.

“Obviously, he’s very talent❱❱ PAGE 30 Keeping up

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Pogoy.

Wright finished with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, three rebounds, and two steals MANILA — A day after dis- for Gilas, which moved to 2-1 in patching Chinese Taipei’s Team the tournament.

A, Gilas had to grind it out Pogoy added 15 points, one against Chinese Taipei’s Team rebound, one assist, and one B. steal, while Jio Jalalon contribGilas still walked away with uted 13 points, five rebounds, the win. five assists, and one steal.

The Philippine national team After playing so-so basketball went 2-0 against Taiwan’s own in his first two games, Mike Mynational squads after defeating ers had his best game so far with Chinese Taipei White, 93-82, in Gilas, tallying 14 points on 6-oftheir Jones Cup meeting at the 8 shooting and 14 rebounds.

Taipei Peace International BasKiefer Ravena chipped in 10 ketball Hall in Taipei on Mon- markers, two boards, seven asday. sists, two steals, Gilas found and one block for itself in a hardGilas, which will fought battle next face Japan against CT White The on Tuesday.

Philippine as the latter led Ed Daquioag, national for the first few Von Pessumal, team went minutes of the and Almond 2-0 against first quarter.

Vosotros were Taiwan’s Gilas took scoreless in their own national the lead, 15-10, first Jones Cup squads after through a 9-0 stint for Gilas. defeating run midway into Chen YingChinese the first canto.

Chun led CT Taipei White.

CT White White, which fell launched its own to 0-3, with 17 9-0 rally to take a points, five re22-18 lead early bounds, and five into the second assists. quarter, and the game became Kyle Barone added 16 marktight for the remainder of the ers, 10 rebounds, three assists, period. two blocks, and one steal, but Gilas waxed hot at the start of he only made 2-of-7 field goals the third quarter, opening an- in the second half after going other 9-0 run to lead, 53-44.

4-for-4 in the first 20 minutes.

Following a timeout, however, Chinese Taipei White Box Scores Philippines 93-Wright 21, answered with a 7-0 rally of its own to cut the lead to just two, Pogoy 15, Myers 14, Jalalon 13, Ravena 10, Ferrer 8, Stand53-51.

Gilas regained control of the hardinger 6, Cruz, 6, Daquioag game and ended the third quar- 0, Paras 0, Pessumal 0, Vosotros 0. ter ahead, 69-62.

Chinese Taipei White 82-Y. CT White started the fourth quarter with an 11-5 run to Chen 17, Barone 16, T. Huang 13, come to within one, 73-74, G. Chen 9, Lee 8, Chien 5, Wen but a three-pointer from Matt 5, H. Huang 4, Liu 3, Fan 2, Wu Wright sparked Gilas’ break- 0.

Quarterscores: 18-20, 44-44, away that was capped by yet another trey, this time from RR 69-62, 93-82. ■

30

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Business Investors seen staying on sideline while waiting for fresh leads on economy

PSEi up on bargain hunting, peso still close to its 11-year low

BY DORIS DUMLAOABADILLA Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY JOANN SANTIAGO Philippines News Agency

LOCAL STOCKS are seen to continue consolidating below 8,000 this week as investors wait for fresh incentives to take a more aggressive position.

Last week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index ended flat at 7,885.90 compared to the previous week’s finish of 7,889.33.

While the market closed last week on a negative note, PNB Securities president Manuel Lisbona said it was still within the trading range of 7,800 to 8,000.

“While net foreign selling (Friday) could be indicative of a risk-off stance by foreign funds, this can only be confirmed if the peso weakens in the next few days,” Lisbona said.

“My opinion is that the funds will remain and buy back at the market’s support level. In the absence of any major developments, it looks to me that the market will trade range-bound for the meantime,” he added.

BDO chief strategist Jona-

JUN ACULLADOR / FLICKR

than Ravelas said investors remained on the sideline while waiting for fresh new leads on the economy.

“Chart wise, the week’s close of 7,885.90 still suggests the market will range between 7,700 –8,000 levels,” he said.

Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development, said the mar- kets would likely feed off the latest economic data out of the US: Core consumer price index, retail sales, manufacturing production and industrial production.

“Locally, the market will

await the next data point which is the balanced budget, and may start with some positioning ahead of second quarter 2017 earnings results,” Limlingan said.

“Support remains at 7,800, while resistance is pegged at 7,950 (minor) and 8,000,” he said.

Meanwhile, the peso weakened last week by 0.14 percent to 50.65 against the US dollar. It depreciated for the fifth straight week after the country’s trade deficit swelled to almost twice as large as expected in May, BDO’s Ravelas said. ■

play, you’re not just fighting for the people, you’re fighting for the soldiers who fight for freedom, too.’”

Off the court, Kobe describes himself as “ambitious.” While he plans to take up fashion or art-related courses in college he has also taken an interest in culinary arts.

“I love to cook,” he says. “I love to play the guitar. I love fashion. There’s just a bunch of stuff that I want to do. People think I’m just about basketball. There are people who tend to take basketball outside the court and I don’t think I need

that because I’m also interested in other things.”

Kobe says his style is a mix of urban and high fashion, and considers basketball stars Russel Westbrook and Nick Young as his fashion icons. The teenager also harbors dreams of doing his internship in some of the world’s top fashion firms like Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

“It’s exciting what the future holds,” he says.

Philippine basketball will be watching Kobe Paras grow, but there will be more to him than just his talents on the court. ■

Keeping up... ed,” says Alapag. “I didn’t realize how big a 6-6 kid he was until he got here. He’s coming in and excited to get to learn and do the work. Hard work is the foundation of any good player.”

Kobe is just delighted to be representing the country and shows a deep understanding of what it means to wear the country’s colors, thanks to his father.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he says. “There are a lot of players my age who want to be in this position. My dad keeps reminding me, ‘Every time you wear that jersey and ❰❰ 29

www.canadianinquirer.net

government continued to increase its imports to meet the domestic economy’s increasing requirements.

MANILA — Bargain-hunting Report by the Bangko Sentral boosted Philippines’ main ng Pilipinas (BSP) about the stock gauge for the second day year-on-year rebound of cash in a row Tuesday but the peso remittance growth in May 2017 registered another nearly 11- by 5.5 percent from month-ago’s year low against the greenback. 5.9 percent decline, was positive The Philippine Stock Ex- for the peso, the trader said. change index (PSEi) rose 0.23 However, the trader notpercent, or 18.42 points, to ed that in terms of absolute 7,952.92 points.A trader point- amount cash remittance ined this to still glaring strength flows in the fifth month this of the domestic economy’s fun- year, amounting to USD2.6 bildamentals. lion, was below the USD2.75 The trader said most of the sec- billion trade gap in the same tors remain on the positive trend month this year. despite expecta“Based on retions of capital cent trends, trade flight in line with gap will outpace policy normaltotal remittancization in the US, Based on es by next year. recent trends, among others.

This is a sign that trade gap will All Shares growth will reoutpace total tracked the PSEi quire more dolremittances after it rose lars,” the trader by next year.

0.06 percent, or said, pointing to 2.67 points, to further weakness 4,755.68 points. of the local curMajority of the rency. sectoral indices The trader, registered gains, led by the Prop- however, said the peso’s weakerty, which rose 0.83 percent. ness was not a negative in genOther gainers were Mining eral since it increased the peso and Oil, 0.53 percent; Finan- value of remittances, which cials, 0.40 percent; Holding would further boost domestic Firms, 0.15 percent; and Indus- consumption and growth of the trial, 0.14 percent. economy.

Only the Services index end“It also increases the peso’s ed on the red after it fell 1.36 competitiveness,” the trader said. percent.

The peso’s weakness Tuesday Volume for the day reached showed early on when it opened 3.95 billion shares amounting the trade at 50.73 from 50.55 in to Php6.5 billion. the previous session.

Gainers led losers at 104 to It improved to 50.70 but also 94 while 57 shares were un- touched 50.83 mid-trade, rechanged. sulting an average of 50.75.

On the other hand, the peso Volume of trade nearly trifinished the day’s trade at 50.77, pled to USD653 million from slightly weaker than its 50.70 Monday’s USD255.95 million, close in the previous session which the trader said was due and near its 50.795 finish on to corporate’s mid-month dolAug. 31, 2006. lar demand.

A trader said the peso’s weakThe currency pair is seen to ness was in line with greater trade between 50.55 and 50.85 demand for the US dollar as the Wednesday. ■

Business

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

31

Netflix still piling up viewers and big programming bills

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix is pulling in new viewers and award nominations in droves, but the online video service still faces a long-term problem: Its acclaimed programming line-up is costing far more money than what subscribers pay for it.

That hasn’t been a big issue so far, thanks to investors’ willingness to accept scant profits in exchange for robust subscriber growth.

Netflix delivered on that front again Monday, announcing that it added 5.2 million subscribers in the second quarter covering April to June. That’s the largest increase ever during the period, which has always been the company’s slowest time of year.

Wall Street rewarded Netflix by driving up its stock by more than 10 per cent to $178.30 in extended trading, putting the shares on track to hit a new high in Tuesday’s regular trading.

International costs

The Los Gatos, California, company now has 104 million sub-

scribers worldwide. For the first time in its history, most of those subscribers (slightly more than 52 million) are outside the U.S. That milestone could further complicate Netflix’s cost issues, since the company will need to keep creating more shows that appeal to the unique interests of viewers in countries such as Japan, India and Indonesia.

“It is going to be imperative for them to have more locally produced content,” says CFRA Research analyst Tuna Amobi.

“They can’t afford to pursue a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy.”

As part of its efforts to boost its profits, Netflix is becoming more aggressive about dumping shows that aren’t drawing enough viewers to justify their costs. In the second quarter, Netflix jettisoned both the high-concept science fiction show “Sense 8” and the musical drama “The Get Down.”

In a Monday letter to shareholders, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made it clear that the company plans to exert more discipline in the future. So far, Netflix has renewed 93 per cent of its original series, much higher than the historical rate of traditional TV networks.

“They are becoming more like any other Hollywood studio and paying more attention to the economics of their shows,” Amobi said.

Programming coups

The subscriber growth further validates Netflix’s decision to expand into original programming five years ago. Two of its longest running shows — “House of Cards” and “Orange Is The New Black” — recently launched their latest seasons.

Those two series, along with new hits like “Master of None” and “13 Reasons Why,” helped Netflix easily surpass the average 1.8 million subscribers it has added in the second quarter over the past five years.

This fall, new seasons of two other hits, “Stranger Things” and “The Crown,” are due. Those two series accounted for about a third of the 91 Emmy nominations that 27 different Netflix programs received last week — more than any other TV network except its role model, HBO, which landed 111 nominations.

Cash burn

But the success hasn’t come

SITTHIPHONG / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

cheaply.

Netflix is locked into contracts requiring it to pay more than $13 billion for programming during the next three years, a burden that has forced the company to borrow to pay its bills.

After burning through $1.7 billion in cash last year, Netflix expects that figure to rise to as much as $2.5 billion this year. It’s continuing to invest in more original programming amid increasing competition from the likes of Amazon, Hulu and YouTube.

“We have a long way to go to please more and more members,” Hastings said Monday during review of Netflix’s second-quarter results.

Netflix expects to be spending more money than it brings in for several more years. It posted a more detailed explanation about its negative cash flow to

give investors a better grasp of its programming expenses.

Hastings on Monday described the negative cash flow as “an indication of tremendous success,” reasoning that Netflix wouldn’t be able to finance new programming if it wasn’t attracting so many new subscribers.

Netflix is still profitable under corporate accounting rules, although its earnings remain puny by Wall Street standards.

It earned $66 million on revenue of $2.8 billion in revenue during its latest quarter.

Netflix could make more money by raising its prices closer to the $15 per month that HBO charges for its streaming service, but the company has said no increases are planned in the near future. Netflix’s U.S. rates currently range from $8 to $12 per month. ■

Health plan hinges on the young, but they’re a tough sell

BY CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Julian SennRaemont isn’t convinced he needs to buy health insurance when he loses coverage under his dad’s plan in a couple of years — no matter what happens in the policy debate in Washington, or how cheap the plans are.

The 24-year-old musician hasn’t known a world without a health care safety net. But he hates being forced by law to get coverage, and doesn’t think he needs it.

“I’m playing the odds,” said Senn-Raemont, who lives in Woodstock, Illinois. He will go without insurance, he said, until he starts a family or gets a job with benefits. “I feel comfortable I could get care if I needed it.”

Senn-Raemont’s outlook could pose a major problem for Republicans who await a delayed vote on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Insurers need young and healthy enrollees like him to buy insurance because they keep premiums down for everyone. The current law attempts to do that by mandating that everyone get coverage. The Republican plan replaces that mandate with penalties for those who let coverage lapse, and aims to entice young adults by allowing insurance companies to sell bare-bones coverage that could be cheaper.

But cheap isn’t free, which turns off people like Senn-Raemont. And other young adults worry that opening the door to these bare-bones plans will make the more comprehensive coverage they know now too expensive or even unavailable.

In Houston, 29-year-old Jimmieka Mills pays $15 a month for a government-subsidized “Obamacare” health plan. She fears Congress will weaken the health law’s guarantees of free preventive care, so she made an appointment to get a birth control implant that will last for years.

“I’m scared,” Mills said. “I’m like a bear getting ready for hibernation. That’s how I feel.”

Language is still being nailed down in the retooled bill, but it includes a proposal from conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which would let insurers sell plans with minimal coverage, as long as they also sell policies that meet strict coverage requirements set by the Obamaera health care law. Insurers could deny the slimmer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions or charge them more. www.canadianinquirer.net

Georgetown University health policy researcher Sabrina Corlette said young adults may find the “Cruz plans” more affordable, but they should “read the fine print.”

“You may end up with unexpected costs,” Corlette said.

“And if, God forbid, you do end up needing better coverage, you will be blocked from that coverage for six months.” To encourage continuous coverage, the GOP plan installs a six-month waiting period for anyone with a two-month gap in coverage.

The skimpy policies wouldn’t qualify as continuous coverage.

The insurance industry also sharply questioned this approach. In a statement last week, the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans said the proposal would create an “un-level playing field” that would lead to “unstable health insurance markets.”

Other features of the proposal aimed at young adults include allowing them to stay on their parents’ insurance until they turn 26, as they can now, and shifting costs to older enrollees.

Current law restricts how much insurers can charge for insurance based on age.

“Obamacare” limits the ratio to 3-to-1, meaning a 50-year-old can be charged only three times as much as a 20-year-old. The Republican plan shifts that ratio to 5-to-1.

More flexible pricing could attract young adults, the Congressional Budget Office said in a review of a previous draft of the Senate plan. But other provisions, including cuts to Medicaid, would result in 22 million people losing insurance over the next decade. All ❱❱ PAGE 36 Health plan

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JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Technology Telegram blocks terror content after Indonesia threatens ban

BY STEPHEN WRIGHT The Associated Press JAKARTA, INDONESIA — The encrypted messaging app Telegram is forming a team of moderators who are familiar with Indonesian culture and language so it can remove “terrorist-related content” faster, its co-founder said Sunday, after Indonesia limited access to the app and threatened a total ban.

Pavel Durov, who with his brother Nikolai founded the app in 2013, said in a message to his 40,000 followers on Telegram that he’d been unaware of a failure to quickly respond to an Indonesian government request to block a number of offending channels — chat groups on the app — but was now rectifying the situation.

The Ministry of Communica-

tions and Information Technology said Friday that it was preparing for the total closure of Telegram in Indonesia, where it has several million users, if it didn’t develop procedures to block unlawful content. As a partial measure, it asked internet companies in the world’s most populous Muslim nation to block access to 11 addresses offering the web version of Telegram.

Samuel Pangerapan, the director general of informatics applications at the ministry, said the app is used to recruit Indonesians into militant groups and to spread hate and methods for carrying out attacks including bomb making.

Suspected militants arrested

by Indonesian police recently have told authorities that they communicated with each other via Telegram and received

orders and directions to carry out attacks through the app, including from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian with the Islamic State group in Syria accused of orchestrating several attacks in the past 18 months.

Durov said Telegram has now blocked the channels that were reported to it by the Indonesian government.

“We are forming a dedicated team of moderators with knowledge of Indonesian culture and language to be able to process reports of terrorist-related content more quickly and accurately,” he said.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Rudiantara, who goes by one name, said he had received an apology from Durov, who was apparently not aware of several requests from the ministry since 2016.

DENYS PRYKHODOV / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

“I appreciate the response from Pavel Durov and the ministry will follow it up as soon as possible in terms of technical details so that standard operating procedures can be implemented immediately,” Rudiantara said.

Indonesia’s measures against Telegram come as Southeast

Asian nations step up efforts to combat Islamic radicalism following the capture of the southern Philippine city of Marawi

by Islamic State group-linked militants.

Nearly two months after the ❱❱ PAGE 36 Telegram blocks

Elon Musk talks cars and humanity’s fate with governors

BY MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned a bipartisan gathering of U.S. governors on Saturday that government regulation of artificial intelligence is needed because it’s a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.”

But first, he asked for some governors to lift a different kind of regulation: state fran-

chise dealership laws that ban the direct sale of his company’s electric cars to consumers.

Musk spoke broadly about solar energy, space travel, selfdriving cars and other emerging technology during a question-and-answer session at the summer conference of the National Governors Association in Rhode Island.

He also met privately with some governors, including Louisiana Democrat John Bel Edwards, who recently signed a law that Musk’s Palo Alto,

California-based company says blocks it from selling cars there.

Edwards said Tesla asked for the one-on-one meeting with Musk, which was short.

“I just asked him to come down to Louisiana and sit down with us, sit down with the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association and work out some sort of a compromise, which they have successfully done in other states,” Edwards said.

Allowing manufacturer-toconsumer sales also came up in meetings between Musk and

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two other governors — the conference’s host, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, and Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Representatives for the two Democrats confirmed they had private meetings with Musk and the topic came up.

Musk didn’t address such rules in his public remarks, but he did speak about regulation generally — and reiterated his long-held argument that it is needed soon to protect humanity from being outsmarted by computers, or “deep intelli-

gence in the network” that can start wars by manipulating information.

Pressed for more specific guidance by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, Musk said the first step is for government to get a better understanding of the fast-moving achievements in developing artificial intelligence technology.

“Once there is awareness, people will be extremely afraid, as they should be,” Musk said. ■

Technology

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

33

Astronaut Buzz Group uses technology Aldrin rolls out the to try creating most red carpet for Mars accessible neighbourhood

BY ALEX SANZ The Associated Press

taking my Amazon lottery winnings and dedicating it to (reusable rockets). I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do that.”

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. — The foundation also honForty-eight years after he land- oured former NASA astronaut ed on the moon, Apollo 11 astro- Mae Jemison, the first Africannaut Buzz Aldrin rolled out a American woman to travel in red carpet for the red planet at space, with the Buzz Aldrin a star-studded gala at the Ken- Space Pioneering Award. nedy Space Center.

“When Buzz says, ‘Get your Aldrin, 87, commemorated ass to Mars,’ it’s not just about the upcoming anniversary of the physical part of getting to the 1969 mission to the moon Mars. It’s also about that comunder a historic Saturn V rock- mitment to doing something et Saturday and raised more big and audacious,” Jemison than $190,000 for his non-prof- told The Associated Press. it space education foundation, “What we’re doing looking forShareSpace Foundation. Aldrin ward is making sure that we use believes people will be able to our place at the table.” land on Mars by 2040, a goal Space memorabilia was aucNASA shares. The space agency tioned at the gala, including is developing the an autographed Space Launch first day insurSystem and the ance “cover” that Orion spacecraft fetched $42,500 to send AmeriThe and flew to the programs we cans to deep surface of the have right space. moon.

Covers now are Apollo astrowere set up by eating up nauts Walt CunNASA because every piece ningham, Miinsurance comof the budget chael Collins and panies were reand it has to Harrison “Jack” luctant to offer be reduced Schmitt joined life insurance to if we’re ever Aldrin, one of 12 pioneers of the going to get people to walk U.S. space proanywhere. on the moon, at gram, according the sold-out funto the auction draiser. website. Money “I like to think raised from their of myself as an sale would have innovative futurist,” Aldrin told paid out to the astronauts’ fama crowd of nearly 400 people ilies in the event of their deaths. in the Apollo/Saturn V Center. The covers were issued in lim“The programs we have right ited numbers and cancelled on now are eating up every piece the day of launch. of the budget and it has to be reThe gala is the first part of a duced if we’re ever going to get three-year campaign leading up anywhere.” to the 50th anniversary of the During the gala, the Share- moon landing to help fund adSpace Foundation presented vancements that will lead to the Jeff Bezos with the first Buzz future habitation of Mars.

Aldrin Space Innovation ShareSpace Foundation on Award. Bezos, the founder of Saturday announced a new Amazon.com and the space- non-profit, the Buzz Aldrin flight company Blue Origin, is Space Foundation, to create an trying to bring the cost of space educational path to Mars. Durtravel down by reusing rockets. ing the past year, the founda“We can have a trillion hu- tion has gifted 100 giant maps mans in the solar system. of Mars to schools and continWhat’s holding us back from ues to work with children to making that next step is that advance education in Science, space travel is just too darned Technology, Engineering, Arts expensive,” Bezos said. “I’m and Math, or STEAM. ■

BY MICHELLE MCQUIGGE The Canadian Press TORONTO — Canada’s most high-profile organization supporting people with vision loss is turning to technology in a bid to create what it calls the country’s most accessible neighbourhood.

The CNIB — formerly known as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind — says it’s hoping to transform a small stretch of one of Toronto’s busiest streets into an area that blind or low-vision people can not only navigate easily, but fully engage with independently.

The organization has partnered with the Rick Hansen Foundation to acquire beacons that will help blind people locate local businesses on the street, then find their way around inside with confidence.

The foundation has funded the purchase of 205 of the roughly 14-centimetre beacons that stores and restaurants in the test area can acquire for free and program to convey detailed information about the layout of their physical space to a blind person’s mobile phone.

Blind users hail the project as a major innovation, while the CNIB says it’s hoping the initiative convinces businesses that increasing accessibility makes good fiscal sense.

Inclusive design experts also praise the project, but advise that true accessibility involves designing for a range of abilities and that more needs to be done if the area is to truly live up to the goal of being the “most accessible” neighbourhood.

The project’s rollout is gradual, with the CNIB persuading businesses in the quarter-kilometre testing range to get on board.

As beacons slowly begin to proliferate the stretch of Toronto’s Yonge St. between St. Clair Ave. and Heath St., at least one blind user said the difference is already apparent.

Mark DeMontis said the information available to him www.canadianinquirer.net

through the beacons gives him a sense of independence he hasn’t experienced since losing his vision 13 years ago.

By opening a GPS app called BlindSquare on his iPhone and listening to the information relayed by the beacons, DeMontis said he’s able to easily identify business entrances on the sidewalk, then find his way to various features once he gets inside.

The beacons can be customized to the space they’re occupying, he said. For instance, a restaurant may choose to communicate the location of tables, washrooms and staircases, while stores may be more interested in making sure visually impaired customers can quickly locate cash registers, retail displays or change rooms.

Walking into a business making proper use of the beacons, he said, is a liberating experience.

“I went so many years with a sense of frustration because I tried to do things that I used to do really independently on my own,” DeMontis said in a telephone interview. “Because now I have the tools, and I have the knowledge and the information how to do this successfully ... it’s a great sense that I’m regaining independence.”

The project is meant to not only increase accessibility for the visually impaired, but also to send a broader message to corporations and governments alike.

Angela Bonfanti, the CNIB’s Executive Director for the Greater Toronto Area, said many businesses are under the erroneous impression that making their premises more accessible is an expensive and arduous undertaking.

She challenged that notion, saying the rewards for embracing an underserved market would more than make up for the relatively low expense of making a space more accessible.

Having more businesses take the lead, she argued, could hopefully push governments to follow suit.

“If we can show that an entire

neighbourhood can get together and work together to show what accessibility looks like, then you really have some great research,” she said. “And we’ll go to our local governments and say, ‘the legislatures, the chambers, the museums, you name it, you need to do this. You need a beacon in every publicly funded building, because we’re taxpayers too.’”

Praise for the project came from at least one industry expert, who nonetheless urged companies not to lose sight of the fact that true accessibility involves catering to a wide spectrum of needs beyond vision loss.

Thea Kurdi, universal design specialist with accessibility consultants DesignAble, called the CNIB’s project exciting and innovative, adding most conversations about building design tend to focus on wheelchair users rather than other disabled demographics.

But Kurdi said true inclusivity involves designing for users ranging in age from five to 95 whose needs and abilities will vary greatly over their lifetimes.

She said technology can be a valuable tool in an inclusive design project, but said it should not be viewed as the entire solution.

“The hope has been that technology is going to fill the gap.

And I warn people about that,” she said. “If you said to a person with vision loss, ‘your phone is going to take care of it, you’re going to bring the solution with you,’ that does allow the user to pick the right solution for themselves, but it’s also kind of akin to telling a person who uses a mobility assistive device,’ you bring your own ramp.’”

Kurdi said even simple tweaks to interior spaces can improve accessibility for all. Laying carpeting or making other acoustic tweaks can simplify life for the hard-of-hearing, using higher contrast paints or railings to delineate spaces can help people with low vision, and switching door hardware from knobs to levers can make a difference for people with physical disabilities. ■

JULY 21, 2017

34

CANADA

Wanted: PERSONAL ASSISTANT - HOME CARE Permanent – Full time $14.00/hour - for 40 hours per week Anticipated start date: As soon as possible Location: Scarborough, Canada (1 vacancy) Wanted homecare personal assitant to provide care to an 85 years old elderly female suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Duty includes administer bedside and personal care to client such as aid in ambulation, bathing, personal hygiene and administration of medication.

Prepare and serve nutritious meals. Perform routine housekeeping duties such as laundry and ironing clothes and linens, washing dishes, making beds and house cleaning. Taking the designated individual for walks, park, malls and doctors appointments and any other duties deemed necessary to assist the designated individual with day to day living. Preferably with 1 year to less than 2 years of work experience in elderly care. Must speak and write English.

Completion of highschool graduate equivalent in Canada.Optional accomodation available at no charge on a live-in basis. (This is not a condition of employment)

email resume to: eymard.lumbre@yahoo.com

St. Louis Bar and Grill (Bolton Location) 301 Queen St. S

Now Hiring Line Cooks - Cook menu items in cooperation with the rest of the Kitchen staff - Clean up kitchen and stock inventory - Proven cooking experience - Accuracy and speed in executing assigned tasks We have an amazing group of people working here and we are currently growing very quickly! We are looking for the right team member(s) to join our fabulous team!

Please reply to our email and you will be contacted promptly.

Email at stlouisbolton@gmail.com

ELDERLY CAREGIVER Perform housekeeper and other home management duties under general direction of employer. Plan and prepare meals independently or with employer, and may serve meals.

Companionship Outdoor and Indoor Activities. 2 years of experience as a Elderly Caregiver 40 hours a week Full Time at least 24 months 8 hrs a day $14 an hour Required Education: High school or equivalent Required Experience: Elderly Caregiver: 1 year Required Language: English

Contact: Alex Sander Vezer (416-720-1398) 896 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON M5P 2K6, Canada

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FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

35

Travel 35 hours on the Coast Starlight–one of America’s most beautiful train rides It’s a long way from Seattle to LA, and I love it

BY PAM PASTOR Philippine Daily Inquirer “CAREFUL, ma’am, don’t jump,” said a voice behind me.

I tore my eyes away from the hypnotic railroad tracks to look at the smiling conductor who had spoken.

“Don’t worry,” I said, laughing. “I’m not crazy.”

Or maybe I was. Because I decided to spend 35 hours aboard Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, traveling from Seattle to Los Angeles, a journey that would have taken me two-and-a-half hours had I chosen to fly. Even crazier, taking the train was slightly more expensive than flying.

Old-school charm

My plane ticket from LA to Seattle was $93 and my Amtrak ticket was $118. And it was totally worth it.

I love trains. (I love planes too, but that’s another story). I love their oldschool charm, their promise of relaxation and that long stretch of time for some quiet thinking. There’s just something romantic about traveling by rail.

And what could be more romantic than the Coast Starlight, which has been dubbed “one of America’s most beautiful train rides”?

Although, I have to admit, there’s nothing romantic about not showering for 35 hours, but that’s what I get for choosing the cheapest ticket.

Travelers who booked tickets for the Superliner Sleeping Car—where there are roomettes, bedrooms, bedroom suites and family bedrooms— get maximum comfort: seats or sofas that convert into cozy beds (with turn-down service, of course), fresh towels and linens, special meals and, most importantly, showers.

But, honestly, minus the ability to take a bath, I felt no envy. Those of us in coach had big and comfortable seats too, with plenty of legroom and electric outlets. (To me, coach on a train is like business class on a plane). The seats were so comfy that instead of writing for hours and hours like I had planned, I ended up snoozing instead.

I boarded the train at King Street Station, after spending several days in Seattle reconnecting with family, trying to charm my Aunt Marie’s cats, getting my biggest tattoos (nine hours of needles!),

visiting all kinds of amazing bookstores, eating turkey legs from Pike Place Market, watching a strange band that sounded like an alien giving birth, walking into a pot store for the first time ever (it’s legal there!) and discovering new bars (my favorite was Unicorn, a carnival-themed bar that served truffle butter and cinnamon sugar popcorn—yum).

After the flurry of activities, I was looking for peace. And so, while the strangers around me mastered the art of small talk and bonded—mostly over their desperate desire to smoke (there’s no smoking on the train)—I zoned everyone out with my Spotify playlist and stared at the beautiful scenery outside the train’s massive windows.

The key to enjoying a long train ride is to relish the experience and not think of it as just a way to get from one place to another. And there was plenty to relish on the Coast Starlight.

Three states

The route took us across three states— Washington, Oregon and California—with stops including Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Eugene, Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

After just a few hours, the Coast Starlight felt like home. I got used to walking around the moving cars, finding pleasure in the creaking of the wheels against the rails. I kept looking out the window, trying to spot the front of the train and the tail end of it while thinking, giddily, “I am on this freaking train!”

Passengers got on and off but I stayed onboard, happy in my cocoon of comfort.

I read, slept, texted friends and raided the bag of food Aunt Marie had packed for me— there were nuts, leftover turkey, bread, beans, salad and homemade cookies.

But there’s really no need to bring food unless you want to. At the Coast Starlight’s Dining Car, passengers can enjoy full meals with real cutlery on cloth-covered tables. They serve Angus Steak Burgers, Herb Roasted Chicken, Spice-Rubbed Atlantic Salmon Fillet and Amtrak’s Signature Steak. There are cocktails, beer, wine and desserts, too.

The Dining Car was always busy, with each meal divided into several seatings and people often having to share tables with strangers—ideal for those in the mood to mingle.

The Café at the lower level of the

BARBARA PARTEE / FLICKR

Sightseer Lounge Car was almost always empty, save for the lady manning it, feeding my need for solitude. That’s where I ate most of the time, gathering an assortment of quick snacks—microwave pizza, hot dogs, white cheddar popcorn, Lay’s potato chips and Twix bars.

Passengers can also have food delivered to their seats and that’s what I did for my last meal onboard. I had the chicken breast fillet with mashed potatoes, gravy, buttered vegetables and a dinner roll. The meal came with a giant cookie too, that was bigger than my hand.

Panoramic view

I spent the last few hours onboard the Coast Starlight in my favorite place: the Sightseer Car. Although the windows in the regular cars were big enough to give you a great look at the scenery outside, the Sightseer Car offered a panoramic view with swivel seats.

It was in those last moments that I shed my antisocial shell and finally spent time with other passengers.

“California has so much to offer that if you don’t have a good time here, some-

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thing is the matter with you,” a cool old lady with waist-length white hair said.

We chuckled in agreement as the train rolled past beautiful beaches.

Amtrak promises that the Coast Starlight’s scenery is “unsurpassed” and that it is “one of the most spectacular of all train routes.” It did not disappoint.

My jaw dropped as the landscape outside changed from green valleys to rolling mountains and hills, to lush forests, cows on fields and snow-covered trees, to little neighborhoods and beautiful shorelines. It truly was a sight to behold.

I left Seattle at 9:35 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived in LA’s Union Station at 9 p.m. on Thursday. But those 35 hours and 1,377 miles just flew by. In fact, I was sad when my journey came to an end. I didn’t want to get off.

And maybe I really am crazy—because I’d love to do it again. Maybe next time from LA to Seattle. Or maybe I can go from Vancouver to San Diego. I hear that’s just 43 hours. ■ The Coast Starlight travels daily between Los Angeles and Seattle.

36

Travel

Health plan... ages and income levels would have higher uninsured rates. For low-income young adults, CBO said, the uninsured rate would double.

A CBO analysis was expected Monday but has been postponed, according to the Senate Budget Committee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced late Saturday he was delaying the vote on the bill while Sen. John McCain recovers from surgery.

“On the whole, the bill is bad for young people,” said Jen Mishory, executive director of the youth advocacy group Young Invincibles. “It is particularly concerning for the most vulnerable young people, those who are low-income and folks with pre-existing conditions.”

Young Americans, ages 18-34, remain more likely to be uninsured than older age groups, but the rate of uninsured young Americans dropped under “Obamacare” to 16 per cent from 29 per cent.

Obama’s health law also gives them job flexibility because good health insurance was no longer tied to employment, said Republican labour economist Craig Garthwaite of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“That gives young adults the opportunity to find a first job that’s right for their talents,” Garthwaite said.

Alexandra Flores, 29, works as a library assistant at University of South Florida in St. ❰❰ 36

Petersburg while pursuing a master’s degree in library science. She credits the Obama health law for her decision to go back to school rather than be locked into her previous office job. She pays $77 a month for her “Obamacare” health plan.

The government kicks in about $100.

“Without health care, I wouldn’t feel comfortable growing my career the way I have,” Flores said.

Republican proposals to ban federal funding of Planned Parenthood for a year would affect 34-year-old Renee Wsol of Chicago. A Medicaid beneficiary, she received a free IUD for longacting birth control from the organization this year. Planned Parenthood is now her regular source of women’s health care, including cancer screenings.

“I feel comfortable and safe at Planned Parenthood,” she said.

“It makes no sense to pluck that care away from people who already have limited choices.”

Jackie Todd, 28, of Chicago, feels hemmed in by the health care debate because she would like to pursue a master’s in filmmaking, but doesn’t want to risk losing the insurance she has through her job. She has an implanted device for a heart rhythm problem, which will need to be replaced in two years, “and I cannot be uninsured when that happens.”

“The GOP doesn’t think I deserve a shot at an even playing field because being sick is somehow my fault,” she said. ■

Telegram blocks... initial assault, Philippine forces are still battling to regain complete control of the city.

Experts fear the southern Philippines could become a new base for the IS, including Indonesian and Malaysian militants returning from the Middle East, as an international coalition retakes territory held by the IS in Syria and Iraq.

But the government move sparked a public outcry in Indonesia, with Twitter and Facebook exploding with negative comments and some people reporting they were unable to access the web.telegram.org domain. Indonesians are among the world’s biggest users of so❰❰ 32

cial media.

The free messaging service can be used as a smartphone app and on computers through a web interface or desktop messenger. Its strong encryption has contributed to its popularity with those concerned about privacy and secure communications in the digital era but also attracted militant groups and other criminal elements.

Durov said Telegram blocks thousands of IS-related channels a month and is “always open to ideas on how to get better at this.” ■ Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

Forests, moors, peat bogs: A week of walking in Scotland

BY LYNN DOMBEK The Associated Press GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — Scotland has more than two dozen official long-distance trails through moors, peat bogs and forests. We chose one of the most popular, the West Highland Way. As first-time walkers in Scotland, my companion and I used a travel company to plan our route, book accommodations and arrange baggage transfers.

But we met others who used baggage services and booked their own lodging, along with folks who camped out.

Like the wildly variable Scotland landscape, there’s no end of ways to enjoy the walks.

Walkers we met were a disparate bunch: young Swiss backpackers; mountaineers from Virginia; a Swedish mother with teenage daughters; a Scottish couple, world travellers but out to see more of their own country; an extended family from England ages 16 to 50; and a Louisiana couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. We were mid-50s professionals out for adventure.

We took lots of walks at home to get ready. Knowing June could be rainy and cold, we tested gear beforehand. Our essentials were good boots, breathable rain jackets, rain pants or shorts, and wool or suitable base layers (no cotton!).

A runner recently set a record walking the West Highland way in under 14 hours. We did the standard itinerary: 95 miles (150 km) in seven days.

Day One

Milngavie to Drymen, 12 miles (19 km) Our first, lovely day transitions from Milngavie, a small town north of Glasgow, into a pastoral landscape dotted with sheep and cows, mossy stone walls and livestock gates. The peaceful walking is on mostly well-worn trails and roads. We stop into Glengoyne distillery for a wee dram, then on to Drymen. We eat that night at the Clachan Inn, licensed in 1734, seated next to a couple who reappear on Day Three to save us in an uncertain moment. We’re www.canadianinquirer.net

Rannoch Moor.

soundly asleep by 8 p.m.

established in 1705.

Day Two

Day Four

Drymen to Rowardennan, 14 miles (22.5 km) It’s pouring rain through moors and forests, then up and steeply down Conic Hill on the boundary fault separating lowland Scotland from the highlands. In good weather it has glorious views of Loch Lomond (loch means lake). We lunch in Balmaha, a popular resort town, and continue on the rocky lakeshore path toward the Rowardennan Hotel, a rustic lodge. The pub, with its corner fireplace, serves as both restaurant and meeting place for walkers. We exchange stories, and stumble off to bed.

Day Three

Rowardennan to Inverarnan, 14 miles (22.5 km) It’s overcast but no rain.

We’re now firmly in Rob Roy country (he’s an 18th century highlands folk hero). We’re still on the loch’s shore where the path is a challenging mix of roots and boulders. Guidebooks describe it as “torturous,” despite extraordinary ferns, waterfalls and forests. Six hours in, we convince ourselves a turn was missed and wearily head back. Then the Day One couple appears. The man pulls out his GPS to show we’re on track. I sheepishly pocket my map and we’re on our way. We share dinner with our new Scottish friends, Stephen and Jane McNaughton, at the Drovers Inn,

Inverarnan to Tyndrum, 13.25 miles (21.25 km) We hit old military trails as yesterday’s rigours are forgotten. The rain is back, as are the sheep. We move from farmlands to a thickly wooded conifer plantation, and happily eat lunch on a hillside, the mountaintops shrouded in mist.

Nearing Tyndrum we walk through heather, bog myrtle and pinewoods. It’s a peaceful end to the day, despite having trekked in earshot of busy route A82.

Day Five

Tyndrum to Kings House, 18.75 miles (29.75 km) Our longest, favourite day.

The path starts on the glen floor, zigzags up through woods and descends through spectacular moorland toward Loch Tulla.

A few more miles and we’re out on Rannoch Moor, a landscape of peat bogs and small lakes and sky, surrounded by heather and mountains. We’re smitten. The wind is fierce but rain holds off. For most of the day we see no one else, save our Scottish friends. Guidebooks say this point is as far from civilization as any place on the Way. It feels like it.

Day Six

Kings House to Kinlochleven, 9 miles (14.5 km) ❱❱ PAGE 38 Forests, moors

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017

37

Food KitchenWise:

Cheese Sandwich Souffle is easy weeknight meal

BY SARA MOULTON The Associated Press ONE TIME many years ago, I was riffling through my grandmother Ruth’s box of handwritten recipe cards when I pulled up short at the sight of the title of this recipe for Cheese Sandwich Souffle. Souffle?

Fancy! But reading the details, I quickly understood that this item was nothing more or less than the wedding of a hamand-cheese sandwich and some French toast.

But that didn’t make it a souffle. It required no separating of eggs, nor any beating of egg whites. Once I actually made the recipe, however, the title didn’t seem like such a stretch.

Fresh out of the oven, these sandwiches have puffed up in a very souffle-ish way. Similarly, they boast the moistness and airiness of a souffle.

But what I especially loved about the recipe was how ridiculously easy it is to prepare, making it the ideal candidate for a weeknight meal. (Huh? A sandwich for supper? Yes. Eggs

for supper? Indeed.) Preparing this dish is so simple, you ought to consider inviting your kids to help. But whether or not the kids lend a hand, this sandwich will be even more attractive once the schoolyear — and the hectic dinnertime grind — kicks in. Just know that you’ll have to plan ahead a bit; the sandwiches need to soak in the egg/milk mixture for a full hour before you pop them into the oven.

This recipe can be customized in all sorts of ways. You can swap out the ham for smoked turkey, prosciutto or your meat of choice. You can lose the Gruyere in favour of provolone, cheddar, mozzarella, or your favourite cheese. Vegetarians in the family? Say goodbye to the meat and hello to a hearty vegetable like grilled eggplant or sauteed Portobello mushrooms. Want to make a slimmer version? Use low-fat cheese and non-fat milk. However you roll, all you’ll need to flesh out the meal is a side salad or vegetable.

These sandwiches are plenty hearty.

Cheese Sandwich Souffle

• 1/4 teaspoon table salt • 2 cups whole milk

Start to finish: 2 hours (15 minutes active) Servings: 4 • Butter for buttering the baking pan • 8 slices homemade-style white or whole-wheat bread,

crusts removed • 1/4 pound thinly sliced cheese (Gruyere, cheddar, provolone, mozzarella, et cetera) • 2 ounces thinly sliced boiled ham, prosciutto or smoked turkey • 3 large eggs

In a lightly buttered 8-inchsquare baking dish, arrange 4 slices of the bread flat on the bottom, trimming the slices if necessary to fit snuggly in one layer. Cover each slice with one-fourth of the cheese and one-fourth of the meat and top each one with another slice of bread to form a sandwich.

In a bowl beat the eggs lightly with the salt, add the milk and beat until combined well. Pour the mixture over the sandwiches, cover and chill 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the sandwiches on the middle shelf of the oven uncovered until they are browned around the edges and just set in the centre, about 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer a baked sandwich to each of 4 plates and serve right away. ■ Nutritional information: 454 calories; 205 calories from fat; 23 g fat (11 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 223 mg cholesterol; 1,113 mg sodium; 36 g carbohydrates; 2 g fiber; 9 g sugar; 26 g protein.

Pair salmon with beans and you’ve got a hearty summer supper

BY MELISSA D’ARABIAN The Associated Press SOMETIMES, IT’S just too hot to turn on the stove. The key is to stock up your kitchen with “healthy convenience food” that doesn’t require any heat, such as fresh produce, canned beans, canned fish and small boxes of pre-cooked legumes found in the prepared produce section.

You can throw together a hearty meal in minutes without breaking a sweat. Sure, you will pay an extra dollar or two for steamed lentils, for instance,

but if having a well-stocked fridge keeps you from hitting the drive-thru even once, then you’ll come ahead financially (and nutritionally).

Canned salmon is one of my favourite healthy fast-foods.

When it goes on sale, you can stock up the pantry with a few cans of it, making wild salmon downright inexpensive.

Not only is canned salmon full of protein (12 g grams of protein per 2 ounces of fish) and omega-3 fatty acids, but it actually has more calcium than its fresh counterpart, since the small bones stay in the meat (and go unnoticed; remove any

large bones, however).

Pair the salmon with beans or legumes plus some chopped fresh vegetables and vinaigrette, and you’ve got a dish hearty enough for a summertime supper. And it will keep nicely in the fridge, so you can graze on this fiber and protein filled salad for a day or two no problem.

Today’s recipe, a Lentil and Salmon Salad with Smoky Mustard Dressing, was inspired by my favourite bagel toppings — red onion, tomato, capers, salmon and a hint of smokiness in the vinaigrette, which elevates the canned salmon

into a little wink at lox. The flavours marry into a surprisingly complex dish, never hinting at the fact that this recipe is of the

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5-minute-dump-stir-and-serve variety. ❱❱ PAGE 38 Pair salmon

Food

38

JULY 21, 2017

FRIDAY

COOKING ON DEADLINE:

Pasta with Sauteed Kale, Bread Crumbs

BY KATIE WORKMAN The Associated Press THERE ARE lots of varieties of kale on the market. They start appearing now and stay seasonal all through the winter. You can play around with any and all of them in this recipe.

You also can use other dark greens, like mustard greens, collards, Swiss chard — even chopped broccolini or broccoli rabe. Spinach is another option, but cook it for only about 4 or 5 minutes or it will probably get a bit too soft.

There are plenty of pasta and greens recipe out there, but this one is elevated and made super-amazing by the topping of Parmesan-infused fried fresh bread crumbs. And a smidge of anchovies and red pepper flakes.

I always rush to mention that if you have people at the table who think they don’t like anchovies, you should conveniently leave out that little nugget of information when describing this dish. But leave out the information, not the anchovies. (Unless you’re serving

a possible vegetarian, then full disclosure is in order).

Pasta with sautéed kale and toasted bread crumbs

Serves 6 Start to finish: 25 minutes

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus extra for drizzling • 1 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste • 1 tablespoon minced garlic, divided • 4 oil- or salt-packed anchovy filets, rinsed and minced • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste • 2 pounds kale, thick stems cut off, rinsed well and roughly chopped • 1 pound spaghetti • Juice from 1 lemon • 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and season generously with salt.

Meanwhile, heat half of the 1/3 cup oil in a very large, deep skillet with a lid over medium

heat. Add the breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper, and toast them, stirring frequently, until the bread crumbs are light golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add half the garlic and cook and stir for one more minute, until you can small the garlic. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the toasted crumbs to a paper-towel-lined plate.

Pour out any remaining oil and wipe out the skillet with paper towels (carefully!). Return

the skillet to medium heat, and add the rest of the 1/3 cup oil and heat over medium heat. Add the remaining minced garlic, the anchovies and red pepper flakes, and stir for a few seconds. Then add the kale and 1/4 cup water (if the kale is damp from rinsing it, skip the additional water), partially cover the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the kale is fairly wilted and tender.

While the kale is cooking,

Forests, moors...

Pair salmon...

We start in sunshine near Glencoe, feeling like tiny blips on the massive glen floor surrounded by towering peaks.

Soon we’re cloaked in heavy mist on the Devil’s Staircase, a zigzag ascent to the Way’s highest point at 1,800 feet (550 metres). We again miss views of high peaks as clouds dip lower, but there’s a soggy beauty. We sense the enormous presence of the surrounding mountains.

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❰❰ 36

Lentil and Salmon Salad with Smoky Mustard Dressing

Servings: 6 Start to finish: 10 minutes

Day Seven

Kinlochleven to Fort William, 15 miles (24 km) Our last day brings excitement, along with torrential rain and wind. By the time we cross the gorgeous but unforgiving expanse of the valley Lairig Mor, we’re soaked. Walkers in ponchos and rain gear flutter in the distance as we splash through mud. The peak of Ben Nevis, the United Kingdom’s tallest mountain, is obscured by

The glacial valley of Strath Fillan at Tyndrum.

clouds as we make our final descent into Fort William. We feel elated nonetheless, and lucky to have experienced a week of such awesome beauty. ■ If You Go...

LONG-DISTANCE WALKS IN SCOTLAND:

www.walkhighlands.co.uk/ long-distance-routes.shtml or www.west-highland-way. co.uk/home.asp .

OUTFITTERS AND BAGGAGE TRANSPORT: www.wildernessscotland. com/, www.contours.co.uk/index.php or travel-lite-uk.com/ www.canadianinquirer.net

• 2 1/2 cups cooked lentils • 2 medium tomatoes, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups) • 1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped (about 1 cup) • 1/4 medium red onion, chopped • 3 tablespoons capers • 8 ounces canned wild salmon, large bones and skin removed • 1/4 cup lightly chopped dill leaves • 1/3 cup Lemon-Dijon vinaigrette, recipe follows • Salt and pepper Lemon-Dijon Vinaigrette: • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard • 1 teaspoons smoked paprika • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar • 1 tablespoon water

cook the spaghetti in the boiling water according to package directions until al dente. Remove 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.

Add the pasta, half of the reserved cooking water, and the lemon juice to the pan with the wilted kale, and toss to combine well (use the pot you cooked the pasta in if that works better size-wise). Add more cooking water if the mixture seems dry.

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

In a small bowl, stir together the toasted breadcrumbs with 1/4 cup of the Parmesan.

Transfer the pasta and kale to a serving bowl or to individual plates, and top with the Parmesan bread crumbs. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan, and serve hot or warm.

Let people give their servings an extra drizzle of olive oil if they wish. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 518 calories; 149 calories from fat; 17 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 12 mg cholesterol; 211 mg sodium; 75 g carbohydrate; 8 g fiber; 6 g sugar; 19 g protein.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil • Salt and pepper Mix (or layer) the lentils, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, capers and salmon in a large salad bowl or on a platter. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, smoked paprika, lemon juice, vinegar and water until smooth. Drizzle in the olive oil while whisking to make an emulsion.

Season with salt and pepper. Pour 1/3 cup of the dressing over the salad. Top with the fresh dill leaves. Toss and enjoy. Serve on leafy greens, if desired. Will keep for two days in refrigerator, in covered glass container. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 211 calories; 64 calories from fat; 7 g fat (1 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 25 mg cholesterol; 364 mg sodium; 20 g carbohydrate; 8 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 18 g protein.

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