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SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017 Adelle Chua, Editor
Opinion
Joyce Pangco Pañares, Issue Editor
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
SAUDI ARABIA’S NEW HEIR CAN’T GO SOFT ON TERROR
EDITORIAL
By Bloomberg Editorial THE new heir to the throne in Saudi Arabia has great ambitions to modernize its economy. The West can and should help—so long as he keeps his kingdom committed to the fight against terrorism. The timing of the promotion of Prince Mohammed bin Salman from his role as deputy crown prince was perhaps a surprise, but the fact of it was not. Prince Mohammed, favorite son of King Salman, was already dictating the country’s foreign and military policies, in addition to its oil strategy. The man in charge of the Saudi counterterrorism effort, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, was stripped of power in Wednesday’s shakeup. The Saudis’ contributions to the fight in the region were inconsistent, to be sure. Yet Nayef was sufficiently competent to merit both an assassination attempt by al-Qaeda and a medal from the CIA. The new crown prince, with his focus on the economy, has paid little attention to the threat Sunni extremism poses to the kingdom. He is also unlikely to cut off government support for domestic Wahhabi clerics who preach violence, as he may need their support to calm any public opposition to his reform plans, which will require cutting subsidies and payouts Saudis have long enjoyed. Prince Mohammed was also the driving force behind the flailing efforts to wipe out Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and to lead several other Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to cut off diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar, needlessly destabilizing the Gulf Cooperation Council at a time of war and of increasing Iranian influence across the Middle East. Prince Mohammed and President Donald Trump seem to have hit it off, first when the prince got a one-onone in the White House in March and then when Trump visited the kingdom last month. Trump needs to make something clear to the young prince: If his economic changes and plan for a Saudi Aramco IPO are to have any chance of success, he will need lots of foreign investment and cooperation. Any lessening of his nation’s efforts against Islamic State and alQaeda, or to crack down on “charity” money going to fund terrorists and hate-preachers abroad, will make Saudi Arabia a vastly less appealing business partner for the West. Ditto failure to resolve the Qatar imbroglio and find an exit from the Yemen war. Vision 2030, the 31-year-old prince’s ambitious plan to diversify the monarchy’s economy, is both popular and necessary. Non-oil revenue has risen by nearly half in the last two years, but still comprises just 12 percent of gross domestic product. Budget deficits have been rising, shocking for a nation with that ran a surplus of nearly 30 percent of GDP a decade ago. To be successful, the prince’s reforms will probably require both higher oil prices and lower public spending – and a receptive market for what is expected to be the largest IPO ever. The rest of the world needs a modernized Saudi Arabia. But for that to happen, Saudi Arabia needs the rest of the world.
LEGISLATING CIRCUMSPECTION
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HERE are many ways to fight fake news.
One can go the German way. In early April, the cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel backed a bill that would threaten social media platforms with fines if they did not give their users the option to complain about fake news or hate speech, or if they did not remove illegal content. The objective is to provide better options for its voters ahead of the elections in September. Apparently, German officials do not want to experience what happened in the United States leading to last November’s polls. Critics, however, say this is dangerous territory because it might trample on freedom of speech, especially now that other European leaders have said they wanted to make social media companies like Facebook and Twitter accountable for hate speeches or statements inciting to terrorism. Another option is to target individuals fabricating or spreading fake news. This was what Senator Joel Villanueva, through a bill filed this week, said he wanted to do. Senate Bill No. 1492, An Act Penalizing the Malicious Distribution of False News and Other Related Violations, penalizes “any person or entity creating and circulating false news in print, broadcast or social media.” Public officials doing the same would be meted stiffer penalties. Fake news is described as “an information causing or tending to cause panic, division, chaos, violence, hate” and “those exhibiting, or tending to exhibit propaganda to blacken or discredit one’s reputation.” Those found guilty will be fined anywhere between P100,000 and P5 million and will be locked up between one year and five years. Mass media enterprises or social media platforms that do not remove such news will also be penalized by fine and imprisonment. Public officials found guilty have to pay twice the fine and spend twice
the time in jail. They will also be disqualified from public service. But it is not difficult to imagine how Villanueva conceived of this bill in reaction to recent blunders by members of the Duterte administration. An assistant secretary of the Presidential Communication Coordination Office, a woman who said it was her mandate to fight fake news, was exposed to have used photos of Honduran soldiers while talking about our own soldiers in her social media account. No less than the Philippine News Agency published a story that said many countries did not believe there were extrajudicial killings here—patently false. Most recently, the Secretary of Justice alleged some members of the opposition were in Marawi City days before the still-ongoing siege began. A University of the Philippines professor said such a bill would be too dangerous because even ordinary, well-meaning people could fall under the conditions stated in the proposed law. A third way, obvious and commonsensical but all-too-often ignored, is for people to educate themselves and refuse to fall prey to false information. Fake news should die a natural death when it fails to have takers. The key is to resist being a taker. The problem is, it is often difficult to be circumspect in this age when information flows so freely. All political groups should be wary of creating and spreading false information. They just make people ignorant and undiscerning. More importantly, people should be more critical of the information that is fed them. There are steps to ensure that what we read about is true. There are ways to be angry—indignant—about how some people believe they can get away with misleading us, or lying to us outright. Circumspection need not be legislated at all. We just need to be armed with a healthy dose of skepticism, and this starts at home, in school, in the workplace, and the people with whom we constantly interact.
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AVENUE OF MYSTERIES: A RAMBLING, MESSY, TRUTHFUL READ POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE
THERE are many instances of the Philippines being mentioned in novels by non-Filipinos, sometimes positively, more often not. Remember that time Dan Brown called Manila “the gates of hell” in his
book “Inferno” because of the city’s “six-hour traffic jams [and] suffocating pollution,” prompting an out-of-tune defense from then-MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino? Then there’s “My Hollywood” by
Mona Simpson, which tells the story of Lola, a Filipino nanny, juxtaposed against that of her wealthy white employer Claire, and the disparities between them. Now comes John Irving’s “Avenue
of the Mysteries.” I saw it on display last April at Fully Booked Power Plant, and, flipping through it, was surprised to find it was partly set in Manila. Published in November 2015, it seems to have gone under the radar, perhaps Turn to B2
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SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
AVENUE...
THE INVISIBLE GLOW OF THE UNIVERSE
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in part because of the muted reviews it got. Here’s one: New York Times’ Dwight Garner called it “an exhausting novel” of “magic ordealism” that reminded him “of an advisory from William S. Burroughs: ‘If, after being exposed to someone’s presence, you feel as if you’ve lost a quart of plasma, avoid that presence.” John Irving’s earlier novels—among them “The World According to Garp” (1978), “The Cider House Rules” (1985), and “A Prayer for Owen Meany” (1989)—reaped popular acclaim. Five of his books were made into movies, including these three (the latter as “Simon Birch,” 1998). The “Avenue of Mysteries” is convoluted and complex. Juan Diego and his sister Lupe are “niño de la basura” who grew up in a dump in Mexico. The New York Times’ Tayari Jones calls the dump “a forlorn setting, like hell with children.” Lupe can read minds and predict the future; her speech is garbled and can only be understood by Juan Diego, a child prodigy who rescues books from the dump and taught himself to read in two languages, Spanish and English. After the dump owner runs over his foot with a truck, Juan Diego walks with a limp. Later he is adopted by ex-Jesuit trainee priest Edward and his transvestite partner Flor. The three move to Iowa. Forty years later, Juan Diego, now a successful writer pushing 60, fulfills a long-ago promise he made to a hippie draft dodger he met in Oaxaca and visits the Philippines. There he reminisces about his childhood, the people he has met, the tragedies in his life, and other experiences that define his identity and sense of self. We also meet and not-meet his sex partners, mother-and-daughter tandem Miriam and Dorothy who fade in and out of sight and whose images do not appear in mirrors and photographs. There are copious references to the Catholic Church, prostitutes, sex, AIDS, death, poverty, and prescription medicines, particularly Viagra and the beta-blocker Lopressor that Juan Diego claims affects his memory. It is the latter, perhaps, that triggers his trip to the past over 460 pages. “Avenue of Mysteries” is dense with tiny details that pad out the lengthy narrative. The scenes set in Manila refer to actual places. Sofitel is described as being “in the Pasay City part of Manila—even from his slumped-over position in the limo’s rear seat, Juan Diego noticed the bomb-sniffing dogs.” His driver Bienvenido says, “It’s the buffet you have to worry about… that’s what I hear about the Sofitel.” “What about the buffet?” Juan Diego asks, but Bienvenido meanders on for several paragraphs until they drive away “without Juan Diego setting foot inside the place.” They make for the other hotel recommended to them—the Ascott. “It’s in Glorietta, back in Makati City,” sighs Bienvenido, who now has to turn them around. “The Ayala Center is right there—you can get anything there.” There is a paragraph about the mall, another on how to access the Ascott from an elevator at street level, and a reference to the cancellation of a reservation “at the Makati Shangri-La.” And so on. It’s a lengthy slog and not for light reading, but if you like namechecking, then there many Philippine places mentioned—Bohol, Panglao Bay, Palawan, El Nido, Lio Airport—it goes on. It’s tempting to highlight them in the text just to see how many there are. There are also the now-usual references to poverty, beggar children, pollution, exhausted women, loitering men—“usual” in the sense that these are things Westerners notice and include in their stories about the country. It’s a rambling, tumbling, mess of a story, like something an old man will tell in his maudlin moments. But truths are hidden in it, like gems in garbage, and will reward the patient reader. Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving. Simon & Schuster, 2016. Paperback, 460 pages. Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember, @ artuoste
By Pecier Decierdo WE LIVE in a world of color mostly invisible to us. We now know that light is a wave. To be more specific, light is an electromagnetic wave, that is, it is a disturbance in the electromagnetic field analogous to the way waves in the beach are disturbances in water. Like all waves, light can also have different wavelengths. The wave can be long, it can be short, or it can be anywhere in between. Recall the colors of the rainbow. Of them, red has the longest wavelength. Violet, at the opposite end, has the shortest wavelength. The other colors that we see have wavelengths between red and violet. Color, therefore, is just a way for your brain to know the wavelength of the light your eyes are detecting. Our brains can also perceive combinations of wavelengths. When your eyes detect a combination of long (red) and intermediate (green) wavelength light, your brain goes, “Oh that’s yellow.” When it’s a combination of intermediate (green) and short (blue or violet) wavelength light, your brain says, “Ah that’s blue-green or cyan.” When your eyes detect long (red) and short (blue) wavelength light, but not intermediate ones, it says, “Now that’s pink!” Pink is not on the spectrum from red to violet. It’s not one of the colors of the rainbow. It’s just a way for your brain to say, “The eyes are not detecting any green light.” When your eyes detect all the colors of the rainbow, your brain perceives the combination as
EVERYMAN By Dindo A. Danao IT IS unfortunate that the Department of Tourism’s latest campaign drew negative reactions, instead of the desired positive attention to the Philippines. This should not have been the case, if the parties involved understand a principle widely observed in the advertising industry. Any campaign output is a work in progress with the conjugal consent of the client and the ad agency. To recount the issues at hand, it is essential that we tackle first the root cause of the controversy— the alleged copying by McCann WorldGroup Philippines of a 2014 South African tourism campaign. After several netizens pointed out the similarities between the two ads, the DoT itself denied copying the South African and noted that the campaign material was based on a true story of a Japanese retiree in the Philippines (PNA, June 13). Following this, McCann WorldGroup also released a statement on June 13, acknowledging that the flow of the story in the Philippine tourism ad “may have similarities with the South African tourism campaign” but denied that it was copied (PNA, June 13). McCann Worldgroup Philippines underscored that there has never been any intention to copy others’ creative work, and stood by “the integrity with which this campaign was developed.” McCann explained that their
white light. When your eyes are not detecting any of those colors, your brain perceives black or, in some contexts, darkness. But darkness is not the absence of light. That’s because there are so many different kinds of light our eyes can never detect. We can be in what we feel as total darkness and still be drowned in a flood of invisible light. Remember when I said that red is just light with long wavelength? Well, you can stretch that wavelength a bit longer to get infrared. We humans and many other animals glow in infrared! The hotter we get (such as when we have a fever), the brighter we glow in this color. But this color, this redder than red, is invisible to us. When we enter a dark room, we shine this light into the room without our knowing. There are animals, such as some species of snakes, which can see this light. That means they can see us in the darkness. But you can stretch the wavelength even longer to get microwaves, the waves we use to cook our food in microwave ovens. Microwaves are also the kind of light in which the entire universe glows. The afterglow of the Big Bang is in microwaves. If your eyes could detect microwaves, you’d see this afterglow permeating the entire sky at night. If you could see microwaves, the night sky would not be total darkness punctured here and there by the light of stars. Instead, it will be a sea of this dim afterglow of the universe’s violent birth. Longer still than microwaves are waves of radio, the very same kind of invisible light we use in the communication technology with the same name.
It’s also the same kind of waves we use to transmit TV. Right now, as you reading this, you are basking in the glow of radio waves carrying the voices and images of thousands of TV and radio stations. But you see and hear none of them, unless you turn on a TV or radio. Radio waves have the longest wavelength and can stretch the entire length of the known universe. Now let’s go the other way. If you squish violet light a little bit, it suddenly becomes the invisible ultraviolet light that we have to protect our skins from. Some insects such as bees can see in UV. Shorter still than UV are X-rays. Because of their short wavelength, X-rays can easily pierce through our flesh, allowing doctors to use them to see underneath our skins. Squish X-rays even further and you get gamma rays, which can have wavelengths so short they are less than the size of an atom. If your eyes could see gamma rays, the night sky will be lit by the glow of the most violent explosions in the galaxy, from the explosive simultaneous birth of millions of stars to black holes sucking up neighboring stars. If you stretch all the kinds of light from radio (longest wavelength) to gamma rays (shortest wavelength) along the length of the Philippines from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi, the part that we see (ROYGBIV) will occupy the space the size of a cell somewhere in Visayas. How fantastic is it that science can make us “see” what our eyes never can? Pecier Decierdo is resident physicist and astronomer of The Mind Museum.
AN AD CAMPAIGN IS A CONJUGAL WORK OF CLIENT AND AGENCY latest film, “Sights,” was particularly inspired by the story of a visuallyimpaired foreigner who has made the Philippines his home and who has come to experience the Philippines in different ways. However, as the issue developed, mounting from their original position to keep the ad and the advertising group, the DoT on June 16 decided to discontinue its partnership with McCann Worldgroup Philippines, giving in to the pressure of the public. Now, I am no expert to lecture on the legal aspect of the issue but the accusation of plagiarism was denied by McCann WorldGroup Philippines. The allegation of plagiarism was not proven and is therefore a challenge for legal authorities to address. Proof of plagiarism must come from the court. Pertaining to its consequent actions, the Department of Tourism has seemingly overreacted. As a professional in the advertising and public relations industry, I would like to emphasize that formulating a campaign material entails a long process, with each of its subset requiring approval from the client. Ergo, in the relationship of clientagency, the success or failure of one is also the success or failure of the entire team or partnership. I am concerned that McCann WorldGroup Philippines was unfairly thrown under the bus, apparently receiving the standing that it was solely the one at fault in the controversy. It is wrong. As I’ve said, the creation of an ad
is a conjugal consent between the client and the advertising agency. To give our honorable legislators, who want to probe the controversy, an insight on protocols of creating advertising materials between the client and the ad agency, let me cite the step-by-step process globally recognized by international clients and multinational agencies. 1. The first step involves the client giving the communication brief to the agency. 2. Afterwards, the agency gets market insights through market research. 3. The client then is informed on the results of research, which may be rather through qualitative, quantitative, focus group discussions or other means. 4. After this, the client gives conformity to research data. 5. The agency sits down with the client for strategic planning, which entails a series of client-agency meetings. 6. After concluding client-agency meetings for strategic planning, the latter then presents the strategic plans on a wholistic approach. 7. With the presentation, the client either approves or rejects the campaign strategy framework. 8. Once the client gives the go signal, the agency prepares creative materials for television commercial, radio, print, new media, activation and other related supports for the campaign. 9. With this long process, story
boards and concepts are developed, revised, and repeatedly until the client again gives the green light. 10. Once approval is given, production cost estimates are prepared by the agency and signed in conformity by the client. 11. After the above mentioned process, long and arduous production works now begins, from filming, editing, dubbing, color enhancements, quality assurance and etc. 12. Post production works and outputs are approved by the client. 13. Pre-airing researches are also done with the consent of the client. 14. Only through consultation and repeated approvals will airing come next, which was devised from a media plan, again, with the approval of the client. When the issue surfaced, the DoT has stood by the data gathered by their team, which included McCann WorldGroup Philippines. They stood firm that the copy was based on a true-to-life story, and that it is “not a rip off ” (ABS-CBN, June 13). It is unfortunate that drastic action, such as the termination of McCann WorldGroup Philippines’ contract, was taken. In a partnership such as this, there has to be a shared responsibility, since again, a TV production is a work in progress, with the conjugal consent of client and agency. Dindo Danao is a public relations and advertising professional with a 38-year experience in the industry.
NORTH KOREA IS NO PLACE FOR US TOURISTS By Bloomberg Editorial IT’S EASIER for American tourists to travel to North Korea than to Cuba. It’s also more dangerous, as the death this week of college student Otto Warmbier after 17 months of North Korean captivity shows. But never mind the absurdity of President Donald Trump’s reimposition of travel restrictions to a relatively open and safe island 90 miles off the American coast. To prevent future deaths and protect US national security, Congress should ban US tourist travel to Kim Jong Un’s reclusive police state. True, North Korea is not exactly a popular destination for US tourists. Of the 100,000 foreigners who visited North Korea in 2016, slightly more than 1 percent were American (most were Chinese). North Korea’s efforts to spark a tourist boom—including by loosening
This file photo taken on Feb. 29, 2016 and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on March 1, 2016 shows US student Otto Frederick Warmbier (right), who was arrested for committing hostile acts against North Korea, speaking at a press conference in Pyongyang. Warmbier died June 19, 2017 of severe brain damage, following 18 months of captivity in North Korea. His family has asked that no autopsy be performed on the body of the US student who died days after being evacuated in a coma from North Korean detention. AFP
its restrictions on US tourists in 2010— have been a bust. What US travelers to North Korea have provided the regime, unfortunately, is a ready supply of hostages. These Americans are then used as pawns in diplomatic negotiations with the US. Over the last decade, at least 17 US citizens have been detained in North Korea, and three remain in captivity. A bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives would ban US tourist travel and penalize those who seek to arrange it. (Travel for other purposes— humanitarian assistance, for instance— would still be possible on a case-by-case basis.) Congress should pass it speedily. The US should also make clear to South Korea that, under current conditions, plans to use a North Korean ski resort in the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in Seoul would be seen less as a peace gesture to the North than as a slap in the face to Americans.
World US SPECIAL ENVOY TO AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN QUITS WASHINGTON—Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan stepped down on Friday, just as the United States is preparing to send thousands more troops to the region. A senior State Department official told AFP that acting special representative Laurel Miller left the post without a replacement being named. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Miller is returning to a position at the Rand Corporation and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has not yet decided what to do with post. The office was created when US officials decided that the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan are inextricably linked and ought to be dealt with together. President Donald Trump came to office planning to slash diplomatic spending and Tillerson plans to cut several special envoy roles. Miller’s responsibilities will now fall under the department’s South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau, which has a much bigger footprint that includes India. But this bureau is itself leaderless, with no assistant secretary appointed to lead it and no one nominated by the new administration for Senate approval. But, also speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official told AFP the decision was part of a broader policy review. Tillerson thinks the issue is best handled at a regional level, the official said, arguing that it made sense to consider India part of the equation. AFP
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QATAR GETS SAUDI LIST OF DEMANDS
OHA, Qatar—Qatar on Saturday confirmed it had received a 13-point list of demands from Saudi-led allies in a major escalation of the ongoing diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.
The list – which apparently includes a call for Qatar to close down broadcaster Al-Jazeera – are the demands that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want met to end a diplomatic and trade “blockade” of Qatar, lasting almost three weeks. Doha has been told that it faces “divorce” from its Gulf neighbors unless it takes their demands seriously. As the crisis deepened and the United Nations offered to help resolve the regional diplomatic row, Qatar said it had received the list of demands from its neighboring
countries. “Qatar announced its receipt of a paper, on June 22, containing demands from the siege countries and Egypt,” read a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, published in the early hours of Saturday morning local time. “The State of Qatar is currently studying this paper, the demands contained therein and the foundations on which they were based, in order to prepare an appropriate response.” As well as the closure of Al-Jazeera, a long-standing source of conflict be-
tween Doha and neighboring countries which accuse it of fomenting regional strife, the wide-reaching list makes other demands on Qatar. These include calls for Doha to cut any ties to groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State organization, Al-Qaeda and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Qatar has also been asked to hand over opposition figures wanted by its three neighbors and Egypt, downgrade diplomatic ties with Iran and shut a Turkish military base in the emirate. Al-Jazeera has denounced the move as an attack on media freedom. However, Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, who is due to hold a press conference on Saturday, said Qatar should cede to the demands.
DOCTORS’STRIKE STRANDS OVER 10K IN SRI LANKA COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Tens of thousands of patients have been left in the lurch by a doctor-led strike at Sri Lanka’s state-run hospitals, a consumer rights group said Saturday. The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), the island’s biggest trade union of doctors, stopped work on Thursday to demand the government close down a private medical college established in 2008, protesting its allegedly poor standards of education. The strike has affected tens of thousands of mostly poor people who seek free medical care at state-run hospitals, unable to afford treatment at private facilities which have remained open, an official at the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection said. Local media reports said the affected hospitals were turning away patients requiring emergency medical attention in some cases. “Poor people in hospitals are pleading for their lives as doctors refuse to treat them,” the consumer group’s chief Ranjith Vithanage told AFP. “My own mother is in a state hospital battling for her life.” He said striking doctors should face criminal prosecutions over any deaths resulting from the action. AFP
“It would be wiser that (Qatar) deal seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbors or a divorce will take place,” he wrote on Twitter. The demands confirm that “the crisis is profound,” Gargash added. The list of demands was given to Qatar by Kuwait, which is acting as a mediator in the dispute, the worst diplomatic crisis to hit the region in years. A statement from Kuwait’s staterun KUNA agency said Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah had also held calls with the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Friday as the diplomatic push continued. Qatar is the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hosts the biggest American airbase in the Middle East. AFP
Manila
Standard Republic of the Philippines TODAY
ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE FEED-IN TARIFF ALLOWANCE FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2017 PURSUANT TO THE GUIDELINES FOR THE COLLECTION OF THE FEED-IN TARIFF ALLOWANCE AND DISBURSEMENT OF THE FEED-IN TARIFF ALLOWANCE FUND, WITH PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY,
VOTING UNDERWAY IN SPRAWLING PNG ELECTIONS PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – Voting began in Papua New Guinea elections Saturday with the Pacific nation’s leader urging peaceful polling to show it has “come of age”, as he seeks another term to fix an economy under siege. Peter O’Neill’s People’s National Congress won the last election in 2012, and he has campaigned on delivering key infrastructure and providing free education and health to a country that remains mired in poverty. He also points to more stability in a sprawling crime-ridden land where elections have been marred by violence in the past. “I appeal to all our citizens to peacefully cast their votes,”said the prime minister, with more than 3,000 candidates from over 40 political parties jostling for support. “Let’s show the international community that PNG has come of age and will express its democratic principles in a manner acceptable to the community.” Polling for the 111-seat parliament runs for two weeks until July 8 with staggered voting across the vast and remote country. A result is not expected until late July. There is no opinion polling in PNG, so it is unclear who holds the advantage. But no party has ever won a majority, meaning a coalition is likely, held together by strategic political appointments. AFP
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SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
ERC CASE No. 2016- 192 RC NATIONAL TRANSMISSION CORPORATION (TRANSCO), Applicant. x - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -x
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: Notice is hereby given that on 1 December 2016, the National Transmission Corporation (TRANSCO) filed an application dated 28 November 2016 seeking the Commission’s approval of the Feed - In Tariff Allowance for Calendar Year 2017 pursuant to the Guidelines for the Collection of the Feed-In Tariff Allowance and Disbursement of the Feed-In Tariff Allowance Fund, with prayer for provisional authority. On 26 April 2016, the Commission issued an Order setting the Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on the following dates and venues: DATE
TIME
VENUE
PURPOSE
15 May 2017 (Monday)
9:00 A.M.
ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City
Jurisdictional Hearing and Expository Presentation
19 May 2017 (Friday)
9:00 A.M.
ERC Visayas Field Office, St. Mary’s Drive Banilad, Cebu City
Expository Presentation
2 June 2017 (Friday)
9:00 A.M.
ERC Mindanao Field Office, Mintrade Bldg., Monteverde Ave, cor. Sales St., 8000 Davao City
Expository Presentation
9 June 2017 (Friday)
9:00 A.M.
ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City
Pre-trial Conference and Evidentiary Hearing
On 29 May 2017, the Commission issued an Order cancelling the Expository Presentation scheduled on 2 June 2017 in Davao City and the Pretrial Conference and Evidentiary Hearing scheduled on 9 June 2017 in ERC Head Office, Pasig City.
FAN’S FACE. A New Zealand All Blacks fan smiles before the start of the Test match
between New Zealand and the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park in Auckland. AFP
TALES IN DAMASCUS CAFÉ LURE WAR-WEARY SYRIANS DAMASCUS, Syria—With a slender sword in one hand and an antique storybook in the other, Ahmad al-Lahham captivates a packed Damascus coffeehouse with tales of ancient kingdoms and brave conquerers. Every evening, the 58-yearold heads to the cosy Nawfara cafe in the Old City of Syria’s war-torn capital to perform as a traditional Arabic storyteller or “hakawati.” He sheds his furniture maker’s outfit and dons a bright red Ottoman-style cap, or tarboosh, reading out handwritten stories from the curling, yellowing pages of an old book. “This occupation is steadily going extinct. I am the only hakawati left in the Old City,” he says. “If I stop, there will be no storytellers left.” Lahham, who also goes by the stage name “Abu Sami”, settles into an ornatelycarved wooden chair on a raised platform overlooking the cafe, where young men
sip tea and smoke on bubbling water pipes. Clearing his throat, he opens with a well-known tale of 13th-century ruler Baibars before moving on to the heroic antics of Antarah Ibn Shaddad, a pre-Islamic knight. He says such tales of courage and conquest have become much more popular, at the expense of traditional poems or romantic stories, since Syria’s war erupted in 2011. “We went through a period where we wouldn’t come out much, but the owner of this coffee shop insisted that hakawatis continue to tell stories – even if he and I were the only ones left,” Lahham says. “But today, as you can see, the situation is much better, and dozens of people wait for me every night.” The storytelling nights usually happen once a week but during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which
ends this weekend, the show is daily. Listeners pack the cafe in the shadow of the famed Ummayad mosque late in the evening after breaking their fast. Many stay until the early hours of the morning to enjoy some sustenance before the fast resumes at dawn. Damascus residents have grown accustomed to regular rocket and mortar fire from rebel-held districts on the edges of the capital, with occasional rounds even reaching the Old City. But those fronts have calmed since a May deal that saw opposition fighters withdraw from several neighborhoods, along with a separate agreement on “deescalation” zones – including one in a rebel stronghold just outside the capital. Even so, the war is never far away, and listeners at Nawfara say the hakawati nights help them escape it, even if just for a few hours. AFP
The Commission has reset the cancelled expository presentation for Mindanao consumers, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on the following dates and venues: DATE
TIME
VENUE
PURPOSE
12 July 2017 (Wednesday)
9:00 A.M.
ERC Mindanao Field Office, Mintrade Bldg., Monteverde Ave, cor. Sales St., 8000 Davao City
Expository Presentation
19 July 2017 (Wednesday)
9:00 A.M.
ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City
Pre-trial Conference and Evidentiary Hearing
All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the instant case may become a party by filing with the Commission a verified Petition to Intervene at least five (5) days prior to hearing and subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure, indicating therein the docket number and title of the case and stating the following: 1) 2) 3)
The petitioner’s name and address; The nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and A statement of the relief desired.
All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the case may file their Opposition or Comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before Applicant rests its case, subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure. No particular form of Opposition or Comment is required, but the document, letter, or writing should contain the following: 1) The name and address of such person; 2)
A concise statement of the Opposition or Comment; and
3)
The grounds relied upon.
All such persons who wish to have a copy of the Application may request from Applicant that they be furnished with the same, prior to the date of the initial hearing. Applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the standard office hours. WITNESS, the Honorable Officer-in-Charge of ERC ALFREDO J. NON and the Honorable Commissioners GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 16th day of June 2017 in Pasig City. FOR AND BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION:
JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT Oversight Commissioner for Legal (MS-JUNE 25 & JUL. 2, 2017)
B4
SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor
World
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
SKETCH ARTIST AT NO-CAMERA MEDIA BRIEFING
Chinese military police and rescue workers are seen at the site of a landslide in in Xinmo village, Diexi town of Maoxian county, Sichuan province on June 24, 2017. Around 100 people are feared buried after a landslide smashed through their village in southwest China’s Sichuan Province early Saturday, local officials said, as they launched an emergency rescue operation. AFP
OVER 140 FEARED BURIED IN LANDSLIDE
B
EIJING, China—Chinese rescuers scoured through rocks on Saturday in a frantic search for more than 140 people feared buried after a landslide smashed through a mountain village in southwest Sichuan province.
A couple and a baby were rescued and taken to hospital after more than 40 homes in the village of Xinmo were swallowed by huge boulders when the side of a mountain collapsed, according to the Maoxian county government. At least 141 people and 46 homes were buried, the People’s Daily said, citing a Maoxian county government spokesman. The landslide blocked a two-kilometer (one mile) stretch of river and 1.6 kilometers of road. Rescuers used ropes to move a massive rock while dozens of oth-
ers searched the rubble for survivors, according to videos posted by the Maoxian government on its Weibo social media account. Bulldozers and heavy diggers were also deployed to remove boulders, the images showed. Medics were seen treating a woman on a road. Wang Yongbo, one of the local officials in charge of rescue efforts, said the vital signs of one of the survivors “are weak.” “It’s the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake,” he said, referring to the di-
saster that killed 87,000 people in 2008 in a town in Sichuan. Local police captain Chen Tiebo said the heavy rains that hit the region in recent days had triggered the landslide. “There are several tonnes of rock,” he told the state broadcaster CCTV. “It’s a seismic area here. There’s not a lot of vegetation,” Chen said. Trees can help absorb excess rain and prevent landslides. Some 500 people were taking part in rescue efforts, according to CCTV. An emergency response “to the first class catastrophic geological disaster” is under way, the local government’s statement said, adding that the full extent of the landslide was at yet unclear. A report from the state news agency Xinhua said that the landslide came from a high part of a mountain in the Tibetan and Qiang
Autonomous Prefecture of Aba had collapsed. The landslide struck the village at around 6 a.m. local time (2200 GMT). President Xi Jinping called for rescuers to “spare no effort” in their search for survivors, according to CCTV. China’s national weather observatory said more heavy rain was expected in parts of Sichuan and other southwestern provinces. Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, particularly at times of heavy rains. At least 12 people were killed in January when a landslide crushed a hotel in central Hubei province. In October landslides battered eastern China in the wake of torrential rains brought by Typhoon Megi, causing widespread damage and killing at least eight. AFP
TOWER RESIDENTS SENT PACKING AMID FIRE FEARS LONDON—Baffled and bewildered, residents of five London tower blocks were dragging their belongings through the dark streets early Saturday, having been told to pack their bags and get out due to fire safety concerns. “It’s totally crazy. What difference would another night have made?” asked Melanie Tham as she evacuated her home on the Chalcots Estate in north London following a snap decision by the Camden Council local authority, a few hours before midnight Friday. The cladding on the Grenfell Tower, visible three miles (five kilometers) away across London, is widely blamed for spreading the fire that so quickly engulfed the block last week, leaving 79 people presumed dead. Urgent tests found Thursday the Chalcots buildings had similar cladding – installed by the same contractor in 2006. But fire brigade safety inspections Friday determined that the towers were unsafe to spend another night in, with the council owners taking no chances. “I was at my boyfriend’s, I received a text message, and I had to rush back home. They told us we had to evacuate before midnight,” Tham told AFP. Leaving on foot, some with suitcases and bags, hundreds made their way to the nearby Swiss Cottage library to be
allocated a hotel for the night after the council block-booked rooms across London. Evacuated residents could be spending up to four weeks living in hotels while the cladding is removed from outside the 800-odd flats. Some residents made frantic calls on their mobile phones, while others tried to find out more information from officials in high-visibility jackets as night fell. Casey Oppong head of the tenants’ association in the estate’s Blashford tower, was trying his best to tell people what they needed to do. “We got the order to evacuate the towers tonight. I’m going to inform the other residents,” he told AFP. Council leader Georgia Gould announced the decision to evacuate all five towers very shortly after the authority said just one tower block would be “temporarily decanted.” “Lots of questions from residents about why this move is essential. Firm advice from fire service was blocks not safe to sleep in tonight,” Gould said on Twitter. Mother-of-three Adelina, who lives in the estate’s Burnham tower, said: “I am in shock and I don’t believe it.” But she added: “I think it’s the right thing to do if it’s health and safety. I’d rather be safe.” AFP
VIVA SAN JUAN. A horse rears in the crowd during the traditional San Juan (Saint John) festival in the town of Ciutadella, on the Balearic Island of Menorca, on the eve of Saint John’s Day Friday. During the island’s San Juan festival, held each year on June 23 and 24, Minorcan race horses gallop and prance on their hind legs through the streets of Ciutadella to honor of the town’s patron saint. As the ‘caixers’ (horse riders) ride together in a parade, spectators attempt to pat the horses’ chests to get good luck. AFP
WASHINGTON—United States media went back to the past on Friday to cover the daily White House press briefing, after President Donald Trump’s administration banned cameras from the event. Cable news channel CNN sent sketch artist Bill Hennessy to the famous West Wing press room, a change from the American courtrooms where he normally works. Instead of broadcasting the briefing live, CNN carried only audio of White House spokesman Sean Spicer’s session with journalists. The channel then prominently featured Hennessy’s sketches in its afternoon programming while stressing that cameras had not been allowed. The Trump administration, which has a largely adversarial relationship with the media, has been restricting coverage of the White House press briefing of late, either by not holding it every day, or by banning cameras and sometimes even audio coverage. AFP
OBAMA STARTS 10-DAY HOLIDAY IN INDONESIA UBUD, Indonesia—Barack Obama kicked off a 10-day family holiday in Indonesia that will take in Bali and Jakarta, the city where he spent part of his childhood, officials said Saturday. The casually dressed former president arrived in the resort island of Bali with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, a local military commander said. “They arrived late last night and went straight to the hotel in Ubud,” a local military commander, Gede Widiyana, told AFP. Obama woke up early and did some exercise in the lush green riverside resort, Widiyana said, but it was not known how the family would spend their time in the quiet and artsy Ubud area. Next week, the family is slated to depart for Yogyakarta, where they are expected to visit ancient Borobudur temple. They will spend two days there before flying to Jakarta. Obama spent four years until 1970 as a boy in the then sleepy capital of Indonesia after his divorced mother married an Indonesian. AFP
‘PANDA MANIA’ HITS GERMANY BERLIN, Germany—Germany was bracing for panda mania as furry ambassadors arrive from China on Saturday, destined for a new life as stars of Berlin’s premier zoo. The pair, named Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, will be jetting in on a special Lufthansa cargo plane, accompanied by two Chinese panda specialists, the Berlin Zoo’s chief vet and a tonne of bamboo. Berlin’s mayor, China’s ambassador to Germany, and a gaggle of journalists will greet the VIPs as LH8415 pulls to a stop on the tarmac of Schoenefeld airport. After just over a week’s acclimatization, they will be unveiled to the public by no less than Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, most likely two days before the G20 summit of world leaders hosted by Germany. Famed for its “panda diplomacy,” China has dispatched its national treasure to only about a dozen countries as a symbol of close relations. AFP