Manila Standard - 2020 October 4 - Sunday

VOL. XXXIV • NO. 212 • 2 SECTIONS 8 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

THE REAL THING. A resident wearing a face mask walks along the shoreline in Borocay as authorities eased on Oct. 1 restrictions in the world-famous tourist spot. This allowed local tourists to visit the island and its powdery white sand after more than six months of quarantine as coronavirus infections levelled off. (Inset) Meanwhile, a man wearing a Spider-Man costume takes a selfie at the foot bridge near the portion of Manila Bay that was filled with crushed dolomite to make it look like white sand. Norman Cruz with AFP

Velasco insists on Oct. 14 swap Asks Cayetano: ‘Is the 2021 budget for the nation or for your barkada?’

By Maricel Cruz

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PEAKER-IN-WAITING Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco has accused Speaker Alan Cayetano of holding on to his position to secure allocations for his district and for his supporters at the House of Representatives.

COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM OCT. 3)

319,330 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

2,674 58,606 NEW

ACTIVE

5,678

62

255,046

459

DEATHS

NEW

RECOVERIES

NEW

In a video posted on his Facebook page late Friday evening, Velasco lamented the “unfair allocation of funds” in the proposed P4.5 trillion budget for 2021.

“Ang mga tanong po kay Speaker Cayetano at sa kaniyang barkada: Budget ba ito para sa bayan o budget ng mga barkada mo? Makabuluhang budget ba ito sa gitna ng pandemya o malaking budget ba ito para sa grupo mo (The question for Speaker Cayetano and his clique: Is this a budget for the nation or a budget for your friends? Is this a significant budget in the middle of a pandemic or simply a hefty budget for your group?)”

Velasco said.

“Is this why Speaker Cayetano and his sidekicks are adamant in fiercely fighting the peaceful transition of House leadership? Is this why Speaker Cayetano is

TRUMP GIVEN EXPERIMENTAL COVID DRUG President Donald Trump was hospitalized Friday and given an experimental COVID-19 treatment, but said he was “well,” following bombshell news that the Republican had contracted the virus, knocking him off the campaign trail a month from the US election.

trying to blackmail President Duterte and hold the budget hostage if his term is not extended?” he added.

Questions over the allocation of the public works budget next year—specifically over Taguig and Camarines Sur getting the lion’s share—have triggered the speakership row, with Cayetano accusing Velasco’s camp of trying to derail the passage of the General Appropriations Act. Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. questioned why Taguig and Camarines Sur were getting the largest slices of the public works budget.

But ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said Taguig City, whose two congressional districts are represented by Cayetano and his wife Lanie, was given P11 billion in public

BARRIO FIESTA FINDS ‘NEW HOPE’

PARK SEO-JOON: NEW FACE OF BYS

CENTURY EYES 2,000 CONDO UNITS IN ‘21 Century Properties Group has announced that it is targeting to complete over 2000 condominium units by the second quarter of next year in Quezon City and Pampanga.

Korean heartthrob Park Seo-joon, with his new role as endorser of cosmetics label BYS, encourages his fans in the Philippines to bring out their best selves.

LIFE / B1

HOME/DESIGN / B2 twitter.com/ MlaStandard

DOCTORS’ COATS AS COVID-FIGHTING ART

A truly Filipino brand, Barrio Fiesta expands its market presence amid the pandemic as it explores new ways of getting its products to consumers.

BUSINESS / A4

WORLD / A3

works budget for 2021 because it houses Fort Bonifacio, the Army’s headquarters, where several big projects will be implemented.

Velasco, in his video message, appealed to Cayetano to finish the deliberations on the proposed budget and resign as speaker on Oct. 14.

“Speaker Cayetano, you gave your word in front of the President to honor the term-sharing agreement. Please, I appeal to you, finish the budget and resign on October 14,” he said.

“In the coming days and weeks and months, let us show the public that we, as your representatives, are still decent, honorable, and trustworthy leaders whose only agenda is to serve the people,” he added.

Velasco claimed Cayateno promised President Rodrigo Duterte that he will step down on Oct. 14­—the self-imposed date of the House leadership to pass the 2021 budget bill—as part of the gentleman’s agreement brokered by the chief executive himself.

“When we met with the President early this week, it was made clear, and I agree, that there should no disruption in the pas-

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Artist Genaro Rodriguez was so moved after being commissioned to turn a COVID-19 doctor’s white coat into a piece of art that he likened the experience to “painting a superhero’s cape.”

FEATURES / B4

DANIEL PADILLA’S ‘APOLLO’ LANDING Actor and singer Daniel Padilla is taking his fans to a gig that highlights his exciting evolution as a concert performer throughout the years via Apollo: A Daniel Padilla Digital Experience.

ENTERTAINMENT / B3

sage of the budget and the House can pass the government’s expenditure plan in a timely manner on or before Oct. 14,” Velasco said.

“But to hang on the speakership and extend his term until December on the pretext of budget deliberations only raises suspicion,” he added.

On Friday, a key ally of Velasco was removed from the position of deputy speaker as Cayetano’s allies called for the mass resignation of the lawmakers who are not supportive of the incumbent House leadership.

Camiguin Rep. Jesus Xavier Romualdo filed a motion to remove party-list Rep. Michael Romero, president of the Partylist Coalition Foundation, Inc., from the roster of deputy speakers.

Romero’s removal was seen by many party-list lawmakers as an affront to the PLCI, which is composed of 52 legislators.

Castro, who replaced Romero, called on his fellow lawmakers to quit their posts and “step aside” if they are not willing to cooperate with the majority of members who have expressed their intent to keep Cayetano as speaker.

STORIES ON PAGE 2

PH EYES 95% RECOVERY RATE LTFRB MEMO VS BEEP CHARGE MMDA PROBES ILLEGAL CARS 97 ARRRESTED IN PASAY RAIDS 7 ‘TRAFFICKED’ PINAYS RESCUED

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PH eyes 95% recovery rate as cases rise

By Willie Casas

T

HE Philippines, under various stages of lockdown since March due to the pandemic, is targetting 95 percent recovery rate from coronavirus after health authorities recorded 2,674 infections during the weekend.

JUST LIKE SPRING. Thunderbird Resort in Poro Point Freeport Zone, San Fernando La Union, has reopened its doors to the public this week. Most of the resorts in the province were allowed to open by the Department of Tourism as long as health protocols are strictly enforced. Teddy Pelaez

MMDA probes LTFRB to release memo vs. Beep card charge report on 399 illegal vehicles

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is investigating the report of the Commission on Audit stating the MMDA, the agency tasked to go after erring motorists, and the one enforcing road traffic rules and regulations, owns 399 unregistered vehicles.

According to CoA, the MMDA failed to register 399 out of 531 (75.14 percent) total vehicles with the Land Transportation Office in 2019. The unregistered MMDA vehicles include motorcycles, service vehicles, and trucks.

“As regards the recent findings of the Commission on Audit on the unregistered vehicles of MMDA which the commission flagged, we would like to assure the public that we are handling this matter seriously and taking serious measures to immediately address the issue,” said MMDA chairman Danilo Lim in a statement.

Lim said personnel who will be proven to have committed negligence on their behalf would be sanctioned accordingly.

The COA report stated that the MMDA’s Transport Division, responsible for registering all vehicles owned by the agency, cited the failure to pass the LTO inspection as one of the biggest reasons the majority of the vehicles were left unregistered.

Some vehicles had faulty signal, brake, or license-plate lights, some failed smoke emission testing or had faulty electrical wirings, and others had corroded and unreadable chassis numbers. Moreover, some vehicles were said to be nonoperational at the supposed time of registration renewal.

Lim explained that the unregistered vehicles cited in the COA observation were a mix of MMDA assets; vehicles lined up for repairs pending the delivery of parts; vehicles already auctioned off but haven’t been crossed out of the books yet; and unused vehicles being processed for disposal.

“I have already ordered the Transport Unit and Supply Division to fast track the replacement of parts and repair of serviceable vehicles to be ready for LTO registration,” he said.

TRANSPORTATION authorities are directing operators to stop charging commuters for the smart cards used to facilitate transactions – following the implementation of cashless fare payments among Metro Manila buses and public utility vehicles.

The Department of Transportation, through the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, is set to release a memorandum circular that will mandate all concessionaires of Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) to subsidize system costs of cashless transactions, said Assistant Secretary for Communications and Commuter Affairs

Goddess Hope Libiran.

“Passengers should only be responsible for paying their load or fare for each trip.

Secretary Art Tugade said they should be spared from the burden of having to pay the price of the beep card on top of their fares. This is the position of DOTr,” Libiran said.

In a related development, the DOTr is reiterating its call for AF Payments Inc. (AFPI), the service provider of the “beep” card, to immediately remove the payment for the card, on top of the fare load, otherwise it will suspend the use of the automatic fare collection system in the EDSA Busway.

In a statement, the DOTr said “We are asking AFPI to remove the service fee and other charges that total a significant amount for the cost of the card, the payment of which has been an additional burden for passengers.

“These are, the ordinary commuters who are still reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 and the strictly enforced community quarantines in their livelihood. Thus, they should be spared from this additional burden.

“We call on the AFPI to view the card cost fee as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to help its clients endure the result of the pandemic.”

97 violators of quarantine nabbed in Pasay

ALL SET FOR MONDAY. Teachers of Rafael Palma Elementary School distribute to parents tablets, books and learning modules which will be used for the distance learning program this school year. Norman Cruz

7 UAE-bound suspected trafficking victims rescued

By Vito Barcelo IMMIGRATION officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) barred from leaving the country seven Filipino women who were bound for the United Arab Emirates who were suspected to be human trafficking victims.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the women were intercepted at the immigration departure area of the NAIA Terminal 1 as they were about to

SAFETY FIRST.

Members of the Department of Public Order and Safety in Quezon City gave free helmets to cyclists at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. The city government has issued an ordinance requiring bikers to wear helmets as a fundamental safety gear.

Manny Palmeo

board a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to Dubai.

Three of the women were allegedly hired to work as caregivers in the emirate while the four others were recruited to work as marketing and sales agents for an interior design company.

BI-TCEU Chief Ma. Timotea Barizo said the women attempted to leave by posing as first-time overseas Filipino workers but the papers they presented turned out to be fraudulent.

“Verification made on the overseas employment certificates (OECs) they presented revealed that some of them are not in the records of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administrtion (POEA), while the others appear to have been issued to other persons,” Barizo said.

She added a check of the passengers’ UAE visas showed that they were traveling to Dubai only as tourists and not as workers.

Six UPCMC alumni bag 2020 Glory award TWO journalists, an arts community advocate, a development communicator, an education innovator, and a producer-writer of hit television shows are this year’s six outstanding alumni of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UPCMC) who will receive the Glory award.

The “Glory” honors UPCMC alumni who did not only produce excellent work consistently but also made an impact in mass communication and society.

Selected by a jury of their peers, the 2020 Glory awardees are Karen Davila (broadcast journalism), Dr. Rey de la Cruz (special education), Deo Endrinal (television arts), Dr. Monina Movido-Escalada (devel-

That despite, the Department of Health maintained the country was doing well in terms of number of recoveries as it eyed more number of patients recovered from the disease.

The DOH also announced 459 recoveries. This brings the total number of recoveries to 255,046.

The DOH also reported 62 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 5,678.

In an interview on state-run PTV’s Laging Handa, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said what the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center had done with the rankings was only to get the cumulative number of cases recorded by every country.

“We want to target 95 percent recovery rate at the soonest possible time,” she said.

Vergeire also emphasized that the Philippines has a very low case fatality rate or the number of deaths relative to the total people infected.

She said the current 80 percent recovery rate could increase as the DOH awaited complete data on the so-called “time-based tagging”—patients who have recovered but are not yet tagged as such by laboratories or local government units.

Top provinces by newly-announced cases are NCR, 1,046; Cavite, 257; Rizal, 165; Batangas, 137; and Laguna, 121.

There are 58,606 active cases. Of the figure, 87.1 percent are mild; 8.8 percent are asymptomatic; 1.2 percent are severe; and 2.8 percent are critical.

At the same time, authorities said a total 10 labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Data Repository System (CDRS) on October 2, 2020.

The Philippines has tested 3,602,725 individuals for COVID-19. There are 105 licensed RT-PCR laboratories and 33 licensed GeneXpert laboratories in the country.

The DOH also said that the nationwide data revealed that, as of October 2, 47 percent of approximately 2,000 total ICU bed capacity are occupied; 40 percent of approximately 15,300 total isolation bed capacity are occupied; 42 percent of approximately 6,000 total ward bed capacity are occupied; and 22 percent of approximately 2,200 total units of ventilators are being used.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health on Saturday said it had yet to receive from the World Health Organization its list of COVID-19 vaccines that would be included in clinical trials.

opment communication), Lutgardo Labad (arts & culture advocacy), and Criselda Yabes (literary journalism).

UPCMC Alumni Association president Malou Choa Fagar announced that due to the continuing public health crisis, the Glory awards presentation on November 14 would take place in a virtual environment.

The Glory Awards were inspired by the legacy of honor and excellence of Dr. Gloria Feliciano, the founding dean of UP mass communication programs, who served from 1965 to 1985. UPCMC produced some of the best practitioners in broadcasting, film, journalism, and communication research in the past 55 years.

POLICE raided two night clubs in Pasay City and arrested 97 individuals, including 27 foreigners, for violating quarantine protocols amid the coronavirus disease outbreak.

Cops from the Southern Police District and Pasay City Police Station conducted the operation Friday night following information that Matrix Club and Club 78, both at Hobbies of Asia along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, were violating a city ordinance and government health and safety policy being imposed to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.

Arrested at Matrix Club were 19 foreigners and employees of the establishment, including security guards, waiters and customer care assistants.

In Club 78, the authorities arrested eight foreign customers and 44 employees.

During the police operation, the customers and the employees of the establishments were having drinking session in private rooms, not practicing social distancing and not wearing face mask.

Police said the bar customers and the employees were brought to Pasay City Police Station for violating the “Bayanihan Act” (Republic Act 11332) and Pasay City Ordinance 6121 (Mandatory wearing of face mask and social distancing policy).

Pasay City Mayor Imelda Rubiano reminded city residents to follow the health and safety protocols to further help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the city.

Joel E. Zurbano

World

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What you need to know about Regeneron’s anti-body drug PRESIDENT Donald Trump was treated Friday for COVID-19 with a high-dose of the experimental antibody drug developed by the US biotech firm Regeneron.

What is it, how far along are its clinical trials, and why do some experts disagree with using a medicine before it’s been approved?

Here’s what you need to know.

What is the treatment? Regeneron’s treatment, called REGN-COV2, is a combination or “cocktail” of two antibodies: infection-fighting proteins that were developed to bind to the part of the new coronavirus that it uses to invade human cells.

The antibodies attach themselves to different parts of the virus’ “spike protein,” distorting its structure—similar in a way to knocking a key out of shape so it no longer fits its lock.

Vaccines work by teaching the body to make its own antibodies, but scientists are also testing ready-made antibodies from convalescent plasma, taken from the blood of recovered patients.

But it is not possible to make convalescent plasma a mass treatment.

Researchers can also comb through antibodies produced by recovered patients and select the most effective out of thousands, and then manufacture them at scale.

In a paper published in Science in June, Regeneron scientists described how they selected the two best antibodies from both recovered human patients and infected mice that were genetically modified to give them human-like immune systems.

In another paper in the same journal, scientists argued that by using two antibodies, they had guarded against the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 might randomly mutate to evade the blocking action of one, and then go on to become the dominant strain of the virus.

The company used the same “humanized mouse” technology to develop a triple-antibody cocktail which was shown to be effective against Ebola last year.

“That’s part of what’s giving us confidence, the platform has been tried and has been shown to be to work very, very well,” Christos Kyratsous, Regeneron’s lead infectious disease scientist told AFP in March.

The treatments are given by an intravenous drip.

Does it work? Clinical trials are being carried out to test the drug’s safety and efficacy at different dose levels and to compare it against a placebo, to answer this question.

On Tuesday, the firm announced some results from an early stage clinical trial, saying that its treatment reduced the viral load and recovery time in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

The results related to 275 patients, and Regeneron’s president George Yancopoulos said the company had begun talks with regulatory authorities—presumably for temporary approval before full licensure.

But the detailed data hasn’t yet been made public or peer-reviewed. AFP

LANDMARK PEACE PACT. A woman places balloons with the colors of the Colombian national flag at Bolivar Square in Bogota during a symbolic act commemorating the fourth anniversary of the referendum held to ratify a historic peace accord between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla, which voters narrowly rejected. AFP

Trump hospitalized for COVID treatment, campaign grounded P

RESIDENT Donald Trump was hospitalized Friday and given an experimental COVID-19 treatment, but said he was “well,” following bombshell news that the Republican had contracted the virus, knocking him off the campaign trail a month from the US election.

After having not been seen in public since his shock announcement that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, the president walked out of the White House Friday evening, wearing a mask, and flew by helicopter to the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington.

In an 18-second video recorded inside the White House and released on Twitter, Trump broke his silence, saying he was being hospitalized but “I think I’m doing very well.”

“We’re going to make sure that things work out,” he said, adding that the first lady was also “doing very well.”

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that medical experts recommended Trump “be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days.”

The hospitalization indicated an intense effort to make sure the president’s reportedly “mild” symptoms do not deteriorate.

The development also highlighted the uncharted waters for the US election on November 3, with Trump—who is well behind his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls­—having to freeze much of his campaign.

At first, aides gave rosy assessments, with Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows saying the president, 74, had only mild symptoms, was in “good spirits” and feeling “very energetic.”

Later Friday, a letter issued by White House physician Sean Conley indicated something more serious.

Conley said Trump received a single dose of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail, a treatment undergoing clinical trials but not yet approved by regulators.

“He’s being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we’ll be making recommendations to the President and First Lady in regards to next best steps,” Conley wrote.

Trump’s illness upended the White House race, with Biden suddenly finding himself alone on the campaign trail— and able to argue that his distinctly more cautious approach to COVID-19 had been vindicated. AFP

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (right) watches as US President Donald Trump walks off Marine One while arriving at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on Oct. 2, 2020. Trump will spend the coming days in the military hospital just outside Washington to undergo treatment for the coronavirus, but will continue to work, the White House said Friday. AFP

Johnson ‘optimistic’ over Brexit deal ahead of talks with EU chief UK PRIME Minister Boris Johnson said he was “pretty optimistic” a Brexit deal could be reached as he prepared for talks on Saturday with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen to determine the next steps in the fraught negotiations.

Johnson told The Daily Telegraph that the prospects of a year-end deal to avoid an abrupt Brexit separation “are

CORNERED. Honduran migrants who were heading to the US sit in a Guatemalan army truck after they voluntarily agreed to return to Honduras.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Thursday ordered the detention of thousands of Hondurans who entered the country as part of a US-bound migrant caravan.

AFP

very good if everybody just exercises some common sense and looks at the deal that is there to be done.”

The comments came ahead of a videoconference with von der Leyen to take stock of progress made in the latest round of talks.

British and EU negotiators said Friday trade discussions remained deadlocked on key areas, with London urging Brus-

sels to give ground to avoid a damaging “no-deal” at the end of the year.

Both sides have pinpointed a European summit on October 15 as the latest an agreement could be reached for it to be ratified in time for it take effect at the end of December.

But von der Leyen has already warned against a deal “at any price.”

“This is so difficult, but overall where

there is a will there is a way. I think we should intensify the negotiations,” she told reporters after meeting leaders of the 27-member bloc.

After the ninth round of talks in the tortuous process broke up in Brussels, with renewed commitments to find a way out of the impasse, there was clear acknowledgement the clock was ticking. AFP

India virus deaths pass 100,000 DEATHS from the novel coronavirus in India passed 100,000 on Saturday, official data showed as the pandemic continued to rage across the world’s second most populous country.

A total of 100,842 people have now died, health ministry figures showed, giving India the thirdhighest death toll in the world behind the United States and Brazil.

In terms of infections, India has recorded 6.47 million cases and is on course to overtake the US as the country with the most infections in the coming weeks.

India’s population of 1.3 billion is, however, around four times larger than that of the United States, which has seen more than twice as many deaths, raising doubts about India’s official numbers.

“We do not know the reliability of death rates in India,” virologist T. Jacob John told AFP. “India does not have a public health surveillance system, documenting real-time all disease events and deaths,” he said.

Even though India is carrying out around one million tests per day, as a percentage of the population, its testing rate is much lower than many other countries.

The United States, for example, has tested more than five times as many people as India proportionately, according to tracking website Worldometer.

That India’s real numbers might be much worse than the official data suggest is borne out by a string of studies measuring antibodies to the virus among the population.

On Tuesday, India’s lead pandemic agency released a survey suggesting that more than 60 million people­—10 times the official figure—could have contracted the virus. AFP

Chinese vlogger dies after being set on fire THE tragic case of a rural livestreamer who died after being set alight by her ex-husband has triggered outrage over domestic violence on Chinese social media.

The 30-year-old woman, named Lamu, died on Wednesday after efforts to save her life failed, according to a statement from police in Jinchuan county, in the remote northwest of Sichuan province.

She had more than 885,000 followers on Douyin­—the Chinese version of TikTok—and regularly posted videos of her daily life foraging in the mountains, cooking and lipsyncing to songs dressed in traditional Tibetan clothing.

The police statement on Thursday confirmed earlier local media reports

that she was doused in petrol and set alight at home by her ex-husband, surnamed Tang, on September 14.

She was transferred to Sichuan Provincial People’s hospital for treatment on September 17.

Lamu suffered burns to 90 percent of her body, her sister told the Chengdu Commercial Daily.

Her ex-husband Tang reportedly attacked her while she was livestreaming and had a history of domestic violence, local media said.

He was detained on suspicion of intentional homicide, police said.

Lamu’s fans had raised one million yuan ($150,000) for her hospital treatment shortly after the attack, local media reported. AFP

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Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@manilastandard.net

Barrio Fiesta finds hope in ‘new normal’

By Othel V. Campos

A

TRULY Filipino brand, Barrio Fiesta expands its market presence amid the pandemic as it explores new ways of getting its products to consumers.

Barrio Fiesta, the condiment label popular to most Filipinos families, continues to carve milestones for parent company Prime Global Corp., by diversifying product portfolio from the top-selling shrimp paste to new sauces, spreads, dry mixes and snacks.

PGC said it found “new hope” in the “new normal” as many Filipino families turned to good old home cooking from the start of the lockdown and even through various stages of quarantine, heightening the demand for Filipino-style seasoning and sauces.

While the virtual world is not new to the company, its increased presence through information technology boosted company sales in the time of crisis. Selling on virtual platform helped keep the business stable, according to PGC. “The Barrio Fiesta retail brand is one of the few remaining Filipino heritage brands whose equity can cut across the broad spectrum of the culinary and food industries. We intend to make the most of the equity. We can’t be a single product company; category expansion whether organic or thru external synergies is a given,” said PGC president and chief operating officer Vincent Ace Villa-Real.

Barrio Fiesta remains the dominant brand with 65-percent market share of the local sautéed shrimp paste category and 95 percent of the international market in 2019.

The manufacturing business of Barrio Fiesta sautéed shrimp paste was acquired by the Ang-Hortaleza Corp. through a subsidiary in 2011. The brand is now under PGC, a manufacturing, marketing and distribution subsidiary.

Before the COVID-19 struck, the company released its own version of everyday condiments and snacks—the Barrio Fiesta Gourmet Series Patis (fish sauce), Barrio Fiesta Tubasuk (spiced sugar canevinegar), Barrio Fiesta Crispy Joy Breading Mix, Barrio Fiesta Peanut Butter Spreads, Barrio Fiesta Chicken and Beef Broth Cubes and Barrio Fiesta Jumbo Roasted Peanuts “We are optimistic because Barrio Fiesta is a very strong retail brand offering products with superior taste, quality and value supported by a vision and a business model that is anchored on strong fundamentals,” Villa-Real said.

Prime Global Corp. executives led by president and COO Vincent Ace Villa-Real (center) are optimistic about expansion.

Businessman wants to reopen Unitrust as infra bank BUSINESSMAN and inventor Francis Yuseco Jr. wants to negotiate with staterun Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. to revive Unitrust Development Bank and transform it into an infrastructure lender that will finance the development of transport sector in Panay Island.

Yuseco, a former president and director of Unitrust which was closed by the Central Bank in 2002 says the bank remains solvent with cash and real estate assets amounting to over P451 million. The 12-branch thrift bank declared a bank holiday nearly two decades ago after it was linked to Japanese financier and movie producer Genta Ogami, who was later convicted in Japan for fraud.

Yuseco, who invented a mass transport technology called Philtrak, which is similar to the bus rapid transit used in Latin American countries, proposes to develop a transport system in Panay Island with funding from European investors.

The bank had 8,179 depositors and creditors at the time it was closed on Jan. 4, 2002. Since then, Unitrust has been under the liquidation of PDIC. The PDIC said at that time, “Unitrust has sufficient funds to pay all claims.” The deposit insurer said Unitrust had P381.4 million in total estimated realizable value of assets as of end-2012 and that it had paid P110.15 million in deposit insurance claims to 6,592 depositors as of July 31,2013.

Total deposits of Unitrust amounted to P235.59 million, of which P116.92 million were uninsured deposits and were subject of depositors’ claims against the assets of Unitrust, alongside other creditors. The maximum deposit insurance coverage at the time of Unitrust’s closure was only P100,000.

Yuseco is hopeful that regulators will allow Unitrust to be reopened, given its solvent status. “Under the law, if the bank remains solvent, you can be reopened. Ex-

Former Unitrust Development Bank president and director Francis Yuseco Jr. amples of these banks were Manila Bank which was acquired by China Bank, Urban Bank which was acquired by Export-Import Bank, Savings Bank of Manila which was bought by UCPB Savings Bank and Royal Savings Bank which was acquired

by GSIS Family Bank,” he says in a virtual interview.

“It does not really matter how long you have been dormant. As long as you are solvent, under the law, following your Constitutional rights, you can be reopened,” says Yuseco.

Yuseco says if PDIC had allowed a bank like PBCom to be reopened with financial assistance of as much as P7.6 billion, Unitrust, which has no debt, should also be allowed to operate again.

“Unlike PBCom, we don’t need any money. We are not asking for any assistance because in our computation, we have P153 million in cash which continues to earn interest. We also have properties

under lease. In our total computation, we have more or less P451 million, including the unclaimed deposits as of Nov. 29, 2013,” says Yuseco.

Yuseco said the assets of Unitrust are a combination of cash and assets. “I would imagine that the cash is intact at Land Bank,” he says.

After more than 18 years of litigation, the Unitrust case remains unresolved, with a local court setting another hearing on Oct. 12, 2020 to determine the remaining assets of the bank.

“We are open to negotiating and talking with PDIC. I hope they are also open. I am still giving a chance that we can still settle this, because all the depositors and creditors have been paid, anyway,” says Yuseco.

“It is a different story if we were left with outstanding debt to settle. The thing is our depositors were paid 100-percent.

So it is a clean bank,” he says.

Yuseco says that under the old Central Bank circular, the thrift bank can be reopened as long as it meets the capital requirement of P325 million, compared to the P1-billion capitalization requirement under the new circular.

“We will still be a thrift bank, but eventually we will upgrade ourselves to a commercial bank. We just want our old licenses to be reinstated because we have a trust license, an FCDU [foreign currency deposit unit] license and 12 Metro Manila branch licenses,” he says.

“If this pushes through, we will rename our bank as Philippine Infrastructure and Transportation Bank because we have projects related to mass transit,” he says. “We hope that we can be reopened. We don’t have an infrastructure bank yet in the Philippines.”

“We have a project in Panay. We plan to convert the Panay railway into Panay track way. We have cash to fund the project. We have a group of investors that have signified their intention to join us,” he says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

The company found new growth opportunities for the packaged food category as people continue to stay at home, afraid to risk going out lest they might get in contact with the COVID-19 virus.

PGC noticed that many households opted for home-cooked meals, seeing the rise of ‘home chefs. It anticipated that the ‘new normal’ would continue to bring about more interest, creativity and enthusiasm for “lutong-bahay” recipes.

Through social media pages, Barrio Fiesta provides Filipino cooks lutong-bahay recipes and tips, noting the many are shifting their budgets to home-cooked meals while small entrepreneurs have gone into the online food business in place of lost livelihood.

While on-ground activities have been cancelled, current digital content efforts have been geared towards engaging online audience with useful recipes and tips using Barrio Fiesta product, The company recently opened its Facebook page to online bulk orders for those who would be interested to resell Barrio Fiesta products within their community.

PGC also shifted to digital marketing, seeing greater spending on online promotional ventures as the pandemic continues.

It maintains its presence in physical stores—its primary trade channel—to cater to Filipinos who still opt to shop outside. Barrio Fiesta products are still sold in supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, drug stores and sari-sari-stores.

Because of the pandemic, PGC acknowledged, more than ever, the important role of e-commerce to many businesses especially food-related enterprises.

“We understand that there is still a great need for general and modern trade or supermarkets and groceries and it is very much essential for us as well as it still caters to Filipinos who opt to shop in brick-and-mortar stores. For us, it won’t be one or the other, as this multi-channel availability will allow us to reach our customers in the most convenient way possible,” the company said.

PGC counts on the Filipinos’ familiarity with its heritage products to remain as the go-to brand for staple condiments even amid the rise of artisanal, home-made brands, given the scope of its production and distribution reach.

For specialty condiments, Barrio Fiesta is the only brand able to produce and distribute products at scale commercially, across local and international markets, while maintaining high-quality and authentic taste, made possible with a strong business model.

“Our goal this year is to further dominate the category in both domestic and international markets. And in the next three years, we aspire to be among the top local companies in the sauces, dressings, condiments and package foods categories,” Villa-Real said.

Indian firm offers to equip Filipinos with latest IT skills INDIAN firm Pratian Technologies, in partnership with local consultancy company Rabah Consulting, reaches out to 10,000 Filipinos who are willing to scale-up their skills set on information technology through the Skill Assure program.

Pratian Technologies is a top tech company based in Bangalore, India that offers skills upgrading assistance to individuals, arming them with rapid and high-level information technology certificate courses. There are about 150 IT courses to choose from the program.

“It’s a great opportunity for Filipinos to come together, use technology and build their own applications, not just solve the rest of the problems, create hyper local solutions, create solutions that they can see and feel they can give their population,” said Subramanian Sivakumar, chairman and CEO of Pratian Technologies.

“And in the process of doing this, they can also become fascinating tech entrepreneurs, and we would like to do them a great opportunity to work with the rest of the people in the world. So one of our goals is to have people from different cultures, different geographies and time zones to come together and collaborate to innovate,” said Sivakumar.

SkillAssure is a business unit of Pratian technologies and it is into IT Skilling & Assessment. It is a complete end-toend digital ecosystem for future skills, innovation and entrepreneurship with 100 percent job placement in the technology industry.

The project aims to combat the employment challenges due to the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis in the Philippines.

The program will have an instructorled session via live webinar, live interac-

Pratian Technologies CEO Subramanian Sivakumar tion with industry professionals, collaboration sessions, the experience of the Software Development Life Cycle and about 20 different technologies and 8 different tools. During the session, students will discover their area of interest in the technology landscape.

SkillAssure started in the tech hub of Bangalore, where most of the most successful and innovative startups thrive. Over more than a decade, its rapid IT skills development programs have been validated

by Forbes 500 companies in over 50 countries all over the world.

In the Philippines, Pratian and Rabah will introduce SkillAssure DiscoveriProgram, a five-day free intensive training and assessment on Industry 4.0 technologies and frameworks.

Industry 4.0 refers to a new phase in the ‘Industrial Revolution’ that focuses profoundly on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and realtime data. Othel V. Campos

HR expert shares tips on how to be employable amid crisis BUSINESSES need to adapt to cope with the changes brought about by pandemic, with different iterations of the community quarantine in place.

There have been many repercussions on policies aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus. In the Philippines, companies are either downsizing or shutting down, and OFWs are currently being repatriated.

“There is an oversupply of labor,” says human resources industry thought leader and Q2 HR Solutions founder Trixie Whyte. As her company reached its 20th year of being the country’s leading fully integrated HR solutions provider in September, she paints a picture of the labor market.

“There is a repurposing and redeployment of workers in certain industries hit by the pandemic such as entertainment, hospitality, airlines, cruise-ships, among others.

It is more challenging now than before.

This is due either to a logistical problem

and limited access to transportation or a skills mismatch. There are just competencies that are very specific to an industry and are difficult to move across another sector,” she says.

This is compounded by industries that are facing an uncertain future, therefore being cautious and putting recruitment activities on hold. These include industries like business process outsourcing, a consistent revenue source for the past several years.

“Companies have been forced to shut down and unemployment soared to 17.7 percent in April, with at least 7.3 million Filipinos currently jobless.”

In this environment, businesses have had to recalibrate. Those who are still hiring have pivoted to accommodate what is now called the “new normal”. According to Whyte, additional recruitment and employment criteria now include things like Internet access and good Wi-Fi coverage

Seated from left: Q2 HR Solutions chairman and founder Trixie Whyte, managing director Sarah MacLeod, HR director Med Gelacio and (standing from left) chief people officer Luis Robedillo and chief finance officer Ean Kabigting

at home; conducive home-work environment; noise cancelling gadgets and apps;

and strong self-management and self-motivation, requiring that the candidate is able to

work with minimal supervision.

“I have also seen a movement towards localized recruitment drives such as hiring candidates who live near the company location for businesses that require their workforce to come into the workplace, especially for the manufacturing sector,” she says.

The pandemic has given rise to technology tools and portals to help job seekers look for employment opportunities, she adds. “Virtual platforms are now the norm in recruitment. This means candidates would need to differentiate themselves to stand out from the crowd. People are upskilling to broaden their job opportunities through online courses, and there has been a surge of freelance workers in various disciplines. Digitizing CVs is a trend that will continue to rise, and I predict that video CV will be the new norm and will be a differentiator.”

Youth & Culture B1

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2020

Bernadet­te Lunas, Editor

manilastandardlife@gmail.com

@manilastandardlife

@MStandardLIFE

Building communities online T

HE pandemic may have limited face-to-face interactions, but meeting new friends and catching up with old ones are still alive, even if they’re mostly done online.

Many did not let the current situation stop them from bringing people together— safely, of course. These stories of communities built on a messaging app during the quarantine show that it’s possible to find connection even if we’re in isolation.

Baking and good vibes When KG Sison, a marketing consultant, saw an unanswered query about baking suppliers in one of the Viber Communities she’s part of, she decided to create her own.

Homebaking Community, though initially dedicated to baking supplies, evolved into a thriving support group that shared baking tips, hacks, and more.

“We encouraged members to post their creations and freely ask bakingrelated questions. We wanted to be a legit community—a place where people talked and made friends instead of being transactional in nature,” she shared.

Sison said managing a community made her less lonely during the quarantine.

'Superadmin' Diane Jimeno, an IT manager, created a community on a messaging app to help her neighbors get updates on COVID-19.

Marketing consultant KG Sison made a virtual space where bakers and suppliers can come together to interact and make new friends.

“Even our members have reported that the group has made them less lonely and anxious during the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine). It served as a form of social support for us and our members,” she said, sharing how webinars have been produced and future field trips planned.

“We made friends. I think this was the greatest surprise and blessing that I gained from these Viber Communities.”

Since then, Sison has indeed lived

I noticed that the general public uses Viber, and that means more reach. But more importantly, I find that there are less trolls on Viber because you need to have a phone number attached to an account,” she pointed out.

Terry Ilagan, an editor, made a community where members can purchase and sell a wide range of goods.

K-BUZZ Park Seo-joon is the new face of BYS Philippines Korean heartthrob Park Seo-joon, with his new role as the endorser of a cosmetics label, encourages his fans in the Philippines to bring out their best selves.

“Extraordinary starts with you and I’m here to cheer you on,” he said.

BYS marks its eighth year in the Philippines by announcing Park Seo-joon as its newest endorser.

“Since the Hallyu wave is at its peak, we’ve chosen one of the biggest K-drama stars to be the cheerleader of the brand and encourage women to ‘Be the Extra in the Ordinary’,” said Angie Goyena, general manager of iFace, Inc., Park Seo-joon the exclusive distributor of the Australian cosmetics brand here in the country.

According to BYS Philippines, “some exciting things” will be launched in the next few months.

The brand is available at Watsons, The SM Store, and online on Amorfia and Lazada.

BLACKPINK releases exclusive The Album videos on Spotify Heads up, BLINKs! In celebration of the debut of Blackpink’s first full-length album, the Korean girl group presents never-before-seen exclusive videos added to BLACKPINK presents The Album (Enhanced) on Spotify.

The Spotify exclusive videos—contrasting between each member’s sophisticated, edgy “Black” side with their sweet, poppy “Pink” side—embodies the very definition of duality that is BLACKPINK. Lisa Also part of the exclusive content is Storylines which features personal written commentary where the group shares their inspiration and story behind each song.

“With the underlying country-like guitar sound, the sophisticated melody accompanied with the retro sounds helps heighten BLACKPINK’s powerful vocals,” the group said about “Lovesick Girls,” whose lyrics, they said, were co-written by Ji-soo and Jennie.

“The lyrics delves into the question about why people continuously search for love, despite getting hurt from love,” they added.

Bespoke eight-second video loops, called Canvases, are also available on every track.

Spotify has also released a slate of exclusive GIFs and unveiled a custom emoji designed just for BLACKPINK. To access the custom emoji, tweet using any of these hashtags #SpotifyxBLACKPINK #SpotifyKPOP #BLACKPINKonSpotify #BLACKPINKDuality #BLACKPINKpreJisoo sentsTheAlbumEnhanced.

up to being a “superadmin,” establishing other groups like Homecooking Community, Urban Gardening, and MNL Sourdough Fam Community, all of which have the same community vibe—“less selling, more interaction.”

It wasn’t until recently that she decided to create the Homebakers Marketplace, providing Community members a venue to sell their baked goods during the quarantine.

“I use a variety of chat platforms, but

For the love of fitness With gyms closed during ECQ, fitness enthusiasts were forced to modify their workouts and do their routines at home. Those who didn’t have what they

Celine Payawal's Metro Manila-based community on Viber provides members access to various fitness equipment.

needed, the Gym & Fitness Marketplace MM Viber Community, created

by Celina Payawal, became a lifesaver.

This haven offers jump ropes, yoga mats, spinning bikes, and squat racks, among others.

Prior to creating the Viber Community, Payawal, an entrepreneur, noticed there was no one dedicated to the fitness market. The group she made, which was only supposed to cater to those living in Metro Manila, grew to include members from Tarlac, Ilocos, and Cebu.

Apart from connecting buyers to sellers and helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sustain their businesses, Payawal, as the superadmin, sees the Community as a place where everyone can encourage each other to stay fit and healthy while the world battles a deadly virus.

A major point for Payawal is how Viber allows Community members to chat with each other without having to share their number. “It’s a safe place for all online sellers and buyers to be able to transact with each other, since they don’t have to divulge their personal numbers, providing them convenience and security,” she shared.

Read the rest of the article on www.manilastandard.net.

How to use Twitter as a learning tool MORE students are going back to school next week. To help enhance and supplement blended learning, social networking site Twitter offers ways educators and students can do to use it as an educational tool.

Use Topics to see education-related Tweets on your timeline People on Twitter talk about anything under the sun, including education-related topics such as Language, Architecture, Chemistry, and more. #ScienceChatPH, for instance, is a great go-to hashtag for educational and active discourse about anything related to science.

To get educationrelated Tweets on the timeline, use the Topics feature that allows users to see the Tweets without following an account.

Follow and organize learning accounts Teachers and parents can keep track of the school calendar and other information by following sources like the Department of Education (@DepEd_PH) that regularly post updates.

The social media service also lets users enable the notification to get alerts whenever there’s a new Tweet or use the List feature to streamline Tweets based on their interests. Think of it as a Tweet organizer: create one for school-related accounts, one for hobbies, one for fandom needs, and more.

Tweet to draw tips and insights from communities Some Filipino students are using #studytwtph to connect to an online community of fellow students, and motivate one another. Parents can also get tips on how they can help their children, while teachers can use Twitter to get insights on where to get helpful educational resources online.

To make the conversation more relevant, users can now choose who is allowed to reply to a Tweet, a great feature if the class wishes to exchange ideas on the site.

Learn from interactive content Studying a new concept may take time, so having a visual aid such as videos can help in learning.

For instance, EduCreator Peter Esperanza’s (@pedroj0se) #MathInAMinute videos features quick yet fun lessons on how to solve different math problems. Students who love history will also enjoy daily facts and trivia from The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (@NHCPOfficial).

Screenshots courtesy of Twitter.

HEY, YOUTH! SHARE your unpublished essays with the readers of Manila Send your essay (maximum of 800 words) with Standard. Chosen essays will be published in the Young photo/s, if available, to manilastandardlife@gmail.com Life corner that comes out every Sunday. with the subject: “Young Life - (title of your essay)” This space is open for young writers, aged 13-29 years old. along with a brief description of yourself.

B2

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2020

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor E-mail: jdlacsamana@gmail.com

Home/Design

INNOVATIVE SPACES AT AJOYA. As Filipinos prepare for a post-pandemic scenario, AboitizLand communities beckon, given that they are located outside the National Capital Region, where there are wide open spaces, and healthier environments. AboitizLand’s latest residential project, Ajoya, is in the new-wave growth region of Central Luzon. Site development at the 17-hectare Ajoya Pampanga in Brgy. Eden, Mexico, Pampanga is targeted for completion by the first half of 2021. The development in Ajoya Capas is already 99% constructed and will be completed this third quarter of 2020.

The 13-hectare development straddles Brgys. Talaga and Estrada in Capas, Tarlac. At the largest Ajoya community in Brgy. Valle Cruz, Cabanatuan City, site development is nearly 75% completed, and remaining construction will finish by the first quarter of 2021. For more information about AboitizLand, visitwww.aboitizland.com.

Century Properties eyes 2,000 condos in 2021

C

ENTURY Properties Group (CPG) recently announced that it is targeting to complete over 2000 condominium units by the second quarter of next year in Quezon City and Pampanga.

Around 500 units will be added at The Residences at Commonwealth in Quezon City by the end of 2020, CPG revealed. These units are in Quirino East and West Towers, the 6th and 7th buildings respectively, in the eight-tower residential community (Shown here is the lobby of Quirino East.

The first five towers (Osmeña West, Roxas East, Quezon North, Osmeña East, Roxas West) are already complete, while the clubhouse has been fully operational since April 2019.

More than 1,600 more units will be added in batches from February 2021 to April 2021 in Bali and Monaco towers at the Residences at Azure North in San Fernando, Pampanga. Certain amenities, such as the clubhouse and wave

pool, are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2021 Strict safety protocols at site Company president Marco R. Antonio told the Manila Standard that while the current construction pace and number of workers are less than pre-quarantine levels, “we are increasing this progressively as we observe strict safety protocols in our project sites.”

At the mixed-use development Century Spire at Century City in

UPSCALE LIVING AT BGC. Property player Megaworld recently launched its third tower for Park McKinley West, one of the residential condominium clusters in the 34.5-hectare McKinley West development in Fort Bonifacio. Standing 25-storeys high, the third tower of offers unit layouts ranging from one-bedroom (up to 70.5 square meters); two-bedroom (up to 110 square meters); three-bedroom (up to 212 square meters); four-bedroom (up to 229 square meters); and five-bedroom (up to 336 square meters).The company is expecting to generate around P8-billion in sales from this new tower alone. The project is expected for completion in 2024.“The residential market in McKinley West is growing bigger,” acknowledged Noli D. Hernandez, executive vice president for sales and marketing, Megaworld.“Today, prices of residential units in Park McKinley West rose to almost P265,000 per square meter compared to P218,000 per square meter when we first launched it a year ago.”

Makati (Shown in photo), construction has reached top off levels and façade glass installation has reached the 29th floor.

The office and condominium tower, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, is being installed with 33,594 square meters of unitized and semi-unitized curtain wall system with insulated glass units, and a storefront curtain wall system with glass canopies at the ground floor.

BOOKS FOR ATIMONAN SCHOOLCHILDREN. Educational publisher Rex Bookstore recently donated over 4,000 books worth more than P2 million to public schools in Atimonan, Quezon to address the shortage of learning materials in the coastal municipality. Over 20 schools received the distance learning tools, part of A1E’s community program for education amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Other activities in the holistic learning endeavor are technical and vocational scholarships, improvement of educational facilities, and provision of school supplies.A1E is the developer of the country’s first ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant in the country. The 2×600-MW plant will be built in Atimonan, and is targeted to be the Philippine’s most efficient baseload power plant when it starts operations. Accepting the books were Carmelo Eusebio Altamira (left) ; Jessie Quesea (center), DepEd Atimonan district 1 and 2 supervisors; Ricardo Saniel (right)), head teacher of Villa Ibaba elementary school.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing investors to hedge their bets. The more agile companies have taken steps to adapt to the new normal, but the objective has been the same: outlast the pandemic. Novel Residential Concepts Inc., a new property developer, is one of the investment lights shining brightly nowadays. One of its new projects, the 1268-roomRidgewood premier hotel, along C5 Road, near Bonifacio Global City, is attracting attention. Scheduled for operations by 2022, the Ridgewood will occupy the 15th to 19th floors of the Ridgewood Towers premier project of property developer C-5 Mansions Development Corp. A Ridgewood Premier Hotel investment takes the form of any of the three units available: standard, deluxe, and two-bedroom suites. Investors may check the prospectus of the Ridgewood by calling 8882-7995 or (0917) 808-4905.

Entertainment

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2020

B3

Nickie Wang, Editor; E-mail: nickie.standard@ gmail.com

DANIEL PADILLA PADILLA’s

‘Apollo’

landing on Oct. 11 Zara Larsson recruits Sabrina Carpenter for the remix of her Marshmelloproduced single ‘Wow.’

Zara Larsson

A

CTOR and singer Daniel Padilla is taking his fans to a gig that highlights his exciting evolution as a concert performer throughout the years via Apollo: A Daniel Padilla Digital Experience.

unleashes “WOW” remix featuring Sabrina Carpenter

Produced by ABS-CBN’s Star Events and Daniel’s own production house, Johnny Moonlight, Apollo is exclusively happening on KTX.ph on Sunday, Oct. 11.

The upcoming concert is Daniel’s first-ever digital show featuring his musical journey from the time he headlined his first solo concert Daniel: Live! in 2013 to his last major gig D4 held in 2018, to be narrated through some of his music, favorite classics, and today’s hottest hits.

Joining the “Mabagal” singer as a special guest is Jose Carlito led by band frontman and Daniel’s brother JC Padilla.

Apollo: A Daniel Padilla Digital Experience is the first of many exclusive virtual gigs Star Events is coming up to give Kapamilya fans extraordinary musical experiences online with their favorite performers in place of live events.

The concert is part of ABS-CBN’s latest digital entertainment experience offerings for Kapamilyas after the successful launch of Kapamilya Online Live. It also follows the feat of previous KTX.ph virtual events such as Hello Stranger: The Finale Fancon, Jed Madela’s New Normal, JaMill’s Tayo Hanggang Dulo, and K Brosas’s 20k20.

Tickets to Apollo: A Daniel Padilla Digital Experience is available via ktx.ph. Tickets are sold for P499 to experience this one-of-a-kind pre-holiday show.

Daniel Padilla is returning to the concert scene with an online show called ’Apollo: A Daniel Padilla Digital Experience.’

A shooting guard like ‘Super Mark’

By Paolo Manuel Fule

HOTTIE BALLER. Towering moreno heartthrob Ken Mark Miranda was born in Rizal and now plays for Bacoor Strikers.

KEN Mark Miranda, a cager from Bacoor Strikers in the MPBL, has gone a long way. From being a skinny young varsity player at Arellano University High School to UPHSD Las Pinas and played for Adamson University in his college days en route to his MPBL today, the story of this young guy’s determination to succeed is unwavering.

Strikers’ so-called ‘Super Mark,’ the shooting guard Ken Mark had played for several tournaments during his high school and college before he started making a name on the professional hardcourt. His stints including FilOil Flying V, Metro Manila Basketball League (MMBL), Las Pinas Private Schools Athletic Association (LAPRISSA) where he was awarded as the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), the Pilipinas Chinese Amateur Basketball League (PCABL), and at the PSSBC where he registered double digits in scoring and rebounds.

Born on April 1, 1996, in Cardona, Rizal, to Raffy Miranda and Marivic C. Miranda, the cager is on his way to pursue his dream in the world of hoops sports.

No “kryptonite” hindered Super Mark from draining shots in his basketball games. In his MMBL game against Ateneo de Manila University, he scored 40 points and 8 rebounds with 6 assists. In their FilOil tournament against the Mapua Institute of Technology, he scored 16 points, 9 boards, and 2 steals. In those games, Ken Mark averaged

29.25 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.

This guy’s stats speaks volumes of his talent as a future playmaker and star player in the big basketball leagues.

“I’d like to thank God and my family for this achievement. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am at right now. I also would like to extend my gratitude to the people who support me and my teammates,” said the beaming cager who hails from Pangasinan province.

In the PBA, he looks up to the reigning Governor’s Cup and All-Filipino Cup champion team San Mig Coffee Mixers, and one of its star players, Peter Jun “The Scoring Apostle” Simon.

“Sobrang galing niya, magaling yung skills at matalino siya maglaro” said Ken Mark.

In the NBA, he likes the 4-time Regular Season MVP and now Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Lebron James and the young squad of Golden State Warriors.

“I like Lebron James as a player because he doesn’t only work for his points but also for his team. He assists, he blocks, he scores, and he steals. He is an all-around player,” the promising cager added.

Ken Mark’s ambition in life is to make it big in basketball leagues like the PBA so he can help his family.

In the meantime, while working hard to achieve his goal he’s trying to be a true hero inside and outside of the basketball court. He endeavors to be a good role model for young people to emulate.

EMERGING from lockdown in 2020 with a fierce, focused, and feminine fire, Swedish singer and songwriter Zara Larsson arrives with a bold and boundary-breaking body of work for her second international album with the release of a remix of her buzzing hit single “WOW” featuring American singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter.

Last month, “WOW” exploded on the heels of a sync during a romantic dance sequence between the two main characters in the Netflix Original hit film Work It. In the aftermath, the track vaulted up the charts of both Top 40 and Dance Radio and amassed over 60 million streams and counting.

Adding to this excitement, Zara linked up with her friend and fellow pop femme fatale Sabrina Carpenter to re-up “Wow.” After starring in Work It, Sabrina brings yet another dimension to this anthem.

She and Zara lock into a slick, seductive, and scorching back-andforth as the track stretches from piano-laden verses towards a swaggering hook carried by a boisterous horn section and glitchy beats, produced by none other than Marshmello.

Zara Larsson provokes and pushes pop music and culture forward with empowered, enlightened, and energized anthems that soar and seduce all at once. With every move, she continues to quietly make history and break records. Her RIAA gold-certified 2017 full-length, So Good has amassed nearly four billion streams.

Her growing catalog, on the other hand, boasts one smash after another, including the triple-platinum “Never Forget You” with MNEK, the platinum “Lush Life” and “Ain’t My Fault,” and, most recently, 2019’s gold “Ruin My Life.”

Out of dozens of nominations, she has received various awards and honors at the Swedish Grammi Awards, Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, MTV EMAs, and more.

Gracing the stage of the 2017 Nobel Prize Peace Concert, she performed the platinum “Symphony” with collaborators Clean Bandit.

UNICEF launches Basket of Hope 2020 fundraising campaign UNICEF Philippines launches Basket of Hope 2020, a fundraising campaign to help prevent COVID-19 from being a lasting crisis for children.

Today, children around the world are even more vulnerable. On top of the risk of COVID-19, they face greater hurdles to receive education, protection, immunization, and the support they need to enjoy full, healthy lives.

In the Philippines, 2.4 million children below five years old are at risk of getting measles due to low immunization coverage and constrained access to health services. One in three children is stunted due to poor nutrition

and care practices. An estimated 28 million children are affected by school closures.

“It is important now more than ever to help these disadvantaged Filipino children. Brighter days are possible when we all pitch in. By donating to the UNICEF Basket of Hope, you are contributing to a child’s right to survive and thrive, especially in the new normal,” UNICEF Philippines Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov says.

With Basket of Hope, UNICEF aims to give the Filipino community a platform to pitch in, share, and pay it forward.

The campaign was first launched in

UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassadors Gary Valenciano, Daphne Oseña-Paez, and Anne Curtis

2019 as UNICEF’s Christmas campaign to help disadvantaged Filipino children in the areas of education, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene, raising over P3 million.

This year, donating to the Basket of Hope will help Filipino children get access to vaccines, education, nutrition, hygiene, and life-saving interventions.

Donations directly fund COVID-19 safety supplies and services that include protection and sanitation supplies given to health facilities, improved access to immunization for children under age 5, and continued education for elementary students through home-based learning materials and making e-learning accessible to elementary students.

The UNICEF Basket of Hope campaign is led by UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassadors Gary Valenciano, Daphne Oseña-Paez, and Anne Curtis with the support of other friends of UNICEF. Fill the future with hope and donate to the UNICEF Basket of Hope today by visiting https://inspiredgifts. unicef.ph/basketofhope

B4

Features SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2020

Doctors' coats turned into COVID-fighting art in Panama ARTIST Genaro Rodriguez was so moved after being commissioned to turn a COVID-19 doctor's white coat into a piece of art that he likened the experience to "painting a superhero's cape."

Rodriguez is one of 22 Panamanian artists asked to transform frontline health workers' lab coats into auctionready artwork to raise money for antivirus equipment in the Central American country.

Using acrylic paints, Rodriquez worked geometric patterns in vivid colors on to the white cotton garment.

"In my work, I use a lot of gray, but here I used the white that was already in the coat instead, because for me it carries a meaning of hope," he told AFP in Panama City.

Each of the two dozen coats in the collection bears its doctor's name tag, which forms part of the final work.

The lab coat Rodriguez painted belongs to Fulvia Vergara, head of the intensive care department at the city's Santo Tomas public hospital.

Examining it at a viewing, Vergara admitted to feeling moved at seeing her coat transformed.

"For a doctor, it is like a cape that identifies and protects at the same Artist Genaro Rodriguez poses with the white coat used by Dr. Fulvia Vergara and decorated by him in Panama City. More than 20 coats time," she said. of doctors fighting against COVID-19 that were disinfected and painted by Panamanian artists will be auctioned off from October 1 to 4.

The funds will go to 20 health centers. AFP In the capital's Cangrejo district, artist Rolo De Sedas studies the coat he was given, now painted in green and De Sedas says working on the gar- it, racing down hospital corridors to at- before has held so much meaning or so featuring a female figure inspired by ment briefly gave him a glimpse of what tend to virus victims. much life," De Sedas said.

"None of the objects I've worked on Panamanian folklore. life was like for the doctor who owned The 24 coats, which will be auctioned

off to the highest bidder, feature landscapes, animals, geometric figures, imaginary viruses, naked women bathing in the sea and the eyes of an anguished child.

There are also garments with surreal images evoking Asian culture or works

by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali.

"What I wanted above all was to pay a tribute to the doctors who have been the heroes of this pandemic," said artist Olga Sinclair.

"Art has the quality to embellish and adorn any circumstance," and these works, she said, will become "a testament to loyalty, solidarity and beauty."

Panama has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in Central America, with more than 111,000 cases and more than 2,300 deaths.

The auction will be held virtually from October 1-4, and the organizers say that the proceeds will be used to purchase equipment for health centers.

"They really need a great deal of help, not only medical supplies for COVID, but also equipment," said Ricardo Gago, president of the Rotary Club of Panama, which is organizing the auction.

The opening price for each work is $1,000, though the organizers believe bidding will go higher, and expect to raise well in excess of $24,000 for the 24 coats.

"Each of these coats is a piece of cloth loaded with humanity," painter and sculptor Eduardo Navarro said.

"The pandemic has made us see life with different eyes." AFP

Nobel prizes in year marked by pandemic

Residents of a Mennonite community leave a church to board their horse-drawn carts in the municipality of Ascencion, Chihuahua state, Mexico. The arrival of electricity and motor vehicles is changing a Mennonite community living in isolation in the north of Mexico, which made some of its members leave. AFP

Mexican Mennonites

learned of pandemic through

rare online foray

WHEN an isolated Mennonite community in the deserts of northern Mexico timidly opened up to the outside world through the internet, it discovered that a pandemic was sweeping the planet.

The residents of El Sabinal in Chihuahua state have traditionally shunned electricity, television, cellphones, cars and even rubber tires for their horsedrawn carriages.

But modernity is knocking at the door of the far-flung, dusty village and some of the younger members of the community have been seduced by the internet.

It was during one of their infrequent forays into cyberspace that they learned of the pandemic shaking Mexico and the rest of the world.

While self-isolation was their way of life even before the outbreak, the Mennonites believe the virus may have eventually reached their village.

"About 10 people from different families fell ill, though not very seriously," a shopkeeper in the community who asked not to be named told AFP. "They thought it was the flu but when they went to the pharmacy they were told it was COVID-19."

The sick villagers did not visit the doctor or have tests, but self-isolated on the advice of the pharmacist, who is also a member of the community.

The Mennonites have few dealings

with outsiders but they do visit neighboring communities to sell their produce, which is how some think they could have been exposed to the virus.

Mexico's Mennonites are the descendants of strictly conservative Protestants whose denominations emerged out of the 16th century Reformation in Europe.

Their ancestors fled persecution in Germany and the Netherlands for Russia, then Canada and finally Mexico in the 1920s.

Their native language is Low German. In a sign of their limited contact with the rest of Mexico, they often speak little Spanish.

Today, Chihuahua is no longer lonely enough for some Mennonites.

About 100 families – almost half of those in the village – abandoned El Sabinal after the government installed the first power lines in the area, heading to the southeastern state of Campeche.

Younger community members like Juan Jhonson had neither the funds nor the desire to go with them.

"I'm not leaving, I don't have money to go and buy land in Campeche," he told AFP. "I don't want to go either," he added.

Jhonson, 21 and recently married, does not share the belief among more conservative Mennonites that they should only use horse-drawn carts with wooden wheels. AFP

PRESS freedom groups and climate activist Greta Thunberg are making Nobel Peace Prize buzz ahead of next week's award announcements, in a pandemic year that has highlighted the importance of science and research.

The Nobel prizes for literature and peace, to be announced on October 8 and 9 respectively, tend to garner the most public interest, given occasionally to well-known people or organizations.

But the prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and economics are usually awarded to research teams toiling for decades far from the limelight, perhaps stars in their fields but rarely known to the public.

This year, the new coronavirus has brought science centre-stage.

"The pandemic is a big crisis for mankind, but it illustrates how important science is," Nobel Foundation head Lars Heikensten said.

No prizes are expected to be awarded this year for work directly linked to the virus, as Nobel prizewinning research usually takes many years to be verified.

The virus could, however,influence the various committees that select the laureates.

"The pandemic has changed us as thinking beings for the foreseeable future," Bjorn Wiman, culture editor at Sweden's biggest daily Dagens Nyheter, told AFP. For the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Literature Prize, "it's clear the pandemic will have some kind of effect on the reflections of the (Academy's) Nobel committee members. They're just people too," "Other things perhaps seem more important now than six months ago," Wiman said.

Nobel Peace Prize experts meanwhile noted the lack of a clear frontrunner this year.

"There aren't any real major strides forward for peace or peace agreements," Dan Smith, head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told AFP. Nobel historian Asle Sveen said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was his favorite for the prize, a choice echoed by the head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), Henrik Urdal, who also mentioned the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"During conflicts, it's extremely important that journalists contribute to provide information about what's happening, both in order to hold the conflict parties accountable for their actions as well as providing information

to the outside world," Urdal told AFP. Smith and Sveen also both mentioned Greta Thunberg – who has repeatedly urged world leaders to "listen to the science" on climate change – as a possible winner, most likely together with other activists.

"I think the committee may go outside of a narrow peace definition," Smith said.

Other experts have meanwhile suggested the World Health Organization could take home the prize.

Last year, it went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for ending a 20year postwar stalemate with Eritrea.

A flurry of names have meanwhile been mentioned for the literature prize, awarded by the Swedish Academy that has been mired in controversy for several years.

Its 2016 Nobel pick of US rock legend Bob Dylan was a contentious choice, followed the next year by the emergence of a rape scandal close to its members that tore the Academy apart, forcing it to postpone the prize for 2018 – a first in 70 years.

The Academy was revamped, and just when everyone thought it would steer clear of controversy, it gave the 2019 prize to Austrian novelist Peter Handke, known for his pro-Serb support in the Balkan wars.

"If the Academy knows what's good for them, they'll choose Jamaica Kincaid," Wiman told AFP. The Caribbean-American author is known for exploring colonialism, racism and gender.

"Kincaid and her stance on various moral and political issues are absolutely worth listening to today," he said.

However, the Academy could also "dust off some old candidates" such as Peter Nadas of Hungary, Albania's Ismael Kadare or Romania's Mircea Cartarescu, he said.

Madelaine Levy, literature critic at daily Svenska Dagbladet, meanwhile said she was hoping for American author Joan Didion.

This year, the traditional prize ceremony in December in Stockholm has been canceled due to the pandemic, replaced with a televised broadcast showing laureates receiving their awards in their home countries.

The Peace Prize ceremony, held separately in Oslo, will however go ahead albeit in a scaled-back version.

The medicine prize kicks off the announcements on Monday, followed by physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday and peace on Friday. The economics prize wraps things up on Monday, October 12. AFP