DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY
2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION
BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
A broader look at today’s business n
Sunday, October 21, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 10
‘HASTE MAKES WASTE’
2018 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
SCARS THAT WON’T HEAL Children violently uprooted from their homes and schools by the Marawi siege are still learning to cope, bit by bit, with their new realities. They’re getting a little help from friends—like an NGO that’s committed to provide 1,000 children in Marawi and Lanao del Sur access to safe and equipped learning spaces. By Christelle Lei Tapang | Save the Children Philippines
C
HILDREN endure lifelong scars from disasters and emergencies. Fatima (not her real name) was only 11 when her family fled Marawi during the five-month clashes between state forces and the homegrown terrorist network said to be inspired by the Islamic State, the Maute Group.
(C) OCUSFOCUS | DREAMSTIME.COM
WITH white flags to indicate they are noncombatants, displaced residents flee by a convoy to safer areas as government troops battle with Muslim militants on May 29, 2017, in Marawi City. AP
Teenage pregnancy bleeds PHL economy some ₧33B a year
T
By Cai U. Ordinario
HE Philippine economy loses a whopping P33 billion annually due to foregone economic opportunities of teenage mothers, according to the Commission on Population (Popcom). At the sidelines of the launch of the 2018 World Population Report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Popcom Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III told reporters that this is only an estimate of the opportunity cost of having a child at a very young age. Perez also said if the mother of a teenager was a teen mom herself, it is likely that the teenager will also bear children at an early age. If they are poor, this will also make it difficult for them to get out of the cycle of poverty, causing what is called intergenerational poverty. “This represents opportunity lost because they did not complete their studies, they had children
2,000
The total number of children aged 10 to 14 years old with early and unplanned pregnancies last year, even as trend indicates that the count increases by 100 to 200 children annually. early. There’s a finding [that is]… general among all families that showed if you have another child in your family and if you are poor, you don’t have savings; but if you have savings, another child in the family
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.8910
will take up 60 percent of your savings,” Perez said. “If you’re in the higher quintile, 30 percent. Among the rich, it only affects 15 percent of their savings, annually. Your savings are affected by having another child. The poor have no savings so they have no access,” he added.
Incomplete
PEREZ said because of pregnancy and the demands of raising a child, teenage mothers are unable to complete their education. This leads them to get lower-paying jobs. Apart from the costs, Perez said having more teenage pregnancies could also lead to a higher number of infant deaths based on a 2010 survey done by the National Statistics Office, which is now part of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Perez said that off the bat, this could be explained by the level of maturity of teen mothers and their knowledge about how to raise children. The PSA, he said, has not released any updated data on this, but Perez hopes that by next year,
this could be included in the list of special surveys that the agency will conduct. “Culturally you’re not prepared, economically you’re having issues. So what we’re aiming for is to avoid pregnancy at a younger age, to have fewer children, to have children that you can afford to raise,” Perez said.
Hard to hit
THIS target is becoming difficult to hit even when teenage pregnancies, between 15 and 19 years old, have gone down. Perez said this is because pregnancy of 10- to 14-year-olds have been on the rise. He said that while there are about 2,000 children aged 10 to 14 years old who got pregnant last year, the trend has shown that the numbers are posting increases of about 100 to 200 children annually. According to the UNFPA, the Philippines is the second-largest country among the 10 Asean members, and its population is fast growing with the highest total fertility rate in the Asean. Over half of Filipinos are 24 years of age or below. Continued on A2
“Our parents told us to get on the jeepney to join other children, so we can get out of Marawi,” Fatima told Save the Children Philippines when her family was staying in an evacuation site last year. Fatima and two younger siblings spent two agonizing nights in another evacuation site before they were reunited with their parents. “All of us were crying, we were afraid that the Maute [local armed group] might find us and kill us,” she said. A year after the government ended hostilities in Marawi, hundreds of families still live in tents and children are missing out on school. Lawyer Albert Muyot, CEO of Save the Children Philippines, said humanitarian assistance is still very much needed by displaced families in Marawi. “Save the Children Philippines stands ready to help in rebuilding the war-stricken city,” said Muyot. With funding from Insular Foundation, the group will implement the project “Balik Marawi, Balik Eskwela,” to provide 1,000 school-age children in Marawi and those attending schools in Lanao del Sur access to safe and equipped learning spaces. The four-month project, worth P1.9 million, runs from October 2018 to February 2019. It facilitates the purchase of school materials, such as teacher’s tables, children’s armchairs and teacher kits for Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) and implementation of interventions.
At least 86,000 children were affected by the Marawi siege with an estimated 22,700 missing out on their classes, according to the Child Protection Rapid Assessment (CPRA) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Children trapped in conflict suffer from psychological stress, sleeping problems, nightmares, withdrawal, lack of focus and feelings of guilt, the DSWD report said. Children in evacuation centers display changes in behavior, such as unwillingness to go to school; sadness; unusual crying and screaming; nightmares; disrespectful behavior and aggressive behavior, said the DSWD report. The impact of the Marawi siege on children include inability to resume classes; inability to return home; loss of belongings; lack of food and shelter, and pockets of attacks. “The conflict has left scars on hundreds of children that are difficult to heal,” said Muyot. Save the Children Philippines still works with the Department of Education to provide psychosocial support to teachers and children affected by the conflict. The group is also coordinating with local governments and communities to prevent potential exploitation, such as child-trafficking. Muyot called on local governments in Marawi to implement Republic Act (RA) 10821, or the Children in Emergency and Relief Act Continued on A2
n JAPAN 0.4784 n UK 70.6888 n HK 6.8747 n CHINA 7.7838 n SINGAPORE 39.1081 n AUSTRALIA 38.3057 n EU 61.9908 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.3652
Source: BSP (October 18, 2018 )
NewsSunday BusinessMirror
A2 Sunday, October 21, 2018
www.businessmirror.com.ph
SCARS THAT WON’T HEAL Continued from A1
of 2016, which addresses the needs of children before, during and after a disaster and emergency. The Comprehensive Emergency Program for Children (CEPC) lines up disaster risk reduction measures to ensure safety of children during emergencies, such as the Marawi conflict. The Marawi conflict has resulted in the massive destruction of private and government infrastructure, and displaced more than 350,000 people who fled after fighting broke out on May 23 last year. So far, just over 23,000 families have been able to return to their homes since last year. Save the Children has been responding to the crisis since the beginning of last year and has set up 28 temporary learning spaces in host schools to help cope with the high number of new enrollments. It has also distributed 4,000 backto-school kits for students. Muyot earlier called on local officials—from governors to barangay leaders—who will run in the 2019 elections to prioritize the implementation of the law under the CEPC that integrates disaster risk reduction measures to ensure safety of children during emergencies. “As politicians file their Certificates of Candidacy [COC] for the 2019 national and local elections, it is our hope that they bear
RESIDENTS flee Marawi City following the siege by Muslim militants on May 24, 2017. AP
The Marawi conflict has resulted in the massive destruction of private and government infrastructure and displaced more than 350,000 people who fled after fighting broke out on May 23 last year. So far just over 23,000 families have been able to return to their homes since last year. in mind the vulnerable situation of children in times of natural and man-made disasters,” said Muyot. Save the Children Philippines coorganized the National Conference on Children in Emergencies with the DSWD on October 12 to discuss the CEPC implementation in local cities and municipalities. RA 10821, the first legislation of its kind in Asia, was passed in 2016 following the experience of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), where 6 million children were affected, and which led to massive deaths and destruction of properties and infrastructure. With over 6,000 people dead, Haiyan opened the minds of government agencies and civil-society organizations on the need to implement a coordinated humanitarian response to address the vulnerabilities of children in times of disasters and emergencies. The law mandates local officials to establish the following in
their respective cities and provinces: • A Comprehensive Emergency Program to protect and safeguard children, and promotes human rights, ensures children have access to essential services for immediate recovery; • Heightened surveillance against child trafficking and other forms of violence and abuse against children in the aftermath of disasters and calamities; • Increased participation of children in disaster risk reduction (DRR) planning and post-disaster needs assessment; • A system of restoring civil documents for children and their families to better access services and protection against the exploitation; • Less disruption of educational services with limited use of schools as evacuation centers and proper use of temporary learning spaces; • Improved care and process
for family tracing and reunification for orphaned, unaccompanied and separated children; • Improved data collection and reporting related to affected children for better understanding of their needs; and • Child-centered training and standard setting for all responders for community and village leaders, school personnel and rescuers. Save the Children Philippines believes that paving the way for the immediate return to classes of affected children eases the wounds caused by hostilities. When Fatima and her two siblings were asked what are the most important things they left behind in Marawi, all three children said the same thing: clothes, school bags and rice. Three items seemingly mundane, but which could be indispensable tools in helping them turn away from a nightmare and face the future with confidence and hope.
‘Haste makes waste’ Continued from A1
Left behind
HOWEVER, Iori Kato, UNFPA country representative in the Philippines, said many Filipino adolescents and youth have been left behind. Among the challenges: 49 percent of unmarried, sexually active women and 17 percent of married women have an unmet need for family planning, the 2017 National Demographic and Health survey revealed. About 1 in 5 girls aged 19 is either pregnant or has given birth. “For this youthful country to reap a demographic dividend, there is an imminent need to invest more in health, education and
employability of young people and on gender equality,” Kato said. “Millions of Filipinos will benefit from having the power to choose whether and when to have children, and how many children to have. If you can plan your family, you can plan your life,” he added. The report classifies all countries in the world by the current dynamics of their populations’ fertility. It makes specific recommendations for policies and programs that would help each country increase reproductive choices. In the Philippines, UNFPA looks forward to continued partnership with the government and all stakeholders through the newly approved 8th Country Programme for 2019-2023, in ensuring that all
Filipinos, especially those furthest behind, have access to sexual and reproductive-health information and services, and thereby make choices on some of the most significant and intimate aspects of their lives.
Access to info
THE UNFPA Country Programme will continue to support the acceleration of universal access to quality reproductive health care, particularly modern contraceptives, as well as comprehensive sexuality education in accordance with international standards. Technical assistance will also be provided toward dismantling those barriers—whether economic, social or institutional—that inhibit free and informed choice.
The World BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Sunday, October 21, 2018
A3
China, Europe escalate WTO challenge to Trump metals tariffs By Bryce Baschuk Bloomberg
C
HINA and the European Union (EU) have joined a group of countries asking the World Trade Organization (WTO) to investigate the Trump administration’s decision to impose metals tariffs on national security grounds, creating a new front in a trade war that has shaken global markets. The move sets the stage for a showdown at the WTO that some fear could either lead to a US exit or a flood of new protectionist measures invoking what has until now been a rarely used national security loophole in global trade rules. The US has said the tariffs on imported steel and aluminum imposed earlier this year are allowed under the WTO’s national security exemption, which permits governments to take “any action which it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests.” This has drawn the ire of affected countries, many of which are close American allies, such as the EU and Canada. Countries so far have refrained from challenging that at the WTO. But in a news statement issued on Thursday, Norwegian Foreign Af-
fairs Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide said her country and other nations had chosen to request the establishment of a dispute panel at the WTO. “We believe that the US’s additional duty on steel and aluminum is in violation of the WTO rules,” she wrote. A spokesman for the office of the US Trade Representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A WTO spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
National security
THE dispute puts the Genevabased trade organization in a difficult position: If it rules in support of the US, it could encourage other members to enact protectionist measures under the guise of national security. If it rules against the US, it could draw further ire from the largest economy in the world and a possible withdrawal by the Trump administration. The “worst outcome” for the WTO is if the dispute settlement system “decided that it was in a position to judge whether something was or was not in the national security interests of the US or any other member,” Deputy
AN employee monitors electric arc furnace at Liberty Steel’s Aldewerke mill in Rotherham, the United Kingdom, on March 21, 2018. Most metals slumped on the London Metal Exchange after US President Donald J. Trump ordered tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports from China in June 2018, and Beijing announced retaliatory duties shortly afterward. CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG
US Trade Representative Dennis Shea said in an October speech in Washington.
Metals tariffs
THE requests will be considered at the next meeting of the WTO dispute settlement body, which is scheduled for October 29. Nine WTO members—Canada, China, the EU, India, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey—have filed initial complaints that allege Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum violated WTO rules. But Thursday’s move takes the disputes an important
step closer to a formal case. The complaints differ slightly, but each country alleges that the measures violate core WTO agreements, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT; and the WTO Safeguards Agreement, which govern the use of temporary trade restrictions, known as safeguards. In July the US said its tariffs were authorized under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which permits the president to impose trade restrictions if imports are found to harm US national security.
The US argued that WTO members have a legal right to impose national security tariffs under Section 21 of the GATT, which permits a government to take “any action which it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests.”
‘America First’
IF the WTO determines that national security measures aren’t permitted under the WTO’s national securit y exemption, it could then ask Trump to roll back a key tool in his “America First” trade arsenal.
Conversely, if the WTO agrees with the US argument it could encourage Trump to implement national security tariffs on cars and spur a proliferation of other new trade restrictions authorized under the guise of national security. The US Commerce Department is conducting an investigation to determine if foreign imports of autos and auto parts are having a detrimental impact on US national security. The inquiry is identical to the process the Trump administration pursued earlier this year when it triggered 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum in the name of protecting US national security. The move also comes as the Trump administration has mounted a broader attack on the WTO’s dispute system, which it accuses of overreach. Since last year the US has blocked the appointment of new members of the WTO’s appellate body, bringing the number of appellate judges in Geneva from the usual seven down to three. If nothing changes, that number is due to fall further by the end of next year, leaving the body unable to form the requisite three-member appeals panel to hear a dispute.
ExecutiveViews BusinessMirror
A4
Sunday, October 21, 2018
ARCHITECT ANTONIO A. TURALBA, SR.
DOING BUSINESS WITH INTEGRITY AND PASSION
‘T
By Leony R. Garcia
HE most important things for me have always been honesty, integrity, dedication, and sincerity. These are the things that will help you in any business and undertaking. People will know who you are and will only lend you something if you have these qualities. That’s how I grew my company to what it is today. We were not rich but friends and business colleagues have helped me along the way because of–one word —integrity.” This is how Architect Antonio A. Turalba, Sr., founder and chairman of the Active Group of Companies, summed up how he has stirred the company to where it is now. Active Group has been in real estate for 48 years. Its monumental project is the Mount Malarayat Golf and Country Club, a 200-hectare unique land development in Lipa, Batangas, combining features of a world-class golf course, the amenities of a deluxe resort hotel, and the exclusivity of an upscale gated community. Turalba graduated from the University of the Philippines and placed fifth in the 1970 licensure examination for architects. For years, he was widely recognized and admired as an environmental planner, holding the distinction of being the first private sector representative to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in 1978. He is a Fellow of the United Architects of the Philippines, the country’s leading association for architects, and is a past president of the Chamber of Real Estate Brokers Associations (CREBA) and Rotary Club of Makati East. He is a recipient of the UP Alumni Association Award in Architecture (1989) and was named “Outstanding Professional in Architecture” by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) in 1996, among other accolades. The amiable CEO credits his entrepreneurial successes to his experience as a young boy of 13 already engaging in the buy and sell business. He said his father, a native Ilocano, had trusted him to engage in and manage the family’s business. Turalba admits there is nothing he could ask for. He said he is most happy with the 20th anniversary of Mount Malarayat this year; it was celebrated with twoday festivities on October 19 and 20. It teed off with member-guest tournament on the 19th and a family carnival fair on the 20th at the country club lawn area with lots of entertainment, games and food carts. Capping the festivities was the awarding ceremony highlighted by a sumptuous dinner especially prepared by equally iconic in-house Chef Billy King held at the club’s main ballroom, Laurel Hall.
From residential development to golf & country club
ACTIVE Group boasts of a long list of real estate development of residential subdivisions, office buildings, residential condominiums and memorial parks. How did it get involved with the golf and country club? “When my group was offered the property, we readily saw its potential as a golf course. The cool climate and topography made it ideal for golf. The quality of the soil and the constant source of water made it easy to maintain, and the breathtaking backdrop of Mount Malarayat made it all the more special. Being architects, we took full advantage of what the site [featured] and, as a businessman, I converted it into a business venture. “We did not need to do any major interventions or alter the landscape in any way; all we did was work with what nature had provided and improve on it. But we really invested a huge amount of money in the landscaping, the sand and the drainage to make it an all-weather golf course. In fact, the sum of money can already go towards building another golf course,” Turalba said. “The investment definitely paid off. We’re proud to call Malarayat the first all-weather course in the country. Other courses that came after us may claim to be all-weather courses, but Malarayat was the first. You can play even after a heavy downpour. The well-constructed
drainage system that lies beneath the course has made this possible. The result is that members and guests can play on the course in mere minutes after a downpour. Walking on the course after the rain will not leave a single patch of mud on your shoes. In the long run we were able to save on major repairs. It has been an all-weather thing all for 20 years,” he stressed. Having to fund the development entirely by the Active Group proved to be the biggest challenge for Turalba. He said they were almost done with construction when the Asian Financial Crisis hit in 1997. There was no way out; Turalba had to open the golf course in 1998 even as they faced the tailend of the financial crisis. “To have Malarayat be the way it is now was the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced. So I will just let others speak for the success of our project,” Turalba said.
A family of realtors & architects\
THE Active Group of Companies began as a partnership between the husband-and-wife team of Turalba Sr., and Maria Cristina Valera-Turalba, when they set up their own architectural design firm in 1970. More than 40 years later, the company has grown into a multi-billionpeso real estate conglomerate that has built town houses, buildings, condominiums, subdivisions, and resort & leisure communities and continues to grow as a dynamic and formidable player in the field of quality real estate development. At the core of this continuing success is a vision that inspires the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of the Active Group of Companies: that of delivering a quality of life that goes beyond shelter. It is a vision that continues to build not only homes, but also creates better lifestyles and communities for the Filipino. The patriarch of realtor and architects also made sure that his children got exposed to the company at a young age. “They’re also supported by some of the best and most experienced people I know. I want to make sure that the quality of our work remains at its highest level even without me being directly involved. Only my youngest child didn’t follow in my footsteps and is now a physician in the United States,” he said.
Giving back to the community
EVERY year in January, in honor of the chairman’s birthday on January 17, Mount Malarayat Golf and Country Club hosts The Chairman’s Cup – a golf tournament open to members and their guests. January 27 of this year marked the 20th Chairman’s Cup—which also kicked off the year-long festivities to celebrate the 20th year milestone of Mount Malarayat Golf and Country Club. Some 248 participants made their way to the championship golf course which benefited the Turalba Foundation, in partnership with De La Salle Lipa and Hilario and Febres Foundations. From this endeavor alone, the foundation raised half a million pesos to subsidize 70 scholars to attend high school and college. From the previous 19 Chairman’s Cups, 79 scholars have already graduated from this program. “Our scholars, many of them working in Manila or abroad, attend either the club’s anniversary or the Chairman’s Cup to share firsthand their heartwarming experiences benefiting from the scholarship. It has become a normal thing that people come to me to say thank you because their family has benefited working in the club or their children either graduated or are incumbent scholars,” Turalba said. For young people out there, the chairman has this advice: “Whatever your profession, do it with passion and you’ll go places. Always share. It gives you misery and problems if you don’t share. You must be happy, you cannot go forward if you are not truly happy with whatever you are doing. “Do not be in a hurry. Everything has its proper time and places. You fall hard and easily when you are in a hurry,” the chairman concluded.
Journey
»life on the go
BusinessMirror
Editor: Tet Andolong
Sunday, October 21, 2018
A5
A happy journey to the eastern frontier
SURFING at Majestic surf spot in Puraran MAKI AGANON
ZIP bike at Twin Rocks
E
Story & photos by Bernard L. Supetran
VERY traveler, even the most jaded ones, undeniably has the Marco Polo or Ferdinand Magellan DNA running in his or her genes. The thought of exploring an off-the-beaten path hideaway, away from the madding crowd of popular tourist traps, is such a thrilling scenario to pass up. Despite its seeming obscurity, the island province of Catanduanes is an exciting travel frontier in the archipelago’s Pacific seaboard off mainland Bicol region. Monikered “The Happy Island,” it promises pleasant surprises along the away and happy memories you can bring home. There is hardly any high-end tourist facility, but this lack is compensated by the abundance of its back-to-nature offerings. With
BINURONG Point RYAN CUA
an infinite coastline, it offers an overload of sleepy shores more than what a beach bum can take, each with an irresistible magnetic pull and the silhouette of the perfect-coned Mayon Volcano in the horizon. The journey begins in Virac, the provincial capital town and hub of commerce, transport, shopping and tourist establishments, which can be reached by Cebu Pacific from Manila or Philippine Airlines from
Clark. An obligatory first step is a visit to the provincial tourism office at the restored the Old Capitol building for helpful travel tips and documentation of tourist arrivals. A visit to Museo de Catanduanes, located upstairs, immediately follows to give you a glimpse of its rich local heritage. A hands-down choice for lodging is Twin Rock Beach Resort, which takes pride in its recreational facilities such as swimming pools, zipline, zip bike, watersports equipment and a customized Volkswagen vintage camper van you can use to drive around. Located in a vast scenic cove, it is so-called because of the massive rocks which jut out of the sea. In the heart of town, there are Lucky Hotel and Resort and the ARDCI Corporate Inn, which are among the boutique accommodations that have a touch of urban class. Feast on a wide array of Bicol cuisine, crop-based dishes such as tabogtabog, kaluko and koping, and topped off with latik, ibos, or barisongsong for dessert. Frequented dining outlets for guests and locals are the ancestral housed-themed Blossoms Restaurant, whose menu spans from short orders to popular international dishes; and Sea
Breeze Restaurant, which is known for its succulent seafood. For after-dinner cravings or small talk with friends, there are also a couple of low-key but cozy homegrown coffee shops and watering holes around town. While in Virac, you can shop for native food items and decorative souvenirs made out of abaca—one of the world’s best fibers, which grow abundantly in the province. Half an hour away is the quaint
SAINT John the Baptist Church in Bato
PADADYAW sa Tinampo
town of Bato, which is dissected by a meandering river of inviting bluegreen water. It is home to the Diocesan Shrine of the Holy Cross, where the first cross in Catanduanes was planted over the grave of missionary priest Diego de Herrera. Also known as Batalay Shrine, a natural spring has emerged, which Catholic faithful regard to be miraculous. Saint John the Baptist Church, sitting near the bank of the Bato River, is another Spanish-era religious spot that sports a unique Baroque architecture that seems to transport you back in time. Also in Bato is Maribina Falls, a three-layer cascade tucked within a lush vegetation and forms ice-cold natural swimming basins; and the stunning islets of Patag, Carorian Japanese Kaidan, Seaside Waterfalls, Poseidon’s Rock and Pinta Beach, where you can hop around on board a chartered outrigger boat. Puraran Beach in Baras, the province’s iconic destination and surfing playground, is a must-see. Nicknamed “Majestic” because of the adrenaline-pumping waves, this once-obscure spot has become a tourist colony, events and party place, and mecca for surfing tourneys. But if you simply want to watch the world go by, you can frolic at picture-pretty fine, cream sand and sip your favorite ice-cold beverage in the beachfront bars.
To the extreme eastern edge of town is Binurong Point, which has become a social-media sensation because of its resemblance to the windswept cape and crashing waves of Batanes. Up north is Nahulugan Falls in Gigmoto town, which beautifully cascades on three tiers, creating spectacular sprays. Large nest ferns sit on the branches of these trees throwing in some shadows, giving the area a mystic touch. Another social-media star is Tuwad-Tuwadan Lagoon, a tidal pool in Pandan town tucked in the midst of a rock formation endowed with crystal-clear, bluegreen waters, deep enough for a low cliff dive or a flotation as time slowly ticks away. There are small fishes which offer some dead-skin cleansing like spa fishes. En route to the lagoon is Cagnipa Rolling Hills, a majestic green land where you will be welcomed with sweeping vistas of where skies meet the sea, as if they were nature’s artwork in a living canvas. Also in Pandan is Carangyan beach, which means “paradise” in the vernacular, and is an appropriate calling for this golden sand cove. If you feel like spending the night here for a taste of back-tobasics island life, there is a resort with air-conditioned cottages for modest comfort. Situated off the provincial mainland are the best-kept secret islands of Palumbanes and Calabagio, whose turquoise waters teem with beautiful corals and fishes, ideal for snorkeling and a potential site for scuba diving. And if you feel Catanduanes is beckoning you, this week is the best time to visit as it celebrates its event-packed Catandungan Festival to mark its foundation day, which is highlighted by the Padadyaw sa Tinampo, a time-honored folk dance that reflects the province’s colorful culture. With more attractions being discovered in the hidden nooks and introduced to tourists every year, your dream of being a Magellan in your own little way might just be the happy ending to your journey to the Happy Island.
Journey
»life on the go
BusinessMirror
A6 Sunday, October 21, 2018
Editor: Tet Andolong
One Central Hotel puts downtown Cebu on top of preferred tourist destinations
T
By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28 Contributor
RUE to its monicker, the Queen City of the South is a “royalty” insofar as economic development is concerned.
CAFÉ Tartanilla
It is the epicenter of trade and commerce, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. Various industries thrive here with the entry of business players, from homegrown small and medium enterprises to conglomerates and even multinationals. Dubbed as the “Oldest City” when it was first discovered and conquered by the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s primarily to spread Christianity and, eventually the entire Philippines as a colony for more than 300 years, Cebu is now a progressive cosmopolitan area, teeming with economic zones, high-rise corporate buildings, and mix-used properties comprised of office and retail spaces, as well as residential communities. As developments constantly extend to different parts of the city province, however, the downtown area is said to have been left behind its neighbors. But not until now, when a new landmark hospitality project rises—the One Central Hotel. This premier business hotel not only offers affordable luxury accommodations and a 360-degree panoramic view of the city, but also brings back the old glory of the once economic hub. “Downtown Cebu is far from being sleepy,” One Central Hotel CEO Steven Yu told the members of the local and national media who graced the property’s grand launch on October 4. “It’s actually still very vibrant here.”
Historical property
ASKING any of the locals about the exact location of One Central Hotel would, more often than not, yield this unanimous answer: It’s on the site of an old wood store at the corner of Leon Kilat and Sanciangko streets. “This used to be a landmark area—it’s a lumber yard,” the owner noted of the whereabouts of their family business, which was built from the grounds just a stone’s throw away from the place where Cebu’s Central Train Station once stood. Down memory lane, the rail terminal was established in the early 1900s. The 57-mile railway, which
JUNIOR suite living room
is where the Development Bank of the Philippines and Cebu City Medical Center now abound, stretched all the way from Danao up north to Argao down south. There was, likewise, a short railroad that led up to the port along Leon Kilat Street. The train served as the main mode of transportation during the time. Horse-drawn carriages, or tartanillas, also played a role in transporting the passengers to and from the train stations. The inception of the railway system indeed paved the way for the emergence of businesses and witnessed Cebu’s modernization. But when World War II broke in the 1940s, operations of the Central Train Station ended, so as the progress and development of the city province. Shortly after the devastating war, Cebu stood on its feet and recovered. Local and foreign investments poured in various parts, thus changing their respective landscapes. Yet, downtown, any major face-lift seemed wanting. There remain old commercial buildings, narrow roads, congested streets, night pubs, dilapidated motels and transients, among others reminiscent of Manila’s Escolta. “We will create here another landmark thing that offers services to the public, making people feel at home,” Yu said.
Intermarriage of city resort feel
ONE Central Hotel is a humble accommodation facility that guests and even passersby wouldn’t dare imagine worthy of their stay in a day or two. From the ground level, adjacent to dining and retail tenants of the building, visitors are merely few steps away from the elevator to lift them to the hotel’s unpretentious lobby seated on the ninth floor. They will be greeted with a warm welcome by staff members who will assist them for check-in. The hotel offers 157 rooms with panoramic views of the city. Meeting rooms and a grand ballroom can accommodate about 350 persons for gatherings and grand celebrations. Internet connection is so fast to let guests easily access
ONE Central Hotel façade
their e-mails and social network accounts, or simply browse their favorite online sites. One can plunge into the cool waters of the hotel’s pool or flex his or her muscle at the fitness gym. Not to be missed is Café Tartanilla, which offers delectable buffet spread and downtown’s longest happy hour. This all-day dining restaurant is fronting the reception area. “Right now, it’s really a mixture of a lot of things. So it’s a good marriage of a resort feel in the middle of the city, wherein you can swim in the pool and yet you can smell the sea from the roof deck, you can see a panoramic view, or you can see vessels passing by,” the top executive said. “The intention really is to make it something like an oasis in the middle of downtown.”
‘Amuma’ hospitality
MANAGED by Bluewater Hospitality Management Inc., One Central Hotel extends to guests their uniquely Cebuano approach to hospitality called amuma, which means “to pamper” in Visayan language. “We pride ourselves in giving sincere and really warm service,” Bluewater Hospitality CEO Julie Alegrado-Vergara said. “So that’s an edge, hopefully, why people would want to stay here.” Delivering amuma with excellence, the hotel’s team wants to make sure that it gives everyone a
JUNIOR suite bed
luxurious stay at an affordable price. This is a differentiating factor that makes it a standout among other accommodation facilities within and outside the downtown area. “We cannot compete in terms of money, but we can compete in terms of service,” said Rhyz Buac, VP for finance at Bluewater Resort. “We have this ‘People is our Brand.’ So we’re banking on that.”
Robust business
SIX months since its soft launch in mid-April 2018, One Central Hotel has already received patronage from guests here and abroad. “Actually, we’re surprised by the customers here. We get plenty of nationalities, both locals and foreigners,” Yu said. The impressive turnout mainly comes from corporate and government accounts that conduct seminars in the hotel’s function rooms and ballroom. For the international market, it accommodates Americans, Europeans, Chinese and Japanese visitors. “When we first opened, it was 30 percent,” Bluewater Resorts VP for Sales and Marketing Margie F. Munsayac bared. “But when July and August came, we shoot up to 70 percent.” The management attributed this to the hotel’s strategic location being close to most of Cebu’s tourist destinations. One Central Hotel is 100 meters away from the
south bus terminal, where guests can hop on and take a bus going to “must-visit” places, such as Oslob for whale watching activity, Kawasan Falls, Osmeña Peak, etc. It’s a 10-minute walk to the Santo Niño Basilica Church and the Magellan Cross—the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines—as well as Fort San Pedro, Casa Gorordo Museum, and all key historical sites that define the Cebuano culture. Other emerging developments are seen helpful to downtown’s reemergence to the tourism map of Cebu. One of which is the upcoming third bridge—the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway. This, according to Yu “is a game changer” that will make Cordova just maybe 30 minutes away from downtown. He also cited the peace and order situation, which is “very good.” Seeing the continued positive business performance of the hotel, following its recent official kick off and operations, the owner expressed elation on their foray into the hospitality industry. The Yu family has been involved in trading, textile and lumber businesses. “Upon looking at the prospects of the economy in general, I think this area is really fine for hotel and tourism,” he said. “This is our first venture [in the hotel business], but I think we are on the right track because we have a good partner, and Cebu is really a fast-rising tourism destination.”
MOLAVE ballroom
Driving future developments
WHILE putting up a hotel is a business per se to manage and operate, the Yu clan has developed the 70-year-old property into a top-notch hotel in its class at reasonable cost for the “price-driven” market with a noble cause in mind, that is to keep its legacy and historical value and, at the same time, spur economic activities across downtown. “We’re making this as a premier tourism destination that will sprout future developments in the area, and on top of that make Cebu really shine in the global community and the whole country become really a tourism destination so that we will not rely on only OFWs and BPO remittances, but we also have tourism and we can contribute to nation-building,” the CEO explained. It can be observed that most of the hotels in the area are more or less a “mom and pop” type of operations, with a few rooms to accommodate the growing tourism market. Contrary to this, One Central Hotel was conceptualized to be an engine driver of the economy, while aiming to become completely different from other facilities available today. “We hope with One Central Hotel, more and more investors will look into their properties, renovate, innovate maybe, and give this old town a new look,” Munsayac said.
Journey
»life on the go
Editor: Tet Andolong
BusinessMirror
Sunday, October 21, 2018 A7
PANGULASIAN AMONG THE WORLD’S AND ASIA’S BEST BY ‘CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER’
E
L Nido Resorts’s Pangulasian Island once again put the Philippines on the radar of the world’s most influential travel audiences when it was ranked 29th of the Top 50 Best Resorts in the World by Condé Nast Traveler’s in-house survey, the Readers’ Choice Award. It was the only Philippine property on the list of resorts all distinguished by their stunning natural attractions and excellent service. The luxurious island destination by Ayala Hotels and Resorts Corp. was also named one of Asia’s Best Resorts by Condé Nast readers in the same survey. More than 429,000 participated in the 2018 Readers Choice digital survey that identified the best hotels, resorts, islands, cruise lines, and more from all over the globe. Results were unveiled in early October and are expected to further boost Pangulasian as a destination for the high-end global travel market seeking marine biodiversity and warm personal service matched with sustainable practices. Condé Nast is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine that has won 25 US National Magazine Awards. Pangulasian, the most luxurious among El Nido Resort’s four island resorts in northern Palawan, has made it to the Readers Choice awards for the past three years. It was also part of Condé Nast’s Gold List defined as the hotels its editors “keep coming back to time and again. It’s our love letter to the hotels that make us feel sexier, smarter, flirtier….” According to Joey Bernardino, marketing director of El Nido Resorts, “Getting an endorsement from Condé Nast Traveler’s readers and editors has meant greater global interest not only in Pangulasian but also for the entire Philippines.” In Pangulasian’s review accessible on www.contraveler.com/gallery/
best-resorts-in-the-world, the publication observed that the resort is “a launchpad to the island biosphere gloriously featured in The Bourne Legacy. With scuba courses and access to more than 20 dive sites…. mangrove and secret lagoons, you could spend all your time exploring, but the resort makes it equally tempting to stay put.” The top 11 picks on the Top Resorts in Asia list all had scores of 99 indicating a very close fight. The highest scorer (Viceroy Bali) garnered 99.87; and the second highest, COMO Uma Ubod in Bali, 99.52. Pangulasian was rated 99.23. In the two resort categories that mentioned Pangulasian, readers took a great interest in establishments that highlighted natural attractions—from emerald bays like Bacuit (where three of the four El Nido Resorts are located) to dude ranches in Montana, private islands in the Indian Ocean and safari lodges in East Africa. Some resorts had only eight rooms with most, no more than 50. “Size and ostentation do not matter to elite Condé Nast readers and influencers who set world trends,” explained Bernardino. “They pick nature-focused resorts perhaps because many of these settings are now threatened by climate change, pollution and other environmental risks. They also favor resorts that adopt sustainable practices and seek authentic experiences. Both have been trademarks of El Nido Resorts since its founding in the 80s.” Since Lio Tourism Estate (LTE) by Ayala Land improved its air-
EL NIDO RESORT.COM
EL NIDO RESORT.COM
strip to accommodate bigger airplanes and more flights from key Philippine cities, access to Pangulasian and the three other El Nido
EL NIDO RESORT.COM
Resorts has improved for global tourists. The 325-hectare Lio Estate, also within Bacuit Bay, is the jump-off point to the El Nido is-
land resorts. Ayala Land is developing a second tourism estate in the 1,100-hectare island of Sicogon in
Pinoy chefs bag bronze awards T
HREE Pinoy chefs—Chef Elmar Ruelo of Wangfu, Chef Joel Aroy of King Chef and Chef John Flores of Grand Convention Centre Cebu—won bronze awards at the recently concluded Lee Kum Kee International Young Chef Chinese Culinary Challenge 2018. Held in Hong Kong on September 19 and 20 the competition welcomed 42 aspiring young chefs from 17 countries and regions in a contest where each participant was asked to create one dish in 90 minutes using designated ingredients paired with Lee Kum Kee sauces and condiments. “This year’s contest is based on the theme of ‘Excel on Traditions Converging Global Culinary Talents,’ with participants harnessing their creativity and culinary skills to create sumptuous and delectable dishes,” said judge Chef Li Yaoyun, speaking on behalf of the panel of judges composed of some of the regions’ most distinguished Chinese Master Chefs. Chef Elmar “harnessed his creativity” to create his Stir-Fry Chicken with Plum and Oyster Sauce; Chef Joel tantalized taste buds with his Crispy Prawn in Char Siu and Scallop Sauce, and Chef John impressed judges with
his Pan-Seared Striploin. Since its inception in 2014, the Lee Kum Kee International Young Chef Chinese Culinary Challenge has been a biennial contest that promotes Chinese cuisines for the robust development of the global Chinese culinary industry. On its third edition, the competition received immense support from Chinese culinary connoisseurs, industry partners and 22 culinary associations across the globe, including Le Toque Blanche Chef Association Philippines. In this year’s competition, Chef James Santolin of Ikomai Japanese Restaurant and Chef Fernando Aracama of Aracama Restaurant and Lounge represented Le Toque Blanche Chef Association Philippines. The grand Award Presentation Dinner was well attended by nearly 350 guests from Chinese culinary associations and industry elites from all over the world. Chef Joung Duck Su from Korea won the “Lee Kum Kee 130th Anniversary Best Heritage Tasting Award” as well as the “Most Creative Award.” Chef Yip Ming Wai from Hong Kong won the “Best Sauce Combination Award,” while Chef Hikita Shoichiro from Japan won the “Best Presentation Award.”
CHEF Elmar Ruelo, Chef Joel Aroy and Chef John Flores
JOUNG DUCK SU
During the dinner, Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group Chairman Charlie Lee announced that the company was establishing the Lee Kum Kee Hope as Chef Charitable Foundation with the aim of lifting the group’s key corporate
social responsibility program “Hope as Chef ” to a new stratum. The Hope as Chef CSR program, launched in 2011 in manifestation of the group’s core value of “Si Li Ji Ren” (Considering Others’ Interests), supports youths from less-developed regions who wish to become chefs by providing them with professional Chinese culinary training. For more details, visit www.LKK.com.
130th Anniversary Wealthy Meatballs
Northern Iloilo, which is also envisioned to be a hub for global tourists seeking to explore Western Visayas’s beach destinations.
Journey BusinessMirror
»life on the go
A8
Sunday, October 21, 2018
A8 |
BusinessMirror
Editor: Tet Andolong
ROMAN amphitheater, Haifa District, Israel
MEANDERINGS OF A BUSINESS AND THIN SPACES TRAVELER:
PALESTINE & ISRAEL L
THE TOURISM ADVOCATE
AST month I talked about the importance of business travel and airlines, a tale of three airlines, read the comparison. Japan and Blockchain. Istanbul, once Constantinople. And food, food and glorious food. This month I put a wrap to the epic business travel month that was September with more sacred spaces, technology, Blockchain and... more food. Thin spaces are places where the distance between heaven and earth is the smallest. The mother of all thin spaces for me is the Israel and Palenstinian region and it’s not just for the reasons that it’s home of the three of the Abrahamic religions defining humanity. I am not going to talk about the ongoing strife in the region but, rather, what brings these two regions together, they’re both holy + sacred.
Sacred spaces for art
BANKSY’S paper-shredding stunt immediately after it was sold during a Sotheby’s auction has inspired many, but few talked about Banksy’s long-standing support
for the Palestinian Movement. The uber-controversial separation wall (am not going to delve into the politics) has inspired many of Banksy’s renowned work. Street art has never assumed a more relevant tone than in Palestine and, if you’re so inclined, you can stay a night or two in the equally controversial hotel—political statement that is Banksy’s walled off hotel in Bethlehem, which was the worldrenowned worse view in the world.
KHALIL ALAMOUR, Palestinian lawyer and Bedouin rights advocate
Philippines and Tagcash. Israel has always been renowned for its innovation, what with their legendary ability to grow anything in the dessert. Their start-up culture rivals that of Silicon Valley and I find more relevance and resonance in the former than the latter. DLD was wonderfully chaotic as is the most of Israel. Creatively mounted in Hatachana, the old train station in Tel Aviv, it was a melange of tourism, city development, technology and all the soft skills that can make a country great!
Sacred spaces for food
I HAVE always considered the Palestinians to be some of the friendliest and kindest people on earth and with good reason. If you are to meet one Palestinian to embody all of it, it would have to be the very custodian of SumeriaSebastia’s ruins, Hefez Kayed. His family on the outside runs the Holy Land Sun Restaurant, but truth is, his family has been a caretaker of the ruins for many generations. His name literally means “custodian.” With roots tracing back to pre Hellenistic era, this earlier capital of Israel holds some of the
MOUSSAKAN, Palestinian pizza
most extent Roman ruins in all the regions. Hafez served me my most favored Palestinian meal, the adobo to us Filipinos, the Maqluba which literally means upside-down rice chicken. I also was able to expand my repertoire of Palestinian favorites with the introduction of the Musakhan, which I refer to as Palestinian pizza. Simply put, it is Palestinian Sumac chicken with sautéed onions. Sumac is a spice that comes from the berries of the Rhus shrubs while Taboon bread, the traditional bread in the area is traditional bread that is usually baked in a very hot oven lined with small round, smooth stones.
Sacred spaces for stories
Sacred spaces for technology
I ATTENDED my first DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Conference with other technology advocates such as Unionbank, the Israeli Chamber of Commerce in the
ATTENDING a male-only market in The Negev.
STREET art in Palestine
MY affinity for the Palestinian region is in great part because of their unresolved struggle to return to their homelands, something that I would never wish on even an enemy. The issue of refugees continue to haunt me and am still struggling to find the best way to support this advocacy. My repeated trips to the Palestinian region yields some of the most inspiring personalities as Khalil Alamour, a lawyer trying to preserve the Bedouin way of life.
He has spoken internationally in many conferences and it was such an honor to have been received in his home and his community. I highly encourage a home stay in the region with the Bedouins, truly one of the most unforgettable experiences for me. Their generosity is non pareil—they’ll never ask why you’re there, but instead would simply offer you food, drink and shelter. Knowing how the desert can be brutal, they consider everyone their responsibility.
Sacred spaces for shopping and experiences
ZIELENSKI & Rosen-While Frederic Malle, is the God of perfume noses for me, the closest prince for me is Erez Zielinski of Zielinski and Rosen, the elusive Israeli perfumer. The scents are exquisite and unique. Scents derived here will never smell like anyone else. I was fortunate to have met the inspiration to the nose, Lea, who is not only the epitome of graciousness but also of generosity. She must have been happy to have met her biggest Philippine fan. I wear a scent derived from oak moss, veriver, Neroli (bitter oranges) and black pepper. Only the ultimately feminine can pull off such masculine notes.
Science
Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph
BusinessMirror
Sunday
Sunday, October 21, 2018
A9
Study: Salts contaminated with microplastics
D
By Manuel T. Cayon | Mindanao Bureau Chief
AVAO CITY—The wanton disposal of plastic waste across the globe found another distressing finding by a university study, indicating high contamination of microplastics on salt brands sold on the shelves. A report by Greenpeace from Seoul, South Korea, came out with the finding that “over 90 percent of sampled salt brands globally were found to contain microplastics.” Asia, where almost all consumer products are repacked—mostly in plastics in the smallest affordable unit—contained the highest number of microplastics content in salt sourced in Asia, according to the study that was “codesigned” by Kim, Seung-Kyu, professor at Incheon University, and Greenpeace East Asia.
The study analyzed 39 various salt brands globally, the Greenpeace said, and showed that plastic contamination in sea salt was highest, followed by lake salt, then rock salt. It sa id t he cont a m inat ion across major water forms was an indicator of the levels of plastic pollution in the areas where the salt was sourced. T he Greenpeace sa id on ly three of the salt brands studied did not contain any microplastic particles in the replicated
A saltshaker and salt bowl with salt spread before each of them. Wikimedia Commons
samples. The study did not name the brands. The Greenpeace said the study has been published in Environmental Science and Technology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, but also did not state the date of publication. “Recent studies have found plastics in seafood, wildlife, tap
water and now in salt. It’s clear that there is no escape from this plastics crisis, especially as it continues to leak into our waterways and oceans,” said Mikyoung Kim, campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia. “We need to stop plastic pollution at its source. For the health of the people and our environment,
Pasig River wins 1st Asia RiverPrize award
T
he Pasig River, through the Pasig R iver Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC), bagged the inaugural 2018 Asia RiverPrize given by the International River Foundation (IRF) during the 21st International River symposium held in Sydney, Australia, on October 16. T h e 2 7- k i l o m e t e r P a s i g River beat the other finalist Yangtze River of China, which was represented by the Asian Development Bank. In announcing the winner during the gala dinner, the IRF said the judges were really impressed with the scale of the problem the Pasig River faced and the scale of the response initiated by the PRRC. “Critical to the success of the stor y was br ing ing the commu nit y, a rou nd 18,0 0 0 people, to decent housing and transforming these communities and their lives into environmentally responsible citizens,” the IRF said before the announcement of the winner. The IRF recognizes and rewards organizations that are making a difference through effective river-basin restoration
and management programs. Having won the 2018 Asia RiverPrize award, the Pasig River received widespread global recognition, which can build new partnerships, provide opportunities for exchange of knowledge and best practices, and open doors for international support. “One of the five critical criteria in the determination of the winner was leadership, which we attribute to the leadership of our beloved President Rodrigo R. Duterte. It was PRRD’s [Duterte’s initials] leadership that united both the public and private sectors into this shared mission of protecting the Pasig River and improving the lives of the communities around it with strong political will,” said PRRC Executive Director Jose Antonio “Ka Pepeton” E. Goitia. “This is a global recognition for President Duterte and every Filipino river warrior. This is the fruit of giving our heart to Pasig River, that is why we have to continue our programs,” he added partly in Filipino. IRF, on its web site, noted that Pasig River was declared biologically dead in the 1990s due
to persistent pollution caused by population growth and industrial development along its riverbanks. However, PRRC and its partners in river restoration and management efforts have effectively brought the Pasig River back to life. PRRC’s efforts, including quality projects, programs, activities, and advocacies in easement recovery, riverbank development, waste and water quality management, and public awareness brought the river back to life. From 1999 to 2017, the PRRC resettled 18,719 families living along the riverbanks to decent homes, dismantled 376 encroaching private structures, established 37,471.68 linear meters of environmental preservation areas, developed 17 of its 47 identified tributaries, diverted almost 22 million kilograms of solid waste and transformed communities into environmentally responsible citizens. “This has resulted in significant water-quality improvement, as well as the revitalization and development of the Pasig River system,” IRF said on the web site.
PWDs can be prepped with S&T skills for FIRe By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes
T
Contributor
o remain a relevant sector in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe), persons with disabilities (PWDs) must equip themselves with science and technology skills to become productive in an era dubbed as the next big thing in the economy, according to leading advocate for empowering PWDs. Marx Melencio, managing director of Grayscale Communications, said PWDs can face the challenges of FIRe from a user standpoint and a professional perspective, saying that this development “significantly affects the accessibility features of new devices and platforms.” “Focusing on science-oriented disciplines is the right path for PWDs with emphasis on the new applications of relevant scientific knowledge,” Melencio, a visually challenged computer programmer and software developer, told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview last week. The FIRe involves a mix of the different technologies, such as digital, biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI), among others. The Third Industrial Revolution involved electronics, automation and information technology, while the Second Industrial Revolution had electricity and bigger machines to help in production.
Moreover, Melencio added that building a strong foundation on mathematics and specialized knowledge in applied statistical probability can give anyone a competitive edge at the time they start to learn related software programming languages for bigdata science and AI industries. He noted that PWDs should learn how to use these tools and harness their knowledge and expertise in these technologies to give them a global competitive edge over others, across thriving industries. “I think PWDs can begin by learning relevant skills in any field currently at the front and center of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. They should start early in this new game so to speak so they can be at the forefront to obtain advantageous positions. They should then steadily build up their expertise,” he pointed out. Besides honing the necessary skills that will be relevant in FIRe, Melencio said PWDs must also learn to be effective communicators. “Next, PWDs should also be able to effectively communicate what they can do across relevant business networks. In my experience, choosing to specialize in any two or more of these areas can generate the best results,” he added These specialized areas include small business development, multilingual business
communications, digital marketing, software and Web programming, big-data science and analytics, deep/machine learning, AI modeling, system and network automation, smart device customization and assembly. To scale up the training of PWDs on a massive scale, Melencio said the government can offer training programs designed for a PWD to learn relevant skills in any of the industries related to FIRe. “They can also partner with organizations that look after the welfare of PWDs. This is for the government to tap the expertise of these groups in developing programs and activities for specific disability sectors,” he explained. Moreover, Melencio said the government could offer financial and professional assistance for start-up businesses that want to compete in these industries. “I’m thinking of several organizations stepping up planning to train competent PWD work forces with the needed skills. Training programs in small business development, livelihood creation and basic financial management should also be helpful for PWDs,” he said. He added that PWDs should also be able to effectively communicate what they can do across relevant business networks. “In my experience, choosing to specialize in any two or more of these areas can generate the best results,” he said.
Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission delegation, led by Executive Director Jose Antonio E. Goitia.
it’s incredibly important that corporations reduce their reliance on throwaway plastics immediately.” The Greenpeace said the research “is the first of its scale to look at contaminant levels of the geographical spread of sea salt, and its correlation with environmental discharge and pollution levels of plastics.” It said there had been previous studies on microplastics contamination, which were built into the current research. The study put Asia at the hot spot for global plastic pollution “meaning that the ecosystem and human health in Asian marginal seas could potentially be at greater risk because of severe maritime microplastics pollution.” In one Indonesian sea salt sample, researchers found the highest quantities of microplastics. The country is considered to be the second-worst plastic emitter into the world’s oceans, the Greenpeace added. “Assuming an intake of 10 grams per day of salt, the average adult consumer could ingest approximately 2,000 microplastics
each year through salt alone, as the study suggests. Even after discounting the highly contaminated Indonesian salt sample from this study, the average adult could still be consuming many hundreds of microplastics each year,” it said The Greenpeace said the findings would suggest that human ingestion of microplastics through marine products “is strongly related to plastic emissions in a given region,” said Professor Kim Seung-Kyu, corresponding author of the study. “In order to limit our exposure to microplastics, preventative measures are required, such as controlling the environmental discharge of mismanaged plastics and, more importantly, reducing plastic waste” he added. Earlier this month, Greenpeace along with the Break Free From Plastic coalition released a report naming a softdrinks company and another global name in food products as among the most frequent companies “whose packaging relies on the single-use plastics that pollute our oceans and waterways globally.”
Faith A10 Sunday, October 21, 2018
Sunday
www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion
China: Muslim detention camps are ‘humane’
B
EIJING—Under mounting international criticism, China has given its most extensive defense yet of its sweeping campaign to detain and indoctrinate Muslims, with a senior official this past week describing its network of camps in the far west as humane job-training centers. R i g ht s g r o u p s , A m e r i c a n law makers and a United Nations panel have assailed the “transformation through education” camps holding Uighurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in China’s far northwestern Xinjiang region. Hundreds of thousands have been held in the camps—one estimate says 1 million—and former inmates who have fled abroad have described them as virtual prisons that engage in harsh brainwashing. But the chairman of Xinjiang’s government, Shohrat Zakir, himself an ethnic Uighur, called the camps a “humane” and lawful shield against terrorism in an interview published by China’s official Xinhua news agency. He said the facilities gave Uighurs and other Muslims courses in the Chinese language and taught them to be law-abiding citizens. They also receive training in job skills, such as making clothes, ecommerce, hairdressing and cosmetology, Zakir said. Zakir said that “students” in the facilities were provided with free meals, air-conditioned dormitories, movie screenings and access to computer rooms. “X injiang has launched a vocational education and training program according to the law,” Zakir said. “Its pur pose is to get rid of the environment and soil that breeds terrorism and religious extremism.”
Acknowledge people being held
ZAKIR did not say how many Muslims had been sent to the camps, but he appeared to acknowledge for the first time that people were being held against their will in the facilities for months or years at a time. He said the program dealt with people suspected of wrongdoing that fell short of requiring criminal convictions, and that they received “graduation certificates” only after signing agreements and meeting certain criteria. Some detainees, he said, were being prepared for release and assignment to jobs at the end of 2018. Zakir suggested the campaign would continue for many
years. The “deradicalization” program is showing results, he said, “but the duration, complexity and intensity remain acute, and we must maintain high vigilance.”
SHOHRAT ZAKIR, chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, speaks on the sideline of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, China, in March 2017. The senior Chinese official is describing the mass internment of ethnic minority Muslims in the country’s far west as a system of training centers that saves Muslims from religious extremism by teaching them to speak Mandarin and accept modern science. AP/NG HAN GUAN
Caring, happy faces
OMURBEK ELI, a businessman who has described his time held in a camp in 2017, scoffed at Zakir’s description of the indoctrination centers as “colorful” places where students play basketball, watch movies and join in singing contests. His experience, he said, was far harsher, involving long days of marching, singing patriotic Chinese songs and memorizing Chinese laws. “They’re full of nonsense,” Eli, who is originally from Xinjiang and obtained Kazakh citizenship, said by telephone. “They say that these camps are to eradicate terrorism, but inside I saw lawyers, doctors, intellectuals, even officials who had nothing to do with extremism,” he said. “They call these vocational training centers, but it was really a prison.”
ON Tuesday evening, China’s main state television network, CCTV, broadcast a current affairs program in prime time that praised the camps and depicted them as caring, happy places. It showed a class of Uighur students reading out a Chinese lesson, titled “I am a law-abiding citizen.” “After a year plus of denial, the Communist Party has decided to get out in front of the story, and put forward its own view over the legality and the nature of these detention camps,” James Leibold, an expert on Xinjiang at La Trobe University in Australia, said by e-mail. “The party’s central leadership now seems determined to ‘standardize’ and ‘legalize’ their approach.” Zakir’s comments appeared to be part of China’s preparations for an international meeting that could put the camps under further scrutiny.
Unapologetic defense
UN meeting
Harsh experience
THE publication of the interview with Zakir confirmed a shift in China’s public-relations strategy over the camps, from silence to an unapologetic defense. Zakir even cited a United Nations resolution on fighting terrorism to justify them. As criticism of the detentions grew throughout this year, the government first stayed silent. Then it gave sparing acknowledgments of the camps’ existence. Appearing before a UN panel in Geneva in August, a senior official in the Chinese delegation defended the government’s measures yet denied that they amounted to mass detention. But Zakir’s comments marked the first full-throated defense of the indoctrination program, which grew out of policies launched by Xi Jinping, China’s president and Communist Party chief. Last week, the Xinjiang government issued amended rules for its “deradicalization” program that for the first time gave clear publ ic aut hor i zat ion for t he indoctr ination camps.
AT a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in early-November, foreign governments will have a chance to question officials from Beijing about the detention program and other intrusive security measures affecting Muslim minorities. “This meeting is a very important occasion to raise the camp issue,” Dolkun Isa, the president of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group based in Germany, said by telephone. (Uyghur is an alternative spelling of Uighur.) “China has denied the camps, but now it’s something that they just cannot hide.” Western governments have indicated that Xinjiang will be a priority at the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva. “We are deeply concerned by credible reports pointing to a serious deterioration of the humanrights situation” in Xinjiang, Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told the European Parliament this month.
Condemn indoctrination camps
L A ST week , a bipa r t isa n pa nel i n Wa s h i n g ton i s s ue d a re por t condemn i ng t he i ndoct r inat ion ca mps. L aw ma kers on t he pa nel, inc lud ing Sen. Marco Rubio, RepublicanF lor id a, proposed leg isl at ion t hat wou ld pu nish C h ina for t he detent ion prog ra m. “In China, the government is engaged in the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities that is straight out of George Orwell,” Nikki Haley, who recently announced that she was stepping down as the US ambassador to the UN, said on Monday, according to Fox News. “It is the largest internment of civilians in the world today.” But Zakir’s account indicated that China would maintain that the camps have strong backing in law. Up until 2014, China was beset by a string of violent attacks and riots involving discontented Uighurs. “Now Xinjiang is not only beautiful,” Zakir said, “it’s also very safe and stable.”
No access to camps
STILL, Chinese officials have not given foreign diplomats or journalists access to the camps, nor have they said how many people they hold. Hu Xijin, a prominent editor of Global Times, a brashly nationalist Chinese newspaper, said on Monday that he knew the number, and denied it was 1 million. Rights groups said the existence of the camps exemplified the Communist Party’s use of legal justifications as a sweeping cloak for measures that betray China’s own guarantees of rights and procedural protections, as well as international law. “ T he X injia ng aut hor it ies’ clumsy justifications for these camps only serve to illustrate what ‘the rule of law’ in China means,” said Maya Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The party bends it to its will and uses it as a weapon against perceived political enemies.” New York Times News Service
POPE PAUL VI, FIRST POPE TO VISIT PHL, NOW A SAINT
P
OPE Saint Paul VI was born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, on September 26, 1897, in Concisio, Brescia, Italy, and died on August 6, 1978, in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. He served as pope from June 21, 1963, to his death in 1978. Succeeding Pope Saint John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms in the Catholic Church and fostered ec umenic al relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestants. Montini ser ved in the Holy See’s Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954 and was considered as the closest and most influential advisor of Pius XII, who in 1954
named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958. Pope Francis canonized him a saint on October 14 in Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City, together with Archbishop Oscar Moreno and five others. In his homily during the Canonization Mass, Pope Francis sees Paul VI “as the pope who had a broad vision of the Church that was inspired by Vatican II.” Saint Pope Paul VI was the first pope to travel outside Italy. As pope, he visited the Holy Land in 1964, where, overcoming centuries of division, he embraced the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople,
Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. He also traveled to India and Lebanon that same year to reach out to the poor and later to Geneva. He went to the United Nations in New York in 1965 and appealed to the governments in the world, “Never again war.” He visited Fatima in 1967 and Turkey that same year to meet the ecumenical patriarch and reach out to Muslims. He went to Colombia in 1968 to encourage the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean to implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council through the preferential option for the poor; and he went to Iran, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Samoan Islands,
Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka in 1970. He wrote famous encyclicals, including “Ecclesiam Suam” (1964), which highlights the impor tance of d i a l o g u e , “ Po p u l o r u m P r o g r e s s i o ” (1967) on “the development of peoples” and “Humanae Vitae” (1968) on “the regulation of bir th.” At the Canonization Mass, Pope Francis exhorted all the pilgrims in the City and the World: “Today, Paul VI still urges us, together with the Council, whose wise helmsman he was, to live our common vocation: the universal call to holiness not to half measures but to holiness.” Rev. Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez
29 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: ‘MARK 10:17-30’
Sharing the cup of suffering MSGR. JOSEFINO S. RAMIREZ SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE
I
N the gospel reading today, the two brothers, James and John, requested to have the first place in the future kingdom of Christ. They did not know what they were asking for. They were thinking of a worldly and political kingdom. Christ tried to correct their misconception by referring to “the cup that I must drink” (Mark 10:38). He was referring to the suffering that He had to endure during his Passion and Death. If the two brothers wanted to share in His glory, would they be willing to share in His suffering as a central role in God’s redemptive plan? Why did Christ suffer? The scripture itself tells us that He suffered out of love for us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Suffering is one of the hallmarks of love. It is easy enough to tell someone that we love him or her. But the test of that love is whether we are willing to undergo difficulties for ourselves out of that love. There is a story about a son who grew up thinking that his mother loved to eat the head of the fish. Every time they had fish, the members of the family would all go for
the juicy and meaty parts of the fish. But the mother would always demand her fish head. Later on, that man realized that it was not fish head that his mother loved. It was her children. By asking for the fish head, she was giving the best part of the fish to her children. Jesus Christ suffered for love of us in order to save us from our sins. Sin, a serious transgression of the law of God, is tantamount to contempt for God. It is such an evil thing that it could only be remedied by the loving sacrifice of God’s only begotten and beloved son. It was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. That is why, as we consider the need for suffering, we should resolve to fight against sin. Christ suffered for all the sins of mankind, past, present and future. In a mysterious way, as Christ was suffering on the cross, He also had in mind the personal sins of each one of us. So that whenever we offend God grievously, it is like we were crucifying Christ once again. And every time we commit a venial sin, we are somehow inflicting more pain to his wounds. We somehow share in the cause of Christ’s suffering. Can we also share in God’s redemptive plan by suffering in union with Christ?
Our Lady of the Rosary By Corazon Damo-Santiago
Conclusion
Mother of Penitent Sinners
“YOU sinners, when you want my help, call me Mother of Mercy, yet at the same time, do not cease by your sins to make me a Mother of sorrows and anguish” (Saint Alphonsius de Liguori in the Glories of Mary). The Blessed Mother Mary is not only the mother of the just and innocent but also of sinners, provided they are willing to repent. How prompt does a sinner, desirous of amendment, fly to her feet? This good Mother embraces and helps him, far more so than any earthly mother. As long, then, as a sinner is obstinate, Mary cannot love him. But if he, finding himself chained by some passion that keeps him a slave of hell, recommends himself to her with confidence and perseverance, this good Mother will extend her powerful hand to him, deliver him from his chains and lead him to a state of salvation. Thus, when she sees a sinner in enmity with Jesus Christ, she cannot endure it, she does everything to make peace between them. Would that all sinners recourse to this sweet Mother! — Sis. Ma. Jocylene C. Aguilar
Mother of Consecrated Souls
MARY is the mother of Jesus, mother of the Church and mother of all consecrated souls. In the journey of consecrated souls, Mother Mary plays her role. Being a mother, she wants everyone to be close to her beloved son, Jesus Christ. One of her great missions is to intercede for those who desire to serve her son. She prays for those who are ready and willing to love her son until their last breath. Mother Mary is the perfect example to those who have answered the call to follow Christ in consecrated life. She can help them to live like Christ. Because of her motherly love and care, her consecrated children confidently entrust their vocation, above all their perseverance to live in holy poverty, chastity and obedience.
We are all brothers and sisters of Christ. And Mother Mary treats everyone with special care. A consecrated soul or an ordinary soul, is destined for heaven. — Sis. Ma. Jennifer Lechido
Star of the Sea
“LOOK at the star, call upon Mary. O whatever you are, in the sea of this world, feel yourself rather tossed about between storms and tempests rather than walking on the earth, do not look away from the brightness of this star if you do not want to be submerged by the waves” (Saint Bernard, 1090-1153). Not all of us are sailors, but each of us has to venture in the sea of life. We are voyagers aiming to reach the safe portals of heaven and behold the beauty of paradise. However, in the vastness of the sea we will always find it hard to know where we are and where to go. We cannot even notice if we are going to the right direction or have already lost our way. In t he sea of l ife, t here a re ma ny u ncer t a int ies, waves of tempt at ion a nd t r ibu l at ions t h at sh a ke ou r f rag i le sh ip. T here a re a lso lots of conf usions, doubts a nd moments of d a rk ness a nd lonel iness t hat wea ken us a nd d iscou rage us to cont inue. But as Saint Bernard says, “look at the star, call upon Mary.” She will surely and gently lead you safe in heaven’s portal and help you find and behold the beauty of paradise. For this season, we need to look upon Mar y, t he star of the sea. Saint Bernard, Doctor of the Church, known for his prayer, “Memorare,” addressed Mar y as Star of the Sea, or in latin, Stella Maris. She is known as the patroness of seafarers and many churches, schools and colleges near the sea. — Sis. Ma. Judie Ann A. Gallardo
Damo-Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.
Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror
Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua
Sunday, October 21, 2018 A11
DISCOVER DIFFERENT POINTS OF INTEREST IN SHAM SHUI PO
EXPERIENCE HONG KONG LIKE A LOCAL
SHAM SHUI PO’S dining scene is renowned for its authentic local cuisine in unpretentious eateries.
J
THE seemingly ordinary street bazaars hide extraordinary finds.
By Carla Mortel-Baricaua Photos by Hong Kong Tourism Board
UST when you thought that you had seen enough of Hong Kong, the city pulls you right back in.
Done with the usual food and shopping trips; why not explore the city in greater detail? Each district promises to be a destination in its own right. Currently under the spotlight, the Sham Shui Po district is a living museum showcasing multiple historic sites, characteristic architectures, religious buildings, local diners, hawker stalls, shopping malls and bazaars, comprising the unique lifestyle of Hong Kong, where visitors can wear, eat, walk and live just like the locals. Located in the heart of Kow-
loon, Sham Shui Po is one of Hong Kong’s oldest districts reflecting a lot of local culture. This neighborhood was the center of many industrial and commercial activities and now mirrors the development of the entire city. The current Hong Kong Tourism Board’s promotion of Sham Shui Po as a tourist attraction is a part of its initiative to promote the city’s less familiar areas and encourage tourists to discover Hong Kong like a local. HKTB leverages on the local elements to speak for itself, posi-
SELECTED new structures showcase the district’s ever-evolving present.
tioning the district as the place to experience the most down-to-earth local culture. “In the 1950s and 1960s, the area became the heart of Hong Kong’s textile manufacturing industry and has remained popular for it. It prides itself of its dining scene that spreads from traditional noodles to creative desserts. The district is also known for its role in shaping the local way of living being the birthplace of local housing. A walk around Sham Shui Po would be a great way to explore and experience the neighborhood. Sham Shui Po is a district of simple pleasures. As a predominantly workingclass district, it offers a lot of cheap but cheerful experiences that can’t be found anywhere else in the city. Instead of glitzy, glass-paneled skyscrapers, here you’ll find buildings that hide a rich history behind the humble façades,” said Raymond Chan, the regional director of Southeast Asia Hong Kong Tourism Board. Sham Shui Po is home to and the self-sufficient working-class community as part of its down-to-earth charisma. Together with different points of interest, visitors can get to experience the lifestyle of ordinary Hongkongers, under the theme of “Every Bit Local,” focusing on what locals wear (Hong Kong’s DIY Hub) and eat (Simple Flavors), the way they live (Experience the Community) and where visitors can walk (Explorations on Foot). Routes going to Sham Shui Po can be found at the HKTB web site, complemented by video navigation and route-finding functions on Google Map. For more information about Sham Shui Po, visitors can conveniently access the HKTB web site by scanning the QR codes on the visitor signages via their mobile
THERE are beautiful textiles and affordable clothing in markets and local shops.
VISITORS are encouraged to go beneath the city’s glamorous surface and explore Sham Shui Po area.
phones, or by using the HKTB mobile app “My Hong Kong Guide.” City explorers new to the district would be happy to know that two key thematic clusters are found near the MTR exits. “An MTR line runs directly between Central MTR Station and Sham Shui Po MTR Station. There are available recommended walking routes intended to help visitors appreciate Sham Shui Po better. These walking routes best introduce the history, creative trends, authentic food and treasure hunting hotspots,” shared Chan. A day tour can comprise of a market experience in Sham Shui Po. Apart from its popular electronic products stores, the clothes market is also pleasingly chaotic, where fashion designers come to buy wholesale fabrics while everyone else rifles through the piles of
street fashions. At night, Sham Shui Po goes with a different vibe with street markets teeming with great finds on clothes, shoes, gadgets. Tourists can also enjoy local food at Hong Kong’s popular “Dai Pai Dong,” a favorite among locals. Independent travelers can stay at the Mei Ho House, Hong Kong’s oldest public housing complex and was once part of Shek Kip Mei Housing estate. Regenerated by the Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association, this historic building reopened to the public in October 2013 as the YHA Mei Ho House Youth Hostel. It also hosts the Heritage of Mei Ho House museum, featuring Shek Kip Mei’s public housing history through the 1950s to 1970s through a mixture of donated exhibits and firsthand anecdotes
from former residents. For those who would like to connect with Hong Kong’s creative scene, a good option is to stay at Wontonmeen, a diverse living space that boasts 11 stories of artists, journalists, musicians, designers, teachers, comedians, curators and wing chun disciples. Other hotel options can be found in the surrounding neighborhood, like Mongkok, which is just two MTR stops away. From January to July 2018, a total of 509,353 Filipino tourists have already visited Hong Kong. The Philippines is one of Hong Kong’s top visitor source markets with the highest tourist arrivals recorded among Southeast Asian countries last year at 900,000. With The Sham Shui Po district promotion, arrivals are expected to hit the 1-million mark.
TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS COMMIT TO PLASTIC-FREE FUTURE Katara Hospitality officially unveils Swissgem Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne
L
EADING hotels and tourism groups have signed the “Phuket Pledge” at Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism Forum 2018 (PHIST), establishing a model for the future development of islands throughout Asia that embraces sustainability as a core and sets urgent goals for long-term change. The Phuket Pledge is a commitment to reducing, reusing and recycling single-use plastic in Phuket with the aim to eradicate it in all hotels and resorts. In addition, the stakeholders vowed to undertake a youth community education programmed to ensure grassroots awareness of the critical problems surrounding plastic usage on the island. “Plastic reduction has been at the core of our company sustainability efforts for over a decade,” said Six Senses Hotels Resorts and Spas President Bernhard Bohnenberger. “The industry is finally waking up to this issue, but we need coordination and action to make tangible change and see results. This is what we hope PHIST will go a long way to achieving.” Supported by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, PHIST is the largest hospitality event dedicated to sustainability in Asia, where over 550 delegates from countries including Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong gathered at the
JW Marriott Mai Khao in Phuket to debate key issues. A Green Groove area added an extra dynamic to the event, as regional suppliers headlined an innovative exhibition of Asia’s cutting-edge producers and inventors of sustainable products for the hospitality and tourism industries. Environmental and sustainability storylines have been global press leads for the past six months, many of which have focused on islands in Asia. Earlier in the year, Thailand’s booming industry made a stand with the closure of iconic tourism attractions such as Maya Bay in Phi Phi Island and the closure of Boracay in the Philippines. Both were shut to allow for environmental regeneration. With the 10 Bali’s campaign in Indonesia–an island-focused tourism strategy that looks to leverage the expansive archipelago–and the emerging marine tourism industries in Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia–the issues of sustainable tourism in Asia’s islands have shot to the top of the regional agenda. “We need to fight for Phuket. It is as simple as that. And we can’t do it alone. We need to do it together,” said Phuket Hotel Association President and Managing Director of Trisara Anthony Lark. “We have worked to build an inclusive coalition of public- and private-sector
tourism groups who understand the critical need to act and think long term. We hope the Phuket Pledge will be a start and ultimately become a model for us and other islands regionally to come together for the sake of sustainable island tourism in Asia.” PHIST was opened by the Deputy Governor of Phuket, KhunPrakobWongmaneerung, and featured experts in their respective fields, focusing on marine and coastal tourism, sustainability, youth education and community tourism. These included Thai Hotels Association Vice President and Environmental Chairperson Marisa SukosolNunbhakdi, Central Pattana Senior Vice President WilaipornPitimanaaree, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau Senior Manager Pat Satkhum, Tajara Leisure and Hospitality Group CEO Cyndy Tan Jarabata from the Philippines and Horwath HTL Indonesia Matt Gebbie. PHIST is coorganized by Phuket Hotels Association, C9 Hotelworks led by Managing Director Bill Barnett and Greenview CEO Eric Ricaurte. Sponsorship and endorsement is from the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, Thai Hotel Association, Central Phuket, BMW, Blue Tree Phuket, C9 Hotelworks, Greenview, AmCham, QUO and Delivering Asia Communications.
K
ATARA Hospitality, the leading global hotel owner, developer and operator based in Qatar, has unveiled the legendary Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, in a grand opening ceremony signifying the resort’s official opening after nine years of construction work and an eventful opening year. The Bürgenstock Resort, with its four hotels, shines out like a beacon over Lake Lucerne in all its new splendour. Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani, chairman of Katara Hospitality, the Bürgenstock Resort hosted over 1,000 highly esteemed guests, graced by the presence of Swiss Federal Councillor Schneider-Ammann, Mr. Hamad
Abdullah Al-Mulla, chief executive officer of Katara Hospitality, Mr. Bruno Schöpfer, managing director of Katara Hospitality Switzerland AG, state counsellors and officials from Switzerland. On this occasion, Sheikh Nawaf, said: “We are honored to witness the grand opening ceremony of the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, as it revives the property’s prestigious past while marking a new step forward in the region’s long tradition of hospitality. Katara Hospitality is globally renowned for creating landmark hospitality gems that enhance the tourism landscape in the markets we operate, and such a momentous occasion further illustrates our continued success within the
global luxury tourism sector.” Swiss Federal Councillor Schneider-Ammann praised the pioneering spirit of the two Bürgenstock founders, Bucher and Durrer, who, in the 19th century, built a hotel complex to welcome guests from around the world high above Lake Lucerne, a feat that was well before its time and which required great entrepreneurial spirit. They then equipped it with the first electric funicular railway in Switzerland. “It gives me great pleasure to see how this pioneering spirit lives on and how the Bürgenstock Resort is now equipped to welcome guests from all over the world once more to the heart of Switzerland with this incomparable view,” said Swiss Federal Councillor Schneider-Ammann. Mr. Hamad Abdulla Al-Mulla, chief executive officer of Katara Hospitality, added: “The legendary Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne epitomises the opulence and impeccable service standards characteristic of Swiss hospitality. It is Katara Hospitality’s distinguished pleasure to unveil a beautifully restored historical building and luxury resort, which adds to the charm of the city of Lucerne, while appealing to the tastes
of our esteemed guests,” he added. In line with Katara Hospitality’s mission to preserve the heritage of iconic hotels around the world, the Bürgenstock Resort has entirely reinvented itself, building on a longstanding tradition of attracting the world’s elites. Overlooking Lake Lucerne, the Bürgenstock Resort recently underwent a multimillion dollar extensive yet masterful redesign. The iconic resort is the third project to open under The Bürgenstock Selection, a collection of luxurious hotels in Switzerland owned by Katara Hospitality. The portfolio consists of the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, the Hotel Schweizerhof Bern & THE SPA (99 rooms) and the Royal Savoy Hotel & Spa Lausanne (196 rooms). Welcoming to Lucerne a supreme splendor reminiscent of the reigning spirit and elegance of Swiss hospitality, the resort comprises of four hotels with a category of three- to five-star Superior, with 383 rooms and suites, a Health and Medical Center, eight restaurants and bars, 67 Residence Suites, a 10,000 m2 Alpine Spa, as well as a host of facilities and services to enchant the most discerning of contemporary tastes.
A12 Sunday, October 21, 2018
Sports BusinessMirror
Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph
EX-N.F.L. PLAYERS GET HEALTHY TOGETHER K EVIN MAWAE played 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), earning eight Pro Bowls and three All-Pro honors. Yet the former offensive lineman found himself struggling to walk in the summer of 2017. With each step came stabbing pains because of severe plantar fasciitis. The Breakfast Club came to his rescue by figuring out what caused his pain instead of focusing only on the symptoms. “I started through the program, and it turns out for me I just got to stretch and take care of my body instead of being complacent in that area,” Mawae said. The Breakfast
COMMISSIONER Roger Goodell: We look at this as a great moment for us. AP
NFL happy with more scoring, close games
N
EW YORK—Plenty of scoring and close games are good for business in the National Football League (NFL). Teams are scoring at a record pace. The number of points (4,489), touchdowns (504) and touchdown passes (328) are the most in league history through six weeks. And, games are coming down to the end. Sixty-nine percent of all games (64 of 93) have been within one score in the fourth quarter. A total of 54 games have been decided by one score—eight points or less. That’s tied for the most in league history at this point. There have been 28 games decided by three points or fewer, second-most at this point. At least one game has reached overtime the first six weeks for the first time since extra time was instituted in 1974. “I don’t think there has been a better time to be an NFL fan,” Commissioner
Roger Goodell said on Wednesday. “The quality of the games and the enjoyment that comes with that, I hear it from the fans all the time—that is No. 1 for them. From our standpoint, we look at this as a great moment for us, the tremendous growth and the tremendous popularity of our game.” One of the key factors contributing to the scoring output is the emphasis on calling defensive holding penalties. The total is up to 36 from 11 through six weeks last season. The increase in roughingthe-passer penalties and eliminating use of the helmet to initiate hits are also important factors. League officials also point to an influx of talented young quarterbacks. However, scoring could taper off once defenses make adjustments and weather could affect games later in the season. AP
VIDEO GAME OUT ON MAKING SMART FINANCIAL DECISIONS
Club is a free six-week program for former players with at least two credited seasons at EXOS workout facilities or YMCAs, bringing them together for three workouts a week, along with physical therapy and a nutritionist. The club started in February 2015 in Arizona through The Trust, which developed out of the 2011 labor agreement following a lengthy lockout. The Trust was created to help players transition to nonfootball lives once their careers end. Mawae, a former president of the NFL Players Association, joined such former players as Pittsburgh linebacker Levon Kirkland and long snapper Jason Kyle, who played for four teams, in the club session in Scottsdale, Arizona. Mawae also spent four weeks with the club this summer before reporting for fall practice in August in his new job as a quality-control analyst at Arizona State for Coach Herm Edwards. The man who played center his final 14 years in the NFL had a simple issue: He
V
ISA Inc., the official payment services partner of the National Football League (NFL), announced recently the launch of its new and improved Financial Football video game in an event in New Jersey with New York Giants stars Eli Manning and Saquon Barkley. The free video game lets fans ages 11 and older suit up as a player from their favorite NFL team and play a virtual game of football designed to help students learn to make smart money-management decisions. Research shows 1-in-5 teenage students in the US lacks basic financial skills. Forty percent of adults said that if faced with
a $400 unexpected expense, they would either not be able to pay it or would do so by selling something or borrowing money. As new payment methods such as mobile payments, contactless cards and wearables become more prevalent, it underscores the need for financial literacy starting at an early age and continuing into adulthood. “Financial Football provides young people in our communities with the tools and understanding of sound money management, helping prepare them for a lifetime of smart financial decisions,” Marianne Mwaniki, SVP and head of Social
groups to five a year, then 12, and now through expansion with about 400 former players having taken part. The Breakfast Club has been in the Dallas area; Miami; Tampa; Birmingham, Alabama; Jacksonville, Florida; Brentwood, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; and New Orleans. Van Pelt said they went to New Orleans last year because several former players reached out to Tulane, a medical partner of The Trust, when they had a large enough group for a Breakfast Club. “Anytime we can have a player-driven, organized community that players are willing to buy into and incorporate and be active in, a part of that’s a no-brainer for us,” Van Pelt said. With so many former NFL players in the Atlanta region, The Trust needed another gym option in areas without EXOS facilities. That led to the YMCA, where a free one-year membership is renewable and keeps former players working out once the club’s six-week sessions end.
Animation film festival rescinds Kobe Bryant invite after outcry
L
OS ANGELES—Kobe Bryant was dropped on Wednesday from the jury of an animated film festival after calls for the former National Basketball Association star’s ouster over a 2003 rape allegation. Eric Beckman, CEO of GKIDS, the company that organizes the Animation Is Film Festival, announced the move. “After discussions with the various stakeholders of Animation Is Film, the decision has been made to remove Kobe
Bryant from the 2018 jury, Beckman said in a statement. “We are a young organization, and it is important to keep our collective energies focused on the films, the participating filmmakers and our festival attendees.” An online petition had been circulating demanding Bryant be dropped. Bryant won an Academy Award in March for his part in making the animated short, Dear Basketball and has founded an animation
company, Granity Studios. He released a statement saying he was honored to be invited and disappointed to be excluded. “This decision further motivates me and my commitment to building a studio that focuses on diversity and inclusion in storytelling for the animation industry,” Bryant’s statement said. “I remain focused on changing the world in positive ways through diverse stories, characters and
leadership, in order to inspire the next generation.” In 2003, Bryant was charged with raping a 19-year-old hotel employee. The Lakers star said he believed it was a consensual sexual encounter. The case was dropped after Bryant’s accuser refused to testify. She later filed a civil suit against him, which was settled out of court with Bryant admitting no guilt. AP
ONE WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE ‘INEVITABLE’ P
LAYERS want a single North American women’s professional hockey league. National Hockey League (NHL) Commissioner Gary Bettman does, too. And now National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) Founder and Commissioner Dani Rylan is on record saying she is working toward that objective. “One league is inevitable,” Rylan wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press, her strongest statement regarding a potential merger with the rival Canadian Women’s Hockey League. “We will get this done,” Rylan wrote. “It’s on us, and we embrace the challenge,” Rylan’s comments come nearly four years after she split from the CWHL to establish the NWHL, which became the first women’s hockey league to pay its players a salary. The investor-funded NWHL has provided a framework for how a pro women’s league can function, but most observers agree that two leagues competing for the same talent pool and limited financial resources isn’t going to last—or help the game grow. The US-based NWHL, in its fourth season,
NATIONAL Women’s Hockey League All-Star players take time for a “selfie” before the start of an all-star game at Harborcenter in Buffalo, New York, in January 2016. AP
NATIONAL Football League players Saquon Barkley (front, fifth from left) and Eli Manning (front, second from right) partner with Visa to launch Financial Football video game.
never stretched. “So to finally get from where I could barely touch my shins to where I can put my hands on the ground now in a straight-legged stretch, that’s a huge accomplishment for me,” Mawae said. A nutritionist also helps each player with an individual eating plan and teaches them how to pick healthy foods when shopping. They also get a cookbook developed to assist with making better choices. Support comes from The Trust, which assists former players with career counseling, finances and education. Connecting former players and helping them take care of their bodies is where the Breakfast Club comes in. Bahati Van Pelt, executive director of The Trust, credits former player Aaron Taylor for creating the group workout concept by asking if EXOS could provide a workout plan if he got 10 players together in San Diego. The concept quickly grew from a couple
Former players only have to register with The Trust, which is identifying more cities to host future Breakfast Clubs. The current club started on October 8 in Carlsbad, California, near San Diego, with players including former offensive tackle Vaughn Parker, now 47 who played 10 of his 11 National Football League seasons with the Chargers. The biggest benefit may be recreating the locker room vibe that disappears after football. Van Pelt said they’ve had former players ask when the club is coming back to their towns. “It brought back that feeling of being in the locker room, of having a workout in your position group and having an accountability partner with your wellness,” Van Pelt said. “So if I don’t come work out on a Monday and Wednesday, I have teammates that are going to check in on me and find out what’s going on and make sure I’m there on Friday.” Getting moving again with a routine matters most for players accustomed to living by practice and meeting schedules through high school, college and the NFL. But Mawae said no former player wants to be a statistic, and the club can help men live longer, healthier lives. “It doesn’t mean you can’t have a drink every now and then, you can’t indulge in sweets or candies or whatever, you can’t just relax for a week. That just means you don’t live a sedentary lifestyle where all your previous injuries can pile up and debilitate you,” Mawae said. “And unfortunately, for a lot of the players that retire, that’s exactly what happens.” AP
Impact at Visa, said. “As the world’s leader in digital payments, we are proud to partner with the NFL to combine the excitement of football and financial literacy to bring otherwise difficult money matters to life for students,” Mwaniki added. Financial Football features improved 3D graphics and enhanced game play. It challenges players to answer multiplechoice and true or false questions to advance down the field in order to score a touchdown. The latest version of Financial Football, makes financial education accessible to everyone, no matter how or where they choose to play. The game is available through iOS and Android apps and online. Visa has joined with 49 state governments and the District of Columbia to distribute copies of the game to middle and high schools in those regions. AP
grew to five teams after expanding into Minnesota this year. The CWHL, in its 12th season, began paying its players a salary for the first time last year and has six teams, including ones in Worcester, Massachusetts, and China. Rylan is now echoing what Jayna Hefford said in July upon being named the CWHL’s interim commissioner. The former Canadian national team star called the formation of one league “a priority” and projected it could happen within two years. Rylan’s comments also come after both leagues discussed merger options this summer, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions told The AP. Also on the table is an NWHL proposal for both league champions to compete in an end-of-season playoff, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. Rylan confirmed she’s spoken to Hefford, and added: “There is a path, and Jayna and I and our business partners will continue those discussions.” Hefford expressed cautious optimism
regarding the possibility of joining forces. “It’s certainly something we have to figure out,” she said, while noting she’s still new on the job. “I’m trying to understand what the challenges are, what the roadblocks are and try to figure out a way to get us to the point where we have one truly professional women’s hockey league.” Hefford was scheduled to meet this week with NHL officials, including Bettman, for the first time since replacing former Commissioner Brenda Andress. The NHL supports the idea of one women’s pro league and has several member teams involved in both leagues. The Sabres purchased the Buffalo Beauts last December to become the NHL’s first franchise to fully own an NWHL team. The Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens each have partnerships with CWHL teams based in their respective cities. The NHL’s support of women’s hockey included the league stepping in at the last moment to end a wage dispute between USA Hockey and US National team women players threatening to boycott the 2017 World
Championships on home ice. Two people familiar with the situation said the NHL agreed to pay USA Hockey to help fund the four-year agreement. The people spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity because the league and USA Hockey have not made that information public. The NHL has been careful to avoid the appearance of favoring one league over the other. Bettman told the AP last month he has no interest in forming a third league because he doesn’t want the NHL “to look like a bully” by pushing the existing leagues out of business. He is also hesitant of the NHL assuming control of the CWHL or NWHL because, as he put it, “we don’t believe in their models.” “We need to start on a clean slate,” Bettman said. “If at some point the leagues say, ‘We’ve had enough, we don’t see this as a long-term solution, we’d like you to start-up and we’ll discontinue operations,’ then we’ll do it. But we’re not pushing it,” he said. “If we’re going to get involved, it cannot fail, which means it has to be on us.” AP
October 21, 2018
OREO MAKER OFFERS YOUNG WORKERS EXPERIENCE OF JOY
By Beverly dela Cruz
I
SAAC CHEUNG is just one of those representing the young work force of Mondelez Philippines Inc. (MPI), the local business of the American multinational food maker behind the Oreo brand. He has also found joy in work through MPI’s Joy Schools Program.
Oreo maker offers young workers experience of joy
MONDELEZ Philippines Inc. Corporate and Government Affairs Head Shanahan Chua talks to the staff and students of the Holy Spirit Elementary School on October 12.
Continued from Page 1
“Actually Joy Schools is a company event,” Ateneo de Manila University alumnus Cheung told the BusinessMirror. According to Cheung, Joy Schools is part of MPI’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program and features a feeding component. “And we monitor the nutrition of kids throughout the year,” he said, adding that what makes the program good is that it’s not a one-time event. “It’s measurable in terms of incidence of malnutrition throughout the year,” the 23-year-old Cheung said. “It’s sustainable in that way.” Joy Schools is a nutrition program of MPI, manufacturer of products under the iconic brands Eden Cheese, Cheez Whiz, Oreo, Tiger Energy, Tang, Cadbury and Halls, to name a few. Joy Schools is focused on hunger, malnutrition and education. The program offers access to fresh food, where 300 severely undernourished children benefit from a nine-month daily feeding, among others. Also included is nutrition education through MPI’s partnership with the Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines Inc. Employees like Cheung are also tapped to teach children and improve their nutrition habit.
Explosive
UNDER MPI’s Graduate Trainee (GT) program, fresh graduates like Cheung, a graduate of BS Management, are hired and trained for 18 months to be part of the company. He said the training is part of MPI’s mission goals: to grow people, grow business and grow impact. “So Joy Schools fall under grow our impact in the community,” Cheung told the BusinessMirror. For Cheung, participating in the Joy
Schools Program is part of his personal goals, adding that “It is important to live life to the fullest and with empathy for the people.” “It is also a great way for the company to give back. It’s a good way to take a break from work,” Cheung said. He explained that the GT program offers several advantages. We experience different “functions within the company,” he said. “Last time we were in sales; currently, we’re with [the] HR [human resource] and Finance [department],” the 23-year-old Dexter Villarosa said. Villarosa, a graduate of BS Chemical Engineering in Ateneo de Davao, said he values integrity; that’s why he has always been a volunteer and will continue to be a volunteer. He noted that people have high expectations in every JSP. “Every Joy Schools event we try to improve from run to run,” Villarosa said. “As much as possible, we try to veer away from the usual feeding program” where it’s just distribution of food. “Last time, we had active play; Filipino games. Now we’re going back to storytelling days with the children,” Villarosa said. “It’s good that in every Joy Schools, we expect something new: may pasabog!”
Process
FOR Jerome Talampas, a Chemical Engineering graduate of the University of the Philippines, continuing engagement with the Joy Schools boosts his pride as an MPI employee. “JSP has always been fun. It’s a good activity for us to bond as a company, as well as to bond with the community,” Talampas told the BusinessMirror. “Mondelez is all about impacting communities, our people. It changes us, it allows us to do good to the communities and it impacts them, as well.” The 24-year-old Talampas believes that one should trust the process and the results
2 BusinessMirror
MPI graduate trainees Dexter Villarosa and Neil Christian Abanador talk to children about the importance of nutrition and active play. will follow. That is why apart from being a JSP volunteer, he said he wants to explore volunteering in animal shelters, if given the chance. Ditto for Neil Christian Abanador, a Business Administration graduate also of UP. He said volunteering for Joy Schools gives him an opportunity to make children happy. MPI Corporate and Government Affairs Head Shanahan Chua commended efforts and ideas of these young workers as “they own what they are doing.” “This is our way to give back to the employees for a day or half a day that they can really enjoy and reach out to help the communities. It’s really a volunteer program,” Chua added. “In all these activities, we give them the idea [but they are the ones who] come up [with] the activities. They actually own what they are doing. Two more groups in Parañaque, they are doing the same thing. They are the ones who crafted the activity.” Chua considers the JSP as more than CSR, adding that “what we’re doing is really integrated into the business structure.” “So what we’re doing is part of culturebuilding for the people. What we’re really doing right now is working with the communities, with the schools, providing nutrition, education and active play,” he explained. “Part of that is also the engagement of the employees, kasi siyempre we want to bring them out of the office, we want them to connect with the communities. It’s not all about work.” Chua personally believes in the program and that nutrition really helps the children. “Even if we are a snacks company, it should not stop us from addressing the nutritional needs of the children,” he said. Chua added that as part of their strict policy on marketing, they focus on nutrition. “This is what the company stands for: focus on the basic, on the right nutrition OCTOBER 21, 2018
before you even think about eating something else. Right, like snacks,” Chua told the BusinessMirror. “What we are now, our vision and purposes [that] snacking made right. It’s really about the responsibility of us being a snacking company to really address, at least among Mondelez Philippines, the fundamental needs first before we even think about providing the snacks.”
Upscale
THE JSP, which started in April 2013, already adopted 16 schools and some 4,500 students. The program is in partnership with the Department of Education to help the company choose schools with the highest number of undernourished children, and recently partnered with Southeast Asia Public Health Network and locally with the NFPI to come to schools and teach nutrition education component with the parents. “This helped us upscale our program this year,” according to Chua. “If you look at the cumulative results, what we’re seeing is, since we’ve been running this program on a year-on-year basis, an improvement from line of sevens in the grade part average to 80 to 84; so [their grades are getting higher],” he said. “I guess if you look at the results, what’s driving that is because they’re more attentive, they are attending classes.” Chua said the company is seeing an improvement in the attendance from 92 percent to 93 percent. “Those improvements also showed because hindi sila matamlay, they are busog [they’re not indisposed because they’re full]; so they listen and they are in class,” he explained. “In that sense, we see that the program is successful; how we are structuring the program really helps those at least 100 of the most severely undernourished children. What we’re seeing in the near future is rolling this out in more schools and also in other countries.”
BusinessMirror
MUSIC
PHOTO BY MEL LACSON DOLORICO
NY HARDCORE BAND JUDGE
WHIPS UP A STORM IN MNL
M
by Rick Olivares
IKE Ferraro quietly sat in a corner at the second floor of the 123 Block. A member of Sleeping Boy Collective, the independent show promoter who brought in legendary New York hardcore band Judge to Manila, placed a table a few feet away from inquisitive fans to keep away those who hoped for selfies. Ferraro, wearing olive-drab military fatigues and a baseball cap drawn closely to cover his eyes, sat back and was lost in thought. This wasn’t like that night in 1991 when he told guitarist John Porcell the “show was over.”
“Porcell,” he said, looking at his bandmate who was with him since their days with Youth of Today: “I think I’m done.” The guitarist recalled that moment. Thousands of miles away from New York City, Judge was in
Manila as part of their Southeast Asian Tour—their first time to hit this part of the world. Porcell was upstairs some 3 hours before his band was scheduled to hit the stage. He looked at this author’s records, then the latter asked him to sign them. “I don’t have my records anymore,” he softly said. He flipped over the LP “No Apologies: The ‘Chung King’ Sessions” that recounted the moment when Ferraro talked to him about his decision to hang it up. The liner notes end with Porcell’s thoughts after Ferraro just called it quits. “Somehow, I knew it was coming.” The guitarist nodded, with his mind racing back to those chaotic days when fights were routine at Judge gigs, and matters spun out of control. “That was then; this is now,” quipped Porcell, who then signed the records, smiled, and posed for a photo. Nearly 30 years later, Judge is hitting parts of the world they never even imagined coming to. “It is amazing…” shyly admitted
Ferraro later when we sat down for an interview, “…That we get to do this again—but it is different. I didn’t have the means to get these shows done before. Now, it’s great. The whole tour has been great.” He went on to say: “It is amazing to see young fans who know our songs, and that they mean something, considering they were written a long time ago.” And that begged the inevitable question: There have been no new releases since 1990. Judge reformed in 2013. Are there any plans to record a new album?
New York hardcore
EARLIER, Judge drummer Sammy Siegler sat down with Insektlife Cycle’s bassist Joy Legason and this author who were catching up. What followed was a good 25 minutes of talk about music, politics, and of course, Judge. “I don’t know if we should record new songs,” suggested Siegler, who admitted the band has never really talked about it. “If we do that, I have to wonder Continued on page 5
4
Sound BusinessMirror
OCTOBER 21, 2018 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com
MUS
Juan de la Cruz and OPM
Surviving the times, circumstances Commentary by Darwin Fernandez
T
HE iconic Juan de la Cruz Band is regarded as one of the heroes of Filipino rock music. Decades after their first appearance—clad in punk leather, around 1968—two of its members have found themselves in hospital gowns. Seventy-year old Jose “Pepe” Smith recently underwent surgery for his gallbladder on September 17, while 69-year-old Wally Gonzalez had his colon surgery on September 24. The past year, Smith’s Christmas present was to turn seven-decades strong despite his lifestyle choices,
and carrying on with his music despite suffering from a stroke that left him with speech impairments. Gonzalez, on the other hand, has been dealing with diabetes behind the spotlight. More than illnesses, the effects of success come with other symptoms that one wouldn’t expect from the glitz-and-glam of rock-star status, much less from icons. Throughout their careers, the chances of the band making billions of pesos enough to make a Michael Jackson-like theme park were bleak. Both the culture of their genre and the political climate during their band’s heydays was a hard mountain to conquer. The
emergence of Pinoy rock was welcomed with both open arms and raised fists as it ushered-in a new age of OPM.
‘OFW’ musicians
THE band that is Juan de la Cruz, along with other composers, was branded as music of protests with their loud instrumentals and roaring vocals. Other rock groups were seen as innovative with the addition of folk elements to the music. Originally a quintet, the band recorded its first album, “Up in Arms,” but did not receive as much commercial success as expected, and thus was not reissued. Despite this, Juan de la Cruz continued, but no longer with the pieces it first came with. The new iteration was actually not born in the Philippines. Before being immortals in the local music scene, they first made a contribution to the Japanese rock culture when the musician Shinki Chen gathered Smith, Gonzalez and Mike Hanopol to form the rock group Speed, Glue and Shinki. There, they had songs such as Take You Home and Blues Train. Some shows and two albums later, the trio returned to the country.
‘Himig Natin’
THE most enduring of all their work, the 15-track album Himig Natin, was instrumental
in establishing what we know now as “Pinoy rock.” But for this to have been possible, a great sacrifice had to be made. Rights to the album were sold to the band’s record label Vicor. The millions earned from the longevity of the compositions, however, never reached the members. Today, that might be regarded as outright unfair. The era was just too rough for protest from the band. It was a harsh industry, and Juan de la Cruz, along with hundreds of other artists, had to settle for such contracts to have their music heard. Beyond albums, the entertainment business has little regard for the heritage artists of Pinoy rock. Compared to their contemporaries the Beatles, the billions earned by their heirs from their songs would be almost impossible for any living Filipino musician to reach. Other than piracy, which robs about 50 percent of an artist’s estimated earnings, the market itself holds back the musicians they admire. Part of a musician’s career success is attributed to live shows. Sadly, many of the music lovers also find little value in watching concerts by a Filipino musician. (An example would be Unique Salonga’s P800- to P4,000-concert tickets for a solo performance (which was answered with negative publicity and a long list of memes dedicated to him). Ironically, a foreign pop star would come to visit and fill an arena with prices starting at P5,000.) With setbacks like the Rockfest 2018 and the shortcomings of his only solo album “Idiosyncrasies” to win the market, Smith and Gonzalez reflect how well musicians do after they get old: respected, but deeply under-valued.
d trip
soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | OCTOBER 21, 2018
5
SIC ON PRINT
SoundSampler | by Tony M. Maghirang
Uchronia compilation; fresh buzz from Apartel, Jayda, Kremesoda, DJ Kygo
UCHRONIA HIS compilation focuses on experimental, TSnot-nosed electronic, and noise music from Asia and Africa. pop aficionados better beware: stay within the comforts of your familiar sound world, because Uchronia will give you migraine. Slowly will come gnawing pulses, starting with the bent psychedelia of Sharif Sehnaoui, 5 minutes of recording of a furniture being shuffled around the living room (Hardi Kuda’s The Chair), the sound poetry of Dickson Dee, to Orgatanatos’ time warping Last Move. Two Filipino acts toss-in their experimental Molotov cocktail. Long-running Children of Cathode Ray mixes the sound of a failing cathode-ray tube with a muezzin call, while Teenage Granny (aka Alyana Cabral from Manila) plugs-in Twitter promotional soundbytes and messages to the droning whirr of a printing press machine. Uchronia will lift your adventurous soul through unlimited free streaming, or in paid 3-CD limited edition via Bandcamp.
the freak-soul flag so high it should be a beacon to closet funkateers to come out of the woodwork. The horns blare boisterously; the vocals affect Prince-ly lusciousness, and the guitars send Funkadelic-worthy riffs to rock’s outer outposts. In See It To Believe It, Buendia promises to deliver a good time all night, which in the context of the other ten tracks on the new album alludes to musical as well as physical bonding. It doesn’t get any better than the invitation to get delirious in the Chic-rummaging Can I Be So High. Also, the way Buendia unspools the songs abstracts otherwise confessional lyrics into a more subliminal perspective to connect with familiar romantic experiences of individual listeners. Whether it’s his croon in “Mahiwaga,” or his cool warble in “Ako Ang Dagat, Ikaw Ang Buwan,” he feels you—that part of you that’s looking for legal fun in these murderous times. Kudos to the wrecking crew of guitarists Coco Coo and Redge Concepcion, bassist Jun Lazo, drummer Pat Sarabia and keyboardist Ryan Goa for providing support to main man Buendia. Surely, the whole Apartel racket since the first album recalls a certain era, but the imaginative resourcefulness going on, particularly on Full Flood, fulfills the band’s well-deserved buzz as the true Pinoy-soul supergroup.
and styles that can be name-checked against contemporary OPM genres, although none of the five songs follows the legacy of her singing parents, or any past idol for that matter. To these ears, Jayda comes close to being the female James Reid, confidently able to translate joy in happy tunes, and pain in sad songs. She has the vocal range to swing across the emotional pendulum, best illustrated in the last track Happy For You, where the newbie chanteuse skillfully sings through a cycle of heartaches that finally turns to heartbreak. The genial warmth she puts in the upbeat ones, like Breathless, balances the sad cuts. She captures the high of adolescence laying claim to her own moment in the spotlight, or in every pop music fan’s playlist. This gifted girl deserves a full album before adulthood shuttles her to life’s un-fun responsibilities and obligations.
KYGO Kids In Love
K KREMESODA Out of Range
C JAYDA In My Room APARTEL Full Flood
A
FOLLOW-UP to their highly acclaimed 2016 debut, Ely Buendia-fronted Apartel raises
NY hardcore... from page 3 how they will stack up to the old songs. Will they be just as good? But that’s something for [Ferraro] and Porcell to figure out.” “Me?” laughed Ferraro. “I am ready to go. I’ve known Porcell a long time. I’m just waiting for him.” That is however, for another time. The fans who trooped to the 123 Block didn’t have to wait too long after the final opening act got off the stage. “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” played in the background, then Judge launched into “Take Me Away.” The crowd went nuclear.
J
AYDA, the 15-year old daughter of showbiz couple Dingdong Avanzado and Jessa Zaragoza, produces her own original music and in her debut EP, she comes off more mature than her teen years betray. In My Room is an extroverted set of elements
“So this is Manila on a Monday,” observed Ferraro after the intro, and before tearing off into those buzz-saw songs with metallic riffs. It was an incredible sight. This author has seen all those videos of the band performing in CBGB’s and other famous spots, and watched dozens of times the documentary, “There Will Be Quiet,” which is the story of Judge. Weaned on a steady diet of New York hardcore from the midto late-1980s, compared to all the bands that this author has listened to: Agnostic Front, Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, and the Cro-Mags, it is Judge that stands out with its straight-edge message.
Dig deeper, and the lyrics build small vignettes about the struggle in chasing the love of your life. The lush melodies thinly mask a sense of drama in each song. Shot Glass is a personal favorite, one that’s richly redolent of early efforts by UK revivalist Jake Bugg. Kremesoda happens to be adept at appropriating US pop-rock traditions to gain a few legs up the Brit Bugg. One can only hope this is just a sampler. There should be more gems from the goldmine where it came from.
ALLING your first album “Out of Range” may invite instant cynicism from listeners grown tired of what’sin-the-packaging-is-what-you-really-get perception in the local indie scene. In the case of college band Kremesoda, hold that thought a bit and give this young band some slack. They’re not really “out-of-whack,” as the album title would have you believe. Opening track off their new EP has stirrings of ‘60s pop-band flash, with snatches of post-rock instrumentation. From there, Out of Range should make for increasingly interesting listen as the record consistently pairs sugar-coated guitar riffs with lazy tempos, suggesting a breezy laid-back Sunday morning.
And now, they were live in the flesh performing their classics, as some members of the crowd declared too that they were “fed up.” When Ferraro screamed, “You’ve lost…!” from In My Way and thrust the microphone to the blessed few in front of the stage, they wailed back the rest of the line: “…My respect!” For their penultimate song Warriors, the crowd summoned what was left of their collective energies to join in the chorus: “Never forget the warriors!” Who indeed would forget these hardcore troopers? It was a sight to behold: Bleeping New York hardcore. The most militant of the straightedge bands
YGO is a world-renowned Norwegian producer, songwriter and DJ who holds the record of the fastest artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify. That was in 2015. Three years later, the Nordic star has a new album—his sophomore release that trades the trademark boom-boom of blazing EDM, to the more melodic hooks of crossover dance pop. The thunder has actually been checked to make way for, say, the bright pop of Stranger Things, featuring Ryan Tedder of One Republic, the soaring soul performance of American singer Wrabel, and the enjoyable reggae-quoting transcendence of the title track. Refreshed and refueled by new collaborators, DJ Kygo turns up trusty tricks for a rejuvenated go-around the old block. Sure, hands-in-the air tempo still figures prominently in most tracks, but who’s griping when Kygo delivers the same happy feeling as before. Hooray then for reheated, calculated fun! Kygo’s “Kids In Love” tour lands in the SM Mall of Asia Arena on October 25.
was here, and the messages that they sang so fiercely and proudly about decades ago still rings true today.
Through great lengths
THE pursuit of a then-young Filipino kid from Manila in search of those precious original pressings of Judge albums took him from Bleecker Bob’s in Greenwich Village, to Kim’s in the East Village, and eventually back closer to home with Mutilated Records in Manila. Ferraro dutifully signed the records and couldn’t help but notice Continued on page 6
6
OCTOBER 21, 2018 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com
Sound trip BusinessMirror
MUSIC ON PRINT
Biyaheng Diyes
Onboard with Mitoy & the Draybers I
T all started in 2008. Six musicians were struggling for something catchy to name their group, which was ready to compete for a local “battle of the bands” competition. Eventually they settled for the name, The Draybers. Founder and lead vocalist Mitoy Yonting, rhythm guitarist and cofounder Mylo Yonting, keyboardist Edwin Garcia, drummer Jude Santos and lead guitarist Cesar Uy Salazar comprise the crew of The Draybers, one of the most enduring pop-rock bands in the country today. Known for the band’s spoton renditions of Air Supply,
Queen, Survivor, Journey and Bon Jovi hits, among others, The Draybers has toured internationally for Filipino communities and is one of the most sought-after live acts today. In 2011 they started a journey that saw them at Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) Bar 360 stage, where they landed a long-term contract, paving the way for their claim to three-time “Best Performers in a Lounge, Bar and Hotel” wins in 2012, 2013 and 2017. After winning The Voice of the Philippines, frontman Mitoy gained more popularity by being cast in Philippine Ballet Theater’s Sayaw at Serye (2013) and became a part of Lea Salonga’s supporting act for her concert series, Playlist (2013). Television audiences also know him as L.A. in the ABS-CBN sitcom Home Sweetie Home. Mitoy’s decision to stay with The Draybers even after his newfound fame that led him to perform all over Asia and the United States as a solo act was a testament to the depth of the frontman’s ties with his bandmates. With an undeniable onstage chemistry that combines Mitoy’s versatile vocal range, Mylo’s second voice and rhythm guitar, and the perfect pitch harmonies of Edwin, Lucky, Jude and Cesar, The Draybers’ journey to a decade
NY hardcore...
from page 5
one that wasn’t of theirs, but definitely not out of place. It was Warzone’s first extended-play album Lower East Side. “Yeah, I know this very well,” the Judge lead softly said. The burly singer pulled out the liner notes and ran his fingers on the quote from his late colleague Ray “Raybeez” Barbieri: “Read the lyrics. Feel the passion. It all comes from our hearts. Like the famous saying goes: ‘No mess. No fuss. Just pure impact.’” Ferraro nodded and smiled.
of music remains to be as it was when they first started: strong and unfailing. On Biyaheng Diyes: the Draybers’ 10thanniversary concert, the band will share the stage with some of the country’s top talents, including “Asia’s Diva” Dulce, “Mr. Shades” Randy Santiago, “King of Philippine Acoustic Pop” Nyoy Volante, Tawag ng Tanghalan finalist Ato Arman and champion Noven Belleza, as well as theater star Tanya Manalang. Tickets for “Biyaheng Diyes” are now available at the RWM box office and via Ticketworld. Visit rwmanila.com or download the RWM mobile app for more upcoming entertainment events at Resorts World Manila.
Oh yes, there was quiet indeed. And then, pure impact… After a cool and surreal night, where after exiting into the early hours of the morn, this author wondered if the happenings of the night that was, was real. He entered with a pair of Judge records that were unsigned. He exited with the “What It Meant” compilation that bore a stamp most unexpected and well, lasting. It had the New York Hardcore logo, as penciled in by Judge. Storms do leave lasting impressions.
Bavarian millennials embrace tradition–dirndls, lederhosen and all
MICHELLE RÖDEL wears a dirndl while at Oktoberfest, in Munich, Oct. 2, 2018. Not so long ago, the 19th-century peasant garb was considered the uniform of older, more conservative folk. Now it is all the rage with millennials. KSENIA KULESHOVA/THE NEW YORK TIMES
M
UNICH—Hiphop blared from oversized speakers. Half-finished beer glasses teetered precariously along the bar, and a scrum of teenage bodies writhed on the dimly lit dance floor. It was a regular night out in hip urban Munich. And everyone was in 19th-century Alpine peasant dress. In Bavaria in 2018, tradition is trendy and custom is cool. Bavarian teenagers, who once wore jeans and t-shirts in Oktoberfest season, are going clubbing in dirndl and lederhosen. “Ten years ago, we rarely saw a dirndl in the disco,” said Dierk Beyer, a manager at Neuraum, a popular nightclub near the site of the Oktoberfest. “Now it’s normal.” The dirndl (pronounced DEERN-del), a low-cut, tightly laced traditional dress, and
lederhosen, its male counterpart of kneelength deer leather pants, were once considered the dusty uniform of older, more conservative folk in the countryside. After years of edging into the mainstream, they are now all the rage with millennials, who are evolving tradition and folklore into a youth culture that can surprise outsiders. “I love your pretzel nose stud!” Martina Schulze, a lanky 17 year old with a baseball cap and forest-green dirndl, shrieked into the ear of her best friend—who promptly returned the compliment: “Cool edelweiss cap!”
Rallying cry
NATIONAL identity may be a popular rallying cry for conservatives and a resurgent far-right. But many young Bavarians say they are not talking politics by celebrating their heritage—they are claiming it back and at times subverting it. On a recent night, the dance floor of Neuraum was a festival of dirndl in its endless varieties. There was a black goth dirndl cascading over tattooed calves. Next to it, a gaggle of pink and baby blue ones worn with sneakers. Young men sweating in woolly calf warmers and felt hats were grinding up to young women in flowery aprons. Even outside Oktoberfest season, which
7 BusinessMirror
finished Sunday after 16 days of drunken beer tent fun, the cool kids wear pretzelshaped studs and edelweiss caps. Sausages and dachshunds (yes, dachshunds) are equally popular motifs, as images of Bavarian identity—as is “1516,” the year the first Bavarian law regulating the ingredients of beer was passed. Some hip workplaces have reportedly instituted “Dirndl Fridays” all year round, while Bavarian bands like Liquid rap in hipster beards and thick Bavarian dialect. The dialect, once discouraged in city nurseries and schools, is itself experiencing something of an urban revival. As Michelle Rödel, 19-year-old apprentice teacher recovering at the bar in a burgundy dirndl, put it: “Hoamad rocks.”
Lingering association
“HOAMAD” is dialect for “Heimat,” a fuzzy but evocative German term roughly meaning home, identity and a sense of being rooted in familiar landscapes—perhaps by wearing a dirndl or lederhosen. For years, the term was tainted by a lingering association with the Nazi era. Hitler, who started his political career in Munich, had been a fan of dirndls. The now-familiar design was popularized in the 1930s. Jewish women were told not OCTOBER 21, 2018
to wear them. Later, folk fashion became synonymous with the soft nationalism of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. “Basically, if someone wore a dirndl or lederhosen, you assumed they voted CSU,” Rödel said. These days even the 33-year-old coleader of the liberal pro-refugee Greens in Bavaria has been campaigning in a dirndl before the closely watched state elections on Sunday. “It has nothing to do with politics,” insisted Rödel, the apprentice teacher, as she took a break on the edge of the dance floor, fanning herself with her pink apron. She owns seven dirndls and a heimat hoodie. “In Bavaria, we are just proud to be Bavarian,” she said.
Heimat 2.0
THE dirndl boom has become a mass phenomenon among teenagers and young adults, said Lola Paltinger, an upmarket dirndl designer. “When I moved to Munich, no one I knew went to the Oktoberfest in a dirndl, let alone a nightclub,” Paltinger said. “Now it is expected.” Continued on Page 8
Bavarian millennials embrace tradition–dirndls, lederhosen and all
VISITORS at Oktoberfest, where some attendees wear dirndls and lederhosen, in Munich, October 2, 2018. KSENIA KULESHOVA/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Potentially aggressive
Continued from Page 7
Even more recent, she said, is the heimat-themed streetwear. “That’s a new evolution,” she said. Fabio Cinelli calls it “Heimat 2.0.” Cinelli started printing Bavarian dialect onto T-shirts in 2012. He had the idea after going shopping in a department store and despairing over the ubiquity of inane American slogans featured on most Tshirts he tried on: “College Football Team,” he recalled, and “Highway Patrol.” “It was all completely meaningless stuff,” he said. “That gave me the idea to print Bavarian dialect that has some meaning to people here.” Young, open-minded Bavarians want to express their identity, but “without shutting others out,” said Cinelli, a Munich native whose father is Italian. “In times of increasing globalization, people want to return to their roots,” he added. Cinelli founded Oberlandla, an online label of what he calls “Bavarian streetwear.” He sells T-shirts featuring skulls with an edelweiss flower between their teeth and slogans like “Mei Dirndl is in da Wäsch,” or “my dirndl is in the wash.”
Same songs
UNDER the towering eye of the 19th-cen-
YOUNG people go clubbing in dirndls and lederhosen after visiting Oktoberfest, at Neuram, a club in Munich, October 2, 2018. KSENIA KULESHOVA/THE NEW YORK TIMES tury statue of Bavaria, a female personification of the Bavarian homeland with a giant lion by her side, a group of high-school students met at the Oktoberfest one recent afternoon, ready to party in style. Marlene Kinseher combined a dirndl from the flea market with a leather jacket and chunky black boots. Martha Koletzko said dirndls were the only kind of dress she wears, because “they work for every female shape.” Helena Link, also part of the group, said she used to go in jeans, but “it just wasn’t the same.” “When you’re in the beer tent, standing
8 BusinessMirror
on the benches and everyone sings the same songs, you really feel that you’re part of something,” she said. She recently bought a dirndl at Aldi for €30, or $35. “In jeans you just don’t get into it in the same way.” There is a degree of peer pressure, they admit—and sometimes a whiff of exclusion, too. Even Rödel, whose parents moved to Bavaria from the neighboring German state of Thuringia three decades ago, wishes she were “properly Bavarian.” “You’re only really Bavarian if your parents were born in Bavaria, too,” she explained. OCTOBER 21, 2018
SUMIA ANSARI, an Afghan-Bavarian, sported cutoff lederhosen bought from a secondhand store instead of a dirndl. Ansari recalled feeling alienated the first few times she donned a dirndl during village fetes. “It felt like carnival,” she recalled. “People would look at me and say, ‘Do you even speak German?’” It is that kind of statement that makes Florian Schönhofer’s skin crawl. Schönhofer runs Kosmos, a bar near Munich’s central station, which he has turned into a “lederhosen-and-dirndl-free zone.” At the entrance, a laminated sign puts a bright red cross over a drawing of the familiarly shaped leather pants. A bouncer stands ready to turn away anyone who comes in traditional garb. “Anytime there is a large group of people wearing the same uniform and singing the same songs, the dynamic very quickly becomes exclusive and potentially aggressive,” he said. Plus, for many, he said, “wearing a traditional outfit is a license to get completely hammered whilst still feeling virtuous.” Schönhofer makes one exception: “If you are sober enough to take your lederhosen off, you can come in underpants.” New York Times News Service