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POWER STRUGGLE
NASCENT BUT WELL-FUNDED ELECTRICITY FIRM POISES TAKEOVER OF ILOILO CITY’S POWER SUPPLY FRANCHISE
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By Lenie Lectura
WO firms—a newcomer and an electricity provider for nearly a century—are racing to provide better power service to commercial establishments and residents of the bustling Iloilo City, marred by an ongoing franchise dispute which has left consumers at the center of the controversy.
Panay Electric Company Inc. (Peco), Iloilo’s power distributor for the last 95 years, is on its eighth year of implementing a modernization program, which includes putting up additional transmission line substations to cater to the growing demand for power in the city, which ranked 11th in the overall competitiveness among 33 highly urbanized cities (HUCs) in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) this year. Peco currently services the Ilonggos with five subtransmission line substations in Baldoza Lapaz, Tabuc Suba Jaro, Bolilao Mandurriao, Avancena Molo and General
Luna City. It has 450 kilometers of power lines, 20,000 poles, 1,300 distribution transformers and 64,000 electrical meters, and employs 400 personnel.
The boom
“OUR modernization plans started in 2010. It started with [the] upgrading of distribution lines to improve the system’s reliability. There’s a boom here. Ayala had just finished a condo project. Megaworld is building a mall. The Gaisanos, meanwhile, are developing a township. These activities will mean more demand for power and we assure Iloilo that we are up for
it,” said Peco administration manager Marcelo Cacho over the phone. While there is enough capacity to supply the city, Peco wants to be prepared in addressing the growing dynamism in the local economy of Iloilo. It bared plans to put up a 42MW substation to address the 6-percent to 7-percent growth in electricity demand. The additional substation is part of Peco’s remaining P1-billion capital expenditure set aside for its modernization plan, said Cacho. “In 2015 Iloilo’s peak consumption was 98 MW. This year, it has grown to 116 MW. We are see-
ing an annual growth of 6 percent to 7 percent. We are indeed ready. Iloilo is booming in all aspects,” added the official.
Franchise renewal problem
BUT this plan might be put to waste if Peco’s franchise, which expires January next year, is not renewed within that month. The franchise renewal bill of Peco is still pending in Congress due to objections of Iloilo residents and the city council. The protest against Peco’s new franchise is backed by a petition signed by Iloilo residents and a Continued on A2
Chinese consumers on a sudden halt
The Chinese retail sales was below expectations in October, which of course gives reason to consider China’s economy once more.
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By Peter Lundgreen
Share of income consumed online (in %)
N the famous Singles Day, China 20 the 11th November, Chinese Mexico 16.5 company Alibaba sold goods Indonesia 12 for 213.5 billion renminbi ($30.5 UK 10.5 billion). These kinds of numbers India 10 are quite fascinating and when one Russia 9.75 considers that the turnover leads to one USA 8 billion shipments afterward, it really Source: Lundgreen’s Capital/Various underscores the volume.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.2770
China: Yearly change in retail sales (in %) Nov-17 10.2 Dec-17 9.4 Jan-18 9.7 Feb-18 9.7 Mar-18 10.1 Apr-18 9.4 May-18 8.5 Jun-18 9 Jul-18 8.8 Aug-18 9 Sep-18 9.2 Oct-18 8.6 Source: FRED, Fed St. Louis, USA
On the question whether an increase in the turnover of 27 percent compared to Singles Day in 2017 expresses a sharp increase in private consumption, the answer is less exciting—it is actually a no. Almost ironically, Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma announced on November 2 that the company lowered its forecast result for the current financial year, ending March 31. Bad times can be the excuse for many developments, but nevertheless, it is precisely the current feeling of uncertainty among the Chinese consumers which Alibaba refers to. In line with this, I argue that there have Continued on A2
n JAPAN 0.4628 n UK 67.3380 n HK 6.6762 n CHINA 7.5421 n SINGAPORE 38.0861 n AUSTRALIA 37.9008 n EU 59.6376 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9350
Source: BSP (November 23, 2018 )
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Chinese consumers on a sudden halt Continued from a1
been different indications of the mentioned uneasiness among Chinese consumers, though it is still in a market with high growth rates. The developments in retail sales are difficult to follow 100 percent precisely due to the huge shift in consumer behavior the past years. Retail turnover via online platforms now accounts for around 28 percent of the total retail sales in China. As Graphic 1 shows, Chinese consumers today spend almost 20 percent of their income on online purchases, which is a world record. Looking at the absolute amount consumed, Chinese consumers are in fifth place in the world, thus in-line with France and Australia. A part of the success of retail e-commerce companies like Alibaba is the movement from traditional store sales to consumption via a smartphone. For several years, the overall retail sales in China had a growth rate of 10 percent annually, which is a high number. But part of the story is that private consumption origins from an extremely low level (very low historically based) when measured in absolute renminbi. Therefore, the growth rate even after 30 years growth should remain high, but in October, it was a downside surprise (Graphic 2). As mentioned, I believe that for some time now, there has been a certain reluctance among Chinese consumers. Though one must remember that it just means a slightly lower growth from a high level. Still, it’s noteworthy that the October retail sales actually lacked half a percentage point in growth. Among several areas, the car sales in China have long been pointing downward. This year, the car sales will even show a negative year-on-year development for the first time in almost 30 years. There are several reasons behind the drop, such as government subsidies that have faded out, though I still consider a weaker consumer desire as the main reason.
It may seem like a Chinese problem, but investors globally could be interested in the development. China is by far the world’s largest car market, with 29 million cars sold last year, of which 62 percent were foreign cars—in comparison to the 19 million cars sold in the United States in 2017. To boost private consumption and economic growth, the Chinese government spent a long time getting the recent tax reform implemented, which is intended to support corporations and the middle-class households. The tax reform reduces income tax by up to 8 percentage points for middle-class household incomes, which is considerably significant, compared to different tax reforms around the world. If consumption truly jumps due to the higher disposable income is a good question. I am quite excited to observe the shopper’s mood during the vacation week around Chinese Lunar New Year in February—I expect this to be the real test of the mood. Perhaps even more tax cuts are on the way to companies, and possibly private households. To follow this development, insiders will keep an eye on a meeting among Chinese top politicians and officials in the Central Economic Work Conference, which is a closed meeting that will probably take place in December. When assessing the Chinese economy, it’s not unusual to observe contradictory developments or imbalances in different areas of the economy. These years, it applies to virtually all economies around the world, but in most periods over the last 30 years, it has been the case for China’s economy. It expresses the ongoing “Chinese dilemma” that faces investors as some developments in China seem worrisome, but in 12 months, everything has grown bigger, and it makes sense to participate in the growth. Not even during the next 30
WORKERS seal sacks full of packages in an automated parcel sorting facility for e-commerce retailer JD.com in Tongzhou, Beijing, November 11, 2018. Online shoppers spent more than $14 billion within the first two hours of China’s annual buying frenzy on Sunday, once again breaking records as the consumer tradition enters its 10th year. AP/MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
years would I expect China’s economy to offer a perfect outlook with all numbers in balance. The ongoing assessment of what the important developments are currently remains. Right now, I judge the developments in the private consumption as particularly important. I would therefore pay extra attention to the consumers. Increased private consumption is a key element in growing the domestic private demand engine, but it should also further reduce China’s dependence on exports. The main question is not whether private consumption rises, but if it is enough to keep China’s GDP growth at around
6.5 percent. I argue that it is currently not the case. Very wise, China’s government tries to reduce the debt pile in the economy, though that equals to economic deleverage, which cannot avoid affecting the GDP growth negatively. The political counter reaction is, for example, to lower the income-tax rates to strengthen the shopper’s appetite for spending money, but as mentioned, we have for some time felt a kind of reluctance among consumers, as evident with the car sales. This is one reason why for a period now, I have argued that the Chinese GDP growth may fall to 6 percent, faster than majority of
economists expect. The financial market always reacts very negatively to weak messages from China, which I incorporate in my assessments. Though when considering the stock markets, my opinion is that many negative news from China are already priced in, maybe even too much. Further, must the “Chinese dilemma” be factored in, meaning that in 12 months, all numbers are larger, and profitable companies have grown even bigger—so I stay in the market…. (Based on the Code of Conduct at Lundgreen’s Capital, when writing a post or a column, we should mention if the company itself or
associated legal entities own shares in the companies mentioned. This is the case with Alibaba. However, we confirm that this does not influence the contents or conclusions of the column.) Peter Lundgreen is the founding CEO of Lundgreen’s Capital, the leading independent advisor to Danish municipalities and public institutions in Europe. He has a solid 30-year experience in the finance industry and has been sharing his financial and economic know-how the past decades. Although based in Denmark, Peter’s expertise transcends the European financial zone and market, as he has created a high level of proficiency and competency on major global economies and finance markets, particularly in China.
Power struggle Continued from a1
concurrent Iloilo City Council resolution, with complaints ranging from overpricing to poor service and obsolete facilities. Peco denies this. “In 2010, we had a power crisis. Supply could not cope up with demand. Peco then reached out to Global Power Corp. to put up a power-generating facility. There is now sufficient supply of power in Iloilo,” said Cacho.
The challenger
WITH a war chest of P2 billion, newcomer More Electric and Power Co. (MORE Electric), owned by businessman Enrique Razon Jr., promises to give relief to Ilonggos of their misery. “We are exactly the opposite of Peco because we have a track record of success in start-ups and large-scale projects not only in the Philippines but globally,” said Razon in a news statement issued on Thursday. MORE Electric has applied for legislative franchise to operate in Iloilo City. If awarded one, MORE Electric is seen to take over Peco’s operations, including its assets. It also needs approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN). “If Peco had been doing a good job, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to apply for this franchise and transform it into a modern, efficient, low-cost and state-of-the-art distribution network,” Razon said. “Peco is No. 20 on the list of distribution utilities in the Philip-
pines, an indication of poor performance. Given that its franchise area is a compact and contiguous urban area, it should have been in the top 5 or top 10,” he added.
President Randy Pastolero asked, painting a gloomy scenario of what might transpire in 2019.
Senate panel vote
THE DOE and the ERC, meanwhile, are ensuring that power service will continue in Iloilo City amid the dispute. “Service must continue. If not, we are prepared to take over to ensure that there is no disruption in service,” said DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who was referring to a possible takeover by the National Electrification Administration (NEA). “To ensure there will be no interruption of service, in case they cannot agree, the government will take over as a holdover to ensure there will be no disruption,” Cusi warned. He added that a task force has been created in case the dispute worsens. “We organized a task force to handle the takeover, just in case there is a need to take over the operations in Iloilo City.” The energy chief also expects that both parties submit a transition plan to the agency. “That’s what we would like to see—for both parties to agree and submit their transition plan.” The ERC, for its part, said it is in talks with government agencies to allow continued power service in Peco’s franchise area. “We are coordinating with all other government agencies involved in exerting best efforts to make sure that power service is not interrupted just because there is an ongoing dispute,” ERC spokesman Floresinda Digal said in an interview.
THE Senate public services committee voted unanimously last month in favor of House Bill 8132, an act granting MORE Electric and Power Co. a franchise to establish, operate and maintain a distribution system in Iloilo City. “We have set aside P700 million out of the P2 billion just for upgrading. We are very much prepared to handle Iloilo City’s growth, which will require additional power capacity, one that is very reliable and cheap,” said Cyril del Callar, a former president of the National Power Corp. and former undersecretary of the Department of Energy, in an interview. Del Callar is MORE Electric’s regulatory compliance officer. Peco claims that MORE Electric does not have the qualifications to run an electric company. Peco said MORE Electric is simply relying on its anticipated grant by Congress of the Power of Eminent Domain to expropriate the assets and business of Peco. “It will be hard for MORE to put up the facilities at a very short time. What happens now to the people of Iloilo City in case the committee decides to grant the franchise to MORE? With elections to be held in just a few months, are the Ilonggos to be deprived of their right to vote and their vote be counted just because there is no electricity in polling precincts?” Peco Assistant Vice
Third player
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Oil set for seventh weekly loss on signs of global supply glut
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il’s poised for a seventh weekly loss after Saudi Arabia signaled its output may have reached a record, while America’s growing crude stockpiles stoke concerns over a potential supply glut. Futures retreated as much as 2 percent in New York, heading for a 4.8-percent decline this week. Saudi Arabia is producing in excess of 10.7 million barrels a day, Energy Minister Khalid AlFalih said, giving the strongest indication yet that the kingdom has boosted output to record levels. Meanwhile, US crude inventories climbed for a ninth week, the longest run of gains since March 2017. Crude collapsed into a bear market this month as America’s temporary waivers that allow some nations to continue importing Iranian oil boosted the prospect of higher global supplies. Oil’s volatility has increased this week to the highest since 2016 as investors avoid risky assets including commodities on US confrontation with China over trade, while President Donald J. Trump continues to demand for lower prices. “Prices have taken a dive as
Trump continues to call for lower prices to pressure the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [Opec] and Saudi Arabia to create a low-price environment, which has also been coupled with increasing American stockpiles,” said Hong Sungki, a Seoul-based commodities trader at NH Investment & Securities Co. “A potential game-changer will be what Opec+ agrees to do in terms of supply.” West Texas Intermediate for January delivery lost as much as $1.11 to $53.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $54.83 at 9:02 a.m. in Singapore. While there was no settlement on Thursday due to US Thanksgiving holiday, the contract is on course for the longest weekly losing streak since August. Brent for Ja nu a r y set t le ment dropped 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $62.40 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract also headed for a seventh weekly drop of 6.6 percent this week. T he globa l benchmark cr ude traded at a $8.66 premium to W TI for the same month, after settling at the lowest premium since August 31. Bloomberg News
Robots are coming to SM malls
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he Philippines’s richest man Henry Sy will start rolling out robots next year to help customers navigate his massive shopping malls. Initially, three androids will be deployed in the first quarter of 2019 in SM Megamall, the nation’s second-biggest shopping center, said Steven Tan, chief operating officer for the shopping malls of SM Prime Holdings Inc. The talking bots will provide mall directions and information on promotions and events, Tan said. Megamall, among the biggest in Southeast Asia, spans 477,000 square meters (5.1 million square feet), or an area equivalent to about 89 football fields, and serves about 277,000 people every day, according to data from SM. If the pilot is successful, the group will bring the robots to its biggest shopping center SM North Edsa and other major malls, Tan said. “Customer service is at the core of everything that we do and we always aim to make the shopping experience fun and seamless,” Tan said.
Henry Sy
SM’s three largest malls in the Philippines attract a daily foot traffic equivalent to 10 percent of Metro Manila’s 13 million population. SM’s 72 malls nationwide haul in more than 3.5 million customers each day. Sy, who migrated from China’s Fujian province and built his wealth from a shoe store he opened in Manila in 1948, expanded into shopping malls in the 1980s to house his growing retail ventures. The robots will employ artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to provide information to customers through an interactive, seamless and real-time platform, according to Cal-Comp Technology (Philippines) Inc., the provider and producer of the androids.
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US urges allies to avoid using Huawei equipment
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he United States government is contacting key allies to get them to persuade telecommunications companies in their countries to avoid using equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co., the Wall Street Journal reported. Officials from the US have reached out to counterparts and executives in countries including Germany, Italy and Japan about perceived cybersecurity risks, the Journal said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The US may boost aid
for telecommunications development in countries that shun Huawei equipment, some of the people said. Huawei has long been labeled a security risk by US lawmakers because of alleged links to the Chinese government, in part because
it was founded by former military engineer Ren Zhengfei. While the Shenzhen-based company has denied any inappropriate connections, it’s been banned in Australia from supplying fifth-generation wireless equipment, faced scrutiny in the UK and found itself largely shut out from the US market. Scrutiny of Huawei has increased since Donald J. Trump became US president as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate. The closely held company is now the world’s second-largest maker of smartphones and is one of the biggest producers of equipment for running phone networks. Huawei didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Bloomberg. American officials are concerned
about the use of the Chinese equipment in countries that host US military bases such as Germany, Japan and Italy, the Journal reported. There is concern about China’s ability to force companies to comply with government requests, it said. A number of major telecommunications companies directed more than 5 percent of their capital expenditure to Huawei, according to Bloomberg supply chain data. That includes Telecom Italia SpA and Japan’s NTT Docomo Inc. and KDDI Corp., the data shows. Huawei has been pouring billions into developing 5G technology and its potential to become the global leader in the space is said to be a reason Trump blocked the biggest ever chip deal earlier this year. Bloomberg News
Specter of meddling by Beijing looms over Taiwan’s elections
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AIPEI, Taiwan—As Taiwan prepares to hold local elections on Saturday, concerns are growing that Beijing’s long effort to sway the island’s politics has been armed with a new weapon: a Russia-style influence campaign. The island’s elections for city mayors and county and village leaders will in part serve as a report card on President Tsai Ing-wen, whose administration has come under immense pressure from Beijing. But Taiwan officials are sounding alarms at what they say is a campaign by Beijing to spread disinformation that serves its agenda by exploiting the island’s freewheeling public discourse. “There are those people who mistakenly think that if you simply shout falsehoods loudly, they’ll become real,” Tsai wrote on Facebook last week. “We must not let them succeed.” Taiwan officials say the population of 23 million is regularly fed misleading information in the news media and on social networks that range from unverified footage of large-scale Chinese military drills to false reports of stranded travelers being abandoned by the island ’s government. The onslaught of misinformation seems aimed at undermining the Tsai administration and her governing Democratic Progressive Party, which that leans towa rd independence —wh i le helping politicians deemed more
sympathetic to Beijing and unification, who are typically with the opposition party Kuomintang. China’s r u l ing Communist Party considers Taiwan part of its territory, and wants to bring the democratic island under its control. Tsai became president in May 2016 and has refused to meet China’s demand that she endorse Beijing’s so-called One China principle, which holds that the mainland and the island are part of a single country. In response, Beijing has sought to isolate Taiwan by drawing away its diplomatic allies, pressuring companies to erase references to Taiwan as a separate country and stepping up military drills. Taiwan authorities say they suspect that Beijing is also illegally funneling money to political campaigns through Taiwanese businesses in mainland China. Late last month, the government said that it was building cases against candidates who were being funded by Beijing and that it had shut down two underground money exchanges through which funds earmarked for influencing the election had been flowing. Taiwan’s government fears the use of social media misinformation campaigns are a new front for meddling. Beijing denies engaging in any kind of interference in Taiwan. A spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Ma Xiaoguang, described Tsai’s Facebook comments as “fake news” and “not even worth refuting.”
Ma said wider allegations about meddling were “completely fabricated out of thin air. We hope our Taiwanese compatriots won’t believe it.” But the propaganda war goes back seven decades, with attacks originating from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Many years after the Kuomintang government fled to the island after its defeat by the communists in 1949, each side continued sending the other balloons carrying propaganda. They filled the airwaves with propaganda in slogans, news and music. In 1996, by which time the K uom i nt a ng h ad e f fe c t ive ly given up its claim on the mainland, China fired missiles toward Taiwan in the days before t he island ’s f irst democratic presidential election in an attempt to intimidate voters from casting ballots for democratic reformer Lee Teng-hui. But the effort backfired, and Lee won a resounding victory. Taiwan leaders say propaganda is now carried over the strait through posts on Facebook, the chat app Line and a popular online bulletin board known as PTT. In September, PTT drew scrutiny for carrying a widely shared post that claimed that Taiwanese travelers stranded in Japan were being rescued by buses sent by China’s consulate—but only on the condition that they declared themselves Chinese. The post, which was carried by Chinese media, led
to criticism from the Taiwanese public that their government had failed them. Su Chii-Cherng, Taiwan’s top diplomat in Osaka, Japan, killed himself, leaving a note saying that the “news” had been troubling him. Witnesses from the Japanese airport later refuted the news, while PTT users traced the original post to an IP address in Beijing. Concerns about Chinese meddling have grown as the election race heats up. Of particular concern to Tsai and her party, known as DPP, is the mayoral race in the southern city of Kaohsiung— where Han Kuo-yu, a Kuomintang candidate, has enjoyed a surprising surge in popularity. Han’s victory would end two decades of DPP control of the city and be a significant setback for Tsai. In October, lawyers for Chen Chi-mai, the DPP candidate originally seen as a shoo-in for Kaohsiung mayor, told reporters they had evidence that misinformation defaming Chen that had spread widely on Taiwanese social media had originated from overseas accounts, including some with mainland IP addresses. Han seemed unfazed by the prospect of outside interference in the political process. He directly addressed the authors of the posts, saying: “I don’t know you, but I thank you.” It is unclear what, if any, public position his party has on the question of election meddling. New York Times News Service
ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror
A4 Saturday, November 24, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos
SMEs are missing out on export opportunities
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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales
IG companies will continue to dominate the Philippine export industry as the majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) do not intend to export in the future, according to a survey by the Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness at the Asian Institute of Management. SMEs believe the exports trade is a risky venture, and the domestic market still gives them enough profit, the survey added. Among the SMEs surveyed, only 21 of the 480 respondents, or 4.4 percent, are currently exporting,
and only 30, or 6.3 percent, intend to export in the next two years. Further, of the 459 SMEs that are not current exporters, only eight are determined to venture into exports in the future. The reason cited was that most of them are
contented with the present state of their operations. “Based on a scale of 1 to 5, the top reasons for not exporting or even planning to export are related to the entrepreneur and the business environment, specifically the government. The owner or manager being content at the current state of the business [3.6] is the top-ranked reason for not exporting, followed by risk aversion [3.4],” the report read. “This is closely followed by high tariff rates for the export market, also rated with a score of 3.4. The next two reasons, also related to the environment, with a score of 3.2, point to government regulations on complicated process for exporting and corruption and bureaucracy,” it added. At the enterprise level, the insufficient or difficult access to finance was also listed as a hindrance. On the other hand, the 30 firms
AGNES ASUNCION, an entrepreneur from Barangay Pias, Currimao, Ilocos Norte, participated in a three-day seminar on product development and marketing in Bangkok to develop products for exports. LEILANIE ADRIANO/PNA
that are either currently exporting or are planning to export in the next two years said the growing global demand for their product or service
is one motivation for the activity. Some SMEs are also positive about exporting to have new markets. Moreover, they argued that ex-
porting brings in higher revenues. Some of them also found the domestic market getting crowded, so they have to venture out of the country. “In terms of distribution, 15 out of 30 firms [either exporting or planning to export] are highly motivated to export ‘to have new markets’ and as a response to growing global demand for their product or service. Notably, an ample proportion of the respondents [43.3 percent] are exporting or planning to export to look for new markets because the domestic market is small,” the survey said. “This suggests that a sizable proportion of the SME respondents are exporting out of necessity than opportunity. Moreover, only more than a quarter of the respondents [26.7 percent] engaged or plans to engage in exporting to have higher revenues, which is a more assertive motivation behind exporting,” it added.
MARKET DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
Pinoy food products in Australia’s mainstream supermarkets By Alma F. Argayoso
Consul Commercial/Special Trade Representative PTIC-Sydney
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USTRALIA is home to over 250,000 people of Filipino heritage, with over 10,000 Filipino students enrolled in Australian universities and vocational institutions. Philippine-born people living in Australia represents the fifth-largest migrant community down under, equivalent to 3.4 percent of Australia’s overseas-born population and 1 percent of Australia’s total population. It is no wonder then that Filipino products are available in the Australian market, but until the recent past, distribution was limited to the Filipino-Asian supermarkets, patronized by a high concentration of Filipino immigrants.... Benjie de Ubago, author of Filipin-oZ directory published in 2008, said Filipino immigrant Bert Garcia is responsible for the first commercial importation of Filipino products that brought the taste of the Filipino into Australia. To his credit, the first Filipino products—whether canned, bottled or wrapped—sold in the Filipino-Asian stores were Rufina fish sauce, MY San biscuits, Mother’s Best products, Newton Food products, Knorr, Lady’s Choice, Mama Sita’s, Magnolia, Barrio Fiesta, Silver Swan, Storck candies, Tropical fruit juices, Lasang Pinoy and many other Philippine brands. Today, however, more than 40 years later, there is a growing presence of Filipino products in Australia not only in the Filipino-Asian stores, but in the mainstream supermarkets, as well. Giant retailer Woolworths recognizes the significant number of Filipinos in Australia and has made traditional Filipino products, such as sauces and mixes, vinegar, soy sauce, biscuits, rice noodles, and many other Philippine products available in the international food section of 11 Woolworths stores in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The presence of Filipino products in Woolworths has been made possible by DHN Trading Import Export Pty. Ltd., a Melbourne-based importer that believes there is a bigger market beyond the Filipino community. Other products from the Philippines, either branded or toll-packed in the Philippines, such as canned tropical fruit, fruit juices, banana chips, virgin coconut oil, coconut flour and other coconut products, are also available in the mainstream aisles of Woolworths. Rival supermarket Coles also carries a number of branded and toll-packed products, while Costco, Daiso and other
independent, organic and specialty shops also have a few products imported from the Philippines. Filipinos, together with other Asian-born permanent residents, comprise a group of consumers whose spending habits are said to be growing faster than the rate of Australian-born shoppers. Nielsen’s 2017 Ethnic-Australian Consumer Report said that in the next five years, Australians born outside the country will spend AU$18.7 billion on groceries, accounting for 28 percent of sales for the country’s total grocery spend. This represents an increase of AU$4.4 billion in incremental revenue, with Asian-born consumers making up 57 percent of this growth. The report further said that engaging with Asian-born consumers requires a change in mindset because of their unique food preferences. Ethnic Australians are said to devote almost a third (32 percent) of their grocery spend to fresh food (compared to Australian-born consumers who allocate 26 percent of their spend on fresh food products); and they also have a strong skew toward seafood, fresh herbs and healthier food options in general. The key findings of the report also indicated that 75 percent of Asian-born Australians said they would shop more at mainstream supermarkets if there was a greater international selection. Meanwhile, almost half (48 percent) of Asian-born Australians said their purchasing decisions are influenced by retailer catalogues and brochures, and 31 percent of Asian-born Australians said their food choices are influenced by their children. Asian-born consumers are also more likely to read product labels, are more inclined to purchase healthier ingredients, are influenced by comments and reviews posted online and are willing to pay extra for wellknown brands. The above report showed an increasing opportunity to mainstream ethnic Asian products. With initiatives, such as the annual Philippine Food Festival hosted by Shangri-La-Sydney, Philippine Christmas Festival in Tumbalong Park where traditional Filipino products and cuisine are featured and an upcoming Filipino neighbourhood feast will be featured during the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2019, the time may have come for Filipino products to have greater prominence and space in mainstream supermarket shelves and into the kitchens of Australian consumers.
PHL DELEGATION IN ELECTRONICA 2018
The Philippine delegation welcomed foreign buyers and investors from all over the world to the country’s pavilion in Electronica, one of the world’s leading international trade fairs for electronics, at the Hall B1 Booth 460, Messe Munchen in Munich, Germany. With its recently held exhibit from November 13 to 16, the Partner Philippines pavilion showcased the country as a global powerhouse in electronics export, highlighting its robust manufacturing industry, state-of-the-art facilities, highly skilled and competitive work force and growing components supply base, among other market advantages.Participating companies under the Partner Philippines pavilion were Yongden Technology Corp.,; Global Circuits Sourcing Solutions, Tsukiden Electronics Philippines Inc., Ionics EMS Inc. and Testech Inc.
Philippines surpasses sales forecast in China expo, says trade secretary
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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced on Monday that the total sales of Filipino participants in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai surpassed its $50-million sales projection. The DTI said that Philippine booths’ total sales in CIIE from November 5 to 10 reached $124 million—$108 million worth of orders and $16-million on-site sales. Agricultural products made up most of the sales, including banana, avocado and orange, among others. “This is a big win for Filipino companies, especially those in the agriculture industry—as we push for greater promotion of our fresh fruits category in China’s huge market,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said. “The figures exceeded our target sales for this participation, which was $50 million. But Philippine products, known to be of quality to foreign buyers, received overwhelming approval at CIIE,” Lopez added. Fifty-seven exhibitors from the Philippines joined the CIIE—the first buying expo of China, which sought to increase sourcing of products outside China, in line with Xi Jinping’s direction of opening China to the world. “This is a concrete action taken by China to advance and open world economy and support economic globalization. Under the theme of ‘New Era, Shared Future,’ the first CIIE will help friends from around the world to seize opportunities presented by China in new the era,” Xi noted in his keynote speech at CIIE. Meanwhile, Lopez said the DTI targets to book more booths in next year’s CIIE to accommodate a bigger Philippine delegation. PNA
DTI 12 pushes development of more world-class products
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ENERAL SANTOS CITY—The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing for the development of more top-quality and “world-class” products from parts of Region 12 or Soccsksargen. Dorecita T. Delima, DTI 12 regional director, said in a statement on Wednesday that they are currently assisting local entrepreneurs in improving existing products and establish fresh goods that could potentially enter the lucrative export markets. She said the initiative is mainly focused on food and nonfood products sourced and produced within the region’s four provinces (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani) and five cities—General Santos City, Kidapawan City, Cotabato City, Koronadal City and Tacurong City. “We actually have a lot of promising products coming from various areas in Region 12 and we just need to improve and help them reach the mainstream markets,” she said. Delima specifically cited processed tropical fruits, processed foods and furniture, as well as various arts and crafts. Some of these products are being showcased by the agency in a five-day regional trade fair and exposition that formally opened on Wednesday at the SM Mall here. Dubbed “Treasures of Region 12 Jobs and Business Fair,” the event is an annual marketing and promotional activity spearheaded by the DTI 12 to promote various local products and services. The event, which features more than 200 products and around 100 exhibitors and en-
trepreneurs, is backed by local government units and the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior and Local Government, Science and Technology, and Labor and Employment, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. Delima said the exhibitors are local entrepreneurs that they assisted in terms of product development and improvement. “All 45 municipalities and five cities of Region 12 were represented in our trade expo,” she said. She said they “leveled up” the activities this year to deliver a “complete package” to consumers, as well as prospective and existing entrepreneurs. Aside from the trade fair, she said they have lined up a series of free trainings and seminars, business coaching and matching, service showcases and job fair during the fiveday event. Delima said these are par t of the agenc y’s Nego Solusyon pack age, which offers var ious ser v ices and technical assistance to loca l entrepreneurs and other interested residents. The scheduled seminars are the overseas Filipino workers business forum; product licensing, accreditation and other trade laws, business opportunity seminar for momshies and beshies; and halal services, shelf life determination, packaging and labeling. During the event, she said they will launch the “OuR12 Treats” and “Tsokokapetearya,” a package of top-quality snack goods featuring local coffee, tea and cocoa blends matched with bread and pastry pasalubong. PNA
Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph
Sports
BusinessMirror
Saturday, November 24, 2018
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Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Chairman Alan Peter S. Cayetano (first row, 10th from left), Bases Conversion and Development Authority President and CEO Authority Vivencio Dizon (first row, second from left), former Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go (first row, 11th from left) and Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez (first row, 12th from left) lead the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday. Joining them are New Clark City Mayor Arrey Perez (first row, left), Phisgoc Director General Ramon Suzara (first row, right), Chef de Mission Monsour del Rosario (first row, fourth from right) and former top athletes Lydia de Vega (first row, ninth from left) and Bong Coo (first row, fourth from left).
SEAG PREPS ON TRACK By Ramon Rafael Bonilla
ONSTRUCTION of a state-of-the-art sports complex at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, has gone full swing, putting on track the country’s preparation for the hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in November next year. Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Chairman Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Bases Conversion and Development Authority President and CEO Authority Vivencio Dizon, former Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez and New Clark City Mayor Arrey Perez led Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony of the facility that will serve as the main hub of the Games set from
November 30 to December 10 next year. Cayetano said the New Clark City—which houses the centerpiece athletics and aquatics center for the Games—will be a symbol of prosperity under the term of President Duterte. “This is the premier facility that will represent our 7,000-plus islands,” Cayetano said. “This wouldn’t be possible without the help and support of all the stakeholders.” The facility is a 9,500-hectare development area inside the Clark Special Economic Zone. Ongoing are the construction of the 20,000-seat athletics stadium, 2,000-seat aquatics center, Athletics Village and government offices. “This is for you, athletes. All these developments are aimed at improving your welfare and training,”
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Guiao satisfied with Team PHL progress
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Marcryan Mendoza (right) noses out Efren Reyes Jr. in a photo finish.
MENDOZA, REYES RULE NATL YOUTH, JRS TRIALS M arcryan Mendoza beat Efren Reyes Jr. by half a wheel in the junior category, while Aljim Martin survived an early crash to rule the youth division of the PhilCycling-Go For Gold National Junior and Youth Trials on Thursday that started and finished in Lian, Batangas. The 17-year-old Mendoza, a second-generation rider, nosed out Reyes after zooming ahead in the final 10 meters of the 78-kilometer race that began and ended in Barangay Binubusan here. Martin, meanwhile, picked up his bike after a spill some 5 kilometers into the 40-km race and broke free from the peloton to arrive solo at the finish line, more than two minutes ahead of his closest pursuer. “Malaking grupo ang nilagpasan ko pero hindi sila nag-react, kaya tinuluy-tuloy ko na hanggang dulo,’’ said the 15-year-old Martin, who rode all by his lonesome less than 10 kms before the finish. A cousin of veteran rider Ronald Oranza, Martin
arrived two minutes and 18.59 seconds ahead of Josue Albert Decuzar and John Paul Laureta and more than three minutes faster than fourth-placer Marc van Louie Baluyut. Go For Gold’s Ean Cajucom placed third in the juniors, 1:51 slower than Mendoza and Reyes, while Rench Michael Bondoc and Dave Clarence Cortez checked in fourth and fifth, more than four minutes behind the winner. Day 2 of the races designed to discover new talents for the national cycling team will feature the top 24 riders in the youth and the 25 surviving cyclists in the juniors in an individual time trial race. The race was supported by Tagaytay City Mayor Agnes Tolentino, Batangas First District Rep. Eileen Ermita Buhain and former swimming champion Eric Buhain and the local government units of Lian, Nasugbu, Tuy and Balayan, as well as the Lian Philippine National Police unit.
EAM Pilipinas has so far gotten a passing grade from its outspoken coach halfway through its preparation for the fifth window of the Fiba World Cup Qualifiers. Yeng Guiao likes what he had seen so far with the national team, both in practice and in the two tune-up games it had played against visiting Jordan this week. In particular, Guiao lauded the effort the Filipinos showed in coming back from a 19-point deficit to get back at Jordan, 82-73, despite the tune-up match—their second against the visiting team—being cut short midway in the final quarter following a shouting incident between Guiao and rival coach Joey Stiebing. “That’s a tribute to the determination of the guys. It’s a tribute to them not wanting to be embarrassed in a situation like this,” said Guiao of his players, who lost to the Jordanians in their first meeting, 98-92. “It’s a test of character and I felt this is the kind of character that we need in our national team.” The national team will still have two more exhibition matches against Lebanon before plunging into action against Kazakhstan on November 30 and Iran on December 3 for the penultimate window of the qualifiers. Definitely, there is room for improvement for the team, which has been not been using in practice Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang as Magnolia is also preparing for the Philippine Basketball Association Governors Cup finals against Alaska. “Our execution is still not that good. We have to finetune our execution on both ends,” said Guiao, also the coach of NLEX Road Warriors. With the exception of Lee and Sangalang, Guiao has so far gotten the attention of the rest of the 18-man pool, including teen prodigy Kai Sotto and college star Ricci Rivero. The Barangay Ginebra quartet of Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter already
PARTNERSHIP Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner Willie Marcial (middle) and Excite Chairman Angelo Serrano (left) sign a two-year marketing partnership for the 2019 and 2020 seasons at the PBA offices on Tuesday. Also in photo is PBA legal counsel Melvin Mendoza.
joined the team practices along with June Mar Fajardo, Christian Standhardinger, Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario, Poy Erram, Stanley Pringle, Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and Matthew Wright. With a good one week left before the country resumes its campaign for a slot in next year’s Fiba World Cup in China, Guiao feels there is just enough time left to whip the team into “competitive shape.” “These [tune-up] games are learning experiences for us. So what we want to do or what we want to achieve is to be able to see where our shortcomings are, where our weaknesses are so
Petron, F2 volleybelles take on separate rivals
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FTER a successful first round, heavyweights Petron and F2 Logistics are out to resume their winning ways when they clash with separate foes in the Philippine Superliga AllFilipino Conference on Satuday at the Caloocan Sports Complex. The Blaze Spikers seek to stretch their winning streak when they battle Sta. Lucia at 4 p.m. in a match that serves as appetizer to the 6 p.m. collision between F2 Logistics and Cocolife in the second round of the tournament bankrolled by Isuzu, Sogo, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller, UCPB Gen and Bizooku with Genius Sports as technical provider. Rising stars, meanwhile, will take center stage as University of the East takes on De La Salle-Dasmariñas at noon and collegiate powerhouse Far Eastern University and University of the Philippines tangle at 2 p.m. in the Collegiate Grand Slam. Petron, the reigning champion of of the event that has
said Dizon, who presented a video walkthrough of the New Clark City. Also present in the groundbreaking ceremony were Phisgoc Director General Ramon Suzara, Chef de Mission Monsour del Rosario and former top athletes Lydia de Vega, Bong Coo and Eric Buhain. The country passed off its turn to host the biennial Games because of the Marawi City siege, but top sports and government officials persuaded Mr. Duterte to reconsider. “We fought for this. Because of Marawi siege, martial law [in Mindanao] and other factors, the President called this off. But we really pushed for the hosting because we know we will benefit from this,” Go said. The New Clark City is expected to be operation in September 2019.
ESPN5, Aksyon TV and Hyper HD as broadcast partners, kicked off this season-ending conference on a high note as it won all of its seven assignments in the first round. With that, the Blaze Spikers landed on Pool A together with Foton, Smart and Sta. Lucia, while second-placers Cargo Movers emerged on Pool B with Generika-Ayala, Cignal and Cocolife. Members of each pool will tangle in another round of action with the top team facing the eighth, second clashing with seventh, third colliding with sixth and fourth battling the fifth seed in a sudden-death quarterfinals to determine the semifinalists. Higher-ranked squads enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four, making it easier for them to advance to the best-of-three finals showdown starting December 15 at the Mall of Asia Arena. Although the Blaze Spikers are heavily tipped to
we can work on them in practices,” he said. Heading to the two crucial games against Kazakhstan and Iran, the Philippines is running third in Group F with a 5-3 record behind solo leader Australia (7-1) and Iran (6-3). A close fourth behind the country is Japan with an even 4-4 record. Group E meanwhile, is led by New Zealand (7-1), followed by Lebanon and South Korea (both with 6-2 records), and Jordan (5-3). Only the top 3 teams in the two groups, along with the best-placed fourth team will represent Asia to the 2019 World Cup in China. dominate the second round due to their firepower, experience, chemistry and cohesion, head coach Shaq de los Santos is still bracing for tough battles ahead. “It’s still a very long way to go,” said de los Santos, brushing off talks about a possible sweep similar to what they achieved in the same conference three years ago. “We’re preparing one game at a time. Titles are not being won on paper alone. We need to come up with a good game plan and preparation for us to achieve our goal.” True enough, there were some scary moments before the Blaze Spikers could book a 25-14, 25-27, 25-14, 25-12 victory over the Tornadoes late Thursday at Filoil Flying V Centre. De los Santos said they were quite complacent in the second set that allowed Foton’s army of attackers to take advantage. “Our game was off and Foton quickly took advantage,” said de los Santos, also the head coach of the national women’s team that saw action in the 18th Asian Games.
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BusinessMi
Saturday, November 24, 2018 | Editor: Jun Lomibao
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NTERNATIONAL Cycling Union (UCI) President David Lappartient has suggested that the Giro d’Italia and Tour of California could change dates in 2020 to avoid the current May calendar clash of the two WorldTour races. The Frenchman revealed that the 2020 Tour of California has been penciled in for an earlier date from May 3 to 9, while the 2020 Giro d’Italia would start a week later and be form May 16 to June 7. It is unclear if the Tour de France would move back a week, or start four weeks after the Giro d’Italia on July 4, or if other races would change dates. The 2020 season marks the start of the next chapter of the men’s WorldTour series, with teams applying for the three-year WorldTour licences and the creation of the 20-25 race UCI Classics Series, where organizers, teams and riders will pool revenue and investment in an attempt to develop the sport globally. The UCI Classics Series is expected to dominate the race calendar between January to April and August and October, with the Grand Tours and other stage races dominating the summer months. Lappartient revealed the potential date changes during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, while attending the UCI Bike City Forum in Milan last week. He also said that the UCI test for the painkiller tramadol will now begin in March rather than at the Tour Down Under in January, with a simple pinprick blood test before and after races leading to a disqualification from the race.
UCI head to end Giro, Tour of California clash The Giro d’Italia has struggled to attract some of the biggest names in the sport since the Tour of California moved to May. Peter Sagan has never ridden the Giro d’Italia and his personal sponsorship with bike brand Specialized means he is unlikely to opt for the Italian race while the calendar clash remains. “We’re working so it doesn’t happen any more,” Lappartient said of the date clash. “I’ve already met RCS Sport and I’ll meet the American organizers in December: For the 2020, the plan is to push back the Giro d’Italia a week [to May 16 to June 7] and bring the Tour of California a week forward (to May 3 to 9), so its possible to ride both.” The UCI, meanwhile, committed to testing for tramadol after reports of abuse of the painkiller in the professional peloton and years of calls from the Movement for Credible Cycling group to ban it. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) monitors the presence of tramadol during anti-doping tests but has so far refused to make it a banned substance. Lappartient has insisted the UCI carry out its own medical checks for the painkiller, after suggestions the effects of tramadol can cause crashes. “Tramadol is a problem in cycling, we needed to do something about it,” Lappartient said during the Road World Championships in Innsbruck in September. “Two-thirds of the tramadol detected in tests of athletes is found
in cyclists and 5 percent of cyclists tested show positive results for it. “It’ll be banned under our rules,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “The rule will come into force not from January 1, but I think, from March, in time for Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. There are medical, technical and legal aspects we have to examine carefully with our medical commission. We won’t apply the Wada antidoping rules, it won’t be an anti-doping test, we’ll use our health rules. “The test only needs the taking of a drop of blood from a finger. It will be done before or after a race. Whoever is over the threshold will be excluded from the race or disqualified from the results if the test is done afterward.” Lappartient was also asked about Christian Prudhomme’s call to ban power meters in races. The Tour de France director said power meters “annihilate the glorious uncertainty of sport” at the presentation of the 2019
race route. He was criticized even by some French directeur sportifs but Lappartient confirms the role of power meters will be looked at by a new commission that will suggest ways to improve the attractiveness of professional cycling. The current 2020 reform proposal document created by the UCI includes a possible salary cap or maximum team budget. This is seen by some as a way to limit Team Sky’s current dominance of the Tour de France in the decisive mountain stages. “It’s something that will be examined by the new working group that will soon be formed,” Lappartient said of power meters. “There will be people from outside the sport involved, as well as journalists, technical staff, physiological experts and television producers. Their job will be to give the UCI recommendations and ideas on how to make the sport more attractive.”
Cyclingnews
Broeckx rides for first time since coma
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TIG BROECKX has ridden a bike for the first time since his life-threatening crash at the 2016 Belgium Tour. The Belgian, who suffered severe brain damage and was in a coma for more than six months, posted a photo on his social-media accounts after a 40-kilometer ride on his mountain bike. The ride is the latest step in what has been a remarkable recovery, having once being declared in a vegetative state, and he vowed that his next goal was to get out on his race bike. Broeckx, now 28, suffered the devastating injury when he was hit by a motorbike at the Belgium Tour in May 2016. With a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain, he was in a coma for more than six month, and doctors feared he might never emerge from it. He did just that, however, in
December 2016, and since then his recovery has been described as “miraculous.” Having had to start from scratch, learning how to swallow independently, move his muscles, and then walk and talk, he rode on an indoor trainer for the first time last year. This weekend, however, he reached a new milestone, heading outside to ride a real bike for the first time since the crash twoand-a-half years ago. Riding a mountain bike, he covered 40 kilometers in northeast Belgium. “The ride did a lot of good,” Broeckx said on the Studio Brussels program, which went to visit him at the rehabilitation center on Overpelt. “I had been looking forward to it very much. “The next goal is to ride the race bike. I still have that love for racing and am still following it all.”
Cyclingnews
STIG BROECKX completes over 40 kilometers on a mountain bike and says his next goal is to ride a road bike.
REAL BIG THING FROM CHINA? F
IFTH overall in the Tour of Hainan and a strong finisher in the Tour of Fuzhou, China’s Lyu Xianjing is the big revelation of the final races of 2018. Has the world of cycling finally discovered the much-anticipated talent from China? It has been 15 years since the Dutch-based Marco Polo organization started scouting cycling talents in China. Li Fuyu emerged as the first Chinese WorldTour rider with Discovery Channel in 2007, and Pro Continental team Skil-Shimano welcomed Jin Long as their first Chinese rider in 2006. Under the colors of Argos-Shimano and GiantAlpecin, Ji Cheng completed the three Grand Tours during his 10-year pro career (from 2007 to 2016). Xing Yandong (with Argos-Shimano in 2013), Xu Gang (with Lampre-Merida from 2014 to 2016) and Wang Meiyin (with Bahrain-Merida since 2017) have also been registered in the highest category without achieving major results in the WorldTour so far. While international races have popped up in different Chinese provinces since the inception of the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2002, the only Chinese winner of a stage race overall in that period remains En Huang, who claimed the UCI 2.2 Tour of Vietnam in 2012. Wang’s victory in Stage 3 of the 2013 Le Tour de Langkawi and his fifth overall, is the best result obtained by a Chinese road cyclist so far. For several reasons, including bureaucracy, it took him four years to join a WorldTour team and he’ll turn 30 next month. It would be an understatement to say that the promise from start-up organization GCP (Global Cycling Project) to produce a first Chinese winner of the Tour de France by 2024, according to a press release last month, has been welcomed in China with scepticism. But since then, a huge potential has emerged. As Lyu Xianjing became the King of the Mountains after Stage 6 in the Tour of Hainan, Swiss rider Simon Pellaud, who won the final stage, said he went on Procyclingstats to know more about this rider, but he
found no result, only to learn later that Xianjing was actually participating in his first-ever international road race. Aged 20, Lyu hails from the Yunnan province, where mountain biking is well-developed. He made a household name for himself by winning the Elite cross-country title at the China Games in Tianjin last year. He’s the current under-23 Asian champion in that discipline and the silver medallist at the Elite Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in August this year, behind his teammate Ma Hao who is also from Yunnan. Li invited Lyu to have a stint of road racing with his continental team, Hengxiang, known as the talent factory of Chinese cycling. After some training camps and lab tests, he selected him for the Tour of Hainan. “I knew he was strong,” Li told Cyclingnews. “But honestly, I didn’t expect him to race so well so early.” The level of the Chinese races might not be the highest in the world, but Lyu’s Performance on Stage 8 of the Tour of Hainan, on the 7-km climb to the finish in Changjiang, was impressive as he finished only six seconds down on stage (and overall) winner Fausto Masnada, a Giro d’Italia rider with Androni GiocattoliSidermec. He was on the wheel of Gino Mäder, a future neo pro with Dimension Data who is one year his senior and finished third overall in the Tour de l’Avenir and fourth at the under-23 world championship. “This was totally new to me,” Lyu explained. “I didn’t know who I was racing against. I’ve been on bikes for seven years, but I had absolutely no experience of road racing before the Tour of Hainan. I felt I had problems with bike handling in the downhills, but I’ve learned a lot. I know I have a lot more to learn.” Shown pictures of the Tour de France, Lyu admitted he had no clue of what it was and didn’t know Geraint Thomas’s name. But he was curious and interested to discover that world. “After the Tour of Hainan, he asked me if he could
come back to the race next race to win it because he felt he had an unfinished business,” Li revealed. Two weeks after the Tour of Hainan, Lyu won Stage 1 of the Tour of Fuzhou atop a 10-km climb, beating former Astana trainee Ilya Davidenok, who was suspended for two years after failing four dope tests at the Tour of Qinghai Lake and the Tour de l’Avenir in 2014. “I will keep working hard because I feel that I’m not at my best yet,” said Lyu, who doesn’t want to choose between mountain biking and road cycling as he is adamant that he loves both. He is eyeing the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. He’s set to continue training with his province coach for mountain biking and with Hengxiang on the road. Li reckons it’s too early for him to join a big team and doesn’t want to reveal Lyu’s lab tests results that many people are already asking for. The pro cycling community hasn’t been successful in their research for major sponsors in China so far. Their conclusion was often that it would happen only when there will be a cycling equivalent of former National Basketball Association superstar Yao Ming. Could that be Lyu Xianjing? Cyclingnews
COULD Lyu Xianjing be the cycling equivalent of former National Basketball Association superstar Yao Ming?
irror CYCLING
mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Saturday, November 24, 2018
THOMAS: I DON’T AGREE! G Geraint Thomas says Bradley Wiggins “does not have to worry about anything, either. He does not have to race his bike and deal with journalists. He can just say what he wants and do any interview he wants so he can say something like that and get a load of publicity.”
GERAINT THOMAS: Brad Wiggins’s got a book to sell.
ERAINT THOMAS has hit back at Bradley Wiggins’s recent comments and emotion-driven support for Lance Armstrong, suggesting that his former Team Sky teammate is simply seeking publicity to help sell his latest book. Wiggins described Armstrong as the “perfect” Tour de France winner in his book called Icons, explaining that the Texan was perhaps the sort of winner that Tour de France founder Henri Desgrange had in mind 120 years ago when he created the race. Wiggins suggested that a Tour de France winner is “on occasion, borderline sociopathic” and “always a very special, very driven human being.” “I’m not saying he’s an icon. He’s iconic, for good and bad reasons now. I can’t change the way it made me feel when I was 13. It changed my life,” Wiggins explained in subsequent interviews revealing there was a “mutual respect in terms of what we’ve been through, racing against each other.” Thomas, who speaking in China while riding the Shanghai Tour de France criterium, made it clear to that he did not agree with Wiggins. “Brad’s got a book to sell,” AFP reported Thomas as saying. “He does not have to worry about anything, either. He does not have to race his bike and deal with journalists. He can just say what he wants and do
any interview he wants so he can say something like that and get a load of publicity.” Thomas finished second in the Shanghai exhibition criterium, beaten by Sagan after bring part of a late attack. After riding the Saitama criterium in Japan two weeks ago and then doing a publicity tour around Britain to promote his own book, Thomas is now looking forward to heading to his home in Monaco to finally begin serious training for the 2019 season. “I’m really looking forward to it, too. I’ve had enough of everything else,” Thomas said in Saitama, after 10 weeks without any form of serious racing and training, and adding several kilograms due to his lengthy Tour de France celebrations. “For sure, it’s the most time I’ve had off the bike, so I won’t start next year with all guns blazing. I just wanted to enjoy it because it doesn’t happen every day. I’ve certainly enjoyed it. “Dave Brailsford has been on to me, saying: ‘Don’t get too big, try to keep ticking over.’ I can feel myself growing—sideways. Just maintaining any fitness is certainly the hardest thing but once you get back into it, I’m sure it will come back.” Thomas will head to a Team Sky training camp in December when the team will decide who will take the lead in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. Thomas is hoping to defend his Tour de France win, while Chris Froome is targeting a record-
equalling fifth victory. Thomas has hinted he could ride the Giro d’Italia but is not satisfied with just one Tour de France victory. Thomas is convinced he and Froome will never become the next Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault, fighting over the chance for victory, or be like Wiggins and Froome in 2012, when the younger upstart appeared to be stronger than his team leader in the final mountain stages but was held back under team orders. “Maybe we’re just both really nice people,” Thomas said, adding: “Of course, I’m not saying anything about anyone else,” jokingly avoiding any comparisons with the other former Tour stars. “If I was to go to the Tour 100 percent to try to win, and Froome was the same, I think if we’d just ride like we did this year,” Thomas suggested. “As we all know, anything can happen, but if we’re open and honest, and as long as we don’t race against each other, mess it up and allow someone else to win, I can’t see why it can’t work out the same.” Thomas suggested that a second Tour de France victory would be an even greater achievement than his maiden victory. “If you look in the history books, the last man to retain it after winning it for the first time was [Miguel] Indurain, back in 1991-1992. So it kind of shows how rare that is,” Thomas said.
Cyclingnews
UCI adds sock height, aero fabric regulations
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ACH year, the the International Cycling Union (UCI) introduces new rules or alterations to existing regulations, but one new introduction for 2019 is sure to have a big impact on professional cycling as the governing body puts its foot down on the ever growing height of riders’ socks. Rule 1.3.033 previously stated, “The socks and shoe covers used in competition must not extend above the middle of the leg”, but such a vague measure allowed for a wide range of interpretation, ranging from mid-calf to almost knee-high. In the amendments introduced on October 15, 2018, the UCI clarified: “Socks and overshoes used in competition may not rise above the height defined by half the distance between the middle of the lateral malleolus and the middle of the fibula head,” and included a graphic demonstrating how to measure the maximum height. There is no word yet if the riders will have to step into a jig before starting races to have their socks measured. Speaking of jigs, the UCI also further
refined the rules for time trial bikes, specifying the arm extensions for road time trial and track pursuit bikes must be in two parts, and there can only be elbow rests if there are also extensions. The rest can be only 12.5-cm wide or long, and can only incline 15 degrees. There can only be a 10-cm rise or drop between the elbow rest and the end of the extensions. Other changes to rule 1.3.033 will come into effect on March 4, 2019, as the UCI introduces a rewrite to the portion pertaining to aerodynamic fabrics. Previously, the rules restricted the use of clothing “designed to influence the performances of a rider such as reducing air resistance or modifying the body of the rider [compression, stretching, support].” In 2017, Chris Froome’s “vortex” suit with aerodynamic texture raised some controversy. The new regulations appear to address the use of the fabrics by limiting changes in profile to 1 millimeter at most. However, the rule states the roughness of the fabric “may only be the result of threading, weaving or assembling of the fabric.” Furthermore, the UCI says “All clothing must maintain the original texture of the
Cycling stars try Chinese opera
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FTER the Saitama Criterium a couple of weeks ago, the peloton has moved to China for the second edition of the Shanghai Criterium. The racing isn’t until Saturday, but the riders got an opportunity to meet fans and try
on some traditional clothes in the buildup to the event. Peter Sagan, Geraint Thomas, Marcel Kittel and Romain Bardet were the headline names at this year’s Shanghai Criterium, with Pierre Latour, Jakob Fuglsang and Matteo Trentin also set to take
textile and may not be adapted in a manner to integrate form constraints. Therefore, when not worn, clothing may in no case contain any self-supporting element or rigid parts.” The UCI also appears to get tougher on former dopers returning to the sport as staff members, introducing effective October 1, 2018, new language restricting staff, riders’ agents or doctors or medical assistants from obtaining licenses if they have “been found guilty or complicit” of anti-doping rule violations such as trafficking or administering prohibited substances. Licenses for general managers, team managers, coaches, sport directors, mechanics, drivers or any other licensed logistical or technical position may not be granted to anyone found guilty of intentional anti-doping rule violations. However, this group can obtain an exception if five years has lapsed between the end of the suspension of the individual’s last rule violation. There are other exceptions for current license holders to whom the conditions might apply, allowing them to be licensed under the previous rules. Cyclingnews part at the weekend. It was a cold and wet day but the fans still came out in force to meet the riders. Thomas, who also went to the Saitama Criterium two weeks ago, was in big demand for autographs. Fuglsang went to meet some local children and took them on in a bike race, with the kids giving him a run for his money. Later on in the day, a few of the riders got to try on some
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For two years, the International Cycling Union tried to block Alejandro Valverde from racing due to his suspected involvement, but were largely unsuccessful.
WILL WE EVER KNOW WHO THEY ARE? T
HE World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has been dealt another blow in its bid to reveal the names of the clients of Eufemiano Fuentes, whose doping operation was uncovered by the “Operacion Puerto” investigation. Wada’s appeal to the Constitutional Court of Spain for legal safeguards against repercussions for releasing the names was rejected, according to a report. It took 10 years, but Wada finally gained access to the 215 blood and plasma evidence bags seized in 2006 during the Operacion Puerto raids of Fuentes’s Madrid clinic in June, 2016. Since then the agency has been attempting to match the various samples to sports figures, having them tested at the laboratory in Lausanne. According to El Pais, who obtained the minutes of the Wada Executive Committee meeting from May 2018, the analysis of the samples has only resulted in the positive identification of seven individual sportspeople—four of which are active and three are retired. Matching more of the samples has been complicated in part by laboratories only being obliged to hold onto urine and blood samples for 10 years. German researcher Günter Younger tested 116 of the blood bags, getting the 27 unique DNA signatures. He then drew up a list of 167 suspected sports people—tennis players, footballers, cyclists and athletes, dividing them up into three levels of suspicion. 14 were considered “very likely,” 11 as “probable” and 142 “possible,” “We found only seven samples of the ‘very likely’, and three of the ‘likely’ ones, because many years have passed,” Younger said at the meeting of the Wada Executive Committee. “We have identified seven of the 27. Three did not square. Four are still active and three have retired. The four active ones have been subjected to checks between November 17 and April 18. All have been negative.” Younger went on to say that of 99 bags of plasma, they had isolated eight more DNA profiles which they hope to link to individual sportspeople, but even if they succeed it is likely that only Wada will ever know. “The names can never be said, not even to international federations,” Younger said. “At least that’s my opinion.” Wada have not been allowed to reveal any of the names they know due to data protection regulations. Wada is still looking into the possibility of releasing the names and has employed a data protection expert. A final
decision on what to do is expected to come in May next year, some 13 years after the original raids. It has been a long, frustrating and sometimes embarrassing episode for the antidoping authorities. The case dates back to 2006, when more than 200 blood and plasma bags were seized when the offices of Fuentes were raided by the guardia civil. Some athletes were identified by the notebook that Fuentes kept and were subsequently punished. Ivan Basso was one of the first identified, and later admitted to being “Birillo” in Fuentes’s code book. Michele Scarponi subsequently confessed to being “Zapatero.” Jorg Jaksche and Tyler Hamilton also confessed to being clients, all while the legality of using the evidence was being debated in the Spanish courts. For two years, the International Cycling Union tried to block Alejandro Valverde from racing due to his suspected involvement, but was largely unsuccessful. In late 2008, Coni obtained a sample from one of the evidence bags they believed could have been from Valverde and matched it to a stored blood sample which was taken from the Spaniard when the 2008 Tour de France passed through Italy. Valverde was banned for two years when the case was finally resolved in 2010, but was allowed to keep his past results. Jan Ullrich was investigated by both German and Swiss authorities over his suspected involvement but it wasn’t until the CAS stepped in in 2012 that he was finally banned. As the statute of limitations neared, Wada spent years fighting in the Spanish courts, first to gain access to the blood bags and then to be protected should they reveal the names of the athletes from whom the blood samples came. No further sanctions can be brought against any athletes as the statute of limitation has long since passed due to the protracted nature of the case. When the blood bags were seized, the statute of limitation was set at eight years, although it was later increased to 10 years, even that deadline had also gone past by the time the blood bags were released in 2016. With nothing much to gain, Wada could soon lose the will to continue fighting. “Someday [legal affairs head Julien] Sieveking will tell us that it makes no sense to spend more money and effort in labs that will give us nothing. And then we’ll throw in the towel,” Wada head Craig Reedie reportedly said in the meeting. Cyclingnews
PETER SAGAN and his fellow cycling stars learn a few opera’s moves on stage as fans watch on in China.
traditional dress when they were paid a visit by the Beijing Opera. Thomas, Sagan, Kittel and Latour were given color-coded outfits relating to the different jerseys of
the Tour de France. The four also got to learn a few of the Opera’s moves live on stage as fans watched on.
Cyclingnews
OurTime
A8 Saturday, November 24, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos
BusinessMirror
Makati councilor questions city council for delay in hearing benefits of seniors I
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Imus City’s ‘GAD Bus-Libreng Sakay’ project rolled out Nov. 19
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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent
MAKATI City councilor on Thursday called out members of the new majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council) for allegedly holding proposed benefits for senior citizens hostage to politics, decrying the delay in hearing the proposed ordinance at the committee level. “ T he proposed add it ion a l P10,000 annual cash gift for senior citizens aged 90 to 99 endorsed by Mayor Abigail Binay Campos was not immediately taken up by the concerned committees after the session this Wednesday, as was
the usual practice. I urge them not to resort to holding proposed benefits hostage to politics,”Maria Concepcion “Ichi” Yabut said. She noted that a request to calendar said ordinance for committee hearing was sent by her
office as soon as it was referred to the Committees on Social Services and Laws, Rules and Ethics chaired by Councilor Marie Alethea Casal-Uy and Councilor Nemesio Yabut Jr., respectively, but has gone unheeded. The city councilor also asked why it will take her colleagues a month to deliberate on the 2019 budget proposal of the city, when it could be done in two to three days, as in the past. “The members of the new majority were also present during the pre-budget hearings conducted last July 4 to 30 with all the departments and offices of the city government. Thus, I see no plausible reason it should take them that long to finish the budget review. It appears they are dragging their feet on this urgent matter, to the detriment of our constituents,” Yabut said. The former majority floor leader of the city council also said they
insisted on using a smaller conference room to hold the special sessions, even though the main Session Hall was available. “We owe it to our Makatizens to be transparent. Why do they want to hide the proceedings from the public eye? What possible reason could they have in avoiding a venue where their words and actions can be scrutinized by our constituents and the public?” she asked. Her sentiments were echoed by Councilor Armand Padilla, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, who also cited several instances when they required the secretary to the Sangguniang Panlungsod to attend the budget deliberations at the committee level for the purpose of transcribing and preparing the minutes. “That is not part of the duties of the secretary to the Sanggunian. Most of them have been longtime councilors; they ought to know better,” he said.
Abe Baonguis: 29 years of serving Unicef
By Jennee Grace U. Rubrico Special to the BusinessMirror
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BRAHAM “ABE” A. BAONGUIS could not have foreseen when he joined the Philippine office of Unicef that he would come to mark each work anniversary alongside the commemoration of the treaty that represents one of the most radical shifts the UN agency has seen in its history. When the 54-year-old executive assistant of the Deputy Representative joined Unicef on June 9, 1989, he had no inkling the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the document that turned Unicef from a developmental organization into a human-rights agency, would be adopted by the UN General Assembly a mere five months later. But whether this happened by chance or by design, he considers the fact that his entry to Unicef coincided with the adoption of the CRC as a highlight of his 29-year stay in the agency. “When I celebrated 25 years with Unicef, I celebrated it at the same time as CRC’s 25th anniversary,” Abe said. Abe holds the distinction of being the longest currently serving staff at the Unicef Philippines. Joining the agency at age 25, he was among the youngest recruits of the Unicef Philippines at that time, but he was no greenhorn. A working student since he was 18, he brought to the table work experience from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Land Bank of the Philippines, and short stints abroad as well as with the World Health Organization (WHO). The Unicef offer came one month after he had started at WHO, Abe said. “[The] WHO was already going to renew me for another 11 months when I got the call from Unicef,” he said. “When Unicef accepted me, I was happy because it was going to be a permanent post. Of course, I was also sad because I had already built
rapport with the people at WHO,” he said. At Unicef, he started out as secretary of the Papua New Guinea-Pacific desk when the suboffice was still operating out of Manila. He later became senior program coordinator. The post would be renamed executive assistant of the Deputy Representative. “Before I knew it, 29 years have passed,” he said. Abe started working under a Filipino boss, but would later be under expatriate superiors—an experience not new to him, but one that nonetheless helped mold his outlook at work. Expats, he noted, have a maximum tenure of five years, after which they would be reassigned elsewhere. Because of this, he said, he has adopted a more flexible philosophy at work. “I have different bosses here because that’s the nature of the post. Isa sa mga philosophies ko noon, kung ano ang kanilang tugtog, siya ang sayaw ko. [It became one of my philosophies then that I would march to their beat], meaning I would be the one making the effort to adjust to my bosses, because they have different ways of doing things,” he said. On a daily basis, Abe does administrative work for the deputy representative. Checking his boss’s calendar, hotel bookings, coordinating with his counterparts to schedule high-level meetings, and assisting during workshops are all part of his work. Although he comes in early to avoid the notorious Manila traffic—he can be seen at his desk at around 7 a.m., having left his Imus, Cavite, residence at around 5 a.m.—he takes home his laptop, especially during weekends, to ensure that he is on top of his work. “Sometimes, at night, you check e-mails because sometimes you get urgent messages. Even during the weekends, you have to check because sometimes, your boss, during the weekend, could have instructions. So when you come in on Monday, there won’t be any surprises,” he said. Abe admitted that the daily commute could take its toll, but the family man said he would rather brave the traffic every day to go home to his daughter—a registered nurse—and three-year-old granddaughter than live close to the office and go back to an empty place. “I’m thinking, we at Unicef advocate work-life balance, and you won’t apply it to yourself?... My granddaughter will be three years old by December. She is one of the joys of my life right now,” he said. “When I see her, my exhaustion dissipates, [especially] when she calls out, ‘Grandpa!’” Abe, who considers it an achievement to be the most senior personnel at the Unicef Philippines in terms of tenure, said his work can be a “rollercoaster ride,” but added there were many things that made him stay with the agency. From a practical perspective, he earns enough at Unicef so he no longer had to contemplate going abroad to provide a decent and comfortable life for his family. He also said the friendships he cultivated in the agency—especially with older colleagues who took him in when he had just started—have been priceless. “The people I worked with then, the friendships I had then, until they retired, we still continue to
communicate. And I’m so happy because I learned so much from them, not just in terms of work, but also about life in general,” he said. The camaraderie fostered by Unicef through annual management retreats also gives him a sense of belonging, Abe said, as the fashion-design graduate proudly said he is a “Hall of Famer” for the “Best Dressed” award given out during the meet. Abe said that working for a UN agency not only lends a certain prestige to his job; it also allows him to be part of meaningful endeavors that help the country. “One of the reasons I stayed is the purpose of Unicef—to help children, our advocacies for mothers. We are doing something for the Filipino children, for the country. The advocacy is already there, and I am part of it,” he said. This culture of intentionally putting children first, he noted, seeps into his personal life. “I’ve given more importance to children and mothers. I have become more compassionate toward them,” he said. “When my daughter got pregnant, I told her, ‘When you give birth, you need to breastfeed,’” he added. Abe said working for the agency has placed him in a position of being able to help when calamities strike, adding that among his most unforgettable moment at Unicef was when he delivered relief after Tropical Storm Ondoy (international code name Ketsana) inundated Metro Manila. “I cannot forget it was flooding in Pasig; it was pitch dark. There were no lights because we had lost power. Our truck that carried supplies had to turn back because of the flood. What we did, we took those makeshift boats dragged by people who were neck-deep in water,” he narrated. “It was a very eerie feeling. I was scared, but at the same time, I felt I had a purpose. I had to reach my destination so that the supplies could reach the children.” He acknowledged getting burned out from time to time, but said he finds ways to deal with it. He also said he gets a sense of accomplishment in being able to deliver on his job, and is gratified when his efforts are appreciated by the agency. Next year, Abe will be marking his third decade with Unicef. He is on the retirement path, though he is yet uncertain whether he would retire at 60 or if he would wait to reach the mandatory retirement age of 65. Abe is looking forward to the next chapter of his life. “Now, it’s on my mind to start saving so that aside from the retirement pay, I would have my own savings,” he said. He has things planned—for one, he is looking forward to putting his training in fashion design to good use. He is also planning to finally take advantage of his unused lifetime membership at Slimmer’s World. “For retirement, you should be doing things. Otherwise, you’ll get Alzheimer’s [disease] or dementia. I’m going to retire at Unicef, and then after that, I will do what I’ve always wanted to do but could not because I’ve been busy with Unicef,” he said. He also said, however, that nothing is set in stone—he could end up winning the lottery, or meeting his life partner, he noted. Everything will depend on what God wants him to do so he continues to pray for guidance, he added.
MUS CITY, Cavite—The city government of Imus on November 19 started giving free rides to Imuseños, especially senior citizens, pregnant moms and women, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and students from Imus to Baclaran. City Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi and Vice Mayor Arnel M. Cantimbuhan launched the freeride project, dubbed Gender and Development (GAD) bus program, “to provide convenience to our constituents, especially during the morning rush hours.” The project, a first in the province of Cavite, initially has four bus units, three of which are provided
by San Agustin Bus Co. and another unit from the city government. The free ride runs point-to-point —that is from its pick-up areas in Imus straight to Baclaran. For easier recognition on the buses covered under this project, the buses are marked with tarpaulin signage “GAD Bus Libreng Sakay,” and are found in the four pick-up locations in Anabu Kostal (Puregold), Anabu Doyetes (UCCP), Patindig Araw (Impreza) and Toll Bridge (680 Building). The program runs from November 19 until December 31 this year. Each bus is targeted to have two trips starting 6 to 9 a.m. daily. PNA
Quezon City provides free anti-shingles vaccines to elderly
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S part of the city’s programs to protect the elderly from diseases, Mayor Herbert Bautista on Thursday signed an ordinance providing free anti-shingles vaccination to all registered senior residents of Quezon City. Shingles, “herpes zoster,” is a viral infection whose symptoms include painful skin rashes and is caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chicken pox. It affects persons 60 years old and older. Authored by Councilor Eufemio Lagumbay, City Ordinance 27602018 states that shingles may also result in serious complications such as scarring, hearing and vision problems. “Anti-shingles vaccines can reduce the risk of developing shingles and the complications associated with it. It can either prevent the shingles from occurring at all or make them less painful when they occur,” the ordinance said. The city’s Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) said there are 486,284 registered senior citizens in the city as of April 2018. All of them will receive free anti-shingles treatment every three years. A newly registered senior citizen can also avail himself/herself of the vaccination within three months after registration with the OSCA.
The vaccination is to be administered by the Quezon City Health Department (QCHD) through the Barangay Health Center to seniorcitizen residents, depending on the supply availability of the “Zotavax” vaccine. The QCHD and the Osca are jointly responsible for documentation and the collection of data generation on the number of shingles cases among the city’s senior-citizen residents. The conduct of massive information and education campaign on shingles shall also be undertaken by the two offices. The funds necessary for the antishingles vaccination and information campaign against the disease will be included in the next annual budget of the city. The amount of P20 million shall be allocated for the vaccination and information dissemination campaign, which will be sourced from the 1-percent allocation of the Quezon City Senior Citizens Fund for its programs and projects. “The free anti-shingles vaccination will greatly benefit the senior citizens of Quezon City who have significantly contributed to the development of our city as well as our nation and who are continuously imparting their wise and noble guidance and support to their families and their communities,” the ordinance said. PNA
Catbalogan residents trained in making souvenir items
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ATBALOGAN CITY, Samar—Some 50 residents of Buri Island, who just completed skills training on souvenir-making, recently presented to city officials the various products they made from recycled and indigenous materials. The presenters, comprised of mothers, students, outof-school youth and senior citizens from three villages in Buri Island—San Roque, Cabugawan and Estaka— have been attending skills trainings conducted by the city government since October. Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan said the training is anchored on the plan to develop Buri Island as the city’s main tourism destination based on sustainable tourism and ecological protection program. “Our desire why we help the residents of Buri Island is to uplift the poor families’ condition. We hope that with the knowledge you learned in the training, people can do something productive even if they are staying in their houses,” Uy-Tan said during the
product presentation. As more tourists now visit Buri Island, the city government has to find ways to help residents earn more income from tourism. The focus of the training was on making souvenir products out of coconut husks, shells, sand, plastic bottles, containers, utensils, cellophane and other materials. Apart from product development, the city government will also train locals on packaging, pricing, quality control and other technical support. Buri Island, located 10 kilometers away from the city’s commercial district, is endowed with white-sand beaches. It is connected to the mainland by an embankment that serves as a bridge in crossing the sea. Also located on the island are the Catbalogan City Airport, inflatable water park, Cabugawan ecotourism park and some resorts popular among locals. Uy-Tan said tourism development is the focus of her administration, and one of the priorities is to make the city one of the best tourist destinations on Samar Island and in the region. PNA
BusinessMirror
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com
CHRISTIAN BUSBY and Chelsea Robato
JOEY and Angie Mead King
BEAUTY GONZALEZ and Norman Crisologo
Saturday, November 24, 2018 A9
MARGA BERMUDEZ and Issa Pressman
JAVI MARTINEZ and Tim Yap
Love is a right, not a privilege PRIMETIME
DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com
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ACK in the day (I told you that I was going to be using this a lot), being in a same-sex relationship meant you needed to hide it from your parents and basically more than 50 percent of the people in your life. I remember attending an underground party for lesbians in the 1990s with a friend and when we entered, I saw my niece dancing with her girlfriend, who we knew as her roommate. Upon seeing me, my niece and her girlfriend broke apart. It turns out that my niece didn’t know that I knew and she thought that if I did, I would get mad. I’ve always wondered why there are unwritten rules when it comes to love. It’s funny that it’s 2018 and people seem to be less aware of how things should be than in the 1970s, which I lived through.
Closeup’s #FreeToLove campaign, dubbed “A Celebration of Closeness,” features five couples who have been labeled “unconventional” by certain people but really are just couples in love. Beauty Gonzalez and her husband Norman Crisologo are no strangers to harsh words from, well, strangers on social media. The coupling has been called “Beauty and the Beast.” Beauty has been called a “gold digger” while Norman has been accused of being a “dirty old man.” The couple is just a normal couple who found being with each other a “perfect fit” when they met. “I just knew. Maybe it was the timing,” said Norman. They fight and make up just like any other couple; they love to travel and they dote on their daughter. The only difference is that Norman is older than Beauty. Issa Pressman and Marga Bermudez are officially coming out to the public as a couple in this campaign. Issa said she hopes their story will inspire people. Christian Busby had to overcome what he calls the Great Wall of China to win the approval of Chelsea Robato’s family. Respect for elders and getting to know your loved one’s family are two important things that the couple said worked in their favor. The two other couples featured in the campaign are Tim Yap and Javi Martinez, and Joey Mead and Angelina King. “Young people today are said to be the most
empowered of all generations. They are not afraid to voice out their political opinions on social media and sometimes, even take their causes to the streets. Isn’t it ironic though that even when we see this show of strength, 75 percent still don’t feel completely free to choose who to date and 90 percent of youths wish for future generations to be free to be with the person they are attracted to?” said Closeup in a press statement. Closeup’s #FreeToLove campaign celebrates different kinds of love and champions mutual respect for all without fear of judgment and prejudice. The brand envisions a world where being close is free of unnecessary barriers and where diversity is accepted and celebrated. A STORY OF RACE Christian and Chelsea THE unspoken “Great Wall” is tackled by this ChineseBritish couple. They talk about how important it is to be open to learn new cultures and adapt to traditional practices to make a relationship thrive. (bit.ly/2OUkSGp) A STORY OF HOPE Joey and Angie WHEN all the norms change before your eyes, how do you cope with the sudden transformation? Join these
two strong and independent women on their journey of self-discovery and acceptance. (bit.ly/2BlOpFv) A STORY OF TIME Beauty and Norman THE perfect kind of love comes at the right time. Watch this couple’s flourishing adventure unfold despite the judgment they received at the start of their relationship. (bit.ly/2BmPpJA) A STORY OF DISCOVERY Issa and Marga THIS couple broke stereotypes when they decided to make a stand together. Growing in their craft and pursuing passions side by side is what makes them inspire the younger generation. (bit.ly/2Ab3YxJ) A STORY OF LOVE Tim and Javi DESPITE going against traditional practices, two strong individuals converge to become this unstoppable duo. Their true test of strength? Unconditional love and acceptance of each other. (bit. ly/2zn0dpv) Share your #FreeToLove story and support the movement by logging on to www.closeup.com.ph and using the hashtag #FreetoLove. ■
PLDT, Smart hype new digital experiences FRESH from their latest recognition as the Philippines’ fastest fixed and mobile networks, leading digital services provider PLDT Inc. and its mobile arm Smart Communications announced a new wave of innovative products and services at a recent event, these aimed at unlocking what it touts to be “amazing experiences for Filipinos whether they are in the comfort of their home or on the go.” PLDT and Smart presented their latest products at a powerhouse event, aptly themed “Unlock the Future,” graced by executives, endorsers, celebrities and partners in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. “Over the past years, we’ve been hard at work to future-proof our network and beef up our digital content and product partners. We’re delighted to present our most exciting services that are designed to meet the ever-evolving needs of Filipinos,” said Oscar A. Reyes Jr., PLDT and Smart SVP and Consumer Business Market Development head. “Backed by our fastest networks, these innovative solutions will elevate the way our customers enjoy digital devices, services and content. As we get ready to close 2018 and prepare for a new year ahead, we will continue our groundbreaking work to help empower Filipinos to enjoy an amazing life,” said Andrew L. Santos, PLDT-Smart FVP and Consumer Marketing head. To establish even stronger connections at home, PLDT introduced the new PLDT Home Fibr Google WiFi Plans, which feature a whole home Wi-Fi network system that puts an end to dead spots and ensures strong and Fibr-fast connection in every corner of your home. New PLDT Home customers can now subscribe to Google WiFi Plan 3799, which comes
ANDREW SANTOS
with an unlimited 50Mbps connection, three Google WiFi points, and free service assistance from the Home Geek Squad. On the other hand, existing PLDT Home Fibr customers can simply avail themselves of Google WiFi units as an add-on for P799 per month for a set of three. Also, PLDT is also unlocking a new entertainment experience at home with the upcoming launch of the new PLDT Home TVolution Lite that is powered by Roku. The new service features a plug-and-play device that allows customers to easily and effortlessly
GERARD MILAN
watch trending videos on YouTube; their favorite HD channels from Cignal; top Hollywood, Asian and local movies and TV series from iflix; critically acclaimed Netflix originals and films; and hundreds of free streaming channels on their TV. On the other hand, buoyed by the massive success of its Free YouTube campaign, which more than doubled the daily active YouTube users on its network and drove over 13 times more data usage traffic from customers, Smart has stepped up to unlock total entertainment with Video Every Day.
A new promo that comes with all of Smart’s GigaSurf data packages, Video Every Day provides customers with up to 1 hour of access daily for YouTube, iflix, iWant TV, Cignal Play and NBA League Pass—for as long as their GigaSurf subscription is valid. Smart customers can now register to GigaSurf with Video Every Day by simply dialing *121# or via the mySmart app. Apart from these services, Smart has also announced game-changing partnerships with popular smartphone manufacturers Oppo, Samsung, and Starmobile to encourage more Filipinos to upgrade to LTE-capable handsets that come with special discounts and freebies. To offer a much-bigger digital experience, Smart also continues to strengthen its portfolio of the latest flagship devices with the data-packed GigaX Plans, which feature separate data allocations for streaming videos, as well as enjoying apps and surfing web sites. Smart offers the newly launched Huawei Mate 20 with the GigaX Plans at P2,199 per month, and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro at P2,599 per month. The network also makes it easier for customers to get hold of the latest iPhones, starting with the iPhone XS at P3,299 per month, and the iPhone XS Max at P3,599 per month. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also available with the Smart GigaX Plans. Finally, in celebration of its 25th anniversary, Smart announced its biggest anniversary e-raffle promo in the company’s history, which gives customers a chance to win data packages, MVP Rewards points, LTE smartphones every month, leading up to the grand raffle on February 25, 2019, in which one lucky subscriber will win P25 million cash.
BusinessMirror
A10 Saturday, November 24, 2018
www.businessmirror.com.ph
As Facebook faces fire, heat turns up on No. 2 Sandberg BY BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated Press
Yes, GPS apps make you worse at navigating–but that’s OK BY JENNIFER M. BERNSTEIN University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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ANY of us have had the experience of arriving in an unfamiliar city and needing to get to a specific destination—whether it’s checking in at a hotel, meeting a friend at a local brewery, or navigating to a meeting on time. With a few clicks of the smartphone, the destination is inputted into a navigational app, with customized route preferences to avoid traffic, tolls and, in cities like San Francisco, even inclines. Anxiety abated, one drives to one’s destination via voice prompts and the occasional illicit glance at the constantly updating map. But, after having arrived safely, there is the vague awareness that we don’t know how we got there. We can’t remember the landmarks along the way, and, without our handheld device, certainly couldn’t get back to our origin point. That raises the larger question: Are the navigational capacities of our smartphones making us worse navigators? Research points to yes. But, given the ubiquity of these devices, as well as their ability to enable particular groups, perhaps we should learn to embrace them as a technological prosthetic. WORSE AT FINDING OUR WAY ALL cultures practice wayfinding—sensing one’s environment for barriers to travel, then navigating spatially to a remote destination. Geographers (like myself), psychologists,
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THE Sony Philippines booth during the WPPP Photo & Video Congress
anthropologists and neurologists have all studied how individuals navigate from point A to point B. In a landmark 1975 paper, psychologists Alexander Siegel and Sheldon White argued that people navigate via their knowledge of landmarks against a larger landscape. New navigational routes are discovered via the linking of familiar landmarks with new ones. For example, Inuit people, faced with snowy, topographically uniform landscapes, are attentive to subtle cues like snowdrift shape and wind direction. Until the advent of GPS devices, those cultures had no cultural conception of the idea of being lost. Research has established that mobile navigational devices, such the GPS embedded in one’s smartphone, make us less proficient wayfinders. Mobile interfaces leave users less spatially oriented than either physical movement or static maps. Handheld navigational devices have been linked to lower spatial cognition, poorer wayfinding skills and reduced environmental awareness. People are less likely to remember a route when they use guided navigation. Without their device, regular GPS users take longer to negotiate a route, travel more slowly and make larger navigational errors. While physical navigation and static maps require engagement with the physical environment, guided navigation enables disengagement. EXPANDING THE VIEW HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean mobile navigation is all bad. A blanket demonization of these devices may be a form of “ethnonostalgia,” where we find ourselves sentimental for an imagined simpler place and time. Technological advances, historically, have liberated
humans from toil and suffering. Further, many of our experiences are mediated through technology. Drivers use cars, hunters use guns, and many of us are constantly on our smartphones. In short, as sociologist Claudio Aporta and ecologist Eric Higgs put it, “Technology has become the setting in which much of our daily lives take place.” In his seminal 1997 article, geographer Robert Downs argues that spatial technologies need not replace geographic thinking, but rather serve as a prosthesis, supplementing our spatial awareness. The increased access to information gives people a new way to quickly and easily explore new landscapes— which can then lead to physical exploration of said landscapes (many of my fellow map nerds do this all the time). We can then focus less on the rote memorization of place names in favor of a deeper understanding of the topography. While research shows that use of handheld navigational devices can lead to lower spatial knowledge, that may not necessarily be the device’s fault. Those most likely to use guided route navigation are already the least confident in their own navigational capabilities; further use of navigational devices leads to a negative feedback cycle, where people become more reliant on their devices and less spatially aware. What’s more, for some groups, these devices are enabling. Handheld navigational devices can now enable independent wayfinding by those who are sight-impaired. While not without their drawbacks, handheld navigation can empower those with spatial orientation challenges, be they real or imagined. AP
Elevating the standards of the photography/videography industry SONY Philippines, in partnership with Wedding & Portrait Photographers of the Philippines (WPPP), capped off the threeday Photo & Video Congress 2018 held in Ayala Malls TriNoma. The event attendees were composed of novice, amateurs, and professional photographers and videographers. Now on its 13th year, the WPP Photo & Video Congress aims to continuously elevate the industry’s standards of photography and videography; and to further foster and strengthen the camaraderie within this group of enthusiasts and professionals. Various photography workshops, trade shows, photo exhibitions and demos were conducted for the participants. The attendees were presented with lectures and tips from the pros helping them gather new insights when capturing photos and videos. There was also firsthand testing of camera model units specifically designed for this craft. Some of the Sony cameras highlighted
were the ILCE-7RM3 (a7Riii), which is best for prenuptial shoots for its 42.4-megapixel photo quality and the Eye AF (Auto-Focus) performance; the ILCE-9 (a9), which is designed with 20fps shooting capabilities which may come in handy for shooting key moments on the wedding day itself; and the ILCE-7SM2 (a7Sii), which is perfect for shooting wedding videos because of its high ISO sensitivity and video quality. Sony Philippines was at the forefront of the event, providing the participants with various workshops in wedding product photography, ambient lighting, and wedding portrait photography. The company brought in its various Sony professionals: Nigel Laxamana, who gave a workshop on product photography, alongside Jiggie Alejandrino with ambient lighting, and Pilar Bonin on portrait photography. Participants were also able to touch and try Sony cameras’ mirrorless line as the front-runner. Sony Philippines brought Jackner Borja
of Mayad Studios for the last-day highlight, in which he tackled a full-on wedding photography and videography workshop. Aside from giving useful tips to the attendees, Jackner also imparted a live demonstration of a same-day edit video production. WPPP’s Photo & Video Congress is a
platform where hobbyists and professionals can get together and learn through various workshops and demos as a community. This annual event continues to reach more and more photographers, providing them a venue to share, learn and uphold high standards of wedding photography and videography in the country.
NEW YORK—For the past decade, Sheryl Sandberg has been the poised, reliable second-in-command to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, helping steer Facebook’s rapid growth around the world, while also cultivating her brand in ways that hint at aspirations well beyond the social network. But with growing criticism over the company’s practices, or lack of oversight, her carefully cultivated image as an eloquent feminist leader is showing cracks. Questions these days aren’t so much about whether she’ll run for the Senate or even president, but whether she ought to keep her job at Facebook. “Her brand was being manicured with the same resources and care as the gardens of Tokyo,” said Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing professor. “And unfortunately a hurricane has come through the garden.” Facebook has been dealing with hurricanes for the past two years: fake news, elections interference, hate speech, a privacy scandal, the list goes on. The company’s response—namely, Zuckerberg’s and Sandberg’s—has been slow at best, misleading and obfuscating at worst, as The New York Times reported last week. That report, and one from The Wall Street Journal, underscored Sandberg’s influence at the company, even as Zuckerberg has borne much of the criticism and anger. There have been calls for both to be ousted. But because of the way Facebook is set up, firing Zuckerberg would be all but impossible. He controls the majority of the company’s voting stock, serves as its chairman and has—at least publicly—the support of its board of directors. Essentially, he’d have to fire himself. Firing Sandberg would be the next logical option to hold a high-level executive accountable. Though the chances are slim, the fact that it has even come up shows the extent of Facebook’s—and Sandberg’s—troubles. Zuckerberg indicated Sandberg’s job is secure in an interview televised by CNN late on Tuesday. “She has been an important partner for me for 10 years,” Zuckerberg said. “I am really proud of the work we have done together and hope we work together for decades more to come.” He also told CNN he intends to remain Facebook’s chairman, despite intensifying pressure from some investors who believe he should relinquish that role. “I am certainly not currently thinking that that makes sense,” he said. As COO, Sandberg is in charge of Facebook’s business dealings, including the ads that make up the bulk of the company’s revenue. She steered Facebook from a rising tech start-up into a viable global business expected to reap $55 billion in revenue this year. The company is second only to Google in digital advertising. But she’s also gotten the blame when things go wrong, including Facebook’s failure to spot Russian attempts to influence US elections by buying US political ads—in rubles. Though Sandberg has denied knowing that Facebook hired an opposition research firm to discredit activists, she created a permissive environment through what The New York Times called an “aggressive lobbying campaign” against critics. Facebook fired the firm, Definers, after the report came out. Sandberg, 49, who was hired away from Google in 2008, has been a crucial “heat shield” for Zuckerberg, as Galloway put it, as lawmakers and the public crank up criticism of the 34-year-old founder. In September Facebook sent Sandberg to testify before the Senate intelligence committee, eliciting a warmer response than her boss did three months before. Sandberg, former chief of staff for treasury secretary Larry Summers, appears more comfortable in Washington meeting rooms than Zuckerberg, who can seem robotic. Her profile is high enough that lawmakers don’t feel stilted when she shows up. She’s written (with help) two books, including 2013’s Lean In about women and leadership. Her second book, Plan B, is about dealing with loss and grief after her husband died unexpectedly. She was the lone chief operating officer among a who’s who of tech CEOs—including Apple’s Tim Cook and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos—to meet with Donald J. Trump a month after his election. “It’s both who she is and how bereft Silicon Valley is of strong, powerful female voices,” crisis management expert Richard Levick said. “She has positioned herself as one of those strong voices with Lean In.” But her high profile also makes her more susceptible to criticism.
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Saturday, November 24, 2018 A11
Our first 5G-ready cities THE TECHNIVORE ED UY
whereiseduy@gmail.com
T
HE word “5G” is probably one of the most popular terms of 2018, but not everyone understands the excitement about it. If you associate fifth-generation Internet technology with only with faster download speeds, you are just partially correct because 5G has so much more in-store for us in the near future. According to research, if it takes around eight minutes to download a movie on a 4G network, it will only take about 5 seconds to download the same movie on 5G. But like I mentioned, 5G isn’t just for downloading movies and filling up your hard drive. This high-speed network would also enable applications like interactive TV, social gaming, 3D high-definition video, self-driving vehicles, robotics, virtual reality and a lot of other stuff we thought was only possible in those sci-fi movies. Imagine a world where cars will be able to communicate with passengers, pedestrians, other vehicles, bicycles, traffic lights, toll booths and other parts of the urban infrastructure that could potentially eliminate fatal accidents. Cities would be “smarter” as government agencies will be interconnected and should result to more efficient public service. We are already using more and more data everyday—from our computers, smartphones, TVs, wearable tech, drones, and even our smart appliances, and all these devices need huge chunks of data to be transmitted faster, requiring a large number of simultaneous connections, more efficiency and lower energy consumption. It may seem a bit exaggerated now, but in a few years’ time and with an estimated 20 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the world, the Internet would be a very, very crowded space. This is where 5G becomes crucial, and it’s a good thing our telcos are already getting us ready. A couple of weeks ago, PLDT Inc.’s wireless unit Smart Communications announced that it has fired up its first 5G cell sites located in the Makati Central Business District and Clark Freeport Zone. In line with this program, PLDT and Smart are ramping up the rollout of LTE in key areas in CFZ and equipping all of them with 5G facilities in the coming months. Alongside the MOU signing, Ericsson showcased possible use cases for 5G in an exhibit that featured Ericsson’s Robotic Arm, Balancing Robot, Connected Mangroves and Connected Fleet technologies. With its capability to deliver extremely high speeds coupled with low latency, 5G opens up exciting possibilities for IoT applications for Filipinos, as well as smart applications for the transport sector, traffic management, manufacturing, airport and mall operations, logistics and warehousing, retail,
customer support and smart homes, among others. PLDT and Smart are best positioned to deploy 5G in the country, armed with both fixed and wireless infrastructure powered by the country’s most extensive fiber network now at over 221,000 kilometers. Under its current network upgrade program, Smart is installing 5G-compatible radio equipment across its network, which now has over 2,000 5G-ready sites. Apart from ultra-high speeds, the key features of 5G include enhanced mobile broadband services, massive machine type communications, and ultrareliable and low-latency communications. Earlier in August, Smart and Ericsson signed an MOU to deploy the country’s first 5G pilot network by the first half of 2019. Under the MOU, the 5G network will be first deployed in Luzon, the country’s largest and most populous island where about a third of the population work and live. The 3GPP-compliant 5G Trial System that will be deployed by Smart includes Ericsson 5G RAN, Core and Transport solutions. The 5G pilot deployment will allow Smart to explore industry partnership engagements, collaborate with schools and universities, and further develop competence in 5G. Smart has been testing 5G since 2016, when it achieved speeds of 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) using 100 MHz with latency of just 1 millisecond over a “live” network—the first in the Philippines. As part of its 5G preparations, Smart also launched in June its 5G Technolab, the company’s flagship facility for the research and development, standardization and testing of 5G, which is designed to be a sustainable environment for innovative services.
THE OTHER ‘PRO’ XIAOMI, the upstart brand that’s been disrupting the market since it made its return to the Philippines, is at it again, this time challenging the flagships with the local release of the Mi 8 Pro. The phone has gained a lot of attention for its interesting transparent back that gave users a “peek” of its internals, and whether real or not, you have to admit it’s cool, different and makes the Mi 8 Pro a real converstation starter. And there’s actually a lot to talk about this phone. The Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro packs some of the usual features that you can find on traditional flagship devices, and a few more extras. It is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with a 2.8GHz maximum clock speed and the new Qualcomm AdrenoTM 630 GPU. The platform outperforms its predecessor by up to 30 percent and features a newly introduced DSP architecture with AI performance three times higher than the previous generation. Supported by 8GB
autofocus, enhancing photo brightness and quality while drastically improving focus speed, especially in low-light conditions. Coupled with handy AI features such as AI portrait and AI beautify, this is one of the best camera setups in the world. For selfies, it has a 20-megapixel snapper. Aside from the Mi 8 Pro, there’s also the Mi 8 Lite which comes at an even more pocket-friendly pricepoint. John Chen, Xiaomi director for Southeast Asia, said, “The Mi 8 series has been a hit with Mi fans around the world. We are building on this success as we introduce Mi 8 Lite and Mi 8 Pro to the Philippines, offering more choices to our consumers here and enabling them to enjoy the latest innovations from Xiaomi in time for the Christmas holiday season.” Stay tuned for our review in the next few weeks. LPDDR4x DRAM, Mi 8 Pro can render the most demanding games at high FPS for an unparalleled gaming experience. On the front, you have a nice 6.21” AMOLED Full Screen Display that offers a startling contrast ratio of 60,000 to 1, meaning incredibly crisp colors and deep, power-saving blacks. It has an 18.7:9 aspect ratio and 86.68 percent screen-to-body ratio, providing an unmatched visual experience that is highly practical and beautiful. And with Always-On display, you have a convenient way to check your notifications, the date, and the time without having to turn the screen on. On top of the flagship Mi 8 features, Mi 8 Pro takes it one step further with a pressure-sensitive in-screen fingerprint sensor. Unlike other in-screen fingerprint technologies that constantly ping the screen to see if a finger is present, the dedicated pressure sensor only activates the unlocking process once you place your finger on the screen, which is faster and more power-efficient. As for the cameras, the Mi 8 Pro has a 12-megapixel (wide) plus 12-megapixel (telephoto) dual cameras on the back with optical image stabilizer. These cameras have earned a high DxOMark score of 105 for photography. The primary sensor, Sony’s IMX363, features massive 1.4µm pixels and dual pixel
GREENFIELD BLACK FRIDAY SALE THE stars have aligned to make the big year-ender events of Greenfield Development Corp. truly memorable. On the weekend of November 23 to 25, Greenfield City’s Paseo Outlets, Laguna Central and Arcadia, in Santa Rosa, Laguna, are going to have the most-awaited Black Friday Weekend Sale—the first to hold such event across all three malls in the area. Brands like Nike, adidas, Converse, Levi’s, Giordano, Oakley Vault and many more will have its biggest sale this year. Head over to Paseo Outlets’ Black Friday Weekend Sale, as you might also get to shop with your favorite celebrity influencers. Star-studded back-to-back affairs also await as Greenfield District in Mandaluyong and Greenfield City in Sta. Rosa celebrate their annual Celebrity Christmas Market and Bazaar. On December 2 discover more than just great bargains at the Celebrity Christmas Market in Paseo Outlets in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Aside from surprising shopping finds, get to meet some of the country’s biggest celebrities as they participate in their very own selling booths. Then, the excitement continues the next weekend, December 9, as Greenfield District mounts its own Celebrity Christmas Bazaar. ■
European privacy search engines aim to challenge Google LONDON—In the battle for online privacy, Google is a US Goliath facing a handful of European Davids. The backlash over Big Tech’s collection of personal data offers new hope to a number of little-known search engines that promise to protect user privacy. Sites like Britain’s Mojeek, France’s Qwant, Unbubble in Germany and Swisscows don’t track user data, filter results or show “behavioral” ads. These sites are growing amid the rollout of new European privacy regulations and numerous corporate data scandals, which have raised public awareness about the mountains of personal information companies stealthily gather and sell to advertisers. Widespread suspicion in Europe about Google’s stranglehold on Internet searches has also helped make the continent a spawning ground for secure searching. Europe is particularly sensitive to privacy issues because spying by the Nazi-era Gestapo and the secret services in the Soviet Union is still within living memory. “For us, it’s all about citizens and citizens have the right to privacy,” said Eric Leandri, chairman of Paris-based Qwant. He said that view contrasts with the mindset across the Atlantic, where Internet users are seen as consumers whose rights are dictated by the terms of their agreements with tech companies. Traffic numbers show interest is rising. Qwant’s
queries tripled to 10 billion in 2017. On a monthly basis, it’s getting 80 million visits while requests are growing 20 percent. Leandri says the site now accounts for 6 percent of search engine market share in France, its biggest market. Qwant is even getting official support. Last month the French army and parliament both said they would drop Google and use Qwant as their default search engine, as part of efforts to reclaim European “digital sovereignty.” The site doesn’t use tracking cookies or profile users, allowing it to give two different users the exact same result. It has built its own index of 20 billion pages covering French, German and Italian and plans to expand it to about two dozen other languages, for which results currently come from Microsoft’s Bing. To be sure, Google’s in no danger of toppling. The company based in Mountain View, California, accounts for three-quarters or more of global market share, depending on whom you ask, and rules the mobile market with its Android operating system. Mojeek, based in Brighton, England, operates on similar principles and has so far cataloged 2 billion Web pages. The company says it gets 200,000 unique visitors a month and search queries have quintupled over the past year. Another British start-up, Oscobo, does anonymous searches for UK users with results licensed from Yahoo/Bing.
Netherlands-based Startpage anonymizes Google search results, stripping out ads and tracking. Pat Walshe, a UK-based privacy consultant, has been using Startpage and Qwant for years and says has never felt their services were inferior to Google’s. “I don’t think people would go back if they started using these sites,” Walshe said. They’re “allowing you to have greater choice and control and should hopefully minimize the tracking,” which means you’ll no longer see, for example, the same ad for a pair of shoes following you around online, he said. Walshe likes Startpage’s new “anonymous view” feature, which goes a step further by letting users browse a copy of a web site from its search results, not the actual site. Germany’s Unbubble is a “meta-search” site, sending encrypted queries to more than 30 other search engines. It promises neutral search results rather than ones filtered by an algorithm catering to personal biases. Outside Europe, there’s also US site DuckDuckGo. Some privacy search operators say it’s equally important to help users avoid “filter bubbles,” in which content is preselected by the likes of Google and Facebook based on previous searches and other data. “The main idea is to provide neutral information and allow people to depend less on machine learning-based filters,”
said Unbubble founder Tobias Sasse. “If you are using Google today, perhaps you’ll notice that there is always the same mainstream information,” preventing people from seeing the “great diversity” online, he said. Some sites rely on donations, others from “affiliate advertising”—links from shopping sites that pay a commission but don’t target or track users. That’s different from Google’s behavioral, or targeted, ads that come up based on your search history, which many find creepy and invasive. Mojeek has private investors. Founder Marc Smith, who began in 2004 with two servers in his bedroom, believes advertising is “a necessary evil and we’ll look for whatever route we can to avoid it,” said marketing chief Finn Brownbill. In Switzerland, a country whose banking sector became a byword for secrecy, Swisscows has thrived, with monthly search queries jumping by nearly half to 20 million from a year ago, said founder Andreas Wiebe, who also runs software company Hulbee. Even so, Wiebe said he met plenty of skepticism at the start. “In 2014, I had people talking to me [saying], ‘you’re crazy,’” and that the project would be dead within a year. Instead, National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations of US government surveillance in 2015 gave it a kick-start. AP
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com
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Saturday, November 24, 2018 A12
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EVEN in low light, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro captures images that can be not only posted on your Instagram account, but even hung on the wall.
PHOTO BY KWANLO
G’day, Mate
What does Huawei do for an encore to the massively successful P20 Pro flagship smartphone? You release an even more impressive follow-up. Meet the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, the best phone in the market. Period.
‘I
BY GERARD RAMOS Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor
T’S just too beautiful!” It was, I remember, a rainy late spring afternoon this year when the tech and lifestyle media from all over the world, myself included, gathered at the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées in Paris for the launch of what would be the flagship smartphone of the global Chinese company Huawei, the P20 Series, “co-engineered” with the legendary German imaging expert Leica. Notwithstanding the fact that at the time Huawei was already firmly ensconced as the No. 3 smartphone brand worldwide, behind only Samsung and Apple, certainly a cause for no small celebration given the number of established global brands it had to leapfrog to get there, the company was reeling from negative press brought about by the US and a few other governments banning their agencies from using phones and devices manufactured by Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers due to alleged security concerns. It was, however, not a defeated Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei, who took to the stage at the grand Grand Palais, as he squarely addressed what the company dismissed as unfounded security concerns, brandishing about onstage the P20 Pro—a marriage of software and hardware in a supremely slick package that drew cheers from the gathered media. And even more cheers as Yu, along with other top executives from Leica, Google and more talked up all the strengths of the flagship series. Since that spring launch, the P20 Pro has gone on to win such honors as Phone of the Year at the TechRadar Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, Best Smartphone at European EISA Awards, and Best Photo Smartphone at the TIPA World Awards, among others. The ban from the US government remains in play, but Huawei has gone on to not only win a slew of international awards but also overtake Apple as the No. 2 smartphone brand in the world, the improved standing no doubt spurred by the global success of the P20 Pro. What, then, is the company to do for an encore? Last October in London, Huawei revealed just that, unveiling a flagship trifecta, the Mate 20 Series, which is bound to not only win similar acclaim and awards but also set the standard in flagships for every other player in the smartphone landscape. While I was unable to attend the London launch, I did get to have in my grubby mitts the Mate 20 Pro, Twilight edition, not long after. “It’s just too beautiful!” The earlier quote, by the way, could easily apply to the Huawei P20 Pro, which remains to be one of the most handsomely crafted phones. But it was made breathlessly by a man whose opinion I deeply value, and who is not easily impressed—and it was uttered the first time he saw the Mate 20 Pro in my hands. Of course it could be said that the Twilight gradient color finish first seen on the P20 Pro—inspired by the atmospheric spectacle known as the Aurora Borealis, which Huawei achieved by applying several layers of nonconductive vacuum
metalizing (NCVM) optical coatings underneath the glass back—has lost none of its appeal in its iteration in Mate 20 Pro, and the assertion would be totally valid. The special color finish continues to be an utterly captivating piece of eye candy, the colors deeper this time, less flashy, less in-yourface, but all the more more mysterious and seductive. There is, however, more than just a stunning color finish that makes the Huawei Mate 20 Pro the most compelling smartphone choice in the market, and I’ll get around to that in due course. With a display that measures 6.39 inches, you’d be inclined to think the Mate 20 Pro is just right about there skirting phablet territory, meaning that it’s big and unwieldy and incapable of being handled in one hand. The raw numbers of the phone’s dimensions hint otherwise: 6.21 x 2.85 x 0.34 inches, making it smaller, narrower and and slimmer than the Samsung Note 9, but with a better screen-to-body ratio (87.9 percent for the Mate 20 Pro versus the 83.4 percent for Note 9). With the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei pretty much consigned bezels to the dustbin of smartphone history, the screen curving into the edges leaving only a bit of a chin). These dimensions allow the user to be able to work the phone with one hand, although these days most people have embraced the two-handed approach to working their social-media and messaging accounts. That compact frame notwithstanding, the Mate 20 Pro packs some bleeding-edge hardware including the all-new HiSilicon Kirin 980 processor with the newer 7nm architecture that’s not only smaller but also supposedly more power-efficient, and has two neural processing units (NPUs) to handle real-time photo manipulation, live translation, and other AI-reliant tasks without breaking a sweat. No doubt the 10-core Mali-G76 graphics chipset and the 6GB RAM (which is what comes with the 128GB storage variant, while the 256GB model packs 8GB RAM; user storage can be expanded by way of the a new type of expandable storage called Nano Memory, which fits into the second nano SIM slot) also help keep thing churning along smoothly. The latest Kirin chip has been dubbed in the tech media as the most powerful processor around for smartphones, citing the solid scores they got from all kinds of benchmark testing they threw at the device. I haven’t been able to perform such benchmarks, but I will say that from my typical-to-heavy usage daily, which includes multitasking with video and application updates running in the background, plus upward of 76 tabs open in Chrome, the Mate 20 Pro has yet to exhibit any sluggishness. All that powerful hardware has been shoehorned into a body exquisitely crafted in metal (that would be the frame) and glass (for the front and back), with each material curved resolutely flush into the other that—unencumbered by any extraneous flourishes with the exception of the volume rocker and the power button (given a striking red finish) on the right side, the USB Type C port and dual SIM slot at the bottom, and the very slight camera bump in the back—the Mate 20 Pro feels like a polished piece of shimmering glass in the
hand. Of course the material choice of glass (an unspecified version of Gorilla Glass) makes the phone quite the fingerprint magnet, but it’s an issue that can be easily addressed by the myriad of cases now available in brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers. No doubt one of the defining features of the Mate 20 Pro is that massive/not massive 6.39-inch AMOLED HDR display that is one of the most dazzling panels to be seen on a flagship smartphone. Yes, there’s a notch and it is bigger than what was on Huawei’s P20 Pro, but that’s only because the company has added another sensor for more reliable and more secure face-unlocking. (And on the occasion Face Unlock gets a tad fussy, the phone also offers in-screen fingerprint reader that you won’t find in any of even the toptier Apple or Samsung handsets, while the Mate 20 Pro’s is wicked-fast.) This notch issue is something the tech media has blown out proportion, or it could just be me, but the notch—be it on the iPhone X, the Huawei P20 Pro and, now, the Mate 20 Pro—is a nonissue, as it never detracted from my experience with the phones cited here. With a 1440 x 3120-pixel resolution, 19.5:9 ratio, and 538 ppi density (the Samsung Note 9’s 6.4-inch panel has a 516 ppi density), the Mate 20 Pro’s screen reproduces colors that just pop with brilliance plus blacks that are the deepest blacks. Even with the brightness set at only medium levels, the panel pushes enough nits to make it readable on a sunny day, and it certainly makes for a fantastic platform with which to indulge your YouTube, Netflix and gaming addictions. That massive and brilliant screen may be what will instantly grab everyone’s attention, but the Mate 20 Pro’s imaging strengths, again co-engineered by Huawei and Leica, will also be a never-ending source of pleasure. Huawei has relocated the triple camera system from being arrayed on the top left side of the back, as it is in the P20 Pro, to right smack in the top middle part of the Mate 20 Pro. Arrayed symmetrically in a slightly raised square, the camera system is comprised of 40 MP, f/1.8 wide shooter, a 20 MP, f/2.2 ultra-wide lens and a 8 MP, f/2.4 telephoto snapper, all of which come together to bring the user the best camera experience to be had from a smartphone. Meanwhile, the selfie camera on the front is a 24 MP, f/2.0 affair that will delight even the most demanding social-media influencer (or whatever it is such creatures like to call themselves) who live in and off Instagram and Facebook. No, the monochrome sensor that helped the Huawei P20 Pro become a multi-awarded imaging beast has been jettisoned in the Mate 20 Pro, but don’t fret. As in the P20 Pro, the camera system of Huawei’s new flagship also deploys all three sensors to provide data in creating the perfect image— and, boy, does this phone yield such excellent snaps, whether you’re shooting using the rear camera trifecta or the frontfacing sensor. And, yes, the phone takes excellent night shots, as evidenced in the cityscape shown on this page. Users will also be thankful for the Master AI technology Huawei has put in place to complement the Mate 20 Pro’s camera system. First seen on the P20 Pro, Master AI is a
souped-up auto mode that intelligently configures the image settings depending on what the lens is pointed at. Essentially, what all this means is that you won’t have to fiddle with exposure settings or choose the suitable scene mode to capture images worthy of being not just posted on Instagram but even hung on your wall. I’m close to hitting my character-count limit for product reviews but here we are, well over 10,000 characters and there’s still so much to write about—even gush about— the latest flagship smartphone of Huawei. Suffice it to say that with a fabulous massive/not massive screen, the best camera system to be found on any smartphone, plus the newest Android OS out of the box (that’d be Pie), and a massive 4200 mAh battery that lasts for a day and a half, and can be charged quickly and wirelessly, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the best smartphone in the market. Nothing comes close. Period. ■
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THE Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the best smartphone in the market. Nothing comes close. Period.