BusinessMirror January 20, 2019

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

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A BOY rides his bicycle on a deserted street at Hanjin Village. HENRY EMPEÑO

Hard-pressed at Hanjinville FORMER SHIPYARD WORKERS FACE UNCERTAIN TIMES AS KOREAN HANJIN’S PHILIPPINE FACILITY FACES INSOLVENCY

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By Henry Empeño

outskirts of Castillejos town proper. Also, an elementary school at the housing complex so that workers’ children won’t have to study elsewhere. There was a multipurpose hall for social activities, terminals for free-shuttle buses, even an extension office for the barangay. Most of all, the units were affordable. Then-Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was there at the turnover ceremony as chairman of both Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Pag-IBIG Fund, impressed upon the workers that they can avail themselves of the housing units through Pag-IBIG Fund’s housing loan designed specifically for the HHIC-Phil project. Binay added that Hanjin employees will not be required to pay down payment or equity, and that Hanjin has already donated the land for the project site.

ASTILLEJOS, Zambales—When South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) turned over a low-cost housing project to workerbeneficiaries in April 2013, there was much cause for jubilation here, a stark contrast to the heavy pall of gloom that has hung over the area since last year, when the job dismissals began. Just over five years ago, Hanjin Village was virtually a haven to the workers who must toil under very tough conditions at the shipyard. The houses, arranged in neat rows and painted cream, looked decent enough for a low-cost project and

it was here where they began to build dreams while building ships at work. Hanjin Village was envisioned to be a model community. The Korean company built a concrete road to the 33-hectare housing site at the

FORMER Hanjin workers Diogreth Mendigorin, Jun Gardoce and Allan Maloon hang around and contemplate the future. HENRY EMPEÑO

Continued on A2

The future of nukes and the next great war SPEND a great deal of my life thinking about nuclear weapons. You can imagine I’m murder at a cocktail party. As the Cold War faded, and the possibility of a nuclear holocaust with it, people like me were considered yesterday’s news. Now, as the world enters a renewed era of great-power competition, I like to think we were simply prescient. PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.2880

TATYANA MERKUSHEVA | DREAMSTIME.COM

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By Tobin Harshaw | Bloomberg Opinion

If so, there was a whole lot of prescience on display at the Council on Foreign Relations last month at an event aptly titled “Do Nuclear Weapons Matter?” It featured a lively and intelligent debate between Nina Tannenwald of Brown University and Elbridge Colby, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). She took the “no” side and he took the “yes.” While I like to maintain a journalistic objectivity, there may be a clue to my bias in that I decided to interview him. Before Colby signed on at CNAS, he was the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development in the Trump administration. That convo-

luted title came with a convoluted task: leading the policy process for the first US National Defense Strategy (NDS) in a decade. Here is a lightly edited transcript of our discussion: Tobin Harshaw: The Trump administration has made the decision to pull out of the IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia, which banned landbased missiles with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles. Do you think that that was the right move? Elbridge Colby: Yes. But my reason is bit different than what you often hear, which is Russian noncompliance. That’s an issue—but in and of itself, I’m not sure it would justify Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4787 n UK 67.9169 n HK 6.6670 n CHINA 7.7132 n SINGAPORE 38.5975 n AUSTRALIA 37.6264 n EU 59.5717 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9409

Source: BSP (January 18, 2019 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, January 20, 2019

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Hard-pressed at Hanjinville Continued from A1

Meanwhile, then-HHIC-Phil President Jin Kyu Ahn extolled the Hanjin Village project as “part of our mission to promote the welfare of workers by providing them with a dream house within their reach.”

Hyped hopes

IT was exactly what workers dreamt about: a house of their own that their family would call home, from a job that paid well. And this was what brought Allan Maloon, a native of Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao, to the Hanjin Village some 10 years ago. Allan was then earning P428 a day as a repair technician, but with paid overtime hours he gets an average of P600 daily—enough to be emboldened to apply for a housing loan. With a housing unit at Hanjin Village, he was able to bring in his family and life seemed complete. This was also the case for Jun Gardoce of Tarlac, who worked as crane maintenance man; the same circumstances that lured Abel Abelong of Olongapo City, who worked as a pipefitter; Diogreth Mendigorin of Santa Cruz, Zambales, a crane signalman; and Max Atrero, a welder from Candelaria, Zambales. “Balewala ang arawang sahod namin; doon kami kumikita sa overtime [Our daily wages did

not really matter; we earned much of our keep from overtime work],” said Abelong. Abelong said his average daily pay then was P650 with overtime, compared to his basic pay of P426. On the other hand, Mendigorin received P600 daily with overtime, compared to P419 without. Atrero, who used to be paid P380 for daily labor, often made a killing with the P1,500 payment for what he called “overnight/overday” work, which entailed work for two straight days. Because of this, Gardoce said the shipyard workers were complacent that the good life would go on. Moreover, he said, they were made to believe that Hanjin would stay on in Subic for the 50 years that the company leased the shipyard site from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority. “Isinandal namin ang buhay namin sa Hanjin [We built our lives around Hanjin],” Gardoce now reflected. These days, as the company’s financial situation teetered, the workers also face financial collapse, he said.

Dashed dreams

GARDOCE, who also brought his family from Tarlac to Hanjin Village, now works as a tricycle driver to make ends meet. On the day the BusinessMirror visited the village, Gardoce was at the terminal near the village gates on the tricy-

ond batch of workers dismissed in May 2018. “Ginigipit na nila kami noon— hindi nila kami binigyan ng overtime nang isang taon [The Hanjin management were already easing us out then; we were not given overtime work for one year],” Gardoce recalled. He said that this was because the Hanjin management thought that if they could get rid of the pioneer workers, they could easily get the recent hires out. “Maganda sana ang Hanjin kung hindi napasok ng mga kuratong [Hanjin would have been a good employer, were it not ruined by corrupt managers],” he observed.

AN abandoned house with the ominous “Buyback” marking. HENRY EMPEÑO

cle he had bought last year, waiting for customers that seldom arrived during non-rush hours. “Hindi na rin magtatagal ito [This job won’t last long anymore],” he said matter-of-factly. “Wala na ring masyadong tao dito [There are not so many residents left],” he added. Gardoce said that since Hanjin began laying off workers last year, about 30 percent of the residents had left, and a lot are moving out still. He himself was among the sec-

Losing their homes

AS expected, the recent dismissals at the Hanjin shipyard did not only hurt the workers financially; they also threatened to disturb family life as they knew it. In the past few months, Allan Maloon said, a lot of villagers experienced role reversals in terms of earning money for the family. “Maraming mga misis ngayon ang siyang nagtatrabaho, at ang mga mister ang bakante [A lot of women are now working on jobs, while the menfolk are idle],” observed Maloon. His wife, he said, has found work in Dubai, while some others were employed

at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone as factory workers. But with the menfolk out of job, there was not enough money to go around, Gardoce said. The villagers also said that their dismissal from work had led them to defaulting on their installment payments for their housing units. And if they skipped payment for three months, they were threatened with eviction. They added that there were already cases when defaulting families were forcibly thrown out of their homes. After which their houses were marked with “Buyback,” which meant that the units were repossessed by the developer and were now to be resold to buyers. Annaliza Escalon, a native of Agusan del Sur, had another kind of sob story to tell. She said that since her husband resigned from Hanjin, they had offered to continue with their installment payments for their P499,000 housing loan. But these were reportedly refused by Pag-IBIG Fund. “Pinagpasa-pasahan ako ng Pag-IBIG, Fiesta Communities at ng Hanjin. Sabi nila hintayin ko raw na maayos ang usapan sa ganito, pero walang nangyari [I was given the runaround by Pag-IBIG, Fiesta Communities (the developer) and Hanjin. They told me to wait for an agreement among them, but nothing happened],” Escalon said.

Last November, Escalon added, she received a summons to vacate her house within 30 days, but she stood her ground. Escalon said they are willing to vacate their houses, but only if they would be cleared of their loan records at Pag-IBIG. As it happened, she found out that they have been blacklisted by the government funding agency.

Gathering gloom

GARDOCE said the dismissed workers now face a bleak future at the Hanjin Village, considering that they do not have prospects for alternative jobs. “Hindi na rin kami magtatagal dito kung ganito [We won’t last much longer in this condition],” he said. “Oo nga, makakahanap kami ng ibang trabaho siguro, pero paano na ang buhay kung mawala na ang bahay namin [Sure, we might be able to find another job, but how would life be if we lose our homes]?” Gardoce wondered aloud. Maloon, while thinking of bringing back his family to Cagayan de Oro, is hesitant to do so. “Ang sabi namin noon sa pamilya namin, okay na kami dito. Pagkatapos ganito ang mangyayari. Paano kami uuwi [We assured our families back home that we were all okay here, and then this is what happened. So how could we ever go home?]” Maloon said.

The future of nukes and the next great war Continued from A1

a withdrawal. I’m of the view that arms control exists fundamentally to serve our security and defense interests; it’s a tool, not an end of its own. And the reality is, we don’t really need INFclass systems for effective European deterrence and defense. The real causal factor that makes me think it’s the right idea is China. The INF covers both nuclear and conventional systems globally. This limits the US in Asia, where we face the continuing trajectory of the growth of Chinese military power. Some people say this isn’t a problem; we have airand sea-launched intermediate-range systems. That’s true, but the problem is those systems are much more expensive than land-based missiles. And the nature of the geography in the Pacific makes our footprint very concentrated, so it’s very vulnerable to the large Chinese missile inventory, which is much, much larger than the Russian inventory. TH: Let’s talk about the Russian response. Is there a way to renegotiate? EC: If the Russians gave us confidence that they would honor it, we could. I doubt they would go for a ban on nuclear-class intermediate-range weapons, but it could have ceilings, and we’d have transparency measures. It would look more like New Start. TH: Putin has said he would like to keep New Start—which heavily limits intercontinental ballistic missiles— after its current expiration date in 2021. Could we bring reviving the INF into that? EC: We definitely need to look at it. Look, when you really want arms control is with people whom you don’t trust and you think you might go to war with. But we want to end up with an arms control regime that’s actually adapted to the security situation today. And the reality seems to me that the Russians want INF-class systems. But the real defense problem we have with the Russians, their theory of victory, is that they have time and distance advantages with respect to Eastern European Nato members. We need to address that through changes in our posture, through exercises that show we can get there faster. The solution is not for us to deploy INF missiles in Europe. TH: So you think the current USNato tripwire force in the Baltics is insufficient? EC: Yes, we need a better force pos-

ture for Eastern Nato. What we want is a force that compels the Russians, if they invade, to have to invade in a way that shows how aggressive and malign their intentions are. I think it’s totally possible that if you just have a tripwire force, the Russians could just ignore or go around them. This doesn’t necessarily mean we need a lot of forces in the Baltics, but it means a force that can contest the Russians from the get-go. And this is what the National Defense Strategy is really directing the Department of Defense and asking our allies to do. Rather than deploying INF-class systems, I’d put more heavy equipment and munitions in Europe. I’d rather conduct more exercises with the Germans and the Poles and so forth to get ready to respond very rapidly to a Russian effort to take the Baltics. TH: Here’s an easy one: Can you boil down into a few sentences what is the ideal nuclear posture for the new threats we face? EC: The ideal nuclear posture is one designed to credibly deter Russian or Chinese escalation options over vulnerable allies of ours in Eastern Europe or the western Pacific. This involves a combination of conventional and ultimately nuclear forces. And in particular it means combat-credible conventional forces that can blunt or deny a Russian or Chinese fait accompli. And then a set of nuclear forces that offer a set of discriminate options that can contribute to that blunting if it gets to that level, and ultimately have the ability to devastate the other side’s society so they know that’s never a rational option. TH: How would so-called tactical nuclear weapons, which can be dialed back to a yield far smaller than the Hiroshima bomb, fit into that? EC: Low-yield is a must-have. We’ve had low-yield weapons forever. We’ve been grappling with the problem of limited nuclear war since the late 1950s, and we’ve always had those options. The issue today is the increasing sophistication of Russian and Chinese air defense, which makes it harder to be confident you’re going to have the effect that you want. So the low-yield ballistic missile option on the submarine is great because it’s really, really hard to intercept a ballistic missile. And that means I know exactly what the impact is going to be. Whereas if I have to send a couple of tactical aircraft into the teeth of a Russian air

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he Chinese are militarizing features in the South China Sea I think to cast a shadow over the regional states and thereby dissuade them from growing closer to us to balance the Chinese. It seems to have had some success, say with the Philippines. I think the Chinese understand that they still don’t have the military advantage, but if we don’t get our act together the trend is going in that direction.”—Colby defense system, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So I want the Russians to understand that I have credible options that are suited to dealing with their theory of victory. Now we actually don’t need big changes in our nuclear force. It’s pretty marginal. What we would really benefit from is the ability to use nuclear weapons in this very specific, precise way. TH: That said, there’s a lot of debate about what we call the nuclear triad: air, submarine and the intercontinental missiles in silos. Would you emphasize one leg and de-emphasize the others? EC: Submarines are the most survivable, and there are a lot of warheads on them. But I think we benefit from all legs, especially considering the cost. Given that we are building them for the next 50 or 60 years, we should be very humble about the future and putting our eggs in one basket. It complicates the other side’s planning if they have to deal with multiple threats. TH: Let’s get off nukes and switch to China. Are we able to do anything about the militarization of the South China Sea? EC: The South China Sea is a species of a larger challenge, which is basically about the growing threat or challenge of a Chinese bid for regional hegemony. The Chinese are militarizing features in the South China Sea I think to cast a shadow over the regional states and thereby dissuade them from growing closer to us to balance the Chinese. It seems to have had some success, say with the Philippines. I think the Chinese understand that they still don’t have the military advantage, but if we don’t get our act together the trend is going in that direction. What’s critical in Asia is to make sure that the states of the region—and not just our traditional allies—have autonomy and independence and are able to interact with us in an uncoerced way. Our strategic interest is in their

autonomy, which presumably they share. We should be encouraging them to improve their own military options like developing anti-access/area-denial systems. They’re not going to reach the sophistication of the Americans or the Chinese—but if the regional countries can make it hard for the Chinese to project power, that’s pretty nasty and good for all of us. What the Chinese are going for is the ability to establish suzerainty over the region that would allow them to create a regional economic system favorable for them and unfavorable to us. So we want to counter that. Ultimately that’s a military question because international politics is ultimately decided by military power, but obviously economic power is enormous. Economic power turns into military power. TH: We’ve talked mostly greatpower competition. Let’s talk regional problems. How big of a threat is Iran? EC: It is far, far less of a military threat than China in particular or Russia. Iran we can definitely handle militarily. If our basic focus is ensuring that it doesn’t establish hegemony over one of the wealthiest parts of the world, we can always stop Iran from doing that. So my view is that we need to bring our military commitment in the Middle East way down. It’s not about getting out. It’s about how do we work with locals but also use our own forces in a more cost-effective and efficient way. TH: As we pivot to our great-power threats, are you worried that counterterrorism will go the back burner, with the result that al-Qaeda gets stronger, the Taliban gets stronger and ISIS makes a comeback? EC: From a military perspective, terrorism hasn’t really been our main focus. The most effective way to deal with terrorists is not to put 100,000 troops on the ground and exacerbate people’s hostility to the US. Rather, it’s

to have very aggressive and focused intelligence, diplomatic and—as appropriate—military capabilities. You don’t need to use a B-2 to attack a terrorist safe haven. A certain part of the military— Special Forces—is going to stay really focused on that problem while the majority of the military focuses on great power. TH: Your NDS had a lot to swallow. Then there was a review of it by a commission—which included Bloomberg View columnist Hal Brands—and there’s a lot to swallow there. But in a nutshell, what do you think are the biggest takeaways? For the public as well as for the military. EC: I think the main thing is getting back to a real focus on thinking about actually fighting a war against a great power that is a near-peer, that is an opponent that you can’t just dominate. For the American public and for our allies what this is saying is: “The countries that can really fundamentally undermine our way of life, even if they don’t seem so malign, are the great powers and particularly China.” I mean these are the countries they can impose their will on the world. Terrorists and rogue states can do a lot of damage, but if we resist them enough, as we’re more powerful, we will win. With great powers that’s not necessarily the case. TH: So when the report from the commission that reviewed your NDS came out, the press glommed on to the part that said we could potentially lose a war to China or Russia. Did you think that was overstated? EC: Not at all. I think that’s absolutely right. And I thought there was a lot of great stuff in the commission report. Yet what the commission report is basically saying is yes, the NDS is right, there needs to be change, but we can’t afford to make the kind of hard choices it is calling for. It says you should grow the Army, grow the Navy, don’t cut the Marines and then don’t

reduce our forward presence in the Middle East—and give us more money. Realistically, it’s very unlikely that there’s going to be a major increase in defense spending given the Democrats taking over the House. But moreover, even with that extra money, you still wouldn’t be able to do all these things. So we have to make hard choices. TH: It’s taken as a truism among people in our professions that America’s greatest strength is its network of allies. How do we repair the damage done to those alliances by Trump personally? EC: Yes, the network of allies is our greatest advantage, but we need a fundamental change that the president is accurately putting his finger on—which is that we actually can’t do this alone. We can’t afford it in the face of Chinese military power, not to mention the Russians and all the other things going on. We need to get our allies to do a lot more, but in a way that’s sustainable, and not just traditional allies but countries like India and Vietnam. We’ve actually had some pretty good indications. The Germans have recommitted to collective defense. They’re on a slow glide path to increase defense spending, which is encouraging. They could do more. Japan I think is coming out with very good national defense planning guidelines. Again, they need to increase their defense spending. Taiwan, which is crucial, has started to move. TH: So, last question, and it’s semantic. Are we in a new Cold War with China? EC: It’s going to have a lot of features of the Cold War, because it’s going to move toward rivalry. This notion that we need China to solve problems like climate change and nuclear proliferation is completely misplaced. The way the Chinese, for instance, are going to end up putting more pressure on North Korea is if they think that otherwise the world is going to be worse. If they don’t think that, then they won’t. It’s going to be a cost-benefit analysis. The Cold War was different because it was with a completely closed economic system and a political order that was absolutely antithetical from an ideological perspective. There’s gonna be a lot more interaction with China. There needs to be. But I do think we’re going to move toward more disengagement—because the rivalry is going to become more intense.

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The World BusinessMirror

Hottest cryptocurrency rekindles memories of bitcoin bubble

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EMORIES die hard in the cryptocurrency market, where a digital token known as Tron has almost doubled in value over the past month. Like many of the start-ups that surged in value before crashing during the digital-asset market bubble, the company features a young entrepreneur, questions about usage of its main product and a lot of hype. Tronix or TRX, as the token launched in 2017 is officially named, has a market value of about $1.6 billion, making it the ninth-largest virtual coin, as measured by data provider CoinMarketcap.com. At the center of all the excitement is Justin Sun, a 28-year-old who founded Peiwo, a popular Snapchat-like app for China with millions of users. He then started Tron by using much of Ethereum’s computer code and using parts of other start-ups’ white papers to write his own. Sun bought the popular software file-sharing application BitTorrent for $120 million last year. Demand for the coin has surged since the company recently announced plans for a new BTT token, which runs on the Tron and BitTorrent networks. “A lot of people wrote off Tron as all hype/ marketing and no substance, but they made a lot of noise with the BitTorrent acquisition, and now I think it’s an open question of whether they will be one of crypto’s most high-profile ‘fake it til you make it’ success stories,” Ryan Selkis, chief executive officer at researcher Messari Inc., said in an e-mail. “It’s been wild to watch.” The spotlight is getting even more intense. A Tron-sponsored conference in San Francisco that began last Saturday features former NBA star Kobe Bryant as keynote speaker, along with Sun and an executive from Swisscom AG, a $25-billion telecommunications company. Sun’s Twitter account now has 737,000 followers, just a tad short of Ethereum founder

and crypto guru Vitalik Buterin, with 832,000 followers. “We want to become the most famous brand in the world,” Sun said in a phone interview. “The first cryptocurrency they will think of is Tron.” While the smallest units of Bitcoin are called satoshi, after its anonymous creator, Tron’s smallest units are called sun, after its creator. Sun wouldn’t disclose what percentage of the Tron cryptocurrency he owns. Back in 2012, Sun, who has a bachelor’s from Peking University and a master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, heard about Bitcoin and invested a full year of college tuition in the cryptocurrency. As Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed, he cashed out and founded Peiwo. Tron also raised $70 million in an initial coin offering that Sun says sits largely untouched. The goal is to turn BitTorrent’s 100 million monthly users into users of cryptocurrency, Justin Knoll, head of the BitTorrent token project, said in a phone interview. At first BTT could be used to speed up downloads of movies and tip per formers, but eventually for other things, like paying for file storage, he said. BitTorrent is profitable and generating around $25 million in revenue a year, Sun said. The company is focused on increasing the number of distributed apps, such as games, running on its network. While it right now has 107 Dapps to Ethereum’s 1,347, according to tracker DappRadar, that number should increase on Sun recently announced an up to $100 million fund for developers creating Tron gaming apps. Tron is also expanding into serving corporate customers, and has service provider agreements with the likes of Oracle Corp. and Swisscom, so their customers could use its network, Sun said. Bloomberg News

Sunday, January 20, 2019

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China slowdown means it’ll get worse in Asia before improving

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HE latest run of weaker Chinese economic data means “things have to get worse before they get better,” according to economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The potential drag on the rest of the region, especially through the trade channel, will likely materialize soon, the economists led by Hong Kong-based Helen Qiao wrote in a report. Indeed, in small open economies export weakness

has already curbed growth in domestic demand, especially in manufacturing, they wrote. One example of that was on display in data this week that showed Singapore’s exports dropped the most in more than two years in

December as a fading technology boom and US-China tensions hit the trade-reliant economy. “Slower g row t h and lower inf lation are causing most regional central banks to end their monetary-policy normalization process and shift their focus to growth stability,” the economists wrote. “Especially in an environment where the Fed takes its time to launch the next rate hike, we expect regional central banks to become more data-dependent and potentially biased toward easing.” Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo on Thursday said the Fed’s altered outlook was a factor in the

central bank’s decision to keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 6 percent. Qiao’s team expects outright easing coming in China, India and Malaysia, while expecting Indonesia, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to keep policy largely on hold. Qiao expects total social financing growth in China to bottom out in the next two to three months, with activity growth indicators improving three to four months after that. For the rest of the region, negative spillovers are likely to persist, the economists wrote. Bloomberg News

SOUTHEAST ASIA FEELS BURN AS GLOBAL TRADE TENSIONS HEAT UP

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OUTHEAST Asia, seen as a potential winner from the US-China trade war, is starting to see more sour data, with a string of export reports showing that tensions are weighing heavily on the trade-reliant region. Singapore’s exports dropped in December by the most in more than two years, data showed on Thursday. Earlier in the week, Indonesia posted the worst export growth in a year and a half. Figures from the Philippines last week showed exports unexpectedly slumping in November, including the first decline for electronics shipments in two years. Weakness in Southeast Asia’s trade reports

signals that the economies face more nearterm pain, even as analysts point to tradewar benefits for some, amid a re-working of tariff-laden supply chains. Chinese export growth slumped earlier this week under the weight of trade penalties, as well as a more durable downturn in demand. “Regional trade has entered into a downturn, and front-loading of exports seems to have ended for most countries,” with much of Asia’s trade growth slated to remain negative in the first quarter, Singapore-based economists Hak Bin Chua and Lee Ju Ye from Maybank Kim Eng Research Pte. said in a research note. “The

export outlook will very much depend on the outcome of the US-China trade negotiations.” Among the world’s most open economies, Singapore gave data watchers a reason for pause, amid other recent signs of global trade weakness. Factory demand in Asia had already been souring at the end of 2018, yet Singapore’s broad-based decline was an unpleasant surprise to analysts who forecast a 2-percent rise in nonoil domestic export growth, in a Bloomberg survey. The waning of the technology boom was felt in the Philippines, where an electronics export decline took its toll in November and

overall shipments unexpectedly declined on a year-on-year basis for the worst performance since May. Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said that export growth is unlikely to pick up pace in the near term. In Indonesia, exports slipped last month in the worst year-on-year rate since mid2017, defying expectations for a slight rebound from the previous month’s decline. Thailand is due to report December trade data on Monday, after the prior month showed just the second year-on-year decline in export growth since February 2017. Bloomberg News

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Sunday, January 20, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

US govt shutdown seen causing minor hit to broad economy T

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LONDON FEARS WORST, HOPES FOR ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ ON BREXIT

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HE US government shutdown is causing some real pain, but economists are largely brushing off the risk to the expansion. Analysts project the government will reopen by mid-February, though if the closure lasts through March, the disruptions will cause economic growth to dip below 2 percent this quarter, according to the median forecast in a January 15-17 Bloomberg survey. At the same time, just under half say the shutdown increases the probability of a recession this year. The relatively sanguine assessment is at odds with some moredire recent predictions, including by Deutsche Bank AG, and the White House itself doubled the estimated negative fallout. Even so, the shutdown adds risk at a time when the economy is already projected to slow, forecasters see the highest recession risk in six years, manufacturing is faltering and consumers and investors are getting more skittish. “If the shutdown keeps going on throughout the first quarter, it’ll be costly for growth,” said Ryan Sweet, head of monetary policy research at Moody’s Analytics Inc. While it

probably won’t end the expansion given the momentum at the start of the year, “it could leave a more lasting impression, weighing on business confidence, consumer sentiment and investor confidence.” A separate Bloomberg survey earlier this month showed economists raised the probability of a recession in the next 12 months to 25 percent, the highest in more than six years, amid the shutdown and trade war. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York gauge put the chance at 21 percent a year from now, the highest since 2008. In the first quarter, the shutdown will shave 0.25 percentage point from economic growth, according to the median of 30 responses

in the survey. A slight majority of forecasters also said the full-year pace of expansion will be affected. Among those who do expect an impact, 2019 growth will be cut 0.13 percentage point, according to the median estimate.

What our economists say

RISKS to the outlook remain contained, according to Bloomberg Economics, which estimates a 0.3-percentage-point drag on firstquarter GDP if the shutdown pushes into February. “For a significantly larger drag on growth, business and consumer confidence would have to fall to such a degree that companies start curtailing new hiring and capex projects, and consumers significantly reduce their spending on discretionary items,” economist Yelena Shulyatyeva wrote in a report. “This has not yet happened.” With the closure since December 22 now the longest in US history, there’s no sign from President Donald Trump or Congress that an agreement is near. A majority of those

If the shutdown keeps going on throughout the first quarter, it’ll be costly for growth.”—Sweet

polled this week said the closure will end February 1-14, while just above a third estimated it would end this month. One saw a conclusion February 15-28 and another saw the closure extending into March. “Uncertainty is adding to the gloom,” along with concerns about the fading boost from tax cuts and government spending stimulus, geopolitical risks and higher borrowing costs, said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group Llc. “With every week, the shutdown has an incrementally larger impact.” “That’s begun to cast a dark picture among many business leaders, certainly among CFOs, that the economy is in trouble and could end up in a recession,” Baumohl said. He doesn’t forecast a recession this year, and estimates a one-in-three chance of a slump next year. The shutdown also may affect the jobless rate, as hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers could be classified as unemployed. The survey median is for a January unemployment rate of 4 percent, rather than holding steady or edging down from December’s 3.9 percent, amid the strong labor market. The White House on Tuesday doubled its estimate of the cost of the government shutdown on the economy—saying it hadn’t been counting the effects on more than 1 million government contractors. Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett told reporters the administration’s new estimate of the shutdown’s cost to economic output is a reduction of 0.13 percent every week, not 0.1 percent every two weeks as previously estimated. The shutdown and China trade war could be enough to tip the US economy into a contraction this year, Deutsche Bank Chief International Economist Torsten Slok said in a Bloomberg Television interview this week. “If the government shutdown continues, it could cause a recession,” he said. “Uncertainty is intensifying, and the more anecdotes that come out, the more worried you get.” Ronald Paul, chief executive officer of Eagle Bancorp Inc. in suburban Washington, said on a conference call this week that if the shutdown goes beyond January, “it would begin to impact not only federal employees, but also smaller government contractors, and have a ripple effect on local retail businesses.” Bloomberg News

HE city of London had a range of reactions to the UK Parliament’s overwhelming rejection on Tuesday night of Prime Minister Theresa May’s blueprint for quitting the European Union, and her sprint to cobble together a new one by Monday. As money managers, traders, bankers, and lawyers girded for the prospect of leaving the bloc on March 29 with no deal, they commiserated with rattled clients and pushed ahead on contingency plans they had hoped would never be needed. Guy Healey, head of private banking at Brown Shipley & Co., had already reduced his clients’ exposure to British stocks and sterling last fall. On Wednesday, he started getting clients ready for the worst-case scenario. The 209-year-old private bank, which caters to wealthy individuals and families, started informing about 200 clients in mainland Europe that they would have to actually get on a plane and come to the UK to meet with their relationship managers in the event of a no-deal Brexit. That’s because Brown Shipley, which deals primarily with UK-based customers, would lose passporting rights to conduct cross-border business in the EU. Its bankers are also advising clients that they will have to shift their accounts to one of the bank’s joint-venture partners in Luxembourg if there is no transition. Needless to say, this is going to make it tougher for the bank to cultivate new business in Europe. “It’s bad news,” said Healey, exasperated if unsurprised by the turn of events. “We had been holding off on this plan, but now we have two months to go, and it doesn’t look like the EU will compromise—and we are not discounting a no-deal situation.” For big banks such as Barclays Plc. or JPMorgan Chase & Co., the drama in Westminster had little effect other than forcing sterling traders to stay at their desks a bit later than usual. They’ve been preparing to shift operations and capital to Paris, Frankfurt, Dublin and other locales for two years now, deal or no deal. Yet, lawyers in the city suggest Healey and his peers at smaller institutions are right to redouble their own efforts. “Unless and until politicians act collectively to take another path, the default destination is one that a clear majority in the UK Parliament do not want—a no-deal Brexit,” said Charles Brasted, a partner at Hogan Lovells, the global law firm.

Poker game

WHILE May survived a subsequent noconfidence vote on Wednesday night and pledged to work with the Labour opposition to forge a new agreement, it remains to be seen whether she can succeed given that 230 members of Parliament gave her plan a thumbs-down on Tuesday night, the worst legislative defeat by a British government in memory. Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corp., warned that “financial stability must not be jeopardized in a game of high-stakes poker” as lawmakers scramble to salvage a deal. In December, European regulators agreed to permit EU banks to continue using UK clearing houses to process trillions of

dollars worth of derivatives contracts for 12 months, whether there is a deal or not. The move calmed concerns that financial markets would be seriously disrupted, but McGuinness said there are still unresolved questions around insurance contracts, uncleared derivatives, and the flow of data between the UK and the EU. And she’s worried about unforeseen market shocks in a hard Brexit. “It’s great that there is a clear majority against no deal, but we are hurtling toward that by default,” she said. Yet, on the city’s trading floors, a more benign view of the situation was taking shape. Luke Pledger, the senior managing director who oversees sterling at BGC Partners Inc., an inter-dealer broker based in London’s Canary Wharf, said the markets are signaling a softer Brexit is most likely. He and his traders watched the pounddollar rate rebound from a brief plunge after the vote and settle at $1.28, near a twomonth high. With little support for a hard Brexit in Parliament, lawmakers will have to compromise on a withdrawal agreement or seek an extension of the March 29 deadline, a move the EU could well approve. That could mean the UK agrees to stay in a Customs union. If Parliament can’t find consensus, the prime minister could even opt for a second referendum. “We are far more likely to swing towards a softer Brexit than a no-deal, hard Brexit, by some margin in my view,” Pledger said over the din of traders shouting orders on the floor Wednesday. “That gives the markets a sense of relief, and that’s reflective of where the currency is trading.” The pound resumed its ascent on Thursday, and was trading well above $1.29 by late afternoon. Fund manager Justin Urquhart Stewart foresees an even softer outcome from the current turmoil—staying in the EU, the option he has always favored. The cofounder of Seven Investment Management Llp., a London-based investment firm with £14 billion ($18 billion) in assets, cited the damage to the economy that’s already been seen as corporations hit the pause button on expansion.

Impossible scenarios

“HOPEFULLY, this vote will kill this whole thing stone dead,” Urquhart Stewart said of the rejection of May’s deal. With so many possibilities flying around, Alan Higgins, chief investment officer at Coutts & Co., said matters are as confused as ever. In a conference call on Wednesday, he walked clients of the London-based private bank through three possible outcomes: a variation of May’s rejected deal, a no-deal exit, and a second referendum. He said he was leaning toward a revamped version of May’s agreement—perhaps one that encourages the EU to drop its insistence on the “backstop,” hated by hard Brexiteers, that would keep Northern Ireland in the EU customs union should future trade negotiations fail—but it was a long shot. “All of these scenarios seem impossible, but one of these impossible things has to happen,” Higgins said. “So the question is, which one?” Bloomberg News

Hitachi scraps UK nuke plan with $2.8-billion write-down

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HE Japanese conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. confirmed it will halt work on its nuclear power project in the United Kingdom, delivering a blow both to its ambitions to export more of its technology and Britain’s effort to revive its atomic industry. The company will book a loss of about £300 billion, or $2.8 billion, after suspending indefinitely its plans to build reactors at the site in Wylfa, Wales. Theresa May’s government announced the UK will outline a new strategy later this year. “ Nuc le a r i s a n i mp or t a nt part of our mix,” James Slack, a spokesman for the prime minister, told reporters in London on Thursday. “We’ll be setting out more details of our approach to new nuclear in the energy white paper which is due to be published in the summer.” The decision inflamed debate about how central nuclear plants should be to Britain’s energy policy. Unions and nuclear industry backers say the nation is at increasing risk of blackouts since all

except one of its existing nuclear plants must close by 2030. Environmentalists noted that a rapid plunge in the cost of wind and solar adds options beyond nuclear power accessing low-pollution energy sources. Hitachi’s departure is the latest knock to the government’s ambitions to build six or more nuclear stations supplying 18 gigawatts of electricity, about a fifth of the current total generation capacity. In November, Toshiba Corp. withdrew from the Moorside plant in northwest England, leaving the Hinkley Point project in the southwest as the only UK atomic plant under construction. “Hitachi’s announcement coming so soon after the Moorside fiasco raises the very real prospect of a UK energy crisis,” said Justin Bowden, national secretary for energy of the GMB union. Greenpeace’s Chief Scientist Doug Parr said nuclear costs are rising, while the price of renewables is falling and that “a clever move now would be for the government

to accept that the nuclear bet didn’t pay off and have an urgent rethink about the future of UK energy.” For Hitachi and Japan, the move is a setback for ambitions to export more nuclear technology. Eight years after an earthquake caused a meltdown at an atomic plant in Fukushima, the industry faces opposition at home and fewer places where it can sell abroad. “The UK was the last hope for reactor exports” for Japanese companies, Stephen T homas, emeritus professor of energy policy at the University of Greenwich, said by e-mail. “As to Japan’s future in nuclear, I think it is the end as a reactor vendor, certainly outside Japan.” Even before scrapping Wylfa, the Tokyo-based manufacturer was shifting away from the nuclear power industry, seeking to expand in higher-growth sectors such as power transmission and distribution. Hitachi’s shares jumped the most in more than two years on Friday after the Nikkei newspaper first reported it would halt work on the project. Bloomberg News

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Editor: Tet Andolong

Sunday, January 20, 2019

A5

POSTCARD-PRETTY SLIDESHOW

OF CATANDUANES

CAGNIPA

Story & photos by Marky Ramone Go

time, the setting is the village of Carorian. Pressed for time, we skipped the place that our guide described to us as “Waterfalls flowing from the mouth of a cliff.” Just her description made me yearn to see it on my next visit. We never regretted our decision, though, because upon arriving at Poseidon Rock after a half-hour boat ride, I felt my jaw drop at the mere sight of its twin lagoons. Surrounded by astonishing rock formations and filled with sea water in hues of green and blue, it appears like a mirror reflecting the gloss of the midmorning sun. Neglecting my freshly stitched toe wound, I wasted no time in jumping into the crystal-clear waters. At that moment, I very well knew Catanduanes has shot up into my top 3 provinces in the Philippines.

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NE after the other, the rumbling sound of the waves remained on a continuous loop. Each time, a blast of sea water splashes violently toward the natural pool where our group was dipped soothingly. The sight and sound may appear perilous, but the magnificent rock formations jutted from underneath the sea and sheltered us safely from the torrents of the Pacific Ocean. Such is the lure of Tuwad-Tuwadan Lagoon, a secluded tidal pool situated at the foot of Cagnipa Hills facing the monster swells of the Pacific.

Cagnipa Rolling Hills and Tuwad-Tuwadan Lagoon

BARELY 24 hours after arriving in Catanduanes, I already sensed the reason behind its moniker “Happy Island.” The stunning landscape quickly shifting from pulverized white sandy shores to rolling lush hills had me instantly comparing it to Batanes. As our boat circled the northern tip of Catanduanes, and I caught the sight of the uneven slopes of Cagnipa Hills, I felt committing a tinge of betrayal by comparing the island to another province. Despite loving it at first sight, I intuited the need to further explore

BINURONG Point

this province and with only a day under its spell, I let the experience simmer me with exuberant discovery as we move along. Our first destination was the dual nature wonders of Tuwad-Tuwadan Lagoon and Cagnipa Rolling Hills. A short 20-minute hike took our group atop a waving hills gifted with a fabulous 360-degree picturesque view of verdant fields, scattered islets and the azure-colored Pacific Ocean. Following a narrow trail led us to a short route of man-made stairs leading to the aforementioned Tuwad-Tuwadan Lagoon. Like a knife cutting through flesh and exposing a wound, the tidal pool widens into a tadpole-shaped loch filled with sea water and obscured from the main ocean by the jagged rock formations chiseled through thousands of years of swell battering. Running barefoot over the soft, grassy knoll of Cagnipa to taking a dip in the immaculate crystal clear waters of the lagoon had me feel-

Binurong Point PALUMBANES Islands

ing blessed just by witnessing these twin marvels of wondrous nature creation. Floating and wading for an hour, and while staring at the distant iridescent expanse of fiery sky in the midst of sunset, I rested to a beautiful thought of seeing more of the happy island the next day.

Palumbanes Islands

EXPLORING Catanduanes is almost similar to viewing a slideshow of pretty postcard images. You get the feeling the next slide will amaze you more. Catanduanes followed up our amazing first-day jaunt with another curtain dropper of a show. Starring the islands composed of

POSEIDON Rock

Calabagio, Palumbanes and Tignob, we hopped on another boat ride and into these stunning locations that served as isolated settings for a number of Survivor reality TV series from different countries. We first stopped at the boomerang-shaped islet of Tignob. Edged by a rocky hill and stretched around by white sandy shore surrounding a lush, green center field and partially forested tip, its surrounding waters hid a wealth of enormous colorful coral-reef systems. Ensnared by indigo waters, I joined Sara—a fellow writer, in snorkeling the sea to catch some sight of the underwater gems. A strong current forced me into the

rocky part of the island and, struggling back to the water, I happened to stepped over a protruding shell fossil sharp as a razor’s edge. I stumbled back to the beach unaware of the cut on my foot. With blood dripping openly, I saw spills of red mixing with the cerulean waters. It was then I saw a patch of flesh hanging loosely from my ring toe. Despite its gruesome sight, I set it aside after our boatman applied first aid. With my wound securely patched, we cruised away to another island.

Poseidon Rock

ANOTHER day and another postcard image coming to life. This

TUWAD-Tuwadan Lagoon

AFTER spending the previous day just chilling under the sun at the surfer haven of Puraran Surf Beach, we capped our almost week long journey to Catanduanes with a short hike to Binurong Point. Edged by jaw-dropping cliffs and surrounded by spectacular scenery of the Pacific Ocean and the bucolic countryside of the island, being on top of its many lofty rock platforms gives you a front-row seat to the amazing display of the mighty waves pounding the massive boulders below. Combined with the luster of the sun iridescently against the verdant hills and the gentle whiffling of the wind, sitting in the shade under one of the many giant rocks shall give you a magical place to stay still and contemplate the bounteous beauty of this world.

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A6 Sunday, January 20, 2019

Editor: Tet Andolong

AirAsia PHL seeks to increase domestic flights, offer international routes in new Bohol airport next year

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By Roderick L. Abad

ANGLAO, BOHOL—Following the recent opening of BoholPanglao International Airport (BPIA), AirAsia Philippines bared its plan to increase next year its domestic flights and open international routes to and from this latest aviation facility in the Visayas region. “For the year, whatever flights we have in the Tagbilaran Airport will be transferred here [at BPIA],” AirAsia Philippines’s CEO Captain Dexter Comendador told reporters in mixed Filipino and English during an interview prior to the airport’s official inauguration led by no less than President Duterte and other government officials. Currently, the budget carrier offers daily three flights back and forth Manila and Panglao. Each plane has a capacity of 180 seats. “We can do it up to five times,” the top executive said, while citing that it depends on the capability of the island to absorb tourists, local and international,” he added. AirAsia Philippines also seeks to offer in 2019 at least two international routes back and forth the country’s first eco-airport, according to him. “Most probably, it will be Taipei and Macau,” Comendador noted since air travel here, to or from these two Asian destinations takes around “one-and-a-half” or “two hours.” He, likewise, bared their future expansion to serve more destinations in Asia, including China, Korea and Japan. Dubbed the “Green Gateway to the World,” BPIA will replace the

Tagbilaran Airport that was placed under preventive maintenance, repair and patching work because of degradation brought about by continuing rain. This P8.9-billion airport boasts of green and sustainable structures, including solar panels and motion sensor lighting, among other features. It can accommodate seven aircraft at one time The newly built aviation facility seats in a 220-hectare site on Panglao Island—10 times bigger than the old airport with a 22-hectare land area only. It can hold up to 650 passengers during peak hours, and is expected to accommodate over two million passengers in first year of operation. Given the topnotch facilities of BPIA, Comendador revealed that they want to base one plane here to make it another secondary hub of AirAsia Philippines. “Meaning, we will station a pilot, cabin crew and a mechanic,” he said of their plan as a follow suit to what they did in Clark, Cebu and Kalibo airports. AirAsia Philippines is a wholly owned subsidiary of AirAsia Philippines Inc., a joint venture between Filipino investors Antonio O. Cojuangco, former Ambas-

180-seat plane

sador Alfredo M. Yao, Michael L. Romero, Marianne B. Hontiveros and Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Berhad. The airline began its commercial operations in 2012 in Clark, Pampanga and has since expanded to include hubs in Manila, Cebu, Clark and Kalibo. Currently, it operates a fleet of 20 aircraft with several flights to and from Manila, Cebu, Clark, Davao, Tacloban, Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Kalibo, Caticlan and Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines, with international flights from Manila, Cebu, Davao, Clark and Kalibo to Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Bali, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Singapore, Seoul/Incheon and Bangkok.

AIRASIA Captain Dexter with flight and cabin crew

Bell Hotel opens in Bacolod City

A Valentines to remember at F1 Hotel Manila

BACOLOD City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran (from left), with Fr. Chris Gonzales and Cesar Canabal, area manager of the Global Comfort Group, lead the ribbon cutting at the opening of Bell Hotel held recently in Bacolod City.

S 2019 stretches our resolve to stick to our resolutions, so is our opportunity to stretch out our arms to our special someone F1 Hotel Manila lets you celebrate Valentine’s Day in comfort and in love. Experience a heady romantic night as F1 Hotel prepares a Fort Suite for you and your cherished companion from February 11 to 15, 2019, with the Comforts of Love Room Package. Make your stay more relaxing with an inclusive in-room massage for two plus a breakfast-inbed treat to make your mornings all aglow. Enjoy a perfect Valentine to remember for only P7,700 per night with a free bottle of wine and make the moment a sensation! Add another notch to your Val-

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ELL Hotel, the newest gem of the City of Smiles, is ready to receive eager travelers by offering affordable and hassle-free accommodations. Bell Hotel has 54 brightly painted rooms which makes it a unique hotel in Bacolod City. Each is guaranteed clean, cozy and secure to make you feel right at home. Bell Hotel was recently voted as the Best Standard Hotel in the Bacolod City Tourism and Hospitality Awards 2018. It has also received praise for its contribution in helping local tourism. The hotel is colorful and modern

but is teeming with history and is steeped deeply in the city’s heritage. “We want to make travel affordable and accessible to discerning guests,” said Laurence Peña, chief operating officer of the Global Comfort Group, adding: “We’ve opened Bell Hotel to offer affordable rates and exciting tour packages to entice travelers to visit Bacolod. We have an abundance of heritage and cultural sites that speak of our city’s rich history.” Bell Hotel is under new management by Icon Hotel, owned and managed by the Global Comfort Group Corp., the largest group of ho-

tels in the Philippines. They run the historic Apo View Hotel in Davao, as well as the chain of Icon Hotel and Euro Hotel in Metro Manila. The hotel is named Bell synonymous to “being at the guest’s service.” Modern Facilities Meet Old World Charm this is an assurance that Bell Hotel follows only the best industry standards and practices. Besides the 54 well-appointed rooms, Bell Hotel also has a dining area which can seat 40 guests and a function room which can accommodate up to 100 guests. Bell Hotel is also an ideal choice for functions, conventions or events because of its

accessibility. Conveniently at San Juan Street, Barangay 13, Bell Hotel is easy to get to from the airport. Besides public transport, guests can also arrange for a shuttle pick up to and from the airport. Bell Hotel is excited to welcome the public to its doors and showcase its remarkable hospitality service. This boutique hotel has the modest yet necessary comforts every traveler is looking for, with complimentary wireless Internet access and cable programming, private bathrooms with showers feature complimentary toiletries. There’s also a restaurant with room service for guests who want to sleep in and relax. Promoting Local Tourism Bell Hotel also offers tour packages to various scenic spots and attractions in Bacolod all year round. These include The Ruins, the famous Taj Mahal of Negros and Mambukal Resort, a big mountain stream which descends in a series of seven waterfalls. The package includes transfers, entrance fees, tour guides, meals and of course room and breakfast at Bell Hotel. Guests can also choose packages to see Campuestohan Highland Resort to enjoy horseback riding, swimming, zipline and rope courses. Alternatively, there’s also a tour showcasing Don Salvador Benedicto Resort, called the Baguio of Negros Occidental. One of its main features is the Magnetic Hill which sits at KM 34 of a long, zigzag road. Definitely a sight to behold!

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entine’s Day celebration by setting the night to music and feeding each other delicious morsels. F1 Hotel Manila lets you experience an evening fit for romance with “Love at First Bite” this February 14, 2019. The first set will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., while the second one will be at 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Enjoy a night fulkl of delicacies that would satisfy your appetite and make your heart aflutter as Jet Barrun serenades you on this night of passion. Experience the all in one Valentines buffet concert for only P2,288 per head. Celebrate the season of love with F1 Hotel Manila’s offers this Valentines at the heart of Bonifacio Global City. For room reservations and inquiries visit www.f1hotelmanila.com.

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BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 20, 2019 A7

Savoy Manila is TripZilla’s ‘Best New Hotel’

SAVOY lobby

SAVOY hotel room

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SAVOY hotel pool

on the second floor. The hotel also boasts of spa rooms, sauna and steam rooms, and fitness center to keep guests in top shape. Catering to both business travelers and millennials who want a hip hotel experience, its rooms offer panoramic views of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, as well as the Makati and Bonifacio Global City skylines. “This Best New Hotel award from TripZilla will be a source of motivation for us at Savoy Hotel Manila to give our guests the best travel experience in the metro,” says hotel General Manager Lorenzo Tang. As the leading digital travel media company in Southeast Asia that reaches more than 25 million travelers monthly, TripZilla’s only Awards event presents prestigious recognition to the most deserving recipients. For more information on the hotel and its current promotions, log on to www.savoyhotelmanila.com.ph.

EGAWORLD homegrown hotel brand Savoy Hotel Manila stomped its class to top its category and win the “Best New Hotel” award in the TripZilla Excellence Awards 2018. The award-giving body recently honored the industry’s best travel companies and organizations for service excellence, outstanding business practices and delivering the most innovative travel experiences. This year, tourism and hotel brands from the around the world competed in 72 hotly contested categories, where winners were decided via an intensive round of voting carried out on TripZilla’s platform. At the Newport City in Pa-

say, the P5-billion, 11-story, 684room airport hotel was launched as the second Savoy hotel, the first one being in Boracay Island. The hotel takes pride in the Savoy’s Squares, a unique concept of open, coworking spaces every other floor. Stationed at every Square are computers with high-speed Wi-fi, a snack bar and a Savoy staff to assist in dining orders from the hotel’s restaurants. Visitors can unwind at a spacious outdoor area with a swimming pool, jacuzzi and pool bar

SAVOY Hotel Manila

Flip Nights at Vu’s Sky Bar and Lounge

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AKE a chance during cold January nights with a classic gin and tonic in hand as Vu’s Sky Bar and Lounge presents Flip Nights, in partnership with Bombay Sapphire. Simply toss a coin and get a complimentary round of gin and tonic when you win against the bartender. This promotion is available from 8 p.m. onward, Sundays through Tuesdays. At the topmost level of Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, Vu’s Sky Bar and Lounge is a signature Ortigas attraction offering an unobstructed 180-degree view of City of Manila. Apart from the remarkable skyline scenery, the sky bar invites diners to indulge in its vast selection of cocktails, wines and other spirits together with a well-curated lineup of dishes that is a good mix of Filipino, Spanish and other Mediterranean favorites. For more information, visit facebook.com/MarcoPoloOrtigasManila or follow @MarcoPoloManila on Twitter or Instagram.

Chinese New Year traditions at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila

C Stay at COMO from the Indian Ocean to Western Australia

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HE Lunar New Year is an ideal opportunity to spend meaningful time with the people you love most, whether watching dolphins in the Maldives or enjoying a city break in Perth Australia. COMO The Treasury in Perth Australia is offering all children complimentary meals at Post restaurant during the Lunar New Year period. COMO The Treasury is an elegant hotel occupying the 19th-century State Buildings, in the buzzing heart of Perth. Guests can dine at the rooftop restaurant Wildflower, where dishes revolve around Australia’s indigenous six seasons, and summertime meals can be spent looking out over the

Swan River. With COMO Shambhala Urban Escape offering a range of holistic wellness therapies, you can begin the New Year feeling revitalized and recharged. For those looking for a couple’s getaway, COMO Cocoa Island is an intimate private island in the Maldives, located among South Male’s sandy atolls. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, the property is offering couples a complimentary sunset dolphin cruise to make the most of the famous Maldivian sunsets. COMO Cocoa Island possesses an impressive house reef wrapped in white beaches and turquoise waters, with a clear lagoon full of sea life. Guests looking to gain a sense

of greater clarity to begin the Lunar New Year—whether traveling alone or not—can stay at COMO Shambhala Estate for a “Starting Anew” wellness program. As well as the daily schedule of wellness activities—including yoga, lifestyle lectures and meditation walks around the Estate—the property also offers a wellness consultation to help you can begin your year with purpose, whether that be improving fitness, detoxification, managing your health or finding balance in relationships. Book a stay before February 5 to enjoy exclusive Lunar New Year rates. Visit https://www.comohotels.com/en/offers/spend-timefamily-and-friends-lunar-new-year.

ELEBRATE auspicious beginnings as Marco Polo Ortigas Manila ushers abundance with the coming of the Earth Pig. Welcome a flow of luck, fortune and happiness starting this festive season. Indulge in auspicious and staple glutinous rice cakes for that stroke of luck. Choose between its two forms: the gold bar, which is available in boxes of one and two pieces and in brown-sugar flavor; or the traditional round variant, which is available in orange and brown-sugar flavors. These nian gao are available starting at P798. Feast over festive dishes that bring abundance and the promise of all good things to come with two special authentic Cantonese set menus by Chinese Executive Chef Terry Lai at Lung Hin. Suckling Pig Cold Cuts Combination, Steamed Live Garoupa with Minced Garlic in Supreme Soy Sauce and Braised Abalone with Fish Maw in Oyster Sauce (10 heads) are some of the dishes crafted for a fine celebration. Classic Salmon Yu Sheng

Prosperity Toss is also available in the special a la carte menu to bring in more luck. There are also scheduled events to welcome the Year of the Earth Pig at the Marco Polo Ortigas Manila. Witness and receive good luck

with the presence of Feng Shui Master Chau Kam Shing with the ceremonial blessing ritual, followed by the dragon and lions to dance their way to bring prosperity on February 5, at 1 a.m. at the hotel’s ground level.

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Sunday, January 20, 2019

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

BE ALL YOU CAN B Story & photos by Bernard L. Supetran

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HE dust of the recent Christmas season has just settled, but lurking just around the corner is a series of occasions—Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, which are opportunities for staycations for family and friends.

B HOTEL Alabang’s Jacuzzi

For holidays sandwiched by weekdays, or for the typical weekend, some would opt for a quick getaway in a so-called urban oasis in the urban jungle. An ideal hideaway is the threestar B Hotel brand, situated in the quiet neighborhoods of Alabang and Quezon City which have managed to preserve their quaint character in the densely-populated metropolis. Proudly standing in the posh Madrigal Business Park, B Hotel Alabang is a 150-room boutique accommodation which boasts of its “elegance in simplicity” ideal for business travelers or young families. While streamlined of the frills of a five-star hotel, it has managed to preserve the de luxe vibe as guests, under certain promo rates, can access the recreational facilities of its bigger sister, The Bellevue Hotel, just a few minutes away. The intimate ambiance is immediately felt at the cozy lobby where one can lounge, grab a bite at the Prime Café or sink their teeth on the Filipino classic ensaymada while sipping brewed coffee at the Pastry Corner. The hotel also offers a gustatory journey with its wide array of delectable fusion food and Filipino dishes which have been rendered a fresh twist. Adding a country feel to the hotel is the neighborhood which boasts of a master-planned community with open spaces, tree-lined promenades and greeneries ideal for jogging or a relaxed walk. Visitors can marvel at the soothing panorama of the few remaining swathes of greeneries of the big city, the placid Laguna de Bay, and the mighty Sierra Madre mountain ranges in the horizon. Just a couple of days ago, the hotel opened its jacuzzi pool to treat guests to a consummate out-of-town feel in an urban setting, minus the hustle of the long weekend drive. B’s Bohemian version in Quezon

City has a “sleek and snazzy” feel, where you can be all you can be, without the trappings of the more formal hotel. Designed for those with active lifestyles, including millennials, the hotel has a pronounced New Yorkstyle industrial and less stiff features, as if coming straight out of a steampunk novel. With an infinity of unique images such as exposed pipes, bicycle motifs, still-life, murals, cement-washed walls and picture-perfect nooks, it is an Instagrammer’s virtual haven. The hotel’s hip character continues in the rooms, which have neither the high-brow nor all-too-familiar look, and exudes a contemporary feel in a relaxed space. The suite room boasts of a convenient space for a family, as its sala doubles up as a second bedroom. The unit is so spacious that it has figured in a couple of teleserye episodes depicting a mansion’s living room. For daylong cravings, there is The Lobby Café for the main meals, the Pastry Corner for snacks and the Mezzanine Bar for after-dinner chill out. Livening up the weekend evenings are an acoustic guitarist and sultry where guests can jam with throwback or current hits. Steak lovers are in for a feast at Johnny’s Steak and Grill, a resto attached to the hotel, which has the most tender beef you can sink into in this side of town. Guests can soak in the infinity pool with an overlooking view of the skyline, or stroll around the block to admire the area which is noted for its Old World charm in its Americanera and postwar ancestral homes. Moreover, pet lovers will be delighted to know that B Hotel Quezon City has become pet-friendly to be a truly family-oriented facility. Likewise, advocates of Mother Nature will be happy to note that the hotel chain has adopted “green” campaigns for a more sustainable environment—the use of paper straws

LOBBY Café of B Hotel Quezon City BLS

STEAK from Johnny’s

SALA of one-bedroom suite of B Hotel Quezon City

in its restaurants, organic shampoos and soaps, and the use of water pitchers in place of plastic bottles. It has also partnered with World Wildlife Foundation-Philippines to undertake environment conserva-

tion projects in communities where it operates as part of its corporate social responsibility. Prior to this, its sister Bellevue properties in Alabang and Bohol have been undertaking earth-

friendly programs, particularly in using organically-grown ingredients for their food outlets and implementing zero-waste systems. To bring the hotel experience closer to the family, the group is set

to launch this summer the B Hoteliers Kid Internship Program for children aged 4-12 where they can get a feel of how it is to work in a hotel. The monthlong fun-filled activity promises to create pleasant and lasting memories that would make children appreciate the hospitality industry. With the warmth of the proverbial home away from home and a social conscience for Mother Earth, B Hotels is indeed the place where all that you can be.

Faith www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday

Mindanao Catholic leaders back Bangsamoro law

FILIPINO Muslim women perform a morning prayer during the celebration of Eid’l Adha in August 2018 in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. Many Muslims from Mindanao transferred to Manila and other parts of the country at the height of the Mindanao conflicts since the 1970s. ROY DOMINGO

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GROUP of Catholic leaders in Mindanao gave its support to the new autonomy law to end decades-long conflict in the country’s south.
 The Mindanao Catholic Church Leaders for Peace (MCCLP) said the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) is not just another piece of legislation but a peace agreement that involves the future development of the region. “After many failed attempts, this may be the last concrete chance for a just and lasting peace in Mindanao,” the church leaders said. 
 The group, composed of bishops,

educators and a humanitarian aid organization, made the statement ahead of the plebiscite on the BOL next week. Among them are Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro and Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Marawi. According to the MCCLP, the new

FEAST OF THE SANTO NIÑO: ‘LUKE 2:41-52’ JESUS, A CHILD LIKE US, A KING FOR US MSGR. JOSEFINO S. RAMIREZ SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

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N 1521, the Magellan expedition arrived in the Philippines, the very first Christians to visit the archipelago. The explorers brought with them a small wooden image of the Santo Niño. On April 14, Magellan presented the statue to the wife of the local chieftain of Cebu Island, Rajah Humabon, on the occasion of her baptism. Magellan was killed two weeks later by a rival chieftain and

the Europeans left the archipelago—but the Santo Niño remained. When the Legaspi expedition arrived in Cebu in 1565, they found the image preserved in a wooden box. This very statue, a simple sign of the presence of Christ in the Philippines, is now honored as Señor Santo Niño de Cebu, enshrined in a great basilica in Cebu City. For Filipino Catholics, the Holy Child represents a God who is acces-

autonomy legislation addresses the “historical injustices” against Muslims and represents the “mutual acceptance” by both sides for the creation of a Muslim autonomous area. The church leaders said there are many reasons people should support the autonomy law, although they warned of some potential obstacles. 
 “We are aware that many challenges will continue to confront the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority

over the next three years, as well as the future elected members of the Bangsamoro parliament,” they said. But still, they said that it would be left to the residents to ensure the participatory and viable functioning of the autonomous region. They noted that they would focus on the “horizontal” peace process, such as engaging in the “dialogue of life, action and spirituality” among Christians and Muslims. “We also need to commit to intrafaith and interfaith dialogue toward mutual respect and understanding so as to reduce or eliminate biases and prejudices,” they added. As advocates of peace, “we must also know what the BOL says in order for us to make an informed and responsible choice, and vote on the merits of the BOL and not on the basis of bias and prejudice.”
 They also offered to help in quality education and in creating a more inclusive history of Mindanao. Other members of the MCCLP are retired Archbishop Fernando Capalla and Auxiliary Bishop George Rimando of Davao, Bishops Jose Cabantan of Malaybalay, Guillermo Afable of Digos and Cerilo Casicas of Marbel. Bishops Abel Apigo of Mati, Emmanuel Cabajar of Pagadian, Julius Tonel of Ipil, Severo Caermare of Dipolog, Antonieto Cabajog of Surigao and Raul Dael of Tandag also signed the statement. Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews

After many failed attempts, this may be the last concrete chance for a just and lasting peace in Mindanao.”

sible to all and can be approached without fear. The devotion instills the virtues of simplicity, obedience and trust in God. At the same time, it calls for a mature discipleship and loving service to all. In today’s Gospel, Joseph and Mary are still thinking of Jesus as a child; they are responsible for Him. But He reminds them that He is also a King; He is the Son of the Father, and He must take His rightful place in His Father’s house. He has come to the world for a mission; He is sent by the Father to redeem us from our sins. Let us ponder on Mary’s response to these events and realize that she accepts God’s will, even though she does not understand it. Just as at the Annunciation, when she was puzzled by the will of God as revealed to her by the

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AN artwork called McJesus, which was sculpted by Finnish artist Jani Leinonen and depicts a crucified Ronald McDonald, is seen on display as part of the Haifa museum’s Sacred Goods exhibit, in Haifa, Israel, this past week. AP/ODED BALILTY

cial media. Christians make up a tiny percentage of Israel’s Arab minority and say they face unique challenges. “We need to understand that freedom of expression is interpreted in different ways in different societies,” said Wadie Abu Nassar, an

Feast of Santo Niño de Cebu By Corazon Damo-Santiago

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ONTANESIMO, the portrayal of Jesus as a child in regal vestments, is a pious practice in the Santero (sculpture) Culture among the nobility in 1300. The trend was made popular by Juan de Martinez Montanes, a sculptor of Jaen, Spain, who was acknowledged as “Dios de la Mader” (God of Woodcarving). The oldest Christian image in the Philippines is a carved wooden statue of the Child Jesus in kingly attire. It is the object of veneration every third Sunday of January in Cebu City, where thousands of voices, to the rhythm of drums, shout “Pit Señor! Viva Pit Señor!” while dancing in staccato steps in colorful attires.

‘Balaang Bata sa Sugbo’

JUAN CAMUS, a Spanish mariner of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, found the “Balaang Bata sa Sugbo” (Holy Child of Cebu) inside a pine box amid the ruins of burned houses in a conflict between the natives and the soldiers of the expedition in 1565. A church made of bamboo and mangrove palms was erected on the site where it was found. The statue was honored with a procession. The Basilica Menor de Cebu was built on the spot where the image was found. The original feast day of Santo Niño de Cebu was April 28. Pope Innocent XIII (1721-1724) moved the feast day on the third Sunday of January to avoid conflict with Easter celebrations. On April 28, 1965, the image was canonically crowned. On May 2, 1965, the Papal Bull Cubanula Religious was issued and the church where the Santo Niño was enshrined was raised to the level of Minor Basilica of Sto. Nino.

Gift to Humaway

MAGELLAN, a Portuguese navigator, left Spain on September 20, 1519, with five ships and 250 men. His mission: sail around the world in honor of the King of Spain through a western route to the Spice Islands (Moluccas). In 1521, he landed in Limasawa, Southern Leyte, and met Rajah Kulambu. The rajah introduced him to Rajah Humabon, the ruler of Cebu. Magellan befriended Rajah Humabon. The

ruler, his wife Humaway and about 500 men and 40 women were baptized on April 14, 1521, according to Pigafetta, the memoir writer of the expedition. The Santo Niño was a baptismal gift to Humaway, the chief wife of Rajah Humabon, after her baptism by Fr. Pedro Valderrama. She was given the Christian name Juana, a local equivalent of Joanna, the mother of King Charles V of Castille, Spain. The Italian chronicler of the Spanish Expedition handed the Santo Niño image to Juana. A gift from Magellan, it was a “symbol of friendship and alliance between the tribe and Charles V of Spain.” To Humabon, who was also baptized, was given an Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) bust of Christ when he appeared before Pontius Pilate. Then Magellan proceeded to Mactan Islands, and had a fight with Lapu-Lapu, the chieftain of the tribe and his men. Magellan and his men were defeated, Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521.

Santo Niños in the world

THE image of the Child Jesus is a popular portrayal among devotees of Jesus in the world. It is sometimes dressed according to the mores and customs of the people. The Infant Jesus of Prague, a favorite among devotees, is enshrined in the Discalced Church of Our Lady of Victorious on Mala Strana, Czech Republic. Like the Santo Niño of Cebu, it was brought as a precious souvenir by Maria Manriquez de Lara of Spain when she married Vratislav Pernstyn, a Czech nobleman in 1556. The Bambino Gesu di Aracoeli (Child Jesus of Aracoeli), a 15th-century wooden statue of the Child Jesus, is enshrined in Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Altar in Heaven) in Rome, Italy. The famous images of the Infant Jesus are the Mexican Niño de Atocha in Spain, the Little King of Grace in Beaune, France, and the Holy Child of Remedy in Madrid, Spain, among others. Damo-Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

—MCCLP

Archangel Gabriel, she entrusts herself and all things to God—for she, too, is childlike in her simplicity and trust. Many times we are also puzzled by God’s will for us and those we love. We may question God, as Mary and Joseph questioned Jesus, “Why have you done this to us?” When we accept God’s will in these mysterious moments, we acknowledge that we are all children of God. As Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father, we surrender ourselves to Him, with childlike simplicity and trust, guided by the example of Mary and Joseph. Today’s feast is a celebration of how we, as a country, were gifted with the Christian faith and how through this faith, we, too, become children of our Heavenly Father.

‘McJesus’ sparks outrage among Israel’s Christians AIFA, Israel—An art exhibit in Israel featuring a crucified Ronald McDonald has sparked protests by the country’s Arab Christian minority. Hundreds of Christians calling for the removal of the sculpture, entitled McJesus, demonstrated at the museum in the northern city of Haifa last week. Israeli police say rioters hurled a firebomb at the museum and threw stones that wounded three police officers. Authorities dispersed the crowds with tear gas and stun grenades. Church representatives brought their grievances to the district court on Monday, demanding it order the removal of the exhibit’s most offensive items, including Barbie doll renditions of a bloodied Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Museum director Nissim Tal said he was shocked at the sudden uproar, especially because the exhibit—intended to criticize what many view as society’s cult-like worship of capitalism—had been on display for months. It has also been shown in other countries without incident. The protests appear to have been sparked by visitors sharing photos of the exhibit on so-

Sunday, January 20, 2019 A9

adviser to church leaders. “If this work was directed against non-Christians, the world would be turned upside down.” Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, who has been accused of censorship for pushing legislation mandating national “loyalty” in

art, also called for the removal of the “disrespectful” artwork. The museum has refused to remove the artwork, saying that doing so would infringe on freedom of expression. But following the protests it hung a curtain over the entrance to the exhibit and posted a sign saying the art was not intended to offend. “This is the maximum that we can do,” Tal said. “If we take the art down, the next day we’ll have politicians demanding we take other things down and we’ll end up only with colorful pictures of flowers in the museum.” But that did little to placate those who want the artwork removed. A protester remained camped out in a tent at the museum on Monday with a sign reading “Respect religions.” Police watched closely as local Christians complained to reporters in front of street signs spray-painted with crosses and windows still shattered from last week’s clashes. “This is very offensive and I cannot consider this art,” Haifa artist and devout Christian Amir Ballan said. “We will continue through peaceful rallies and candle vigils....We won’t be quiet until we reach a solution.” AP

ORIGINAL image of Santo Niño de Cebu. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Groundbreaking for 3rd temple of Church of Jesus Christ in PHL held in Pangasinan

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RDANETA, Pangasinan— Senior leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined community and interfaith leaders in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, this past week for the groundbreaking for a new temple. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided at the ceremony. He was joined by Elder Evan A. Schmutz, Elder Michael John U. Teh and Elder Taniela B. Wakolo of the Philippines Area Presidency. The temple site is in Barangay Nancayasan, Urdaneta City, fronting MacArthur Highway. Attendance at the ceremony was by invitation only, with the general public invited to view the proceedings

on Facebook Live. The Urdaneta Philippines Temple will be the Church of Jesus Christ’s third temple in the country, joining those in Manila and Cebu. The Church of Jesus Christ currently has 160 temples worldwide. The Church of Jesus Christ’s temples differ from the meetinghouses or chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services. A temple is considered a “house of the Lord,” where Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ordinances that unite families for eternity. Inside, members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ and their fellow man.

Science

BusinessMirror

A10 Sunday, January 20, 2019

Sunday

Interactive science centers play key role in promoting S&T to the youth

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By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

@brownindio

PRODUCT of the publicschool system, Filemon Berba Jr., chairman of the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST), is aware that students in public schools need all the support to be exposed in science and its related disciplines. Through his leadership and the support of the board of trustees, council of advisers, officers and staff, the PFST continues to promote scientific culture to students, especially to those in the public-school system. In a recent interview with the BusinessMirror, the former Ayala Corp. executive said science exhibits are the centerpiece of promoting science to the youth. “Our mission is to promote the basic foundation of science to the youth,” Berba pointed out. “We will stick to that objective. Developing the scientific foundation and culture is a must for the youth to ensure they will appreciate the current trends in science,” he added. PFST’s projects and undertakings are anchored on its flagship program, the Philippine Science Centrum (PSC), which promotes t he i nterac t ive -lea r n i ng ap proach in creating science and technology consciousness and interest among the youth and the general populace. Its seven traveling exhibits are also part of PFST’s promotion of science around the country. The PFST reported that combined visitors’ attendance to the PSC and its traveling exhibitions for 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 totaled 482,467 visitors. The PFST regularly conducts 140 to 150 interactive exhibits every year. Around 60,000 to 70,000 visit the Science Centrum annually. The traveling exhibits have accommodated 370,995 in 2017. In the first quarter of 2018, it has received 54,718 visitors in 26 venues, accommodating a total of 425,713 for 2018. Berba said PFST has partnered with local government units and public schools in organizing the exhibits. They share on a 50-50 basis the proceeds in the gate receipts of the exhibits. “It helps us get above the water,” he said.

PFST Chairman Filemon Berba Jr.

He described as “fun and chaotic” as children explore the wonders of science at the centrum. Besides showing science items, it also hosts birthday parties with a science theme. “This gives the celebrator and the guests as well a chance to learn

something about science in a fun way,” he said. He commended former Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro for the support to PFST and current Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, who allotted P10 million last year which benefited 205,000 students of Soccsksargen and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, who are victims of war, violence and conf lict. The holding of science exhibits in the war-torn area was commended by the United Statesbased Association Science and Technology Centers in the World. Moreover, PFST Executive Director May Pagsinohin was cited by the Informal Learning Leadership Collaborative for her leadership in science center management. As part of the celebration of its 28th anniversary in 2018, the foundation organized a Science Café with the topic “Advance Life Support: Keeping Astronauts Alive and Well.” It featured Balik Scientist, Dr. Apollo Arquiza, known for his achievement as the first to cook by frying in a simulated low-gravity environment (moon and Mars) on the G-Force One Plane under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reduced gravity program. E s t a b l i s he d i n 19 8 4 , t he PFST is a nonstock, nonprofit private organization dedicated in producing a critical mass of young people interested in the

Our mission is to promote the basic foundation of science to the youth.”—Berba

value of science for their future. Dr. Ruby Cristobal, division chief of the Science Education Institute of the Department of Science and Technolog y, said facilities, such as the Mind Museum and the PSC, play a key role in the promotion of science, tec hnolog y, eng ineer ing a nd mathematics (STEM). “Exposure to interactive exhibits provide an opportunity for an open approach to learning STEM, since students get to directly experience how a particular concept is operationalized in an engaging way,” she told the BusinessMirror in a recent e-mail inter view. Cristobal pointed out that facilities, such as the Mind Museum and the PSC, should continue to be responsive to the K to 12 curriculum, to fill the gaps in terms of making abstract concepts more concrete, closer to everyday experience such that learners will be able to recognize, infer and think critically about their occurrence and application in the physical world, in a way that follows the scientific process. “In other words, knowledge should be operationalized and practiced,” she added. Cristobal said teachers should take advantage of the exposure of their students to interactive exhibits by integrating their experience to the planned lessons in order to reinforce and enrich very abstract concepts. S he s a id t he go ve r n me nt should strengthen its collaboration with civil society organizations behind these science centers, and should also provide the model through the Salinlahi project of National Academy of Science and Technology.

STUDENTS tumble as they explore the different forces that formed the stars, planets, galaxies and more in the universe in Philippine Science Centrum’s Space Gallery. PSC PHOTO

S&T innovations in rice to maximize productivity, farmers’ income

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ARMERS in Victoria, Tarlac, recently had the chance t o w it n e s s i n no v at i o n s in rice production which they can adopt during a science and technology model farm (STMF) exhibit in the province. At a recent Farmers’ Field Day and Forum, the Masalasa Marketing Cooperative’s STMF provided updates and insights on its adoption of S&T technologies and its overall performance. The cooperative’s STMF was a product of the project, “STMF on Integrated Rice and Rice-Based Package of Technologies.” The field day exhibited different technology components, such as rice-fish, rice-duck, small pond, tilapia pond, orchard, sorjan area, vegetable garden, azolla production, seedling production area, mushroom processing area, vermicomposting facility, rice-straw soaking area, goat/swine area,

mushroom fruiting house and rice seed production area. Moreover, Gerry Garcia, a farmer cooperator of the cooperative, showcased his variety of crops, a pig pen and a tilapia fishpond in farm. The project, funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and

Technology, aimed to maximize the productivity and income of Magsasaka Siyentista and farmer cooperators by applying the full package of technologies for the target commodities. It also helped develop or widen linkages of farmer cooperators for postharvest and marketing activities. Four major rice component technologies were addressed by the project. These include the use

FARMERS sell their farm produce and other products during the field day of Masalasa Marketing Cooperative’s science and technology model farm. PATRICIA L. NAREDO/TTPD-PCAARRD

of quality seeds of recommended varieties; site-specific nutrient management; water management/ controlled irrigation; and integrated pest management. The project also included a component on agripreneurship. The Philippine Rice Research Institute implemented the project in cooperation with the Central Luzon Agriculture, Aquatic and Resources Research and Development Consortium, Department of Agriculture-attached agencies in Central Luzon, Department of Trade and Industry, and the local government unit of Victoria, Tarlac. Thirty-three farmer beneficiaries under the Masalasa Marketing Cooperative in Victoria, Tarlac, registered with the Cooperative Development Authority. They were identified as the recipients of the three-year project. S&T Media Services

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Designer kids can lead to growth of homogenous individuals

AN embryologist adjusts a microplate containing embryos that were injected with gene-editing components in a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province in this October 9, 2018, photo. AP/MARK SCHIEFELBEIN By Jagriti Gangopadhyay

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EW DELHI—A Chinese researcher has claimed that he helped make world’s first genetically edited babies but the development may come at a heavy cost. A designer baby is a genetically modified (GM) human embryo with appropriate qualities which have been shaped as per the instructions received from the parents. In the dystopian novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley and published in 1932, the setting is a futuristic world. The novel is set in London, where citizens are being nurtured in artificial wombs and engineered through childhood indoctrination programs into predestined categories based on their intelligence and skills. Though this novel was written decades ago, today GM children seem to be the next step toward transforming family structures across the globe. Though no designer baby has been born as yet, in a technology driven world it is going to soon become a reality. A l re ad y, G e nom ic P re d ic tion, a company based in New Jersey, USA, plans to offer tests to calculate the risk of complex conditions like heart disease of an unborn child. The cost of human gene sequencing, too, is dropping—from $1,000 today, it could drop to below $100 over the next few years. In simple terms, a designer baby is a GM human embryo with appropriate qualities which have been shaped as per the instructions received from the parents. The process through which designer babies are produced is known as gene editing. Next, these cuts are restored through nonhomologous end joining or homologous recombination that result in the desired edits. Using molecular scissors, cuts can be made at certain locations of the genome. Specifically, designer babies were conceived so that children would be free from any life-threatening disease. For instance, if either of the parent has a history of a terminally ill disease in their family, the GM baby will be immune to that disease. Through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and pregenetic testing, the doctor will be able to identify the genes which could carry the potential danger of that disease. Those genes will be muted before the fertilization of the egg and the fetus produced will be devoid of any anomaly. Given the noble cause associated with gene editing, it is important to understand the ethical challenges of such a process as well as the consequences of such a technology in determining the future of families across the globe.

Politics of the body

IN his seminal work Birth of the Clinic, Michel Foucault had argued that with the advancement of medical sciences, an individual will gradually lose the right over one’s body. This argument is increasingly becoming true with the intrusion of technology in reproductive health. In addition to parents

succumbing to technology to satisfy their needs, there are several ethical challenges involved with designer babies. Given the newness of the technology, it is difficult to predict how the designer baby will grow up to be. It is also too early to calculate the side effects of this kind of technology. Nonetheless, it goes without saying that the unborn child’s consent is not taken before the process of gene editing. This is a huge ethical challenge. Moreover, GM babies are bound to create more inequality in society. This technology is expensive and only a certain section of society will be able to access it. Hence, the designer babies will mostly be born with fair skin and skills which will result in securing lucrative jobs. Thus, the technology will be used to perfect the body and the mind of the unborn baby and will result in the growth of homogeneous individuals.

Gender factor

INDI A w it nessed t he debate around designer babies when the health wing of the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) announced that eugenics could be used to enable dark skinned Indian parents to have fair and high IQ children. RSS stressed on Ayurveda which has the abilities to purify the entire population of the country. The health wing of the RSS indicated that if the mother eats right and then it will be possible to have a customised baby. The emphasis on fair and high IQ babies clearly indicates the RSS’s vision of the future population of India. In addition to producing fair and high-skill set producing children, gene editing will lead to discrimination on the basis of gender, as well. I n I nd i a , t h i s te c h nolog y will be used in sex selection, as well. One of the features of this technology is that it can scan the sperms of the male partner. Given India’s history of preference for the male child, there are fears that the sperm with the male gene will be injected and more male children will be born. Additionally, genetically engineered babies will also expand the gap between the West and the Third World. Since, this form of technology will be expensive in countries, such as the US and countries of Europe, a large number of foreigners will travel to various Third World countries such as India, Bangladesh and Nepal and avail the technology at much cheaper rates. Genetically engineered babies as a form of technology is still in its infancy. However, given the upsurge in egg banking, IVFs and surrogacy, experts feel that this technology will garner popularity. Past experiences show that due to lack of regulation, Third World countries were exploited by people in rich nations to satisfy their parenting needs. Since discussions around gene editing, gene engineering and designer babies have already started doing the rounds, it is important for international bodies, such as the World Health Organization, to set guidelines and regulatory measures at the very onset.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, January 20, 2019 A11

Israel expects more Filipino tourists in 2019

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By Gelyka Ruth Dumaraos

with the current talks on launching direct flights to Tel Aviv with flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL). Manuel L. Tamayo, undersecretary for aviation at the Department of Transportation, confirmed this, saying that the Philippines is securing final agreement with Saudi Arabia to use their airspace. Based on calculations, he said that the route from Manila to Tel Aviv will take up 12 and a half hours. With Saudi Arabia’s airspace, the flight may be cut down by more than an hour. PAL’s possible new direct route is also a better option compared to current flights thru Hong Kong and Turkish flag carriers.

Photos from Israel Ministry of Tourism

HE Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) eyes a boost Filipino tourist arrivals following a 25-percent growth last year.

Key destinations

JERUSALEM, a city of tradition, religion and history, attracts more and more Filipino tourists.

The recent Israel Tourism Road show happened last November at Marriott Hotel Manila, welcoming over 300 Filipino agents linking to 24 Israeli companies. Madah added that IMOT is offering marketing support of up to 50 percent for Filipino trade partners who will be promoting Israel to their clients. IMOT shall look into the proposals of Filipino trade partners, which shall included well-crafted proposals and client profiles, a first since IMOT launched its promotions in 2015.

ISRAEL Tourism Road show gathers 300 Filinos agents and 24 Israeli companies in Marriott Hotel Manila.

The tourism board noted the alltime high record of 27,000 Filipino tourists from January to November 2018 compared to the 2017 record of 23,500 tourists. “2018 has been outstanding and, by far, the best year for Israel tourism in the Philippines and worldwide,” said Hassan Madah, director of the Israel Ministry of Tourism Philippines. “Philippines had been an important market for us and I am pleased to say that we have witnessed a constant growth over the last two years.” In a year or two, Madah said Is-

rael may welcome at least 70,000 to 80,000 Filipino visitors. Madah added that with the recent historic visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Israel, there was a renewed interest to visit the Holy Land. Moreover, Philippine passport holders can enjoy a visa-free access to Israel up to 90 days.

Support for trade partners

IMOT’s initiatives toward tapping the Filipino market include road shows in Manila and in Davao, focusing on leading travel and tour agencies in the country.

Direct flights to Tel Aviv HASSAN MADAH, director of the Israel Ministry of Tourism Philippines.

MADAH added that IMOT is confident of the continued increase of tourist arrivals from the Philippines this year

LOOKING into the Filipino market’s preferences, Madah noted that Jerusalem remains to be one of the leading attractions. Attractions Filipinos mostly want to visit were the shrines where events in the Holy Bible are commemorated such as The Garden Tomb Jerusalem, Pool of Bethesda, Gethsemane, the Calvary and many more. Madah also highlights other destinations Filipinos may want to visit such as the salt-rich Dead Sea lake, considered to be the lowest point on Earth.Tel Aviv, the booming city for start-ups, can be a major option for younger tourists looking for chic hotspots, restaurants and nightlife. Also considered as one of the gay friendly cities in the world, Tel Aviv also draws tourism with Tel Aviv Pride, an annual, weeklong series of events that celebrate Israel’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community life during the second week of June.

Biodiversity on Wheels goes to Tandag, Surigao del Sur

B Paddling in Poseidon’s Paradise

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HE quiet island of Kalanggaman in Palompon, Leyte, burst into life once more as local paddlers ruled the 15-kilometer kayak marathon and mantaha regatta divisions of the recent Abre Grande sports festival. The tandems of homegrown paddlers Marjun Montealto and Joemer Montealto of Team Cyclist Palompon and Diosdado Paradero Jr. and Arnold Panilag of Team JoPao capitalized on their home water advantage to capture the first and second places, respectively, of the kayak marathon. Visiting competitors Danilo Atendido and Joebert Abad of Team LGU Dimasalang Masbate edged the rest of the pack to secure their thirdplace finish. In the mantaha category, Cambinoy Mangrove and Livelihood Association Paddlers and Brgy. Parilla 4Ps Paddlers, snatched the top 2 honors, with Dimasalang Masbate National High School Paddlers settling for third. The mantaha is an improvised dragonboat made out of two hulls of the typical fisherman’s outrigger boat to simulate the excitement of sprint paddling. Crewed by eight paddlers, a drummer and a rudder man, the 300-meter race was held at the town’s Tabuk Mangrove Park. Organized by the Palompon Municipal Eco-tourism Council Inc. and supported by 2GO Travel Supercat and the Department of TourismRegion 8, the sports fest is the kick off to the monthlong Lawig Festival which is part of the town’s patronal feast of Saint Francis Xavier.

THE Mantaha regatta in Palompon, Leyte.

According to Mayor Ramon Oñate, the sports extravaganza and the festival seek to promote environmental protection through eco-water sports and rediscover the town’s precolonial heritage of sailing and maritime trading. He said that the town boasts of Kalanggaman Island which was named last year as the country’s most amazing sandbar by the travel portal Skyscanner, edging the more popular contenders. Dubbed as Poseidon’s Playground, it has been attracting European luxury cruise ships in recent years because of its pristine powdery 200-meter white sandbar and crystalline waters. It is also an emerging scuba diving site with lush coral walls and gardens on both sides. Palompon also takes pride in Tabuk Mangrove Park and marine sanctuary which protected the residents from storm surges brought about by Supertyphoon Yolanda. Now on its eighth edition, Abre Grande also included with duathlon for kids and open categories (run, bike, run), long board competitions, and a 6.42-km trail run at the Palompon Terrestrial Eco-Adventure Park. Literally meaning “grand opening,” it is a recipient of the Pearl Award from the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines for being the country’s best sports tourism event in 2017. Palompon was elevated to the group’s Hall of Fame for winning the Best Tourism-Oriented Local Government Unit (Municipality Level) for three years in a row because of this event.

Story & photo by Marky Ramone Go

ECAUSE province faces the mighty Pacific Ocean, surf-worthy waves pound the shorelines of Surigao del Sur all year round. For many, this becomes a good reason to get stoked in the province. Conversely, the gift Mother Nature brings to this sea doesn’t end there. Beneath the mammoth swells hides an underwater gem teeming with some of the healthiest coral reef in the country. This fact, however, comes with a shadow of peril. Studies have shown that the wealthy marine system found under the waters of Hinatuan stretching to Lanuza Bay, can all disappear within a few years if no actions are taken. Comparing figures from several decades ago, the percentage of living coral reef has astonishingly diminished by more than 70 percent.

Teach biodiversity conservation now

BECAUSE of the threat facing our ocean’s resources today, it is imperative to start educating the younger generation about biodiversity conservation. The Haribon Foundation launched in 2012, a program called “Biodiversity in Wheels.” According to them “Biodiversity on Wheels is a built-in multimedia and library rolled into one van that visits schools and communities to teach environmental topics such as Philippine biodiversity and solid waste management.

Central Elementary School in Surigao del Sur, conducted by volunteer teachers for the day from the TPB.

Promoting Tourism and Environmental Awareness

TEACHER volunteer and young students discuss biodiversity.

BOW has conducted a wide array of engaging activities for youth new to biodiversity and environmental topics. Through BOW biodiversity, conservation is now more accessible to children.” In 2017, the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippines (TPB) partnered with Haribon. Since then, both organizations have worked on a number of projects including a Biodiversity on Wheels Program in Iloilo in January and this recent one held in Surigao del Sur. In one lighthearted exchange during the Biodiversity on Wheels teaching session at Tagbina Central Elementary School in Surigao Del Sur, Wendy, a TPB staff volunteering as one of the day’s teachers, candidly asked the students if they have seen

ISST opens Cavite campus

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HE International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST) recently opened its new training center at the 52-hectare integrated farmland of James Yen Center of the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in Silang, Cavite. Under a recent memorandum of agreement, both institutions can collaborate with each other’s expertise in Earth-friendly agriculture, sustainable tourism, community development and other common avenues of cooperation. The campus, which has the United Nationals World Tourism Organization

as a benefactor, has two classrooms, four executive meeting rooms, a learning resource center, a board room, and can host over 100 students. In photo, (front row, from left to right) civic leader Sonia Roco, ISST President Dr. Mina Gabor, Tourism Promotions Board Chief Operating Officer Marie Venus Tan, IIRR Executive Director Philip Usi, (second row, from left) IIRR board member Dr. John Batten, ISST Business Development Head Mark Tinao, ISST Senior Vice President Joselito Bernardo, and IIRR Senior Global Adviser Dr. Julian Gonsalvez.

a sea turtle. Immediately, a 4th grader boy raised his hands and ran to the classroom’s comfort room. He came back carrying a live baby sea turtle. It turns out he bought it from a vendor outside their school and has been keeping it alive on a bucket of water. After learning about the importance of preserving biodiversity and protecting Lanuza Bay’s endangered marine species, the little boy pledged to bring the sea turtle back to sea. As comical the episode was, it heightened the significance of raising biodiversity consciousness to young students early in their education. The Biodiversity on Wheels concluded with a two-day interactive discussion among the students of Purisima National High School and Tagbina

AS the marketing and promotional arm of the Department of Tourism, the TPB of the Philippines is also conducting CSR programs that touches on environment awareness across the country. Because sustainable tourism can only be achieved if we all do our part in conserving our natural resources, TPB has reached out to like-minded organizations to spread ecological consciousness. By partnering with one of the leading environmental advocacy organizations the Haribon Foundation, it plans to take Biodiversity on Wheels to more provinces next year. Today, The Corporate Social Responsibility Program of TPB is currently the most active arm of the agency in promoting sustainable tourism. TPB also perceived that the conducted CSR activities with partner NGOs yielded more meaningful results, not only to the target recipients but also to the CSR volunteers who became more engaged in clean and green practices. For now, it’s definitely “More Fun in the Philippines,” but how long it will last depends on our ability to preserve our remaining natural resources. With the help of Biodiversity on Wheels and other similar programs, there is still hope in making the fun brought about by the beauty of our country, to last forever.

Sports BusinessMirror

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

MANNY PACQUIAO is out to prove age hasn’t slowed him down. AP

THE Belgians celebrate after beating the Dutch in the Men’s Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. AP

CURVABEZIER | DREAMSTIME.COM

Young entrepreneur sees automation driving growth among local SMEs The same industry has achieved a growth in a higher figure last year. “The country’s growing beauty industry is one of our main markets,” she said. Aside from the cosmetics industry, the company’s markets include, among others, producers of food, beverages, condiments, according to Benitua.

By Oliver Samson

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Correspondent

S automation of production is seen to offer small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a steer toward growth, a fresh graduate founded a company in early 2018 with an end view of making production machines accessible to local producers. Rina Benitua, 22 years old, saw during her days at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Taguig campus, the need by local SMEs, as well as backyard producers, for technology in optimizing production to achieve growth. Known as Gushiken Trading Industries Corp. (GTIC), the company outsources production equipment manufacturers overseas to provide local producers of food, beverages, beauty products, household products and other industries with access to production machines. “Currently, most of our clients are startup SMEs,” Benitua said. “Some of them are doing well and have been in business for about five years now.” The company began by outsourcing production machine manufacturers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to Benitua. In November 2017, the company began to engage local companies to meet the demand of products that are not manufactured by the companies it outsources offshore. “Right now we are tapping local designers and fabricators for highly customized items and products that are currently nowhere in the market,” the young entrepreneur said. By directly outsourcing manufacturers abroad, the company can offer the machines to SMEs, as well as backyard producers, at low prices, Benitua pointed out. As a start-up, Benitua anticipated her company would compete for the local markets against established and big companies. “Our company is getting known for our prices,” she said. “Right now our competitive advantage is our price. We understand that most of the small and start-up companies engaged in manufacturing usually lack for funds and resources to invest on machines to automate production. They need it, but most of them cannot afford it.”

Getting into e-commerce

WHEN she started outsourcing and selling machines, Benitua was still fresh out of college. Her knowledge and experience about her markets that time was inadequate, the young entrepreneur admitted. But by harnessing online social networking and media services like Facebook, she made a good start. “I had no paid ads, nor other medium to

Everybody’s online

YOUNG businesswoman Rina Benitua at a coffee shop on West Avenue, Quezon City, during the interview. OLIVER SAMSON advertise the products,” Benitua said. “Today, I’m still using Facebook to sell.” The company would venture into e-commerce this year to tap the online market, she noted. As a requirement for going online, the company would have its own web site designed, developed, maintained and secured. Benitua understands the need to secure her company’s web site as a platform for advertising and selling products. She is also aware of the need to safeguard the company’s data and clients’ personal information in its custody. “I understand that as a company, we need to protect the privacy and sensitive information of our customers,” Benitua said. The company would tap information security practitioners once the web site is turned over to them, assured the young entrepreneur.

Social entrepreneurship

BENITUA saw the big potential for growth among SMEs and backyard producers, and her company came in to facilitate them in acquiring access to affordable and advanced technology. She saw the growth of the local enterprises as one big contribution of the business sector to the nation. “We are not after profit only,” the young entrepreneur said. “I have seen in my engagements with our clients that they are not doing it for profit only, as well; they also have a dream for their company and people.” By providing access to technology and technical support, the SMEs and backyard producers can steer toward growth and, eventually, realize their dream for their company and people, she added. Having seen SMEs and backyard manufacturers striving to grow and dream for the good of their employees and the nation had somehow sparked her patriotism as an entrepreneur. Local manufacturers are rapidly growing, Benitua said. The beauty industry, for one, has achieved an over 5-percent growth in 2017, citing a research she conducted.

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MORE enterprises are going into e-commerce today to sell products and services, as online trading offers businesses a big potential to also grow as markets continue to get deeply and inevitably connected to the Internet, observed Benitua. “The world’s top companies have already shifted to e-commerce, one is Amazon,” Benitua said. “You can see the change in the behavior of consumers; they are looking for and buying their needs now online.” But buying products online has disadvantages, she noted. The advantages for both the consumer and the seller, however, outnumber the disadvantages. Going to a physical store remains the best way of purchasing a product, she added. “But e-commerce offers consumers a convenient way for buying their needs,” Benitua said. “In just a click, you can choose and buy a product from a wide range of choices.” The consumer can check on the quality of the product sold online by using the Internet, she explained. Since the consumer cannot physically check the product, one can Google the product reviews and the integrity of the manufacturer and seller. “The seller’s reputation matters in ecommerce,” Benitua said.

Challenges and vision

TRANSFORMING the idea into action has been the biggest challenge she encountered so far as a newbie in business, the lady entrepreneur admitted. “It takes courage to break loose from one’s comfort zone to make something different and bigger than the usual things you do,” she said. Today, after nearly a year since the company started to do business, the biggest challenge for her is how to motivate herself to work harder and sustain the business, according to Benitua. “I think you have to think ahead of time if you wish to sustain the business for a long term,” she said. “You need to be a visionary; otherwise you will stagnate where you are if you have no idea what is going to happen.” One has to draw out a plan for the potential challenges the business would go through in the future, Benitua noted. “Aside from envisioning solutions to issues that may arise in time, a visionary sees a dream for the company and its people and works hard for it,” she said. “That vision is the main driver of an entrepreneur.”

Machines not simple as cups of coffee

THE company was a brainchild of Benitua during her days in college. She officially founded it in February last year. After investors poured in capital, the company started to do business. Quite a number of people had asked her why she chose to venture into outsourcing

JANUARY 20, 2019

production machines, which is highly technical and masculine in nature for a female entrepreneur and a newbie in the world of business. “Machines are not as simple as cups of coffee,” she explained. “Machines are technically complicated. Machines are complicated in such a way that if you are not into the nature of this business, you’ll get bored of it.” Benitua, a Marketing graduate, has studied and continues to learn the basic understanding, as well as the advanced knowhow, surrounding machines. “Automation improves the manufacturers’ efficiency and production capabilities,” she explained. By automating the operations, manufacturers cut their costs but do not eliminate all the manpower, Benitua noted. Business always requires a human touch.

Advocacies

BENITUA joined the Emergency Response Group at the PUP-Taguig, which elected her as its president when she was a second-year student. The group conducts basic first aid and emergency rescue trainings. She described the members of the group as sort of nurse assistants, who dash across the campus ground to respond when something happens to a student or a faculty member. The group also looks after PUP-Taguig students and faculty members at events outside the school, she said. She also joined Hands of God Charity Works, a non-government group that advocates for the welfare of children, when she was still the president of the school emergency response group. “The group helps children with cancer by tapping concerned people and organizations,” Benitua said. “[It] looks like a religious group, but it’s not.” She has been a volunteer in different social advocacies for five years now since her college freshman years. “I want to help people who need help,” she said. “I want to be part of the start-up manufacturers’ success. I want to see them grow.” An introvert by nature, Benitua beamed at how relatives teased her by calling her simang when she was young for being a loner. But her advocacies and the role she eventually played as a group leader have helped her break through introversion and hone her leadership and communication skills.

World-class quality

BENITUA, who is currently a managing partner of GTIC, had seen the potential of local manufacturers for optimum productivity and growth when she worked as a sales freelancer at her brother’s company, which engages with e-juice (vape juice) manufacturers as market. The products that local manufacturers produce can parallel and even outdo the products manufactured by offshore companies in terms of quality, she noted. This gave her the idea and inspiration to set up a company that provides local SMEs with access to equipment that automates production. “Our backyard [enterprises] and SMEs possess a big potential for growth in their respective industries with the application of necessary technology and technical support,” Benitua said.

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RAUL SUNICO Sustaining the classics, Breaking records

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CLASSICAL PIANIST

RAUL SUNICO TO DO A RARE RACHMANINOFF TWO-PEAT

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by Tony M. Maghirang

NTERNATIONALLY acclaimed Filipino pianist Raul Sunico will try to reprise a historic feat when he plays at “A Rach Concert” with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra on January 26 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Sunico, 70, will again perform all four pieces of Rachmaninoff for piano and orchestra in one evening. He did it first in 2003. Since then, nobody else has ventured in duplicating his landmark achievement. A Russian pianist managed to do all four pieces—but in three nights. Sunico told the BusinessMirror: “It’s a demanding marathon performance that can stretch to 2.5 hours long. Now, at my age, I hope to do them all in one evening.” He said his main keys to success are constant practice and good health. There’s no magic formula involved. It’s also his good fortune that his accomplishments are founded on a life-long pursuit of excellence. Raul Sunico graduated from the University of the Philippines with the degrees of Bachelor of Music (cum laude), Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and Master of Statistics. A scholarship from former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos through the Young Artists Foundation of the Philippines enabled him to finish his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York and a Doctor of Philosophy degree, Major

in Piano Performance from the New York University. The virtuoso pianist won the silver medal in the 1979 Viotti International Piano Competition in Vercelli, Italy. In the same year he was a finalist in the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy, and received the Henry Cowell Prize in the 1980 University of Maryland International Piano Competition in the United States. He had also served on the juries of various piano competitions here and abroad.

Prolific classical artist

SUNICO has recorded around fifty compact albums, including his piano transcriptions of Filipino folk songs and kundimans. His interpretations of Filipino love songs in a classic piano mood are constant sources of easy listening pleasure. Some of his more celebrated versionsareGeorgeCanseco’s“Ngayon at Kailanman”, Ernani Cuenco’s “Bato Sa Buhangin” and Resty Umali’s “Saan Ka Man Naroroon.” He shared, “It started when my late aunt Conchita Sunico was the Executive Director of the The Manila

Metropolitan Theater. They were thinking of a fund-raising project for the renovation of ‘The Met.’ I happened to remember a piano recording of The Beatles, where the artist interpreted the songs of the Fab Four the classical way. He would play, for example, Michelle, in the

style of Bach. “I thought to myself: I could do that also with Filipino songs. So we did the first couple of recordings based on classical themes that would also serve as introductions to classical music.” From 2002 to 2016, Sunico

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was dean of the UST Conservatory of Music, which remains as the biggest music school in the country. During his term, the Conservatory was the training ground for 700 aspiring musicians. He said, “There’s really a lot of opportunities for musicians. In my time in UST, there had been a number of students who, even before they’ve finished their course, would drop out of school because there’s already a job waiting for them.” The former UST Conservatory Dean continued: “Normally, our graduates go into education. They teach in schools. Some of those who graduated on orchestral instruments like oboe and trumpet get employed not in symphony orchestras that are limited in number; they get to gig abroad in bands onboard ships, in hotels, or commercial establishments.”

Filipino vs foreign audience

ASKED about the difference between playing for Filipinos and before a foreign audience, Sunico replied, “There’s more pressure playing for local audiences, given our colonial mentality. I feel people expect more from me, especially since I studied in New York, etc.” “In countries abroad where people do not know where the Philippines is on the map, I go like, ‘Okay, There’s nothing to lose.’ I even think in Europe, where most of the composers of the classical period came from, the audiences there are quite amused of me being a person from some ethnic country playing their classics.” He further stated, “That’s one aspect of the bright future of classical music for homegrown talents. The other is the fact that the trend points to Asia as an emerging hotspot for

classical music.” Sunico explained, “Even if classical music originated in Europe, there are more classical artists now in Asia, particularly in Korea and Japan. China is an upcoming powerhouse. Nowadays, it’s not a rarity to see Asians performing classical music. In fact, we Orientals are now being seen more in the limelight.” In the local music scene, Sunico sees that appreciation for classical music continues to be an uphill mission. He served as president of the CCP from 2010 to 2017. From his experience as an executive of the institution, he enumerates a lot of lessons. He says, “Sometimes, ourorchestra goes to far-flung communities, and we see that some of the people there are interested. I’m just not sure they know what they are listening to, since they’re seldom exposed to the classics, if at all.”

“In general, classical music is not a popular genre for many of our countrymen. What we want is for mass media to provide a little more coverage for classical music so our people will be more exposed to this kind. We’re hoping with regular exposure, Filipinos will do their own further research and gain a better understanding of [the genre].” Better understanding will go a long way in also appreciating musicians in Sunico’s classical playlist. His current top three are Russian pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Daniil Trifonov, as well as Italian pianist Benedetti Michaelangeli. Right now, the piano master has his hands full preparing for an extraordinary reprise of his singular Rachmaninoff coup fifteen years ago. Prepare the red carpet for the triumphant return of a Filipino musical giant.

Hard Rock-Manila sets in a new place by Rizal Raoul Reyes

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HE iconic Hard Rock Café-Manila is back with a bang and promises to deliver quality entertainment and food to its guests. Since the core business of music place is entertainment, Bistro Group Vice President for Operations Rommel Turbanos told reporters in a recent interview that the 223-seater bistro at the S Maison mall in Conrad Hotel is expected to be Manila’s go-to destination for great food, muchsought-after merchandise and live performances, which the brand is known for all over the world. Furthermore, Hard Rock-Manila wants to expand its audience. “We’re trying to broaden the spectrum for the entertainment by coming up with some initiatives. Of course, it is going to be a hit-and-miss at the onset. But we’re now looking for a good choice of the bands and followings befitting the Hard Rock [stagings],” Turbanos shared. “The intention is to cater to a wider and broader market so we can attract a [larger] market base belonging to different genres and brand of entertainment,” he added. On January 10, Hard Rock-Manila gave a sample of their shows to the media. It paid tribute to British rock band Queen. Ice Bucket delivered a great set as it played several hits of the Freddy Mercury-led group. The millennial-dominated audience was impressed by the band’s rendition and joined in the singing when the band prodded them to. Turbanos said Hard Rock-Manila will also feature the music of the Beatles and other bands, including those from the 80s and 90s, plus

rhythm and blues. “We’ll look at something that can put energy in the songs. From the first week of operations, Hard Rock-Manila saw much energy similar to the level that Ice Bucket delivered when they performed Queen’s classic hits,” said Turbanos. With its second incarnation in the country, Hard Rock-Manila will carry the DNA of the Bistro Group known for operational excellence in the restaurant business, serving quality food and service, fielding efficient staff members and providing the desired ambiance to make people relaxed and enjoy the Hard Rock atmosphere. Management has also spruced up the new venue as it put a modern touch and invested heavily on state-of-the-art sound system. It also hired a consultant dedicated to set up the audio as well as the visuals and helped them look for the bands that will fit into the Hard Rock standard. Meanwhile, Turbanos said its research and development team is conducting a program on developing new products and designs to be approved by the parent company for its loyal clients. The Rock Shop offers some of the merchandise that have gained quite a cultlike status: from classic tees, hoodies, caps, to commemorative pins and everything else in between, so guests can dress like rock stars. Hard Rock-Manila also will enable music buffs to appreciate its rock-and-roll memorabilia collection that adorn the café. Symbols of famous music icons such as autographed guitars, world-tour costumes and rare photos were also purchased from auctions all over the world. Serving good food is one of Hard Rock’s

favorite surprises. The awesome lineup includes the original legendary burger, hickory smoked ribs and even an Asian-inspired menu to make everyone “twist and shout” as the Manila branch opens. An extensive drinks selection also awaits guests: from margaritas to signature favorites and “alternative rock” (alcohol-free) beverages—all

available in collectible glassware. Turbanos said Hard Rock-Manila is trying to shortlist the current number of 25 bands in its current roster. The scene is quite different from its counterparts in the region as there are only a limited number of performing bands in places such as Singapore.

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MUSIC ON PRINT

Johnny Cross: Variety is the spice of life I

by Darwin Fernandez

T has been an accepted standard of modern entertainment: Keep selling whatever works—the same sad songs; the good ole’ love teams; the usual story plots, the familiar faces, voice and themes. But for the group Johnny Cross, change keeps things interesting... Started by former BalahibumPooza members Rera Mallari (vocals) and Roman Prospero (guitar), they enlisted the talents of Lyndon Asmiralde (guitar), Yann Evasco (bass) and Lester Llansang (drummer) to form the band they consider as family. Named after the “Filipino every man,” or “Juan dela Cruz—with a modern twist,” the band started in a friendship their fans could relate to. “Nagsimula sa basketball,” Mallari shared, “When I was in Lyceum, my classmate Butch Vallega would invite us to play basketball during weekends at their place. There, I met his brothers Don and Ubay, and their neighbors Roman Prospero and Christian Capitan. I became friends with [those guys]. He continued: “We found a common passion for music and started to form a group. We were a garage band, in the real sense of the term, as we started playing at the garage of the Vallegas. Our first songs were Time Space Warp and ‘Upak.’” Later on, as the band members grew closer, Time Space Warp was included in Ed Formoso’s rock compilation, “A Dozen Alternatives (1994),” which was launched under Viva Records.

Blood, sweat and tears

THEIR time as a band wasn’t all “limelight and alcohol.” Their friendship was challenged when, just after a hard day’s recording of Time Space Warp, the Vallega brothers and Capitan figured in a road mishap and were hospitalized. The latter was the most afflicted, as his face got smashed on the car’s dashboard. After that, the young musician’s parents prohibited him from joining the band. But that was not the end of

JOHNNY CROSS: Yann Evasco (from left), Lyndon Asmiralde, Lester Llansang, Rera Mallari and Roman Prospero

I made those while walking around Greenhills. Maybe in 10 minutes, it was finished.” Mallari said in Filipino. “Then (Prospero) inserted the music afterwards. There were times the music came first, like ‘Nganga.’ The melody and lyrics of which took nearly two months to finish.” When asked where they get the inspiration to make music, Mallari said: “Variety is the spice of life.”

No rock-star mentality

ONE of the band’s gigs at The Gathering, B Side Makati

BalahibumPooza. Mallari and Prospero continued their music with new members, but never forgot the ones who were there with them from the beginning. “’Johnny Cross’ means the ‘modern-day Filipino,’” Mallari gleamed. “Someone who never fails to look back at his roots, while welcoming changes that come his way.”

Spice of life

FROM rock compilations to their own full album, Johnny Cross truly is a band you just can’t listen to only once. “Imagine traditional Pinoy rock that fuses with the sound of the new millennium,” described Mallari of their band’s genre. Their themes bounce from the sociopolitical and serious, to the feel-good and wacky. Almost ever lover of music will find a home in their albums “Subterranean (2008),” from

the fast, hard and heavy tracks “Upak,” “Masaker,” Breaktime 24/7; or the smooth pop-rock of “Bulalakaw,” Subterranean as well as Sleeping Beauty; and even songs for romance like “Awit” and “Abot-Tanaw.” Apart from all those, plans are afoot to launch a new, 12-song album. And despite contemporary releases being produced under major labels, they are going to circulate this one independently. “We launched the album ‘Subterranean’ under the aegis of (a network label) a few years ago. We have new materials for a new record, 12 songs, and we’re trying to independently release it, para ma-iba naman,” Mallari gleamed. “Nasubukan na namin ang major label, eh.” The band’s wide assortment of music starts from the manner they write songs. The moments of inspiration come at random. “’Bulalakaw’s’ melody and lyrics,

“I’M proud of the fact that we don’t consider ourselves as a band; we’re family,” Mallari opened his thoughts about the group’s togetherness. “We became friends first, then band members later. Those who left are still our friends, like Miki Boado. New (ones like) Lyndon and Yann (Ding) are likewise our pals. We don’t have ‘rockstar mentality’ group mates. Our drummer (Llansang) is an actor (for ‘Ang Probinsyano,’) but he’s one of the nicest guys you will meet.” When asked how he felt about the music and experiences, Mallari related to every artist, “The best thing about being a musician is that you’re like God, because you create a beautiful thing from nothing. You are a creator. Most of our songs tell something: We want (our listeners) to think and say, ‘Oo nga, ‘no?’” (For more of the band, follow their Facebook page: Johnny Cross-Pilipinas formerly BalahibumPooza.)

IS ANXIOUS THE NEW NORMAL? Majority of Gen Z admit to keeping anxieties to themselves

A NEW report by Kaspersky Lab ZAO reveals many people who belong to the so-called Generation Z are worried about almost anything but, which is worrisome, do not seek help. By Rizal Raoul Reyes Contributor

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ASPERSKY Lab ZAO released a report that shows Generation Z is the most anxious to date. The Russian cybersecurity firm’s new report also reveals the vast majority of young people admit they are worried about something in their lives and do not seek professional advice to help them cope with it. With their world dominated by online news and social media, nearly half of Generation Z—young people aged between 13 and 23—said they feel more anxious about their appearance than about their career prospects, money, terrorism and being bullied, Kaspersky Lab said. The study revealed these anxieties, or worries, can impact young people’s behavior, including how they approach social media. “For example, it is quite common for Gen Z to create a more manufactured, or perfect, perception of how they look,” Kaspersky Lab said. “Most young people also spend up to half an hour editing their images or videos ahead of posting them on social-media platforms, in order to create a flawless image.”

One more important finding is that girls are more insecure than boys, as they feel much more anxious about their appearance than their male counterparts. Nearly double the number of female Gen Z-ers, when compared to male Gen Z-ers, also admit to changing their eating habits (such as overeating or refraining from eating) because of appearance-related anxieties, Kaspersky Lab said in a statement. Body improvement and fitness content on social media makes young women feel worse than young men, and females have admitted to skipping a social event in the past year due to social anxiety.

Seeking help

WHAT’S more important is that Generation Z does not seek help on what to do when they are feeling anxious. The majority of young people do not visit a doctor for advice on how to cope with their anxieties. So, while many young people are struggling, they are not sure about how to deal with their feelings. In order to tackle this, Kaspersky Lab has joined forces with The Mix, a digital youth charity supporting people under the age of 25, to launch a new campaign to help turn Generation Z insecurities into securities. This new campaign, called #AndOwningIt, aims to help young people lead happier lives by empowering them to

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embrace the very things that make them feel insecure and allowing them to realize these insecurities are not barriers to happiness. Why? Because the first step to turning an insecurity into a strength is owning it. The campaign will be supported by custom t-shirts, featuring the most common insecurities young people have, encouraging them to accept their insecurities and start a conversation. All of the profits from selling the t-shirts will go to The Mix. “Across the world there are global issues which all Gen Z citizens face, but there is still a stigma surrounding how they share their feelings and talking openly about mental health. Feeling anxious or worried can become very isolating for young people—but the truth is that there are many who struggle with how they feel, and things do get better,” The Mix CEO Chris Martin was quoted in the statement as saying. “Our new campaign will help young people show others that they are not held back by any of their insecurities and the often hostile atmosphere of social media does not have to impact them.”

Mental health

MARTIN expressed elation in partnership with Kaspersky Lab to “continue our important work of helping Generation Z open up about their mental health and empowering them to flourish.”

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“We’re calling for everyone to own the aspect of their lives that others may criticize, or they are worried about, to prove there are no boundaries in becoming confident and successful,” he added. Kaspersky Lab and The Mix are urging Generation Z, along with their friends, to join the conversation across social media with the #AndOwningIt hashtag, as well as purchasing a t-shirt to show their support. “For many years, Kaspersky Lab has helped families and businesses fight online insecurity and remain protected from cyber threats,” Ilijana Vavan, Kaspersky Lab managing director for Europe, was quoted in the statement as saying. “Now we want to help young people around the globe turn their insecurities into securities and overcome their real-life anxieties, as they try to prosper in a digital age that no other generation has faced before. They fear they won’t be able to be successful and happy due to circumstances that are both in and out of their control.” Vavan believes the campaign would help Generation Z realize “they only create these barriers inside themselves and it’s in their own hands to get past these insecurities and own them.” As part of its study, Kaspersky Lab surveyed 1,003 people in the 13-23 age group in the United Kingdom to discover more about their insecurities and what they feel anxious about.

MILLENNIAL MONEY: HOW TO BUY HAPPINESS

AN unidentified person in front of several television sets for sale. Behavioral economists have been analyzing the links between happiness and money. AP By Gregory Karp NerdWallet

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F you have a few extra bucks that you don’t need for necessities like rent or loan payments, consider shopping for happiness. From ancient philosophers to current experts in behavioral economics, people have been pondering the link between money and happiness. Among them is author Gretchen Rubin, who thinks about happiness for a living. She’s written several books on happiness, including The Happiness Project and the forthcoming Outer Order, Inner Calm. She helped think through the question of whether you can use discretionary money to buy happiness. Short answer: probably not. But you can definitely spend money to increase it. A lifetime happiness shopping list might go like this. n Buy better relationships. Key to happiness is how you deal with other humans. It’s a recurring theme. “So if you’re spending your money to broaden relationships or deepen relationships, that’s a good way to spend your mon-

ey,” Rubin said. Use discretionary money to attend a college reunion or a friend’s destination wedding. A corollary, especially for younger adults: Buy a social life. Young adults often experience an intense period of socializing with friends, searching for life partners and networking for career opportunities—all potential sources of happiness. Maybe increase social bar-and-restaurant spending or pay for a dating app. n Buy experiences—and some things. The usual advice is “buy experiences, not things.” But that requires a deeper dive. “What I find is, often, the line between experiences and things is not that clear,” Rubin said. A bicycle can provide an experience, and a new camera can preserve one. So buy experiences, especially with other people, but also think about buying material things that allow you to have experiences or enhance them. n Buy solutions. Also known as “throw money at the problem” or “buy back time.” ‘‘One thing that makes people happier is to feel they have control over their time and they’re not doing boring chores,” Rubin said. So that could mean paying someone else to do yardwork or using a full-service laundry. It’s the balancing act of money vs. time. If you have a little extra money—

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probably because you sold your time to an employer—buy back time by paying for convenience. n Buy according to your interests. What represents a happy experience for one person is not necessarily the same for another. Someone who mostly dines out should probably not use discretionary money to buy a fancy set of kitchen knives. But someone who loves to cook? Maybe so. Rubin reminds us, “Beautiful tools make work a joy.” n Buy discipline. Want to improve your diet or fitness but have trouble summoning motivation? Use your money. That might mean choosing a pricier gym that’s more convenient or even hiring a personal trainer to add accountability. At the supermarket, it could mean buying healthy foods that are more convenient, like bagged salad. “If you can make it slightly easier to get yourself to do something you want to do, that’s a good way to spend your money,” Rubin said. n Buy stress relief. Is there a simple fix for recurring arguments or sources of stress, especially with a significant other? If you argue about a messy home, can you afford maid service? Or, can you afford not to get maid service? “The question is always, ‘Is it cheaper than marriage counseling?’” Rubin quipped. n Buy money peace. “One of the

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greatest luxuries money can buy is the freedom not to think about money,” Rubin said. “And financial security is something that really contributes to people’s happiness.” Paying off debt is a good idea, and building an emergency fund is an especially good one. It provides cash for not only real emergencies, like a car repair, but all those emergencies in our heads that never happen but keeps us up at night because they might. Happiness is silencing the haunting what-if voices. “The freedom from worry is a big boost to happiness,” she said. n Buy wiggle room. If you have extra cash, use it to allow yourself to be sloppy without consequence. It could be as simple as buying a few extra pairs of underwear so you’re not pressed to do laundry every seven days. n Buy a do-gooder high. Be charitable . “Contributing to others is a great way to support the causes you believe in and put your values into the world,” Rubin said. If you add a few of these purchases to your life’s shopping cart, chances are you’ll be happier when you check out. AP This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance web site NerdWallet. Gregory Karp is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: gkarp@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @spendingsmart.