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‘YOU MAY HUG THE PATIENT’

RAMON CARRETERO | DREAMSTIME.COM

Govt allots P1 million to Davao public hospital to raise awareness on psoriasis, a little-understood disease, and lighten the lives of sufferers.

By Manuel T. Cayon

AGUM CITY, Davao del Norte–It was one of the few times that Nympha, 48, did not slip on her pair of socks when she went to a posh shopping mall at midday of October 26. Her socks were part of her apparel since she’s a teenager, giving her a different sense of momentary freedom as she strolled.

The knee-high socks she constantly wear are not intended to satisfy her aesthetic sense. Neither does she want to make a loud fashion statement. On the contrary, these were her intimate shield from getting bullied or teased, every time she noticed those familiar itchy red spots that appear down at the lower portion of her feet, turning into plaque-like skin on the sides of her ankle. She did not know what the spots were all about during her younger years, and several more years later. But Nympha is definitely bothered by their periodic

appearance, and just disappear by themselves at certain periods. She began to accept these episodes as part of a recurring skin problem. Anyway, Nympha has this sense of security cover. She’s donning her socks to cover the spots, assured that nobody would take notice. It was only about two years ago that she came to know the medical term for that skin predicament: It’s psoriasis. She would soon hear other cases worse than hers, and the red patches that are much exposed in other body parts. A dermatologist she consulted bared that this skin ailment

even made some victims suicidal, most of them, anxious and scared that society would cast them off from the rest of humanity, much like lepers in Biblical times. Nympha, along with some 100 other patients or interested shoppers, watched video presentations of the disease, and listened to doctors’ accounts of how the disease has remained incurable and how proper personal management could contain its episodes. Yet, the bigger intention of the gathering of psoriasis sufferers for a lecture and medical mission in this part of the Davao region is to

amplify the social and psychological need of sufferers to be accepted and not shooed away or avoided. “You can actually hug someone with psoriasis,” Dr. Victoria Patino-Guillano, a derma-pathologist and president of the Psoriasis Foundation, assured. The foundation, in fact, she said, has allotted one activity in one program early this year for a public hug. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) already came out with an official statement categorizing psoriasis as a noncommunicable disease. Continued on A2

Fear of 7: The number that could make China’s currency a trade-war weapon

S the United States and China swap threats and mete out increasingly punishing tariffs, the world is watching to see whether Beijing turns to one of its most potent economic weapons. It involves the number 7. China’s currency, the renminbi, has been gradually losing value since mid-April, and on Tuesday it was at its weakest point in a decade. If the currency weakens any further, it could fall below the psychologically important level of

7 renminbi to the dollar. The last time it took more than 7 renminbi to buy a dollar was in May 2008, as the world was slipping into a financial crisis. The Trump administration doesn’t like the idea of a weaker

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.6060

Chinese currency. That could give what it considers an unfair advantage to China’s exporters. In the arsenal of trade disputes, currencies can be potent weapons. But China has good reason to keep its currency from weakening, and it appears to have acted in recent weeks to prop it up. Currencies may be potent weapons, but they are blunt ones— and they can boomerang against those who use them. There is nothing particularly threatening about the number 7 itself. The renminbi at 7.002 to the dollar is pretty similar to the currency at 6.998 to the dollar. But passing that number would be significant symbolically. It would suggest China is prepared to let its currency weaken further still. That would give China’s

HTTIN | DREAMSTIME.COM

By Keith Bradsher | New York Times News Service

See “Fear of 7,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4740 n UK 68.1279 n HK 6.8346 n CHINA 7.6937 n SINGAPORE 38.7131 n AUSTRALIA 38.0871 n EU 60.8160 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.2919

Source: BSP (October 31, 2018 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, November 4, 2018

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‘YOU MAY HUG THE PATIENT’ Continued from A1

The WHO described psoriasis as one “which can involve the skin, nails and joints, [as] a chronic, painful, disfiguring and disabling noncommunicable disease [NCD] for which there is no cure.” “It negatively impacts on quality of life. Some of those who suffer from the disease develop chronic, inflammatory arthritis [psoriatic arthritis] that leads to joint deformations and disability. People with psoriasis are also reported to be at an increased risk of developing other serious clinical conditions, such as cardiovascular and other NCDs.” Beyond defining it, the WHO warned that people with psoriasis are frequently “stigmatized and excluded from normal social environments. They commonly report experiencing loneliness, isolation and feeling of being unattractive. As such, there is a significant cost to mental well-being, such as higher rates of depression. Disability, lost opportunities in professional life and high treatment expenses can add to the significant socioeconomic burden for people with psoriasis. Costs are substantial also for the health-care system.” Guillano also found noteworthy the allocation by the health department, the first to be done so far, to support the social advocacy of the Southern Philippine Medical Center (SPMC), the country’s biggest government hospital here. It is also here where the group of dermatologists and pathologists united to help remove the stigma associated with the disease.

‘T

HEY [psoriasis sufferers] commonly report experiencing loneliness, isolation and feeling of being unattractive. As such, there is a significant cost to mental well-being, such as higher rates of depression. Disability, lost opportunities in professional life and high treatment expenses can add to the significant socioeconomic burden for people with psoriasis. Costs are substantial also for the health-care system.”—WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

THE Psoriasis Foundation stages a public hug at SM City Davao. MANUEL T. CAYON

The Department of Health’s Disease Prevention and Control Bureau has been assigned to “suballot MOOE [maintenance and other operating expendistures]” worth P1 million to the SPMC activities on psoriasis. Guillano’s group has reached Cebu and other parts of the country to widen the public awareness

campaign on psoriasis and soften the personal burden carried by patients. She said psoriasis detection and management falls under the dermatologists’ care, the disease being a manifestation in the skin, though the complete care of the patient must involve the family and community.

Some 125 million persons worldwide are psoriatic, and there is an estimate of 1 percent to 2 percent of the population in the Philippines, or roughly about 1 million to 2 million Filipinos. As the WHO has admonished, Guillano said the social pressure exerted on Filipinos with psoriasis could have a higher and staggering impact on patients than on their personal and family burden to sustain their medication and care. Many psoriasis patients have since come out of their isolation, but a lot of efforts and help from families would be needed, Guillano said. Dr. John Elmer Quilisadio, a consultant on rheumatology at the Davao Regional Medical Center, told psoriasis patients and shoppers here how a patient in Manila was once rushed to the Philippine General Hospital where he spent his internship and first few years of practice. “That man was emaciated like what you see in that film Walking Dead. But with proper management and medical care, he has since recovered,” he narrated. “It is not the end of it. There is a lot of hope for [all psoriasis] patients,” Quilisadio said.

Fear of 7 Continued from A1

factory owners an advantage when they sell their goods in the United States. It would also undermine the tariffs the Trump administration has levied on more than $250 billion in Chinese-made products.

How would that help China?

SAY you own a Chinese factory making lawn ornaments, and you sell a lot of pink flamingos to an American retailer. You price each at $1—they may sell for much more in the United States, but shipping and storage account for most of that. When the renminbi is 6 to the dollar, that translates to 6 renminbi in sales. But when the currency depreciates to 7 to the dollar, that $1 flamingo is worth 7 renminbi in sales to you. Or you can cut the price—say, from $1 to 85.7 cents—and still make your original 6 renminbi in sales. Your American competitor, who has to buy and sell in dollars, has to grudgingly cut prices to compete. (It’s a lot more complicated in the real world. The plastic and metal for the plastic flamingo may have been imported to China and are priced in dollars. But bear with us.) A weaker currency can also help Chinese exporters beat President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Right now, the United States imposes tariffs of about 10 percent on a wide variety of Chinese goods that arrive at an American port. If the renminbi has fallen 10 percent, the tariff is basically nullified.

What’s driving the decline?

SOME politicians in the United States and elsewhere have long said China manipulates its currency, even though Washington officials, including in the Trump administration, have stopped short of official accusations. But in this case, many of the forces weakening the currency are beyond Beijing’s immediate control. China’s financial system is firmly controlled by the government, giving the country’s leaders a great degree of control over the renminbi’s worth. Officials set a daily benchmark rate for the renminbi and allow its value to move a bit above or below that level in currency markets. Chinese officials say each day’s trading activity helps determine the value they set for the renminbi the next day, but they disclose few details about how that works. On Tuesday, Beijing set that guidepost at 6.9574, just a hair’s breadth stronger than 7. In the

world of foreign exchange, a higher number means a weaker currency. Right now, traders are sending Beijing a single message: The renminbi should be worth less. The people and companies that hold the currency have become increasingly nervous about China’s slowing economic growth, slumping stock market, fragile real estate market and seemingly intractable trade war with the United States. Inflation has begun to tick upward, and rising prices tend to make holding the relevant currency less attractive. There are other reasons. Since late July, Beijing has tried to prop up the economy by having the state-controlled banking sector increase lending, making money more available. That means even more renminbi sloshing around, weakening the currency’s value. While China hasn’t raised interest rates, the Federal Reserve in Washington has. That makes it attractive for many people to sell their renminbi and buy dollars. Would you rather have a one-year renminbi certificate of deposit that pays 1.5 percent interest now, or a one-year dollar CD that pays out 2.6 percent or more?

Is renminbi drop a deliberate act?

NOT quite. If anything, Beijing is trying to keep the renminbi from falling too fast. China has several ways to bolster the currency’s value. It can follow the Fed’s example and raise interest rates. That would give Chinese families and companies more incentive to keep their money in China. But that would raise borrowing costs in China, just as the economy is slowing.

Beijing could buy up its own currency instead. Like anything else, the renminbi’s value rises when it is scarcer. Thanks to the way it has managed its currency over the years, China has amassed the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves: a $3 trillion stash it keeps in dollars, euros, pounds, yen and other currencies. It has begun to tap that stash. When China’s central bank released its monthly balance sheet a week ago, it showed a drop of almost $20 billion in foreign currency just during September. “Selling almost $20 billion in a month won’t break the bank,” said Brad W. Setser, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “But it does indicate the direction of current market pressure.”

What are the broader risks?

THREE years ago, as its economy slowed, China devalued the renminbi in part to give its factories a helping hand. The financial world was shocked. Markets plunged. As Chinese officials hurried to explain themselves, people and companies began shifting their money—money that China’s economy needed—outside the country. A year later, China had spent more than $500 billion from its reserves in an effort to shore up the renminbi. It later tightened controls on the financial system to shut off many ways people used to get money out of the country. If the trade war intensifies, China may try to move more aggressively with its currency. But as history shows, there can be a price to pay.

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US charges China-controlled company in trade secrets theft

In this May 16, 2018, photo, a mine shaft is covered near Eureka, Utah. In Utah alone, the state is trying to seal more than 10,000 open mines with cinderblocks and metal grates after people have died in rock falls and all-terrain-vehicle crashes and from poisonous air over the past three decades. For the state, the message is as clear as its skull-and-crossbones signs: Stay out and stay alive. The program has been around more than 30 years, and the division has sealed some 6,000 abandoned mines. AP

Effort under way to seal old Utah mines, but some want them open

UR EK A , Uta h—Underneath the mountains and deserts of the US West lie hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines, an underground world that can hold serious danger and unexpected wonder. They are a legacy of the region’s prospecting past, when almost anyone could dig a mine and then walk away, with little cleanup required, when it stopped producing. In Utah alone, the state is tr ying to seal more than 10,000 open mines w ith cinderblocks and metal grates after people have died in rock falls and allt e r r a i n - v e h i c l e c r a s he s a nd f rom poisonous a ir over t he past three decades. Just this month in A rizona, a prospector broke his left leg and ank le after plunging to the bottom of an old mine shaft. He spent nearly three days there w ith no food or water fending off rat t lesn a kes before a f r iend heard his cries for help. St i l l , not e ver yone w a nt s to see t he mines c losed. For years, a ded icated subcu lture of e x plorers has been slipping u nderg rou nd to see t u n ne l s l ined w it h spark l ing quar t z, centur y-old ra i l cars and caverns that open in the earth like bur ied ba l lrooms. “Nobody has walked the path you’re walking for 100 years,” said Jeremy MacLee, who uses old mining documents and hightech safety equipment to find and explore forgotten holes, mostly in Utah. He also lends his expertise

to searches for missing people. That’s how he got to know Bi l l Powe l l , who lo ok e d for his 18-year-old son, Riley, for months before the teenager and his girlfriend were found dead in a mine shaft outside the small town of Eureka. The teens’ families formed a close bond with MacLee and other volunteer searchers. Despite his painful memories, Bill Powell decided to see what draws his friend to those dark recesses deep in the desert. “It’s a whole different life. T he u nderg rou nd l i fe,” s a id Powell, who has a gravelly voice, close-cropped gray beard and a quick smile. On a recent day, he and MacLee joined a group of friends in front of a mountainside opening near Eureka, wearing helmets, oxygen meters and strong lights, and a carrying stash of extra batteries. Cool air blasted from the opening, cutting through the desert heat. The group walked between metal tracks that once carried ore carts, making their way through a tunnel shored up in places with squared-off timbers. After nearly a mile, the railcar tracks suddenly dropped into an abyss as the tunnel opened wide into a huge cavern. A hundred years ago, it would be a bustling scene lit with candles and carbide lights, as miners climbed a scaffolding the size of a seven-story building to drill out lead and silver. Now, it is silent and pitchblack, illuminated only by the searching headlamp beams. AP

Costliest carrier was delivered without elevators to lift bombs

he $13-billion Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the US Navy’s costliest warship, was delivered last year without elevators needed to lift bombs from below deck magazines for loading on fighter jets. Previously undisclosed problems with the 11 elevators for the ship built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. add to long-standing reliability and technical problems with two other core systems—the electromagnetic system to launch planes and the arresting gear to catch them when they land. The Advanced Weapons Elevators, which are moved by magnets rather than cables, were supposed to be installed by the vessel’s original delivery date in May 2017. Instead, final installation was delayed by problems, including four instances of unsafe “uncommanded movements” since 2015, according to the Navy. While progress was being made on the carrier’s other flawed systems, the elevator is “our Achilles heel,” Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters in August without providing details. The elevator system is “just another example of the Navy pushing technology risk into design and construction—without fully demonstrating it,” said Shelby Oakley, a director with the US Government Accountability Office who monitors Navy shipbuilding. Problems with the elevators add to questions about the Navy’s plan to bundle the third and fourth carriers in the $58-billion Ford class into one contract. It’s part of the service’s push to expand its 284-ship fleet to 355 as soon as the mid-2030s. Congress gave the Navy permission for the two-at-once contract in this year’s de-

fense spending and policy bills despite the unresolved technical issues and the lack of a Navy estimate so far of how much money it would save the service. Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan continues to review the contracting plan. The Navy says that the first carrier will be fully combat-capable, including the elevators, by July—the end of its current 12-month pier-side shakedown period in Virginia. Navy weapons buyer James Geurts cited what he called “considerable progress” on the Ford, including on the elevators, in a July 6 memo to Pentagon acquisition head Ellen Lord. The Navy in May requested permission from Congress in May to increase the Ford’s cost cap by $120 million, partly to fix elevator issues “to preclude any effect on the safety of the ship and personnel.” The safety issues related to the uncommanded movements, the Navy said in an e-mail. Beci Brenton, a spokesman for Newport News, Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls, said “all the elevators are installed.” She said the weapons elevator is among “the most advanced technologies being incorporated into”the carrier and “its completion has been delayed due to a number of first-in-class issues,” Brenton said. “We are committed to working through the remaining technical challenges,” she said. William Couch, a spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command, said the elevators are “in varying levels of construction and testing.” Six are far enough along to be operated by the shipbuilder, and testing has started on two of those, he said. All 11 “should have been completed and delivered with the ship delivery,”according to Couch. Bloomberg News

OS ANGELES—The United States has charged a governmentcontrolled company in China with stealing trade secrets from an American semiconductor company, the Justice Department said on Thursday as it outlined an initiative focused on what officials said was the growing threat of Chinese economic espionage.

The prosecution comes amid heightened trade tensions between China and the US and as the Trump administration raises alarms that Beijing remains intent on stealing technology and inventions to gain an economic upper hand. The two nations have each imposed billions of dollars in tariffs on each other in a reflection of a confrontational relationship with national security, as well as economic ramifications. The case, which involves trade secrets worth up to $8.75 billion and allegedly stolen from Idahobased Micron Technology Inc., is the latest in a series of prosecutions targeting Chinese corporate espionage. On Tuesday, for instance, federal prosecutors in California charged Chinese intelligence officers and hackers working for them with trying to steal information on commercial jet engines. Other cases have involved stolen wind turbine technology and software source code. “China—like any advanced

nation—must decide whether it wants to be a trusted partner on the world stage, or whether it wants to be known around the world as a dishonest regime running a corrupt economy founded on fraud, theft and strong-arm tactics,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference announcing the criminal case and a new China Initiative. The charges name two companies, one in China and one in Taiwan, and three Taiwanese defendants. A Justice Department spokesman said the defendants were served summonses in Taiwan and that none is in US custody. The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment Thursday. One of the charged individuals had been general manager and chairman of a company that Micron acquired in 2013 and then went to work two years later for the Taiwan semiconductor company, United Microelectronics Corp., or UMC, where prosecutors say he orchestrated the theft.

That man, identified by prosecutors as Chen Zhengkun, recruited both of his co-defendants to join him at UMC. One, according to prosecutors, downloaded more than 900 confidential and proprietary Micron files before he left and stored them in personal cloud storage and on external hard drives so that he could access them at his new job with UMC. The company partnered with a Chinese-controlled business, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., to mass-produce technology memory storage products used in computer electronics. That technology, known as dynamic random-access memory, is something that the Chinese government had identified as an important priority because its own companies could not develop such advanced capabilities and had to rely on companies outside of China, the Justice Department said The indictment was announced one day after the Trump administration imposed restrictions on technology exports to the Chinese company that was charged, citing national security concerns. Beijing has spent heavily to build up Jinhua and other chipmakers as part of efforts to transform China into a global leader in robotics, artificial intelligence and other technology industries. The United States also Thursday sued to block the transfer of trade secrets and to prevent the companies from exporting to the US any products that they manufactur ing by e x ploiting stolen information. In addition, the Justice Department announced an initiative to

target Chinese economic espionage by identifying priority cases and ensuring there are enough resources available. The administration has characterized China, along with Russia, as a strategic competitor of the United States. The US has taken an increasingly confrontational stance toward what it characterizes as China’s “predatory” economic policies. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo set the tone in a June speech where he accused China of an “unprecedented level of larceny” of intellectual property. Tensions over trade in particular have exacerbated relations between the two world powers. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese products in an effort to narrow the US trade deficit with China. China has retaliated with tariff increases on $110 billion of American products. The tensions have extended into security issues. China has criticized US arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, and the US has renewed its criticism of China’s islandbuilding in the disputed South China Sea. In recent weeks, Trump has accused China of meddling in US elections but hasn’t presented substantive evidence of such interference. In a tweet on Thursday, Trump said he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that they had talked about many topics, but mostly trade. He said US-China discussions on trade are “moving along nicely” with a meeting being scheduled at the G-20 summit in Argentina, which begins late this month. AP

Justice dept files raps vs Malaysian financier in multibillion-dollar scam

A S H I N G T O N —T h e Just ice Depar t ment announced charges on Thursday against a fugitive Malaysian financier and two former Goldman Sachs bankers accused in a money-laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund created to spur economic development projects in that country. A three-count indictment charges Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, with misappropriating money from the state-owned fund and using it for bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials, to pay for luxury real estate, art and jewelry in the United States and to help finance Hollywood movies, including The Wolf of Wall Street. Also charged was a former Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to moneylaundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violate foreign bribery laws. Another former bank official, Ng Chong Hwa, 51, also known as Roger Ng, was arrested earlier Thursday in Malaysia and accused of circumventing internal accounting controls, prosecutors said. Leissner’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment. It was not clear if Ng had a lawyer. A spokesman for Goldman

Sachs, which the indictment says raised about $6.5 billion through bond offerings for the fund, said the firm “continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating this matter.” Police in Malaysia said in July that Low had fled Macau to an unknown destination. Before facing criminal charges, Low became well known in the New York City and Los Angeles club scenes. In 2012 he threw a lavish 31st birthday bash attended by Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian and other celebrities that The Wall Street Journal called the “wildest party (Las) Vegas ever saw.” Low, who remains at large, issued a statement through a spokesman maintaining his innocence. “Mr. Low simply asks that the public keep an open mind regarding this case until all of the evidence comes to light, which he believes will vindicate him,” the statement said. Leissner acknowledged paying millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, according to court records. He was ordered to forfeit $43.7 million as part of his guilty plea. The set of charges represent the first criminal prosecutions in the US arising from the epic corruption scandal at the state investment

fund known as 1MDB. The Justice Department in 2016 moved to recover more than $1 billion that it said had been stolen, filing a civil complaint that sought the forfeiture of property, including a Manhattan penthouse, a Beverly Hills mansion, a luxury jet and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. In a speech last year in Washington, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions denounced the scandal as “kleptocracy at its worst.” The pilfered funds were used on a “lavish spending spree,” the attorney general said, including a $265-million yacht and a $100-million investment in the music label EMI. “In total, 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than $4.5 billion in funds through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States,” Sessions said. The fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was set up in 2009 by then-Prime Minister Najib Razak to promote economic development. It relied primarily on debt to fund investment and economic development projects and was overseen by senior Malaysian government officials, according to court records.

Najib chaired its advisory board and as finance minister held veto power over its activities. Low, a friend of Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, had no official role at 1MDB but had considerable influence over its dealings and was in frequent contact with Najib, US authorities have said. “As noted in the indictment today, Mr. Low held no formal position at 1MDB, nor was he ever employed by Goldman Sachs, or the governments of Malaysia or Abu Dhabi,” Low’s spokesman said. The scandal has already had major political ramifications in Malaysia, where Najib in 2015 sacked his attorney general and a deputy prime minister for demanding answers about 1MDB. A parliamentary inquiry found many irregularities but had no mandate to prosecute. Former leader Mahathir Mohamad, outraged over the scandal, came out of retirement and the opposition united behind him in the national elections, leading to Najib’s ouster in May. Najib and his former treasury chief were charged last week with criminal breach of trust involving 6.64 billion ringgit ($1.6 billion), charges that came on top of 32 earlier counts of corruption, breach of trust and money laundering that Najib faces in connection with the 1MDB scandal. AP

Reduced immigration could slow economy–Fed’s Powell

ederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in written responses to a Democratic senator, said reducing immigration could slow the economy over the longer run by limiting growth in the US labor force. The comments came in a written response to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat who asked Powell if he agreed with pro-immigration comments by Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari.

Kashkari, whose parents came from India and wife is from the Philippines, called immigration “as close to a free lunch as there is” for the American economy, according to a Wall Street Journal opinion column in January. The Fed chairman’s remarks in the August letter to the senator underscore some of the contradictions of the administration’s economic policies. While its fiscal measures could stimulate growth and investment,

trade and immigration policies could work against the economy. Powell told Cortez Masto that immigration accounts for about one-half of population growth annually, and that it directly affects gains in the labor force and thus economic increases. “Thus, from an economic growth standpoint, reduced immigration would result in lower population growth and thus, all else equal, slower trend economic growth,” Powell wrote in the August 29

correspondence that was obtained by Bloomberg News through a Freedom of Information Act request. “As you know, immigration policy is for Congress and the administration to decide.” Powell has studiously avoided veering into issues such as trade policy that are the domain of the administration or Congress. To economists along the political spectrum, his immigration remarks would be seen as a fact. Bloomberg News

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Sri Lanka’s strongman is back, and he’s brought his family too

n a compound secured by the Sri Lankan elite special task force that protects the island nation’s top leaders, beneath framed photos of himself in army uniform, the brother of the country’s newly installed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is mulling over a presidential run. “I’m not interested in actually becoming a minister,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was appointed by his brother to be Sri Lanka’s defense secretary in 2005 just before the climax of a brutal 26-year civil war, said in an interview. “But a lot of people want me to contest for the presidency.” In a country where it is common to appoint family members to run key ministries, the comments aren’t much of a surprise. But they suggest the Rajapaksa clan is preparing to once again dominate politics in a nation it controlled from 2005 and 2015, when the family lost power in an election shock. Now they are back, nearly as unexpectedly as they fell. In a surprise move last Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena fired his former ally Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed the mustachioed former president as his replacement. The move stunned everyone from officials at international ratings agencies—who fear the

c h aos t h reatens debt repayments—to activists who worry the return of Sri Lanka’s strongman could erode improvements in civil liberties. There’s also renewed concerns the island nation will once again tilt toward China, which holds much of the enormous debt racked up during Rajapaksa’s previous rule, even if Colombo is not as enthusiastic as before. “Rajapaksa learned hard lessons from his last experience dealing with China on Belt and Road investments,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund’s Asia program. “Although Beijing will be happy to see his return—and was expecting it in the next round of elections anyway—it is unlikely that the dynamic will be the same as the last time he was in power.”

Strong support

R ajapaksa could cement his return to power later this month when Sirisena reconvenes parliament, even as Wickremesinghe

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Tharaka Basnayaka/Bloomberg

contests his removal as “blatantly illegal.” He’s already taken on additional duties as finance minister, and late Thursday issued a slew of populist economic measures. He cut fuel prices, slashed taxes on agricultural commodities, implemented a guaranteed price scheme for certain crops and pledged to waive interest on farmers’ loans. Rajapaksa also exempted remittances—a key source of foreign exchange—from income tax and cut levies on telecommunications services. Across Colombo, freshly plasteredup posters show a smiling Rajapaksa, who had triumphed against Wickremesinghe’s administration in local elections earlier this year. Despite the controversial way in which he reclaimed power, the leader still enjoys strong domestic support for his role in ending the war, particularly among Sri Lanka’s Sinhala majority. Unlike Wickremesinghe, who wears western suits and seems more comfortable in Colombo’s halls of power and foreign capitals, Rajapaksa is from the country’s rural, southern Hambantota district. He dresses in traditional Sri Lankan robes, speaks in a

folksy stream-of-consciousness manner and is very superstitious, wearing rings and bracelets he believes ward off misfortune. As his government launched a final assault on the Tamil Tigers in 2009, his administration was condemned by human-rights groups for extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and detaining journalists and activists. There are fears that “a Rajapaksa administration will continue humanrights violations in the guise of nationalism and security,” says Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

First family

At his residence on the outskirts of the capital Colombo, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told Bloomberg many international observers don’t fully appreciate Sri Lanka’s conflict had turned Colombo and other parts of the country into a war zone, with daily car bombs and suicide attacks. Their Tamil Tiger opponents, he said, had full control over large tracts of territory and had similar weaponry to the armed forces. “Whether it is in Sri Lanka or another country, war is not a good thing,” he said. “It’s an ugly thing. But we didn’t create the war. Mahinda Rajapaksa didn’t create the war. We ended the war.” Rajapaksa’s brother denied the new government would once again lean on China to provide loans. “We did not favor any particular country,” he said. “We want to work with anybody who wants to work with Sri Lanka, whether it’s west or east or whatever. And also we want to work with international organizations, but they have to be fair.”

‘Financial crisis’

Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, continues to fight. He told Bloomberg he has the numbers to triumph over his rival in a vote when the suspended parliament reconvenes. He said Rajapaksa’s administration racked up debts it couldn’t repay, and the unity government of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe had to “take the burden.” Now, he added, the political crisis threatens Sri Lanka’s looming debt payments. “Without legitimacy, how can you deal with debt?” Wickremesinghe asked. “A constitutional crisis is enough to create a financial crisis.”

‘Political turbulence’

At an intersection on the outskirts of Colombo, a billboard of the entire Rajapaksa family looms down. Mahinda and Gotabhaya are there, as is the other brother and former lawmaker Basil, and son Namal, a current lawmaker. The sign sends “good wishes to the new prime minister,” but has an ominous message for the old one. “Keep your self respect and leave,” it warns. “Otherwise we know how to get rid of you. This battle is not over. We are alert!” Some western diplomats are not yet engaging with any of the government’s newly appointed Cabinet ministers while Rajapaksa’s appointment is still being contested. Still, Namal Rajapaksa insisted Sri Lanka would continue to pay its debts, and that his father’s Chinese-funded infrastructure projects had brought value to the country. He said their move to oust Wickremesinghe was constitutionally valid. Bloomberg News

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Cannabis execs, investors see Asia saying ‘yes’ to pot

he cannabis investor conference in Hong Kong this week started with some stern warnings against smoking pot in the city, which can land you in prison. Then folks got down to talking business. The Hong Kong Cannabis Investor Symposium on Thursday drew executives from some of the world’s hottest cannabis firms together with more than 200 attendees to talk about the plant’s misconceptions and its investment opportunities. Pot stocks have returned 73 percent in the last 12 months, outpacing Bitcoin, gold and any major equity index. And, despite the prohibition in Hong Kong, many of the forum’s participants said they see attitudes in Asia changing. “When people see legalization in the US is being accepted, it’s very likely the same trend will happen in Asia,” said Jim McCormick, chief operating officer of KushCo Holdings Inc., a California-based provider of cannabis packaging services. “Sooner or later, it’s going to happen.” Sumit Mehta, chief executive of Mazakali, a cannabis investment-banking platform based in San Francisco, said legalization in states across America would trigger changes in Asia because “it was the US that exported propaganda against cannabis around the world.” Some pot entrepreneurs said they were already making forays into China, seizing opportunities in medical cannabis, which is cultivated in the country under government control. CannAcubed, a grower with its main offices in Singapore (where drug trafficking can carry the death penalty), is working with China’s state-owned health fund to build an industrial hemp park in Yunnan province, with 100,000 hectares of land, according to the firm’s chief executive, Glenn Davies. Others came hoping to tap Asian investment money. Dooma Wendschuh, chief executive officer at Province Brands, a Toronto-based company developing cannabis beer, said he expects investors in the region to buy at least a third of a 40-percent stake in a $23-million deal to take the firm public, planned for this year. One Hong Kong investor and several others from Japan have already committed, he said. Peter Bi, manager of a state-owned investment fund in Guangzhou, was one Chinese investor who he said was drawn to the forum because of the wild rally in pot stocks. Bi, who asked his fund not be named because of its public relations policy, said he was researching western producers of medical hemp expanding into China. “Hemp cultivation for industrial and medical use will rise in China,” he said. “Foreign companies with advanced technology for processing can benefit.” Bloomberg News

Merkel’s economic legacy: Austerity, rage, populism

ONDON—In the political obituaries chronicling the departure of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the world is preparing to lose a rare source of sober-minded leadership at a time rife with dangerous tumult. For the European Union, the loss appears grave. The bloc is contending with a nasty divorce with Britain, rising authoritarianism from Hungary and Poland, and a showdown with a populist government in Italy. Merkel’s pending retirement will remove a stalwart champion for the union’s cohesion. So say countless pundits and editorials. But many economists take a less generous view of the German chancellor’s place in modern European history. Far from a hero who anchored the bloc under profound challenges, she played a leading role in amplifying an economic crisis, allowing it to erupt into an existential threat to the European Union and its shared euro currency. The resulting distress has undermined faith in the European bloc while fueling anti-establishment grievances across the continent. Like many national leaders, Merkel, time and again, catered to domestic political interests at the expense of broader European concerns, dismissing calls that Germany’s prodigious savings be put on the line to rescue debt-saturated members of the bloc. She impeded measures aimed at coordinating banking rules and public spending across national boundaries. She adamantly opposed debt forgiveness to Greece, even as it teetered toward insolvency, and even as joblessness exceeded 27 percent—a special source of outrage given that German banks were primary lenders in Greece’s catastrophic explosion of borrowing. “She was at the heart of the design of the flawed Greek program, which not only imposed austerity, but most importantly resisted restructuring the debt in order to save the German and French banks,” said Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate economist at Columbia University in New York. “The rhetoric that she used suggested that the crisis was caused by irresponsible behavior by Greece, rather than irresponsibility on the part of the lender.” In place of public spending to soften the edges of the crisis, Merkel used Germany’s power as the largest economy in Europe to force troubled governments to slash support for pensions, health care and education. In the process, the moves helped lengthen and deepen a devastating economic downturn. “This is what history will remember, a complete mismanagement,” said Amandine Crespy, a political scientist at the Institute for European Studies at the Free University of Brussels. “Austerity very clearly has deepened or even created this great gap, political fragmentation between the north and the south, between the debtors and the creditor countries that is very, very difficult to fix, and has had dramatic political consequences in terms of fueling the populist forces.” Sifting through history is a complex exercise open to divergent interpretations. One can never know how events might have transpired absent some variable. Anyone in Merkel’s position would have found the going difficult. She oversaw Europe’s most powerful country during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, then the European debt crisis, and then the surge of immigrants from some of the poorest, most troubled nations on earth. Some argue that no German chancellor could have held on to the office while behaving much differently in the realm of economic policy. Given a deep cultural proclivity toward thrift, moral revulsion over debt and a fear of rising prices dating to the hyperinflation after World War I, Germans were aghast at any arrangement in which their savings were on the hook for the recklessness of Greeks and Italians. “She had to sell German voters on the idea that Germany would send resources to bail out European countries that were already engaged in irresponsible policies,” said Nicola Borri, a finance professor at Luiss, a university in Rome. “That was the problem. Politically, it’s really hard to criticize Merkel.” New York Times News Service

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

Sunday

Sunday, November 4, 2018

A look at Pakistan’s blasphemy law over the years

series of anti-blasphemy measures introduced in Pakistan in the 1980s made it illegal to insult Islam.

People have been accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, tearing pages of the holy Koran or writing offensive remarks on the walls of mosques. Sometimes, the law has been used to settle a personal dispute. Asia Bibi, a Christian who spent eight years on death row under Pakistan’s divisive blasphemy law, had her conviction overturned on Wednesday in Islamabad by the country’s highest court. She was convicted in 2010 under the law after she was accused of insulting the Prophet. Days earlier, two fellow female farmworkers had quarreled with her after she drank from a cup. They argued that the cup was unclean because of her faith. Bibi plans to leave the country, her family said on Thursday, as radical Islamists mounted rallies for a second day against the verdict, blocking roads and burning tires in protest. The charge of blasphemy carries the death penalty in this majority Muslim nation. Bibi’s acquittal immediately

raised fears of religious v iolence—and presented a challenge to the government of new Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to power this summer partly by pursuing the Islamist agenda. Khan warned Islamist protesters on Wednesday night not to “test the patience of the state.” Bibi remained at an undisc losed locat ion on T hu rsd ay where the 54-year-old mother of five was being held for security reasons, awaiting her formal release, her brother James Masih told The Associated Press. Masih said his sister simply would not be safe in Pakistan. “She has no other option and she will leave the country soon,” he said. Masih would not disclose the country of her destination but both France and Spain have offered asylum. Bibi’s husband, Ashiq Masih, had returned from Britain with their children in mid-October and was waiting for her to join them, the brother added. The Islamists also called for the killing of the three judges,

PakistanI Christians pray for Asia Bibi, a Catholic mother of five who has been on death row since 2010 accused of blasphemy in Multan, Pakistan. Pakistan’s top court on Wednesday acquitted Bibi, who was sentenced to death under the country’s controversial blasphemy law, a landmark ruling that sparked protests by hard-line Islamists and raised fears of violence. AP/Irum Asim

including Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who acquitted Bibi. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Islamists blocked a key road linking the capital Islamabad with the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, demanding Bibi

be publicly hanged. Authorities deployed paramilitary troops, signaling they could move in to clear the roads. Hundreds also blocked another key motorway linking Islamabad with major cities, such as Lahore

She [Asia Bibi] has no other option and she will leave the country soon.”—Masih

and Peshawar, chanting slogans against Bibi and demanding her execution. At least 1,472 people were charged under the law between 1987 and 2016, according to the Center for Social Justice, an advocacy group. Of those, 730 were Muslims, 501 were Ahmedis— a sect that is reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics— while 205 were Christians and 26 were Hindus. Some other cases over the years: n In 2002 the high court ordered the release of Ayub Masih, a Christian sentenced to death four years earlier for blasphemy. His attorney said Masih had never made the allegedly blasphemous statements, but instead was a victim of a plot to steal his land. n In 2012 a man accused of desecrating a Koran was dragged by a crowd from a police station in Bahawalpur, a city in the deeply conservative central Pakistan. They beat him to death and then burned his body. They also burned several police cars, as well as the possessions and furniture of a local police chief. n Mohammad Mansha, from a village in south Punjab, was targeted because he had fought with members of one village who accused him of blasphemy. He served nine years before authorities decided he was innocent but they couldn’t release him in 2017

because they feared a riot. n An 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome was accused in 2012 of burning pages of a booklet used to learn the basics of the Koran. The charges were later dropped and the cleric who made the accusation was arrested. n In 2013 police arrested as many as 45 Muslims in connection with the killing of a Christian couple for allegedly desecrating the Koran. Hundreds of Muslims took part in the attack in the town of Kot Radha Kishan in Punjab province in which a mob killed the couple and burned their bodies in a brick kiln in a shop where the man and his wife worked. n Police opened a case in 2014 against Junaid Jamshed, a pop singer-turned-preacher in Karachi, over a video in which he appeared to insult one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad while commenting about women. Jamshed swiftly apologized in a video statement, but the court rejected his statement. n In 2017 Mashal Khan, a student at a university in northwest Pakistan, was killed by a mob after a rumor spread that he had posted blasphemous material online. It was later proven that he hadn’t made the post, and more than 50 people were arrested. It was believed the accusation came after he criticized the university administration. AP

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time: ‘Mark 12:28-34’

Modern-day idolatry

Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

he gospel of today’s Mass talks about the scribe who, f i l l e d w it h g o o d f a it h , wanted to know which of the commandments of the law was the most important. Jesus ratified what the Old law had already said: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe agreed wholeheartedly with the teaching of Jesus, and then repeated slowly what Jesus had said. The Lord had an affectionate word for him at the end: “You are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.” This commandment, which summarizes “all the Law and the Prophets,” begins with the affirmation of the existence of the only God. We repeat this in the words of the Creed: “I believe in one God.” It is a truth that can be known by the natural light of reason, and the chosen people knew well that all the pagan gods were false. Yet, they were constantly tempted by idols, and in their long history, they often abandoned the one God in favor of idols. The prophets had to remind them often of the falseness of these deities, but they were attracted to them because of contract with peoples who were richer or more materially advanced than they were. The chosen people often failed to appreciate the incomparable richness of their revelation, the treasure of their faith. They would abandon the source of living waters in order to drink from the cracked and rotten cisterns of the pagans. The ancient pagans, civilized men of their era, invented idols, which they adored. Many civilized men of our days, new pagans, raise up idols that are better constructed and more refined. Nowadays, there seems to be a real idolatry for everything that can

be disguised as “progress,” or which can give more material well-being, more pleasure, more comfort, making men completely forget the spiritual life and their eternal salvation. The words of Saint Paul to the Philippians could very well apply to our times: “Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame, because they place their hearts on earthly things.” This is the modern idolatry, which today tempts many Christians, making them forget the great treasure of their faith, the richness of the love of God. The first commandment of the Ten Commandments is broken when we prefer other things over God, although these things may be good in themselves. We tend to love them in a disorderly way. Thus, man perverts the order of creatures, using them for ends, which are opposed to, or distinct from, that for which they were created. When we break the divine order which the Ten Commandments show us, man no longer finds God in creation. He then fabricates his own gods, and behind all these lie the root of his egoism and pride. Thus, man gets to foolishly place himself in the place of God, making himself the source of good and evil, falling into the temptation of the devil to our first parents. “You will become like gods” if you disobey the commandments of God. Hence there is a need to ask ourselves many times if God really has the first place in our life. And we can know this by examining ourselves on the interest that we put in getting to know Him better. Do we devote some time to our doctrinal-religious formation? Are we detached from the goods which we possess or which we use? “You shall love the Lord your God…and Him only should you adore.” Do we exert the effort to follow the way that God wants for us, the personal vocation of each one of us, so that we can really adore God and serve Him as he wants?

Parade of saints Fr. Jojo Buenafe (center, back), parish priest of Santisima Trinidad Parish in Malate,

Manila, and Bro. CJ Serrano (second from right, back) pose with children who participated in the Parade of Saints in celebration of All Saints’ Day. The parish has been holding the event for several years now, instead of the Halloween with gory costumes that has become popular in the country. Florence Sevillaga

The immortal soul By Corazon Damo-Santiago

O Lord my God... Say to my soul, I am your Salvation. Say it so that I can hear it. My heart is listening, Lord; Open the ears of my heart And say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let me run toward this voice And seize hold to you. —Saint Augustine

Man, God’s divine breath

M an is a scientific and biological mar vel. His body is composed more t han 30 tr i l l ion cells with 11 unique systems that keep it functioning. He belongs to class Mammalia, phylum Chordata, the highest rank in the animal kingdom. Although he does not belong to any of the categories of angels, man possesses an immortal soul like them. With a divine breath on clay,

God fashioned man—body and soul. His body is corruptible but his soul is not, for it will live forever. He can look at himself from morning till night repeatedly in his lifetime, but never have a glimpse of his soul. W h e n G o d b r e at h e d i nt o man’s face the breath of life, man became a living soul. Fr. John Laus in Origin of Human Soul, Chief Truths of the Faith emphasized that “the soul of man is not formed of any kind of matter, but created directly by God as a spiritual substance and united with his body.” It is a sacred body because it is animated by a spiritual soul and it is the entire person that is intended to become in the body of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 364). Although man can never confirm he has a soul, faith can instill a spiritual attestation, he indeed has one.

In Chr istian literature, the sou l is disting uished from the spir it, which does not mean a dua lit y of the sou l. To the T h e s s a l o n i a n s , S a i n t Pe t e r adv ice the need for v ig ilance: “May the God of peace ma ke you per fect ly holy, spir it, sou l and body (1 Thesalonians 5:23).

Sharing God’s life

In baptism man is freed from spiritual death caused by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, man’s first parents. In the sacrament of baptism, God unites the soul to Himself—and the Holy Spirit elevates the soul to a divine life. It is a supernatural life, “a sharing in God’s own life, called sanctifying grace.” T he on ly i n st a nce m a n i s sepa rated f rom God is when in f u l l consc iou sness he w i l f u l ly d i sobe y s G od i n ver y ser iou s m at t e r s , c a l l e d mo r t a l s i n . M a n com m it s si n not on ly b y doi ng wh at G od h a s forbidden (si n of com m i ssion), but a l so b y f a i l i ng to do wh at G od h a s com m a nded (si n of om i s sion). M a n’s f r iend sh ip w it h

G od c a n be restored t h rou g h t he s ac ra ment of con fession.

Take care of your soul

The soul lives on after death. And all will be judged at the end of the world. Christ will render to each man his destiny forever— heaven or hell. Howe ver, i m med i ate ly a f ter death, a departed person is subjected to a “particular judgment,” according to theologians. The soul is internally illuminated as to its own guilt or innocence and of its own initiation takes its course—hell purgatory or heaven (Summa Theolog ica Supplement, 69.2, 88.2). S a i nt A u g u s t i n e r e m i n d s men: “ Take care of your body as if it were to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you are going to die tomorrow.” 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.

Science

Sunday, November 4, 2018

BusinessMirror

Sunday

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

Feeling high with Diwata-2 in the sky By Lyn Resurreccion

Members of Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE) meet in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman last week with the theme, “PAASE Volunteerism to Promote Philippine Science, Engineering and Innovation.” (From left) Dr. Gonzalo Serafica (PAASE past president); Dr. Gisela Concepcion (PAASE meeting chair and PAASE past president); Dr. Fabian Dayrit (PAASE past president); Dr. Richard Abendan (USAID Stride); Dr. Luis Sison (UP Technology Transfer and Business Development Office); XiangQian Lin (Esco Ventures); Dr. Joel Cuello (PAASE president); Dr. Timothy Eing Ming Wu (chairman, professor at Shu-te University); Dr. Edna Co (UP CIFAL Philippines); Dr. Rhodora Azanza (National Academy of Science and Technology); Ma. Cynthia Rose Bautista (UP Diliman); Dr. Giovanni Tapang (UP Diliman); and Dr. Alvin Culaba (PAASE past president).

Intellectual property, tech transfer must be emphasized

Scientists should play a role in industry development

Story & photo by Stephanie Tumampos

raditionally, scientists and researchers measure the impact of their research through publications and citations. However, this mindset has been changing as members of Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE) have initiated dialogues and discussions on how experts in many fields can contribute to the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 and AmBisyon Natin 2040. Their venue was the meeting of the organization at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman last week. With the theme, “PAASE Volunteerism to Promote Philippine Science, Engineering and Innovation,” they discussed how society can create an academe, government and industry value chains, and research and development (R&D), and innovation ecosystems. In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Dr. Luis Sison, currently the director of the UP Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO), said in today’s scenario, research must give impact to the society through various efforts, including industry. “In the progression of the community of researchers, first you do research for yourself out of personal interest. And then you do research for the academic community where the publications are one’s impact,” Sison explained. “The next level to that is doing research for the impact of the community, society and industry.” Sison was referring to the role of scientists in establishing a definite relationship with the industry through the inventions and technologies the scientists produce.

Role of scientists in making impact to society

According to Dr. Edna Co,

executive director of UP Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders Philippines, scientists in the countr y are still on a level where they are not as emphasized or recognized as partners in achieving social impact. “Their [scientists] roles are not yet pronounced, although there has been gradual improvement in the last few years,” Co told the BusinessMirror. She explained that roles are not played very well and that “we have to rock them [scientists] and learn the ways on how different groups can make the scientists play bigger roles [in the society].” Co emphasized that as the Philippines pledged to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it must address the 17 subjects, including economic growth and industry. She explained that the country’s business sector is “already able to say the monetary equivalent the private groups are contributing to job generation, decent work and employment.” But the scientists, on the other hand, still fall short in their involvement in society and in the industry. “We need to bring out more people and revamp the system,” Co said. “Scientists should be involved in determining road maps, how tos, especially what technology can be used in this country,” she said.

Transitioning academic impact to social and industry impact

Local industries are very instrumental in gearing the country’s economy toward sustainability.

Having technology, industries can propel the country’s growth through the creation of jobs and giving scientists and engineers an avenue for their research to be developed and utilized by the society. But these “have challenges.” Sison said, in involv ing scient i st s i n t he i ndu st r y, t he main challenge has always been net work. “Network is understanding who the beneficiaries are and, especially, who the economic stakeholders are, the ones who will invest in the next stages of development and bring the technology to the customers and consumers,” Sison said. According to Sison, the next steps follow. “From your network to your end-users and then the industries, that triggers a process of dialogue, of understanding the needs [of the society in terms of technology] and then tailoring what you have, tailoring the technology and bringing in related technology so you could come up with a complete solution [to address economic and industry problems].” In a broader sense, it is a collaborative effort because “a single research group can only address part of the solution and that it needs to be combined with other collaborators—scientists and even the industry itself, where it needs to be all combined so that a complete solution can be delivered.”

Intellectual property and technology transfer

In the United States, ideas, inventions and research outcomes are strongly protected by their law once patented. But in the Philippines, “not everyone minds this [intellectual property],” Co noted. Co explained that for every discovery, there should be an occasion by which scientists and inventors can lay claim that those ideas and inventions are theirs and “we can have more benefits for the economy, and our ideas and products will never be pirated.”

Through the Philippine Technology Transfer Act, scientists today have the confidence to invest their technology to the industry. “There is always a risk of investment that you are planting the seeds that somebody else will reap,” Sison said. “But with intellectual property, we are reducing this kind of risk.” Sison added that, “when we look at intellectual property in the context of technology transfer, it’s not just for the sake of having patents, but it’s for us to be able to start a dialogue with industry.” It is sa id t hat tec hnolog y transfer is the one enabling component of the act. “The way we prioritize intellectual property is related to having an industry strategy and contacts.” T he Philippine Technolog y Transfer Act, which was signed into law in 2009, has already encouraged organizations and institutions to come out and invest their technology to the industry. In UP alone, 40 licenses have already been signed or are in the process of being signed since 2014. “We’ve been working with the Department of Science and Technology to facilitate the processes. The credit also goes to the Technology Application and Promotion Institute of the DOST for really striving to create an enabling environment for technology licensing,” Sison said. There is awareness for intellectual property nationwide and certain institutions have been drive for patenting even before the Philippine Technology Transfer Act was made into law. If Philippines wants to push its scientists to share ideas and inventions for the greater good, Sison said “technology transfer [should be encouraged]. Everybody’s focus right now is to work with industry and then on collaborations that will eventually lead to scale up and deployment of technologies to consumers and then to industries.” This is the next challenge, he noted.

PCAARRD partners with IPOPHL to boost I.P. management

ommodities, such as milkfish, mango, goat, crab, shrimp, banana, rice, abaca, swine, bamboo, rubber and feed resources are common in the Philippines. But to develop them, they are among the priorities in the country’s researches, which intellectual properties (IPs) have to be managed. To intensify the management of its IPs, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) is partnering with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) on a project. Titled “Enhancing PCAARRD’s Intellectual Property Management Through Prior Art Search and Patent Landscape Assessment,” the project aims to develop strategies to

strengthen the agriculture, aquatic and natural resources (AANR) research priorities in these commodities. A total of 150 Prior Art Search reports on the PCAARRD-generated technologies and 12 Patent Landscape Reports (PLRs) are the targets of the two-year project. Prior art search is done to determine and craft IP management plans for the ongoing PCAARRD projects. PLRs, on the other hand, will serve as reference of the agency in developing research and development (R&D) programs for funding. To date, IPOPHL has prepared 75 prior arts search reports, while six PLRs on priority R&D commodities of mango, goat, milkfish, bamboo, banana and swine were presented during the first and second Landscape Report held in July 2017 and January 2018.

The data were gathered by the IP Search and Documentation Division of IPOPHL’s Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau. Three additional PLRs on rubber, abaca and shrimp were presented during the third PLR Presentation held at the PCAARRD headquarters. According to IPOPHL, as of 2017, there are 43 patent family filings for abaca technologies, 42 for rubber technologies and 16 for shrimp technologies in the Philippines. Although patent filings on the commodities have an increasing trend, these figures are very low compared to other countries like China and the United States, which have the most number of patents filed on these commodities. The IPOPHL emphasized that through prior art search and PLRs, the agency can assist

PCAARRD on which commodities or fields of research are congested with R&D activities and which are open and waiting for potential R&D programs. The patent information from these PLRs and prior art search reports will serve as the council’s guide to assess the novelty and value of projects being proposed for potential funding, as well as avoid research duplication. These data are deemed important to maximize funds for research initiatives in the AANR sectors. Improving the lives of the Filipinos by providing technologies is mandated by the Republic Act 10005, or the Technology Transfer Act of 2009. This provided an additional mandate to the PCAARRD to monitor research efforts of state universities and colleges and research and development institutes. S&T Media Services

hile waiting for the launching of Diwata-2 at the view deck in Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan, with our cameras trained at the launch site, Dr. Joel Marciano, the head of Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite Program (PHL-Microsat) whispered: “Don’t just look at the rising rocket [named H-IIA F40 that carries Diwata-2] through your camera. Look at the real event so you can feel it.” I didn’t know and did not have the time to ask what he meant by “feel it.” But as the countdown started and the rocket began rising into the sky with Diwata-2 on it, I began to understand what Dr. Marciano meant. I felt goose bumps, teary-eyed even, proud that the Philippines was then flying its second microsatellite (microsat) to collect images or data to aid in various concerns in the country’s agriculture, environment, disaster management and many others. The launch lasted for only one minute and 59 seconds. But it was worth all the time and long travel from Manila to witness the event. We arrived in Japan on the midnight of October 27 and left on the midnight of October 29. It took us more than one-and-a-half days from the evening of October 27 up to the morning of October 29, riding two airplanes, a ferry and a bus to reach Tanegashima Island in the south of Japan, where the space center is. Those rides was interspersed only by a few hours of sleep at a hotel each in Tokyo on the midnight of Saturday and in Kagoshima on Sunday evening. Our group of five from Manila consisted of two officials from the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (Engr. Ermie Bacarra and Edna Nacianceno), PHL-Microsat Project Leader Engr. Mark Edwin Tupas, the Political Officer from the Office of Sen. Bam Aquino John Razil Paramio and myself. Deputy Chief of Mission Eduardo Meñez of the Philippine Embassy in Japan, together with two embassy officials, joined us from Tokyo when we flew to Kagoshima on the south of Kyushu Island on the afternoon of October 28. Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, University of the Philippines Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan and Marciano arrived in Tokyo from Manila and proceeded to Kagoshima on the

evening of October 28. All of us from Manila went home immediately after the event on the evening of October 29. It was indeed a whistle-stop stay in Japan, all for Diwata-2!

Space center

The sprawling Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (Jaxa) Tanegashima Space Center of about 9,700,000 square meters on the southeast coast of Tanegashima Island is the largest rocketlaunch complex in Japan. It is known as the most beautiful rocket-launch complex in the world. Among its facilities include the Yoshinobu Launch Complex. Actually Diwata-2 was launched together with small satellites piggybacked on H-IIA F40 rocket with the main payloads Ibuki-2, also known as Jaxa’s Second Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite, and KhalifaSat, a remote sensing Earth observation satellite developed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in the United Arab Emirates. The other small satellites launched were the Japanese-made Tenkou, Proiteres-2, Stars-AO and AUTcube-2. Diwata-2 was inserted into the SunSynchronous Orbit at an altitude of 621 kilometers, 43 minutes and 20 seconds after rocket liftoff.

Japanese astronauts

Besides Diwata-2, the presence of two former Japanese astronauts added glitter to the launching event. Former Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi became the center of attraction of women, and also of men, who asked to be photographed with him during the dinner of traditional Japanese washoku food hosted by Jaxa on October 28 on the eve of the satellites’ launch, and on the launch itself the following day. Well, they (er... yes, including myself) could not be faulted for such actions, because one does not meet an astronaut everyday. Former astronaut Koichi Wakata attended the meeting between the Philippine delegation, led by de la Peña, and Jaxa President Dr. Hiroshi Yamakawa shortly before the satellite’s launch. Yamakawa even noticed the weather is cooperating with the fine, sunny day during the noontime launch of Diwata-2. A proud moment. Everyone is hoping the microsat will help the space program zoom high.

The Philippine delegation takes a photo with former Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi (fourth from right, standing) at the view deck right after the launching of Diwata-2 in Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan. In the photo is Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña (third from right) together with (from left) this writer, PHL-Microsatellite Project Leader Mark Edwin Tupas (partly hidden), Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development’s Edna Nacianceno and Engr. Ermie Bacarra, PHL-Microsat Head Dr. Joel Marciano, University of the Philippines Chancellor Michael Tan, officials of the Philippine Embassy in Japan Consul Cassandra Sawadjaan and Economic Attaché Diane Merce Bartolome. Seated in front are Philippine Deputy Chief of Mission to Japan Eduardo M.R. Meñez (left) and Office of Sen. Bam Aquino Political Officer John Razil Paramio.

Leyte farmers, local execs briefed on PHL biosafety regulations

‘T

he greatest resource of a nation is its people. We consider our farmers as our jewels in Leyte.” This was asserted by Gov. Leopoldo Dominico Petilla of Leyte as he welcomed more than 150 farmers and officials of selected municipalities in Leyte to the Biotech 101 and Joint Department Circular (JDC) Public Briefing held in Tacloban City last week. The activity was organized by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, Department of Agriculture -Biotechnology Program Office, and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture Biotechnology Information Center in coordination with the DA Regional Field Office 8. Petilla said the activity’s objectives were aligned with the local government’s thrust to improve the province’s economy through agriculture. “Science is good if we use it wisely for the benefit of the people,” he said.

Exper ts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños-Institute of Plant B re e d i n g, P h i l i p p i n e G e n o m e Ce nte r and Visayas State University apprised the participants on the science of biotechnology, food and environmental safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, and biotech products in the pipeline. Representatives from the Departments of Health, Agriculture (DA), Science and Technology, and the Interior and Local Government were also on hand to discuss the JDC guidelines and address questions from the audience. Among the concerns raised during the open forum was the rigid biotech regulatory process in the country, which the experts explained was crucial in ensuring the safety of GM crops released in the market. The participants were also eager to promote the adaption GM crops in their province through a signature campaign. They have begun discussing the matter with the DA officials in the region.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, November 4, 2018

City of Dreams Manila opens Southeast Asia’s first V.R. zone-food park hub

The Garage - VR Zone featuring Mario Kart Arcade GP VR

The Garage - VR Zone gets you to play at the Ski Rodeo

By Gelyka Ruth R. Dumaraos Photos courtesy of City of Dreams Manila

ity of Dreams (COD) Manila recently unveiled The Garage, its latest entertainment and dining hub featuring a virtual reality (VR) center paired with a food park.

old daughter who loved playing in Bandai’s VR Zone. Bennings’s visit to Japan, where he experienced VR entertainment, resulted to importing the technology to the country. He says, “With their creativity and cutting-edge technology, we are honored and delighted to partner with them, and together blaze a trail in delivering an extraordinary entertainment experience that goes beyond gaming and recreation in the Philippines.” Bandai Namco’s General Manager Kunihisa Yagisita said that the company is honored to partner with the integrated resort and casino property and bring in the first VR Zone entertainment facility in Southeast Asia. “We hope to bring outside of Japan immersive, multisensory and fun activities to Filipinos and foreign guests with our unique VR activities at The Garage,” he says.

Food park’s selection of great food from food trucks and trailers

At the food park, you’ll find the hip and spacious dining area.

Pizza Grigliata’s top menu choices.

El Chupacabra food truck is one of the many at the food park

Thrilling games

City of Dreams Manila opens The Garage with VR Zone, produced by Bandai Namco Amusement

What was formerly a 2,714-square -meter (sq m) car park on the upper ground floor across Dreamplay was recently turned into a VR arcade and spot for food and beverage trucks. To bring in the cutting-edge technology, COD has partnered with Japan’s Bandai Namco Amusement, one of the world’s leading video digital entertainment development companies. The VR Zone mirrored its look from Bandai’s 3,500-sq-m

VR Zone in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Bandai Namco is popularly known for its intellectual properties on Gundam robots and video games like “Mario Kart Arcade GP2,” “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” and “Dragon Ball.” Kevin Benning, chief operating officer of COD, says that the initial plan was to simply put up a food park. However, the idea of injecting VR Zone into the whole concept was inspired by his boss’s 11-year-

The VR Zone at The Garage promises a thrilling experience for every gamer. Exciting activities in the VR Zone are Mario Kart Arcade developed by Bandai Namco Amusement under license from Nintendo; the “Hospital Escape Terror,” an immersive horror room game, the goal of which is to escape and survive in a dark, abandoned hospital; and “Ski Rodeo,” a ski simulator that lets a player ski in a vast, snowy mountain course with sharp slopes and steep drops. Benning adds that there are plans to open more Bandai Namco attractions in the future, depending on the reception.

Sailboats costing less than iPhones Compete in Championship Regatta

The Oz Goose sailboats designed by Batangas-based Michael Storer are seen racing in Taal Lake.

he Oz Goose sailboat, known in the Philippines as a sailboat that can be built for less than the price of an iPhone, of which more than 50 have been built in the country, will hold the final day of the Oz Goose National Championships today at the Taal Lake Yacht Club in Talisay, Batangas. Twenty two teams have confirmed to race in this year’s Oz Goose event, some coming from as far as Cebu and Iloilo. The popularity of the Oz Goose

Sailboat came about through the efforts of the Philippine Home Boatbuilders Yacht Club (PHBYC), who have been seeking for ways to lower the barriers of entry to sailing, an activity well suited for the Philippine Islands. According to PHBYC’s Roy Espiritu, “Sailing has been perceived by Filipinos as an expensive and exclusive activity when, in fact, it doesn’t have to be. The Oz Goose sailboat fit perfectly in PHBYC’s grassroots sailing initiative. It is

easy to build with locally available materials, sails really well and is a great platform to learn how to sail.“ Boatbuilding materials sponsors Pioneer Adhesives, Polymer Products and Broadwater Marine, who were tapped by PHBYC to help develop the Oz Goose fleet, have pledged their support for the regatta. Batangas-based, corporate sponsor Lima Park Hotel is fielding teams to participate in the races, while Destileria Limtuaco, Globe MyBusiness and Isuzu Cavite are supporting the regatta as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts. The Oz Goose National Championships is expected to be one of the best-attended one design class regatta the Philippines has ever seen. According to the boat’s designer, Batangas-based Michael Storer, “Racing sailboats is the best way to hone one’s skill as a sailor. We regularly race these boats in Taal Lake, and several participants who only started sailing this year are excited to join the regatta, either as crew or even as skippers.”

World-class food finds

To complete the fun is The Garage’s Food Park that hosts 10 food and beverage trucks and trailers offering international gastronomic selections. Japanese cuisine lovers can choose from the well-loved ramen served by Hokkaido Ramen Santouka’s or Katsu Sora’s Japanese deep-fried pork cutlet or tonkatsu. Pink’s Hot Dogs, Los Angeles’s popular hot dog stand, is also serving iconic “The Hollywood Legend.” For those who prefer local food

finds, one can go to Little Flour Café by the highly successful Wildflour Café + Bakery, for its Filipino rice bowls, delicacies and grilled items. Mexican-style street tacos, burritos, enchiladas and grilled chicken sticks are also available at El Chupacabra, while, Pizza Grigliata serves hot, freshly made artisanal pizza. To cap off the food experience is Farmacy Ice Cream’s fresh homemade ice cream, milkshakes, sodas, coffee and pastries. Alongside the well-curated food

and beverage outlets at The Garage are COD’s own exceptional outlets Chocol8, Juiced and The Roaster offering delectable chocolate treats, fresh juices and artisanal coffee. COD also highlights that this new attraction is one with its sustainability drive as The Garage casual dining experience makes use of eco-friendly, biodegradable and compostable plates, utensils and takeout bags. The Garage is open daily from 10 to 2 a.m.

AirAsia now flies to Cagayan de Oro from Manila, Cebu, Clark and Iloilo

irAsia is now flying to Cagayan de Oro. The World’s Best Low-Cost Airline today flew its maiden flights from Laguindingan International Airport, the main airport that serves the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, as well as the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao, to Manila, Cebu and Clark. AirAsia Philippines chief executive Captain Dexter Comendador said, “AirAsia’s multiple flights today herald bigger, brighter and better opportunities for travel, business and tourism in Mindanao. We are here to make air travel more affordable, convenient and reliable, and we are incredibly excited to paint Mindanao skies red.” To mark AirAsia’s first flight in Cagayan de Oro and to celebrate its expansion in Mindanao, the airline launched its newest flights using its brand new Airbus A320 fitted with wing-tip devices or sharklets that enable savings of 4 percent in fuel consumption or corresponding to an annual carbon reduction of around 1,000 tons per aircraft. The “sharklets” help reduce fuel burn and emissions by improving the plane’s aerodynamics. AirAsia has a current fleet of 21 Airbus A320s from only two aircrafts in 2012 when the airline began its commercial operation in Clark, Pampanga. AirAsia flight Z2 691, piloted by the airline’s flying chief executive Captain Dexter Comendador, left Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 4 airport at 8 a.m. with 100-percent pax load and received the traditional water-cannon salute upon arrival at 9:30 a.m. in Laguindingan International Airport.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Captain Dexter Comendador with the airline’s cabin crew posing with the brandnew Airbus A320 after they arrived at Laguindingan International Airport on October 28

Distinguished guests, led, by Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincent Emano, Cagayan de Oro City Councilor Ian Nacaya representing the office of the mayor, Department of Tourism Regional Director Marie Elaine Unchuan and airport officer Wilfredo Encinas, graced the welcome ceremonies held at the airport’s arrival hall. “We are a member of the AirAsia Group, the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, servicing the most extensive network of over 135 destinations across all Asean countries, Asia, India, Australia, China, Middle East and Hawaii in US. Our commitment is to connect the Philippines, especially the underserved cities outside Metro Manila to AirAsia’s massive network via direct or seamless fly-through service in our main hub in Kuala Lumpur, which can now be accessed from Cagayan de Oro to Cebu or Manila,” Comendador said.

AirAsia is also commencing flights from Cagayan de Oro to Iloilo on October 30 with flights every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, or three times weekly. AirAsia’s Cagayan de Oro-Manila route operates twice daily, Cagayan de Oro-Cebu route with flights daily while Cagayan de Oro-Clark at four times weekly. Promo fares from Cagayan De Oro to AirAsia newest routes are also on sale from as low as P690 for BIG Loyalty Members and P757 for non-members now available for booking until November 11 at airasia.com for travel period starting October 29, 2018, to March 30, 2019. AirAsia offers several domestic and international flights from the airline’s hub in Manila, Cebu and Clark. Keep updated with AirAsia’s latest promotion and activities via twitter (@AirAsiaFilipino), Facebook (facebook.com/AirAsiaPH) and on Instagram (@AirAsiaFilipino).

A8 Sunday, November 4, 2018

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Bahraini royal looks to keep AFC top post

FERRARI’S Kimi Raikkonen (7) and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso take a turn through the Senna corner during a first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. AP

DIFFERENT PATHS IN RACING CAREER By Jim Vertuno The Associated Press

EXICO CITY—Formula One’s two old-timers, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso, are taking very different paths into the late stages of their racing careers. At 39, Raikkonen is on a front-running team with Ferrari but has already charted a course toward the back next season with Sauber. Alonso, 37, is stuck in the middle with McLaren and has opted to leave F1 at the end of the season. Both former F1 champions say they are happy with the course they’ve chosen. “I stop because I did everything I wanted in F1,” Alonso said ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix. He has just three races left in his F1 career

and the local crowd is giving him a big “Adios Alonso!” send-off. The Mexico City race draws some of the biggest crowds of the season, and fans are being asked to download and print masks of Alonso’s face to wear during the prerace drivers’ parade. “The next races are going to be very emotional for me,” Alonso said. “Mexico is a special place because the crowd is very passionate about racing and they are too close to the drivers, it’s going to be a little party. I wish I can give them a good show. “I can’t wait for Sunday and to be able to see [the masks],” he added. “It’s going to be something that I will remember forever.” Alonso can reflect on a special career that hasn’t had many special moments in recent years. He won championships with Renault in 2005-2006 and finished second with Ferrari in 2010, 2012 and 2013, although the 2013 season was thoroughly

White House, athletes pressure anti-doping agency to reform

ASHINGTON—Olympic athletes joined the acting White House drug czar and anti-doping officials from seven other countries on Wednesday to call on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to reform its governance, saying major changes are necessary to ensure drug-free competition at international events. The first-of-its-kind doping summit was organized by the Office of National Drug Control Policy in part as a response to Wada’s reinstatement of Russia’s anti-doping agency following a three-year ban for what investigators said was state-sponsored doping at the Sochi Olympics. Acting drug czar James Carroll stopped short of threatening to withdraw US funding to Wada, calling that “an issue of last resort.”The US contributes $2.3 million a year to Wada—more than any other country. The agency gets half its $34-million budget from national governments and half from the Olympics. Instead, Carroll and other participants in the summit said they want to eliminate conflicts of interest in Wada’s governance— chiefly by no longer allowing people who promote a sport to hold leadership roles— and to give athletes a more prominent voice. Wada’s president, Craig Reedie, is a member of the International Olympic Committee, which critics say compromises his objectivity. It remains unclear how effective a campaign of public pressure on Wada will be. The summit generated pushback from the global doping

watchdog, which complained in a statement that its representatives had not been invited. “It certainly seems that the only one invited are those that are now questioning Wada’s governance because they are not in agreement with the democratic decision” to reinstate Russia, the statement read. “We welcome debate on this issue and we promote people’s right to discuss and push for reforms. But unfortunately, it would seem as though only one side of the story was heard in Washington today.” Carroll said the point of the summit was to facilitate productive discussions with Wada about reform. “We’re not looking to dissolve Wada at all,” he said. “What we’re trying to do here today is to begin that dialogue to lay the steps to go to them as a united front.” Reedie has defended Wada’s decision to reinstate Russia’s anti-doping agency, calling it a necessary step to compel Russia to turn over samples and data that corroborate evidence of a state-run doping scheme. Russia faces a December 31 deadline to hand over the information, and Wada could issue new sanctions if Russia does not comply. Participants in Wednesday’s summit included Olympic track athletes Emma Coburn and Alysia Montano; Olympic skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender; Paralympic cyclist Greta Neimanas; Yuliya Stepanova, the Russian runner who blew the whistle on statesponsored doping; US Anti-Doping Agency

dominated by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. He’s come nowhere close to those marks since. He hasn’t won a race since 2013. His second career stint with McLaren has provided four years of frustration. “The fact he’s leaving I think is a big loss for Formula One,” said Renault driver Carlos Sainz. “I think it’s something for Formula One and everyone to consider why one of the best drivers is leaving and why we cannot have a bit more competitive grid.” Alonso insists he’s not getting chased out of F1 by the losing. He has different racing interests now. A return to the Indianapolis 500 remains possible after his 2017 debut had him in the running to win before late-race engine failure. He drove on the winning team in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. “Happy with the time here, thankful to teams, fans and achievements I never

Chairman Edwin Moses and CEO Travis Tygart; and representatives from Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. Montano and Uhlaender both missed out on Olympic medals after losing to Russian athletes who were later found to have used performance-enhancing drugs. “The peak of my career, basically, I was racing against dopers,” Montano said through tears. “I continue to fight for clean sport even after maybe my career has run out, but the part that makes it difficult for me is that I have to face time. And I want to express the urgency that we need to have when we’re talking about reform, because I don’t want more and more athletes’ time to run out.” Athletes hold only one spot on Wada’s 12-person executive committee and four spots on the 38-person foundation board that mostly rubber-stamps the committee’s decisions. Beckie Scott, a Canadian Olympic gold medalist, resigned from a Wada committee over the Russia decision and said she was “bullied” by Wada officials over her opposition to Russian reinstatement. Participants in the summit agreed in a statement that “Wada must undertake greater efforts to listen to and respect the voice of its athletes.” Uhlaender said she thought athletes could effectively pressure Wada because they have the power to make people listen, citing Colin Kaepernick speaking out about racial and social injustice and Michael Phelps discussing mental health. “We need to create a voice for ourselves. It’s 2018 and we have that ability,” Uhlaender said. “It’s important that we start looking out for each other until we can ensure that our voices are heard.” AP

dreamed of 20 years ago. Now ready to enjoy other things in motorsport and life,” Alonso tweeted on Friday. Raikkonen has had his racing battles with Alonso, winning his championship in 2007 with Ferrari. “The fact is we’re all going to stop at some point,” Raikkonen said. “Us older ones have to go at some point.” Not Raikkonen. At least not yet. Raikkonen is enjoying his best season since his return to Ferrari in 2014. He got his first win since 2013 at the US Grand Prix last week. His nine other podium finishes this season have Ferrari in a tight battle with Mercedes for the constructor’s championship. But he’s going to Sauber in 2019, which is currently ranked ninth in the standings. Raikkonen likely won’t taste much success there. But he wanted to stay in F1 and his new

team is near his home in Switzerland. He says he has no hard feelings about getting dropped from Ferrari for 21-year-old Sauber driver Charles Leclerc. Raikkonen tried other racing when he drove rally cars in 2010 and tried Nascar in 2011. By 2012 he was back in Formula One. And that’s where he’s staying, even if it’s not at the front. “I think people don’t understand I’m actually very happy where I’m going. I had my time with Ferrari. I won my championship with them,” Raikkonen said. “I want different challenges.... My family will be happy, I’m happy to be with my family.” Winning doesn’t quite bring the big celebration it used to. His Texas victory party was small, he said. “It takes a long time to recover these days,” Raikkonen said. “That is definitely not the nice part. But the first part is always fun.”

KOBE BRYANT is named an ambassador for the 2019 basketball World Cup in China.

HOOPS AMBASSADOR M

IES, Switzerland—Kobe Bryant has been made an ambassador for the 2019 basketball World Cup in China. The five-time National Basketball Association (NBA) champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist made the announcement on Twitter. Bryant joins former NBA rival Yao Ming, now leading the Chinese Basketball Association, as ambassadors for the revamped tournament. The first 32-nation World Cup will be played from August 31 to September 15 in eight cities. The competition draw is set for March 16 in Shenzhen. AP

UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—A change in election rules approved on Wednesday gave Fifa Vice President Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa a better chance of retaining his leadership of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The Bahraini royal faces a challenge from Saudi Arabia, expected to be its former soccer federation President Adel Ezzat, in a vote next April where regional politics are a likely factor. Saudi Arabia is targeting the AFC presidency as part of a wider campaign encouraged by the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to build influence in international sport. The 47-member AFC’s approval of the new rule means Sheikh Salman no longer needs the formal nomination of his home soccer federation, should it come under pressure from neighboring Saudi influence. “[The statute] requires candidates for the office of the AFC President to be nominated by at least three member-associations—but not necessarily by the member-association they represent,” the regional soccer body said in a statement. The AFC’s elected leader gets one of Fifa’s eight vice presidencies and takes a seat on the world soccer body’s influential Bureau, which includes President Gianni Infantino and leaders of the six continental governing bodies. That panel is preparing to review Infantino’s preferred option to accept a $25-billion investment offer to revamp competitions. Sheikh Salman confirmed in September his intention to be a candidate in the April 6 election, and urged on Wednesday that the process be free from outside influences. “As you know our elections are always based on the spirit of fair play,” said the sheikh, who lost the 2009 presidential vote to then-incumbent Mohamed bin Hammam in a bitterly fought campaign noted for accusations of wrongdoing from both sides. “Like in football, the rules and regulations must be respected,” Sheikh Salman told delegates on Wednesday at the close of the AFC congress. “We need to be strong on this matter. “We do not need nor do we want any third-party interference or influence in our elections.” The sheikh was first elected in 2013 to finish the term of former President Bin Hammam, who resigned before receiving a lifetime ban from Fifa. He was reelected unopposed in 2015. His expected challenger Ezzat resigned as Saudi soccer federation president in September to prepare a candidacy. Sheikh Salman also gave Asia’s endorsement to Infantino, who is seeking reelection in Paris next June. The sheikh was second to Infantino in the Fifa presidential election in February 2016. Infantino was in Kuala Lumpur this week and posed with officials from the continental federation at a ceremony to mark the opening of a new AFC headquarters. Former Fifa Council member Kwesi Nyantakyi, meanwhile, said on Wednesday he will appeal a lifetime ban imposed by soccer’s governing body. Nyantakyi was banned on Tuesday after being filmed taking bribes by an undercover television program in Ghana. He expressed “shock and deep sadness” over the decision of Fifa’s ethics committee and has instructed his legal advisers to “urgently appeal” a decision he called “unfair, harsh and unwarranted.” “I will use the legal channels available to seek redress and establish the facts that I presented to the committee. Even though I have already resigned from all my football positions, it is important I establish the facts with the sole aim of clearing my name,” Nyantakyi said in a statement. Nyantakyi was the senior vice president of the Confederation of African Football and president of Ghana’s soccer federation when the TV footage was revealed in May. He was shown taking $65,000 in cash from reporters posing as businessmen to secure favor with Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo and other government officials. Nyantakyi resigned his soccer positions days before the World Cup began in Russia. AP

ASIAN Football Confederation President Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa (left) poses with Fifa President Gianni Infantino during an inauguration ceremony for the new building of the Asia Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur. AP

BLOOMBERG NEWS

At 34, she’s gone from Goldman to failed artist to start-up queen

Y the age of 34, Akiko Naka has already experienced more careerwise than most people do in a lifetime.

She started by getting hired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where she worked as an equity saleswoman. When she left that job, she tried to make it as a professional manga comic artist. When that didn’t work out, she landed a job at Facebook Inc. And not content to leave it at that, she quit to establish her own company, a recruiting social network called Wantedly Inc. She took it public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last year, and is one of the youngest women to head a Japanese listed company. Naka is an example of a young Japanese person who’s shunning what was long a standard career path in Japan—graduating from a top university and staking out a career at a major company. Instead, she’s going it alone, seeking to harness the power of social media—and her own past experiences—to try to reinvent how recruitment functions. “All my failures were a chance to learn,” Naka said in an interview in Tokyo. Wantedly, which is seen as a LinkedIn for millennials in Japan, is an online portal linking job seekers directly to companies. The platform, which also offers other services, is built around matching users and companies that have the same motivations, and it doesn’t allow job postings to mention salary or benefits. The focus is on what companies do, how they do it, and perhaps most importantly why.

Different era “LINKEDIN is from about two decades ago,” Naka said. The US company was established in 2002. “It was born in the era of paper résumés, and matching salaries and skills,” she said. “What we’re aiming to do is to match a company’s direction, what they are doing something for, with the user’s direction and having them work together so that everybody benefits.” According to Naka, focus on motivation, and the company’s service of giving prospective employees a chance to visit companies on more casual terms, will ultimately lead to better matches than the traditional model of rounds of formal job interviews. “If both companies and job seekers put on makeup when they are seeking to match, both of them will be unhappy in the end,” Naka said.

WANTEDLY Chief Executive Officer Akiko Naka

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Shrinking work force

Goldman experience

FINDING talented people is getting difficult in Japan, where a shrinking work force is causing the tightest labor market in decades, giving job search companies an opportunity to expand their businesses. The market for recruitment information services grew to about $7.1 billion in fiscal 2016, up 7.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Association of Job Information of Japan. Wantedly had 2.4 million monthly active users, with 29,000 registered companies using the service, as of October, according to the company. Wantedly aims to increase monthly active users to about 10 million in Japan within about 10 years, Naka said. It’s still a drop in the ocean compared to LinkedIn, which has more than 575 million members in 200 countries and territories worldwide, according to the company’s website. Naka graduated from Kyoto University in 2008. During her time at the prestigious school, she helped establish a free campus newspaper that sold ad space to local shops and restaurants. She also worked on creating a beauty pageant, which never came to pass. As a child, her parents, who were academics, encouraged her to make things rather than play video games.

SHE joined Goldman Sachs in April 2008, where she worked for just less than two years selling equities to institutional investors. Naka said she left the company because she couldn’t see herself working in the industry for another 10 years. Then she spent about six months pursuing her dream of being a professional manga artist. But she wasn’t suited to the role. “I learned that it wasn’t just about being good at drawing,” she said. “Above that, there’s your skill in creating stories, in making compositions and in creating characters.” A chance encounter with Facebook’s Japan country manager got her in the door at Mark Zuckerberg’s company in July 2010. But within months, she founded the predecessor of Wantedly. Originally, it was an online Q&A site.

2 BusinessMirror

Angel investment “SHE’S very creative,” said Shogo Kawada, a famous Japanese angel investor, noting how Naka wrote the code to get the company off the ground, even though she’s not a specialist. Naka pitched to Kawada three times before he finally agreed to invest. The third time, he said, she changed everything and came up with the prototype for Wantedly’s current services. Kawada is now Wantedly’s

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

third-biggest shareholder. Naka herself is the largest, with a 72-percent stake that’s worth about $159 million. Wantedly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers market for startups in September last year. After surging to a high in October, the stock has since tailed off, but it still trades at more than twice its initial public offering price, with a market value of 24.8 billion ($221 million). Valuations have gotten ahead of profits. The stock trades at almost 240 times earnings, and almost 40 times book value. Wantedly is the most-shorted company on the Mothers Index, with short interest standing at 36 percent of its free float, according to IHS Markit data. But Naka has other things on her mind. She’s already launched Wantedly in markets including Hong Kong and Singapore, while it’s being test-run in Germany. She’s considering expanding the business in other English-speaking countries in Asia and Oceania, she says. Kawada the angel investor says the company’s ability to expand overseas, and to attract more companies beyond startups at home, will be key. “I want Wantedly to aim for a market capitalization of ¥100 billion,” he said. “Wantedly can have a standout existence among startup firms.” Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

MUSIC

PAGE

REMEMBERING ‘RICO J.’

Sound BusinessMirror

NOVEMBER 4, 2018 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

MUS

RICO J.PUNO GODFATHER OF PINOY SOUL by Tony M. Maghirang

FROM ARTIST’S FACEBOOK PAGE

ICO J. PUNO, “The Total Entertainer,” passed away on Tuesday, October 29, due to heart failure. In his lifetime, “Rico J.” was the complete package: OPM pioneer, comedian, actor, TV host, politician and entrepreneur. But to his generation, he will always be remembered exceptionally for his remake of Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” in Taglish (before the term was even made up). He delivered the classic line, “Namamasyal pa sa Luneta…/ Na walang pera…” in a soulful rasp that reverberated on the airwaves during the early years of the martial law era. It sounded different. It was the coolest thing on the radio. It claimed teenage hearts and minds, and

so did the singer. In the ensuing decades, Rico J. would venture into dance-friendly songs like “Macho Gwapito,” but music listeners here and abroad would prefer his easy-listening croons in Filipinized versions of The Greatest Love of All, One Last Memory, and more so with his catchy, memorable ballads such as “Kapalaran,” “Buhat,” “Ang Tao’y Marupok” and “Lupa.” With indelible, throaty renditions, his certified hits contributed to best-selling albums and records-smashing live concerts here and abroad. A big debut earned him the Aliw Awards for Promising Entertainer in 1975. He turned that promise into four decades of consummate craftsmanship in modern Filipino music for which he received the Special Lifetime Achievement award from ABS-CBN in 2017. With a huge musical stature, it was inevitable for Rico J. to go into acting, and then politics—the usual career cycle in Philippine showbiz. The mustachioed musician also became known as a comedian who occasionally blurted out funny, but sexy

“hugot” lines. His biggest fans were women, and he would always bring his audience to a hearty, lusty laugh as he performed in recent revival shows with fellow OPM greats. Meanwhile, Rico J. Puno, the politician, was elected councilor of Makati City for three consecutive terms beginning in 1998. At the time of his passing, Rico J. was actually preparing for a comeback in next year’s elections. As a showbiz personality, he led a charmed musical life. There were reports of controversies bordering the personal, but they never made it past the rumor grist. Offstage, Rico J. carried himself like a common man, unaffected by his own greatness in the eyes of others. In “Lupa,” he might as well have written his own obit: “Nagmula sa lupa…/ Magbabalik na kusa…/ Ang buhay mong sa lupa nagmula.” Rico J. may have broken through on the other side, but his memories will linger on in the airwaves, in karaoke events, and in the hearts of those he touched with his unforgettable music and down-to-earth wit.

A home for ‘underground creatures’ by Darwin Fernandez

RULY, not everything that’s underground is dead, as local punk and metal movements are alive and well at DSIDE Bar at the Matchbox Yard in Quezon City. Managed by Oscar Gutierrez, DSIDE is home to almost every genre of rock played outside public radio, ranging from punk, rockabilly and even death metal. The place champions the local music scene, mainly favoring the “underground creatures,” and welcomes a diverse set of audiences. “No posers,” Gutierrez

said. “If you’re [one,] I’m sure you won’t enjoy it here.” Tapping into the Filipino’s love for beers and fun under the shade of moonlight, DSIDE first made its mark in Malate as a restaurant, where they ended nights with great food, darts, and the ever-present videoke machines. After moving to the Matchbox Yard Food Hub in February, it carried with it the atmosphere of beerdrenched comrades enjoying the night, as metalheads and punks began to gather at the place when it hosted live performances of the genres its affiliated with.

Since then countless indie bands have graced their grounds to play for the culture. Among those they have hosted were Steevo and the Bastards, Tubero, BrutalNoodles, Synarchist, and even Australian band Agamas recently entered this shared home of rock. When asked for his vision for DSIDE, he reminisced to the CBGB of New York City, which was an iconic monument for rock and roll. A biker bar that many regard as the birthplace of punk rock in the US, Gutierrez hopes to somehow recreate that Continued on page 6

PHOTO BY JOHN ISAAC LUCINADA

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | NOVEMBER 4, 2018

SIC ON PRINT

Filipina-Americans run riot with Drama by Rick Olivares

ICKING up the baton from 1990s riot “grrrl” bands such as Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney that combined feminist consciousness with punk-style politics is San Francisco-based Drama. The three-woman band of vocalistguitarist Monica, bassist Krista, and drummer Aimee just dropped their self-titled debut extended play album on cassette via Bay Area-based Filipino underground label Aklasan Records (and now made available domestically by Mutilated Noise Records). Drama’s release features six tracks of blistering punk delivered at breakneck speed. The rage and abject feminism is over in 11 minutes. The album opens with Parking Meter with metronomic measure, before the tortured voice of Monica wails right in. That song sets the table for the rest of the album that reminds one of early Yeah Yeah Yeahs—without sacrificing the venom. “On our cassette, we talk about being working class, struggling as the daughters of immigrants, being in love with another girl and wanting to be her sugar daddy and working as a janitor at a kink shop; all inspired by real-life events,” cheerfully shared Monica. In fact, that “kink shop” is the subject of a song by the same title. “We love to be simply transparent. No frills, raw,” declared Monica, who sports a clean-shaven head. “We are just being ourselves and it’s how we are together when we practice, when we go out to Cat Club for some goth dancing, eating tacos, making art, and others. We live in a very diverse world and believe that by expressing ourselves, other women can feel empowered to do the same—with no apologies.”

‘No judgment, no men...’

“WE started out as a band to have fun and to challenge ourselves,” added the guitarist of Drama’s origins. “Being in the band for just a little over a year, we have grown and learned so much from each other. We come to practice together, openly share details from our lives, talk about what’s going on in

our community, listen and talk about music and how we want our sound to be portrayed. Monica went on to say: “Krista didn’t have any experience playing bass, Aimee was just learning the drums, and I had never played in a band with all women. We wanted to create a space where we can appreciate and explore our creativity with no judgement and no men.” She added, “We all come from creative backgrounds: Krista got an education in art focusing in printmaking, Aimee went to school for art history, while I attended music school.” And the music Drama creates is powerful, which prompted Aklasan Records’ impresario Rupert Estanislao to release their music on his label. “Drama is by far one of the most unique, compelling, and quintessential releases in Fil-American punk rock,” said Estanislao. “The music is driving, eerie, and reminds me of a David Cronenberg film [that was known for exploring visceral body transformations and infections].” When Drama’s music sinks its collective teeth, it is hard to let go because it leaves a lasting mark. At the end of the last song on the album Doo Dah, Monica’s denouement is explicit for all to hear: “I am a beautiful woman. You are a beautiful woman.” Talk about statements. Musically, and for the community...

Giving back by playing

“We have been able to do some great things for and with the community just by playing music,” summed up Monica.

“This is one of our favorite things of being a part of Drama.” She relayed the band’s recent engagements: “There are two festivals that really stand out to us, and [we] hope to keep giving back by playing. Last year we attended the Universe Is Lit, the first and only Bay Area Black & Brown Punk Festival. This year we had the honor to play the festival re-birthed as the Multiverse Is Illuminated, alongside bands such as the legendary ONO, Scissoring, Wizard Apprentice, Bedroom Witch, Sister Mantos, Squid Ink, and so many more talented and wonderful bands.” Monica continued, “We love seeing beautiful black and brown performers in our community, and [we] hope to support and sustain this magical time.

Our third show we ever played was at Aklasan Festival in 2017, the Filipino punk and hardcore festival at Bindlestiff Studios, which is the US’s only performing arts space dedicated to Filipino arts. We played with Aninoko, Hafner, Saliva Tribe and DeathGlam, which was really an empowering experience because it opened our eyes to the community of Filipino musicians in the Bay Area. Not only were we inspired by these amazing musicians, but we were also in the SoMa (or South of Market), the heart of the Filipino community in San Francisco.” Needless to say, Drama continues. (To pick up Drama’s cassette album, look for Mutilated Noise Records on Facebook, or go directly through Aklasan Records).

NOVEMBER 4, 2018 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

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MUSIC ON PRINT

SoundSampler | by Tony M. Maghirang

Time out for Autotelic, Ang Banda ni Kleggy, Lavos Beckon, Slash, Patti Austin/James Morrison

AUTOTELIC Takipsilim

HOSE who enjoy the various formations that emerged from the local indie underground will take very well Autotelic’s new EP for a mainstream label. It comes out five years after their self-titled debut EP in 2013. “Takipsilim” has a balanced approach to mass appeal and adventurousness. That is, across-the-board attraction in the dance pop of the titular track and “Hindi Alam,” which draws inspiration from the Side A/ Labuyo playbook. It’s interesting to note that the underlying funk in hands-in-the-air raver “Huli” suggests exciting things to come from this outfit. “Papunta Pabalik,” while burdened by lyrics that could use some edits for fluid delivery, projects potentials of an unforgettable pop-rocker.

LAVOS BEACON Wars Fought With the Heron-Marked Blade

HIS four-piece outfit describes themselves as dark, epic and heavy metal band from Quezon City. Their debut album came out originally in April 2012. The band says a couple of videos of their performances in Davao made the rounds in digital music platforms last year, as the ensuing hype revived new interest in their first release. The renewed excitement is justified. While to

A home for...

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same local monument. “Everybody’s welcome. Unless you don’t like us, it’s fine…that’s life,” Gutierrez asserted. “In our place, there are no celebrities, no rock stars. We’re all equals.” He added: “Respect the roots. Respect one another.” Exposed to so much talent of this “overlooked branch” of OPM, DSIDE looks at the genre with hope and admiration, especially at the bands that have worked hard enough to reach mainstream status, with a reminder that talents shouldn’t remain underground. “The rock music scene in the country has a long journey ahead, especially the artists that have made it to the mainstream,” Gutierrez observed. “Almost all of them are really brilliant that

discerning ears tracks on the debut might instantly insinuate influences from the ‘80s British new wave of heavy metal like Iron Maiden, contemporary metal artists also figure in Lavos Beckon’s craft. Dragonforce’s pop-metal bliss is all over The Halting, right down to the hyperventilating vocals. Post-rock meets glam in the atmospheric metal that’s The Duel In The Sky, while the band mixes Scorpions and Queen in the thrash rave-up of Tears from Silver Eyes. In a short private message, the band says Filipino metal bands have the chops to make it on the global stage. Lavos Beckon certainly has what it takes. Their sophomore album will be out in 2019.

beyond an appetite for destruction. The one-two punch of The Call of The Wild and Serve You Right starts the new album on a bright Aerosmith-alike mode. From there, it’s a freewheeling electric boogie ranging from an old school rock ripper in The Antidote, the mid-tempo thrust of Driving Rain, to the funky boogaloo of Sugar Cane. Lost Inside The Girl is not some X-rated violation, but an affecting big ballad about the precious one who slipped away. Its twin, The One You Loved Is Gone, is a tender compassionate reflection on the same theme. In these two tracks, Slash and company tread into the blues-rock terrain of Alice In Chains. Slash with GNR bring their “Not in this Lifetime” World Tour to the Philippine Arena on November 11.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY Living The Dream

AKE a break and put away Guns n’ Roses (GNR) at the back of your mind. They’re performing later this week at the Philippine Arena, and most of you know their hits anyway. Let’s give GNR’s guitarist Slash, reputed to be today’s greatest rock string-bender, some space outside of his better-known band’s erratic body of work. He just released a new album to celebrate his dream job. Meanwhile, GnR’s 2018 tour is breaking records worldwide, and Slash’s current net worth of $32 million will increase by a few million dollars more. That said, his side project with vocalist Myles Kennedy of Alterbridge allows him the luxury to take up other pursuits. Living The Dream, the third and latest release from solo Slash featuring Miles Kennedy, isn’t a complete departure from the hard rock/metal volume of GnR. In the absence of Axl’s Rose’s invasive, abrasive vocals, Slash is able to flesh out a guitar-centric vision

you could line them up with foreign acts.” Being a musician himself and a lover of the genre that DSIDE caters to, Gutierrez understands both the culture of the music and the expectations of those who play it. From his experience, SoundStripasked how he would define the perfect gig venue. “DSIDE,” he answered. “It’s the perfect [place] for a gig.” Gutierrez invites every lover of underground music to come home to DSIDE every weekend and enjoy great food, and the finest of what Pinoy underground has to offer, at the Matchbox Yard Jordan Plains, Commonwealth Avenue, Fairview, Quezon City. (For more on DSIDE and the bands they are hosting, follow their Facebook page: DSIDE BAR at Matchbox Yard.)

PATTI AUSTIN/JAMES MORRISON Ella & Louis

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0s/’80s jazz fusion diva Patti Austin pays tribute to the greatest jazz singers of all time, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, live in cahoots with Aussie trumpet great James Morrison. The result is a well-crafted album that reflects the skill and conviction of both main artists, with Austin navigating seamlessly across covers with jazzy aplomb and occasional pure pop brilliance. She’s consistently fascinating working up a steam with the up-tempo How High The Moon and turning emotions down low with bluesy Miss Otis Regrets. Morrison matches her vocal pyrotechnics with subtexts of energy and calm. As the old cliché goes, there’s real chemistry at work here. And above all, it’s the outcome of two unique voices finding common ground. Patti Austin jazzes things up at the Solaire Resort on November 10, also featuring soul diva Jaya.

PHOTO BY JOHN ISAAC LUCINADA

ANG BANDA NI KLEGGY Mandirigma ng Pag-ibig

‘E

VERYBODY loves Ang Banda ni Kleggy.” That’s the opening sentence of an article about the band five years ago. Since then, “Kleggy” would carve out a musical presence in OPM that’s simply adorable. Their latest album “Mandirigma ng Pag-Ibig” is a marriage of two previous releases: “Medyo Serious” and “Semi-Formal.” On this new record, the universal affection may be turning into doubt. It’s not easy to totally embrace a 15-song album with four real songs slotted between mere sketches that should have never seen the light of day, even in Anne Curtis’ perfect timing. The final track is three minutes of silence, concluding with: “Sabi ko sayo eh, hidden track…” followed by a retardate snicker. “Singtunado” offers two minutes of out-of-whack singing, and another two of tuneful rocking. Spanish guitars frame “Suki,” but they’re wasted in ersatz “Balagtasan” rhymes about, “Kailangan pa ba ng talong?” “Simplekado” is a dumb ass conjugation/ portmanteau of “simple” and “kumplikado,” while “Kurakot” features power-metal riffing in the service of the usual vignettes about corruption in high places. Do these guys even care about relevance? It’s the same deal with the better sounding tracks, like opener “Radyo,” the balikbayan blues of “Nasasaktan,” and the happy jamming in “Parang Birthday.” The music hardly deserves lyrics that seem to be afterthoughts, and that’s being charitable given the wasted opportunity to make good sense of the pop-punk in “Shot,” or turn a collaboration with the phenomenal Bayang Barrios into something memorable. Warriors of love? There’s not one track on the album that suggests they have the balls to be more than foot soldiers in a dying scene.

PHL team places 2nd in AWS Hackdays 2018 Grand Finale

Young Pinoys’ machine made from AWS technology was runner-up to Thailand’s Sunday Morning

MAZON Web Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced on October 25 Thailand’s “Sunday Morning” as the winner of the AWS Hackdays 2018 Grand Finale while the Philippines’s “Team Makati Boyz” placed second. Training the second-fastest smart autonomous vehicle, Team Makati Boyz bested out six teams competing across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region. The AWS Hackdays Grand Finale is the culmination of hackathon events held across six countries in Southeast Asia. Winning representative teams from Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand were given 15 hours to train and race 1/16th scale modified cars, known as Robocars, to complete four laps around a constructed track. Team Makati Boyz’s Robocar finished the laps in 1 minute and 17 seconds, making them a runner-up to Sunday Morning’s shortest completion period of 37 seconds. “AI [artificial intelligence] and ML [machine learning] have the potential to enhance everyday life, and this can be seen through the AWS Hackdays, where developers experiment with different AI and ML frameworks and incorporate these technologies into their applications,” AWS Managing Director for Asean Nick Walton

TEAM Makati Boyz with Dr. Werner Vogels said. “The Thailand and Philippine teams’ ability to train their Robocars to learn to drive and maneuver the track in a short time, harnessing AWS technologies such as Amazon SageMaker, showed firsthand how

TEAM Makati Boyz’s robocar on the competition track.

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AI and ML can be used to positively impact everyday applications.” Banding together for the competition, Team Makati Boyz, composed of four young professionals, gathered from different backgrounds like data science, e-commerce and mobile app development. Leading the group are the head of AWS’s User Group in the Philippines as well as a data scientist that has utilized AWS technology for projects in the past. Sunday Morning, on the other hand, is a team of data scientists from Sunday Ins Co. (easysunday. com), a Thailand-based organization and Southeast Asia’s first full stack Insurtech company that uses the AWS platform and cutting-edge technology to assist its pricing of personalized insurance products. “While there were challenges, I found AWS Hackdays 2018 to be a rewarding experience. I appreciated how AWS technology levels the playing field for people from different countries, especially with varying degrees of technological infrastructure,” said data scientist member Gonzalo Relova III. “Utilizing my background and experience with machine learning, as well as Ie-

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veraging AWS services like Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2, is what I believe made training the autonomous vehicle in that short time possible.” According to Raphael Quisumbing, Team Makati Boyz leader, “Competing in the Asean level was exciting for us.” “The team had to explore alternatives, as well as the different machine learning platforms AWS provided. After 10 hours of coding and training, we were able to make our own DonkeyCar complete a track, which led us to placing second in the competition. We are thankful and eager to bring our learnings back to the Philippines.” As runners-up of the AWS Hackdays 2018 Grand Finale, Makati Boyz (Philippines) took home an Amazon Gift Card worth $100 per team member. Sunday Morning earned a trip to Las Vegas to attend “re:Invent 2018,” a learning conference hosted by AWS for the global cloud computing community. The event features keynote announcements, training and certification opportunities, access to more than 2,000 technical sessions, a partner expo, after-hours events and more.

A generation transforms ‘adult’ into verb—McCann executive By Rizal Raoul Reyes

‘A

DULT” used to be a noun; it is now a verb.

That’s how Gino Borromeo of McCann Worldgroup said today’s youth made a mark in the century. Borromeo was referring to the results of a study the advertising agency did in collaboration with the Ateneo de Manila University’s Institute for the Science and Art of Learning and Teaching. Based on the study, Borromeo noted that adulthood is one important shift for the current generation of youth. However, it is no longer considered a milestone. Previous generations, he noted, regarded adulthood as a numerical age when one can legally enter contracts, drink alcohol, give consent, or drive a car, while today’s youth seem to use “adult” as a verb. “Certain actions are deemed as ‘adulting,’” Borromeo said during the recently concluded International Conference on Educational Frontiers. “Adulthood is now a fluid state, an option offered on a daily ba-

sis. Examples of adulting include being able to pay bills, having a regular bed time, going to the movies by oneself and even having an ‘uncracked’ phone screen.” He, however, added that “figuring things out” takes a longer time for today’s youth. For instance, Borromeo said the current youth generation does not have a general career road map.

‘Careering’

A MAJORITY of today’s young people do not stay in the company for a long time and just move gradually up to the corporate ladder, he added. “The youth are taking longer to figuring out a career for themselves. This process is no longer linear,” he said, citing results of the study that interviewed 33,000 people aged 16 to 30 years old in several countries. Borromeo said they also observed that the older generation and the current generation hold different views on career development. “The older generations say ‘Oh you’re doing this now, you’re doing this and you’re doing this’…whereas I’m just planting seeds. At some point, one of the trees is going to grow,” he said. “Today’s youth choose to do different things as a means of exploring multiple options simultaneously [‘sow-

MILLENNIALS UNIVERSE By Vernon Velasco

T’S one thing to investigate whether one is a gay male; it’s quite another when it occurs to you that you might be caught in a possible same-sex couple’s lovers’ quarrel. One of these “lovebirds” is Joshua (not his real name), my friend who didn’t strike me as gay but rather the kind who is just obsessively and compulsively clean; inclined to talk about other men’s closeted lives. It used to be that, at least until I moved in with him with James, whom Joshua refers to as a friend, in a one-bedroom apartment. Under normal circumstances a disagreement between two straight guy “friends” would escalate into something that makes you fear for your life; or demands that you either intervene or call the emergency hotline. But their kind of dustup rather strikes you as sweet, the sulky kind a girl initiates when her boyfriend admits that he thinks she is not beautiful. Here Joshua shuts the door before the guy; here he looks out of sorts and sits pant-

ing on the edge of the bed. Here I would wrap my arm around his shoulders and ask him what seems to be the problem, whereupon he would briskly take it off his shoulders and blurt: “Don’t touch me!” I wanted to point out that I was now involved here, but, in truth, all I really wanted to ask was whether or not they had had sex or, in this “relationship.” If anything, I was ready to excuse myself or suggest that I’m better off leaving them altogether if it would do them any good. But then again I saw that Joshua was trying to hide his tears, so that my modest proposal and the inhibition to say it were reduced to a resounding “F__k, man, are you crying?” If I didn’t ask to display an air of genuine concern, I did so because I was really curious. But instead of point-blank grilling him about when has he reached a decision that he’s gay or, as someone so wittily put it, when has he unequivocally decided that he’s straight, the curiosity translated more emphatically if he’s being mugged. “I mean,” I said, pointing at a bruise on his leg. “Gosh! Look at that.” Then I segued a little bit and made a sound as if I were gurgling stones, mustering the courage to ask “Are you together?” “Are we together?” he said, wiping his baby face with a towel. “You are funny. Do we really look like we’re together?” “I saw last night with my two eyes that

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ing seeds’] in the hope that one of them will bear fruit.”

‘Hyperlinkages’

WITH the emergence of social media and hyperconnectivity, the youth of today have a much wider range of contacts as compared to their older counterparts. Moreover, this has resulted in developing a new definition of friendship, according to Borromeo. “For many young people, it is about showcasing one’s best and most creative self,” he said. “We may even be living in an age where individuals become their own brands, able to define their own unique identity.” On the positive end, Borromeo pointed out that social media have provided opportunities for the youth to find role models and sources of inspiration. On the negative end, however, social media have engendered widespread feelings of inadequacy and insecurity because of social-media envy, he noted. “Despite living in a world that engenders social-media envy and personal insecurity, many more young people are valuing sincerity, honesty and loyalty,” Borromeo said. He said members of the older generation have a bigger role to play in this times— e.g., impart wisdom—as there is a lot of chaos and confusion.

“The world has become so complex that the youth are actually looking for adult perspectives,” he said. “They’re in search of parental figures for advice and wisdom to navigate this confusing, chaotic world.” Borromeo said that, while the survey was of international scale, the findings reflect some things that are relevant to Filipinos. Despite the changes in technologies and the world, one thing has not changed: “Being young is about finding yourself, your people and your place in the world,” he said. Borromeo added that adolescence and young adulthood remain characterized by the youth’s desire to find one’s identity, community and purpose in a fast-changing society. He added these concerns have not changed for the youth since adolescence and young adulthood continue to be defined by young people’s desire to know more about who they are, who the people they can share interests with are and how they can make a difference in the world. Meanwhile, these developments have a bigger impact in the Philippines, as the youth continue to live in multigenerational households with parents, grandparents, and even older and younger cousins, uncles and aunts. “Our collectivist culture also stills values respect and the wisdom of elders and those around us.”

Queer! you were touching each other’s willy. Well, how about that?” “It was just one time, just one time for good luck,” he said. When I was in grade school a classmate would be joshed by a group of bullies, cornering him at a nook in the school corridor to remind him that he’s queer. “Just in case you forget,” one of them said, whereupon they would hogtie him on the steps and touch his gay balls. “Pabuenas [just one time for good luck],” each of them would say, as they took turns and were gone before the boy could even bite his lip and cry. There were days they would pin the boy down and someone would wedge his feet between his legs and onto his crotch so that he could tickle his cojones with it, days he would fight them off and days he would just cry at that corner insisting that he’s not gay. But, gay or not, I don’t see, now that I’m older, a scintilla of connection between luck and squeezing someone’s balls because if it really were, how come feng shui experts don’t make a testicle necklace and wear it as a charm? I told Joshua this and he cut me off, saying “Queer or not, it’s none of your business.” It’s always satisfying when someone you call “gay” is pink in the face and gets poised as if he’s going to swing at you just to prove otherwise. With Joshua, I would stoke the fire and give him a quiz, with questions such as “Fill

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in the blanks: You are g _ y.” After minutes of contemplation, he’d look up to me and say “You’re sh_t__ng me,” and then I would be doubled over and laughing until I’m rolling on my back. It only works when the supposed gay man in question is not out, though, because putting somebody on the hot seat isn’t too exciting anymore when he has already owned up to the deed. Because there’s something really fishy about how Joshua and James would sleep at night in the same bed and in each other’s arms; no matter that their bed is way smaller than mine. Also, there’s something there when they would take a bath together and how they coo and moan whenever they give each other a massage, or how James holds Joshua on the hips like a princess. But I’m still all after the thrill of catching them when they kiss each other on the lips. Don’t get me wrong, and I don’t wish to excuse myself. I don’t wish to see so that I could have an item, either. I asked Joshua because I wanted to know what the party is all about, or what the cause for celebration is. That would be a good reason to gather ’round all our friends and drink to that. The views expressed by Vernon Velasco in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror’s.