BusinessMirror January 19, 2025

A SOLUTION WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM

The speed with which Congress is moving on a bill further institutionalizing a little known Department of Education program on sexuality education has alarmed many groups, who say it will spawn more serious problems than the crisis it seeks to blunt, i.e., the rise in teen pregnancies.

IBy Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

T is purported to help address an undeniable problem—the alarming rise of teenage pregnancies in the country—but why are parents and some groups up in arms over the implementation of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program by the education department, and further embedded in Senate Bill (SB) 1979, otherwise known as the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023?

The CSE—and by extension, the bill—is facing a backlash after a video of Project Dalisay circulated online recently, drawing attention to the dire implications of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) CSE program and Senate Bill 1979, authored by Sen. Risa Hontiveros. In the Facebook page of Project Dalisay posted on January 10, “Explainer Video: Unmasking the Perils of CSE,” former Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, Chair of the PCEC Legal Advisory and Public Policy Review Commission and one of the convenors of the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution (NCFC), said that in 2018

DepEd adopted CSE, which was pushed by United Nations agencies Unesco, UNFPA, and the Unicef.

“Duty nila [DepEd], na lahat ng references nilang dinikit, kasi iro -roll out na eh, should have been examined categorically as compliant with the Constitution. The Constitution requires us to look at the family’s life as sacred and as the foundation of the nation.

“The DepEd did not consult the parents, the Filipino parents, neither did they consult the faith community. They just rolled it out. Why? Because they need to comply with the international push to promote the CSE,” Sereno said.

ON COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION: “The DepEd did not consult the parents, the Filipino parents, neither did they consult the faith community. They just rolled it out.”— Former Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno

Innocence

MALOI SALUMBIDES, co-chair of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), said that CSE will have a great impact on children.

Speaking partly in Filipino, she added, “And then there are the topics included for study and discussions pertaining to oral and anal sex,” she said.

Jerika Ejercito Aguilar, member of the PCEC Family Commission, shared Salumbides’s sentiment.

“It’s stated there, when they’re six years old, they will be taught how to experience their body through their five senses,” Aguilar said, referring to DepEd Sample CSE Curriculum-Sample Health Education 1.

PRESERVING INNOCENCE: “Imagine, our children, are at a tender age. They’re innocent. You will shatter their innocence.”—Pastor Caloy Diño, NCFC National Director

PHILIPPINES

PARENTAL CONCERNS: “When the mothers wake up [to this], watch out!”— Jerika Ejercito Aguilar, PCEC Family Commission

HONTIVEROS’S REBUTTAL: “Absolutely none of those concepts exist in our bill. These outrageous claims...were pulled out of thin air.”—Senator Risa Hontiveros

EDUCATION SECRETARY’S ASSURANCE: “We make sure that we have a balanced perspective and implementation.”— Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara

“I was trying to play it out in my head: How are they going to do this in a classroom setting? I have a 10-year-old [child] but it says in the CSE, by age nine, they will be taught that they have their own sexual rights. And if they do decide to be sexually active, that’s their right?” she pointed out. Aguilar admitted that she was surprised when she learned about CSE.

“You know, mothers don’t know about this. They will object. I just don’t know about it, but the moment I found out about it, everything I had in me [was determined to] fight for the innocence of my children. When the mothers wake up [to this], watch out!” she warned.

A SOLUTION WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM

For his part, Pastor Caloy Diño, NCFC National Director, said that young children are not yet ready with CSE.

“Imagine, our children, are at a tender age. They’re innocent. You will shatter their innocence. Many things will be stirred that should not be stirred yet,” he said.

To Pastor Benji Cruz, National Director of Living Waters, CSE may sound like, “they are after our children to have freedom of choice.”

“That’s a lot of deception because the children do not have yet the capacity to be making the decision for themselves. And that life-defining decision has been entrusted by God to our parents,” he said.

DepEd listens

EDUCATION Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara, who was not yet DepEd chief when the CSE was included in the curriculum, has assured the public that “inappropriate” concepts will not be taught in schools.

Stressing that the door of the agency is always open, Angara has encouraged parents and concerned groups to express their concerns

and suggestions regarding the current implementation of CSE and the provisions in SB 1979 that further enhance its practice.

“We are listening—then as senator and now as Secretary. The doors of DepEd are open to your views and suggestions, especially to concrete details,” Angara said, adding that as an implementing agency, they follow legislative developments that might impact their policies.

“We make sure that we have a balanced perspective and implementation,” Angara said as he recognized the role of DepEd in shaping life skills, values, and behaviors of students.

He noted that DepEd now stands at a critical time in their commitment to the health and well-being of the youth.

Data-driven ANGARA stressed that every policy of DepEd is data-driven.

“This includes what our young people are going through, like teenage pregnancy, HIV, and genderbased violence,” he added in Filipino, stressing that they make sure that their steps respond to the needs of the learners, especially on how they treat themselves and others.

Angara acknowledged that these efforts require a multisectoral approach.

“As Chair of the Youth Committee in the Senate, we took proactive steps to address the alarming rise in teenage pregnancy. We filed a resolution aimed at adopting a whole-of-government approach to develop a comprehensive policy framework. This framework seeks to prevent early childbearing and mitigate its negative consequences, such as school dropouts, and ensure the welfare and future of our youth,” he explained.

Actively collaborating TO ensure that their programs are effective and culturally sensitive, DepEd is actively collaborating with various stakeholders, including health service providers and community organizations, including exploring models from the communities and other countries.

“Whatever direction we take, we believe in the active participation of the parents in the learning of our students,” he said.

“Together, we can create an environment that fosters understanding, respect, and our youth’s well-being. We invite all parties to work alongside us as we navigate

this important journey,” he concluded.

Alarming trend

BASED on the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), as reported by the BusinessMirror, thousands of illegitimate children were born to underage mothers—under 15 years old—and more than a hundred were born out of child marriages in 2023. The PSA data also showed there were 3,343 children born to mothers who were 15 years old and younger in 2023.

Of this number, PSA said 3,225 children were born out of wedlock, while the remaining 118 children were born to 15-year-old and under mothers who were already married.

No room for complacency

CHILDREN spend a significant amount of time at school and it is very common for childhood relationships to form, or the feelings of romantic attraction or infatuation, with someone they meet there.

That is why, Fortress College (FC), now under the management of Central Philippine University, is not letting down their guard amid the threat of teen pregnancies.

Although this Christian school located in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, encourages students to be friendly with one another, intimacy with the opposite sex is totally taboo inside the campus.

Grace T. Hughes, school president, said that as a Christian school, they believe in always putting God first. Young people are more likely to avoid teen pregnancy if they fear God, she said.

“Bible classes help a lot as we teach students who they are. Their identity should be, must be, founded on the Lord Jesus Christ,” she said. They always remind students that their body is a sacred space— the temple of the Holy Spirit.

To help students understand sexual purity, Fortress College has been conducting a “True Love Waits” program for over 10 years now in lieu of the Junior-Senior Prom, to promote sexual abstinence. Parents are also part of the program.

Hughes explained that before the culmination of the True Love Waits program, a one-month seminar is usually held for the Grade 10 and Grade 12 students where they invite speakers.

Through True Love Waits, she said, they teach students that it is possible to show their love without engaging in premarital sex.

She is also thankful that parents are very cooperative and maintain an open line with the school if their children are having problems.

Complete fabrication

IN a press conference at the Senate on Wednesday, Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, main sponsor of SB 1979, denied the claims of Sereno’s group.

“Una, walang anumang probisyon tungkol sa pagtuturo o paghikayat ng masturbation sa mga batang edad 0 to 4 years old o yung magtuturo daw diumano ng “bodily pleasure” sa mga batang 6-9 years old, o na ituturo din daw sa bata na may ‘sexual rights’ sila. Absolutely none of those concepts exist in our bill. Those lines in their supposed rebuttal are complete and total fabrication,” Hontiveros said.

Secondly, Hontiveros said that the Philippines is not using the “Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe.”

“Hindi din po ito ang reference sa Comprehensive Sexual Education, kundi ang Responsible Par-

enthood and Reproductive Health Law, which has long been enacted, so we can be sure this complies with our Constitution.

“There is also no provision in the bill that says we must follow the policies of other countries. So their post is really wrong—that says the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill is unconstitutional,” she clarified.

Thirdly, said Hontiveros, the claim that children have the right to not tell their parents if they are sexually active is “fake news.”

“Where they got that, I don’t know. Because there is no law or any policy in the Philippines that attempts to prohibit parents from guiding their children. In short, I can confidently say: these outrageous claims from Project Dalisay were pulled out of thin air,” she added.

DWIZ interview HOWEVER , in a video interview with Senate reporters shared by DWIZ’s Cely Ortega Bueno, Sereno said that there are two documents that are claiming CSE international standards—the 0 to 4 years old teaching of masturbation can be found in the World Health Organization, while self-pleasuring is stated in the Unesco technical guidance.

“Of course you won’t [explicitly] see that in the bill. But when the bill says according to international standards on Comprehensive Sexual Education...that is it,” Sereno said.

Meanwhile, Hontiveros lamented that while there is a national emergency, Project Dalisay is still busy spreading fear.

Noting that she is also a mother to four children, three of them girls, Hontiveros said, “Enough is enough. Let us demand real education for our kids.” Hontiveros was joined by Usec. Angelo Tapales of the Council for the Welfare of Children and Dr. Jeepy Perez, former Executive Director of POPCOM.

This is not fake news

PROJECT Dalisay immediately issued a statement saying they are not making false claims or campaigning against any politician, any senator, and definitely not fear-mongering.

“We are all busy, but carved out time to sound the alarm on a threat that many, including us, did not recognize at face value. We first learned in August 2024 that a Comprehensive Sexuality Education curriculum was already being implemented since 2022 in the Department of Education under DepEd Order 31 with its basic reference being the UNESCO International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education—An Evidence Informed Approached,” the group stated, adding that PCEC’s LAPPRCOM (Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches-Legal Advisory and Public Policy Review Commission) held a workshop with various evangelical bodies. They started a letter-writing campaign petitioning Angara to withdraw the CSE curriculum because of its constitutionally objectionable parts after they were “shocked” by their findings, and even did further research.

SB 1979 “IT came as a shock to us sometime also in August 2024, that there was already a bill on second reading, SB 1979, mandating the teaching of CSE in Philippine schools, guided by international standards, without exception.”

Further inquiries, they said, revealed that there was enough support to push the bill into law.

Project Dalisay proponents

were also shocked to learn later that the House counterpart passed without a single objection from any representative. Relevant excerpts from Section 6 of SB 1979 are provided in the footnote.

The critics of the bill pointed out: “We will not see in the bill the actual words childhood masturbation BUT what we will read is the mandatory implementation of CSE in all schools nationwide.”

Mental dishonesty – Atienza

THIS, stressed former congressman and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, smacks of mental dishonesty on the part of the champions of the bill, who conveniently just use the blanket term CSE without regard for its ramifications. Atienza, who is seeking to return to Congress as Buhay Party-list representative, this week came out squarely against the measure.

The group behind Project Dalisay, meanwhile, also said that their action to speak out is not fear-mongering.

“When parents are alerted that a CSE curriculum under international standards embraces subjects as ‘masturbation,’ that is not fear-mongering,” they said, citing that the curriculum already in effect in DepEd (for Grade 1), for 5-8 and 9-12 in the UNESCO Guidance, and for 0-4 years old for WHO.

“CSE embraces teaching masturbation, the only difference in these three documents is at what age and whether the curriculum will use the word ‘masturbation’ expressly.”

“Grade 1 Filipino students are being taught on the other hand this: ‘Sexual & reproductive parts are vital parts of the body. The body parts can be described using different sense organs.’”

Alternatives

PROJECT Dalisay also demands CSE alternatives.

“We want sexuality education. We are cognizant of the alarming rise of adolescent pregnancies in the country. But SB 1979 and CSE are not answering the root of the crisis. Mandaue has a beautiful story to tell, where values education with the support of DepEd minimized teen pregnancies. The key was encouraging them to dream lofty dreams, and to leave sexual promiscuity behind.” In her video interview with Senate reporters, Sereno cited the Mandaue experience and that of Singapore, which mounted years ago a massive campaign to promote sex abstinence.

“With everything we have, we have to root out Comprehensive Sexuality Education from our entire school system and the legislature agenda. Take out everything. Let’s replace that with a pro-Constitution curriculum that really recognizes the enduring value of the Filipino, and spirit that wants to live on and on,” Sereno said.

Singapore model IN the Singapore model, its Ministry of Education promotes selfcontrol and abstinence taught by highly-trained teachers.

The incidence of teenage pregnancy also decreased in Singapore, they said.

“We have presented both alternatives to Secretary Angara and we are grateful for his statement that he is seriously considering them. We have RA 11908, The Parent for Sex Education to be taught in partnership with parents,” they said, adding that they want stronger implementation of that law to be the framework for parenting in the area of sexually harmful behavior.

• Editor: Angel R. Calso

Soaring bond yields signal new era of higher borrowing costs

By Michael Mackenzie & Ye Xie

FOR those unsettled by the relentless rise in government bond yields in the US and across much of the world lately, the message from markets is getting clearer by the day: Get used to it.

The world’s biggest bond market and global bellwether is leading a reset higher in borrowing costs, with the prospect of a prolonged period of elevated rates carrying consequences for economies and assets everywhere.

Just days into 2025, yields on US government debt are surging as the risks to supposedly super-safe assets mount. The economy continues to power ahead—Friday’s blowout employment report provided the latest evidence— while the Federal Reserve is rethinking the timing of further interest-rate cuts and Donald Trump is returning to the White House with policies prioritizing growth over debt and price fears as borrowing has soared.

The rate on 10-year notes alone has soared more than a percentage point in four months and now is within sight of the 5 percent barrier last breached briefly in 2023 and otherwise not seen since before the global financial crisis nearly two decades ago.

Longer-dated US bonds have already touched that milestone, with 5 percent seen by many on Wall Street as the new normal for the price of money. Similar spikes are playing out internationally, with investors increasingly wary of debt from the UK to Japan.

“There is a tantrum-esque type of environment here and it’s global,” said Gregory Peters, who helps oversee about $800 billion as co-chief investment officer at PGIM Fixed Income.

For some, the shift upward in yields is part of a natural realignment after years of a near-zero rate environment following the emergency measures taken after the financial crisis and then Covid. But others see new and worrisome dynamics that present major challenges. Given its role as a benchmark for rates and signal of investment sentiment, the tensions in the $28 trillion

US bond market threaten to impose costs elsewhere.

Households and businesses will find it more expensive to borrow, with US mortgage rates already back at around 7 percent, while otherwise upbeat stock investors are beginning to fret higher yields could be a poison pill for their bull market.

Corporate credit quality, which has remained generally strong amid the benevolent economic backdrop, also risks deterioration in a higher-forlonger environment.

Historians point out that rising 10-year note yields have foreshadowed market and economic spasms such as the 2008 crisis as well as the previous decade’s bursting of the dot-com bubble. And while the ultra-low rates of recent years allowed some borrowers to lock in favorable terms that have helped shield them from the latest yield surge, pressure points may build if the trend persists.

US yields are rising even after the Fed joined other major central banks in embarking on a course of rate cuts—a jarring disconnect that has few precedents in recent history. That easing of US monetary policy that started in September was expected to continue in lockstep with a slowing economy and inflation, setting up bonds to rally.

Instead, the economy has stayed solid, as is seen by December’s jump in jobs growth, and the resilience has sown doubts over just how far and how fast inflation can slow. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge rose 2.4 percent in the year through November, way below its pandemicera peak of 7.2 percent but still stubbornly above the 2 percent comfort level of central bankers. Wednesday sees the release of December’s consumer price index, which is predicted to show underlying inflation cooling only slightly. Consumers remain on guard: The latest sentiment

reading from the University of Michigan revealed inflation expectations for the next five to 10 years at the highest since 2008.

Several Fed policymakers recently signaled they support keeping rates on hold for an extended period. In markets, swaps reflect a similar viewpoint, with the next quarter-point cut not fully priced in until the second half of the year. A number of Wall Street banks on Friday trimmed their forecasts for 2025 cuts in the wake of strong jobs data. Bank of America Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG don’t see the Fed easing at all this year.

“The Fed doesn’t have much room to even talk about cutting rates in the near term,” Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab & Co Inc., said on Bloomberg Television Friday.

The continued pricing out of Fed rate cuts this year only compounds the poor performance of US government bonds compared to riskier assets such as stocks. The Bloomberg Treasury index has started the year in the red and is down 4.7 percent since just before the Fed’s first cut in September, compared with a 3.8 percent gain for the S&P 500 and a gain of 1.5 percent for an index of Treasury bills. Beyond the US, a global index of government bonds has lost 7 percent since shortly before the Fed cut in September, extending the decline since the end of 2020 to 24 percent.

The recalibration in rate expectations also helps explain why, according to Deutsche Bank, 10-year Treasuries are suffering their second-worst performance during 14 Fed easing cycles since 1966.

Enter the vigilantes?

MONETARY policy is only part of the picture, though. As US debt and deficits pile up, investors are becoming increasingly fixated on fiscal and budgetary decisions and what they may mean for markets and the Fed, especially ahead of this month’s return of Trump and a Republicanrun Congress. Tellingly, the term “bond vigilantes”—a decades-old moniker for investors who seek to exert power over government budget policies by selling their bonds or threatening to do so—is cropping up again in commentary and conversations on Wall Street.

The fiscal footprint is already huge. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated last

year that the budget shortfall is on track to exceed 6 percent of gross domestic product in 2025, a notable gap at a time of solid growth and low unemployment. Now Trump’s preference for tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation sets the stage for even bigger deficits, as well as the potential for accelerating inflation.

As politicians “apparently have zero appetite for fiscal tightening, the bond vigilantes are slowly waking,” said Albert Edwards, global strategist at Société Générale SA. “The argument that the US government can borrow in extremis because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency surely won’t hold good forever.”

As for the debt burden, the vast stimulus in the wake of the pandemic sent it skyrocketing, part of a global trend. Led by the US, the outstanding government debt among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of the most advanced economies, increased by 35 percent to $54 trillion in 2023 from 2019. The debt-to-GDP ratio of the OECD nations jumped to 83 percent from a pre-pandemic level of 73 percent.

It’s not stopping there: Bloomberg Economics projects the US debt-toGDP ratio will reach 132 percent by 2034—what many market watchers see as an unsustainable level.

Into this mix comes Trump. While he, Treasury Secretarynominee Scott Bessent and supporter Elon Musk have all lambasted the nation’s sea of red ink, they also back policies which risk adding to it in the belief they will spur growth and thus tax revenues. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washingtonbased watchdog, has estimated Trump’s economic plan, including renewing his 2017 tax cuts, would increase debt by $7.75 trillion above the current projected levels through fiscal year 2035.

PGIM Fixed Income’s Peters said he “wouldn’t be completely shocked at all” if 10-year yields rose beyond 5 percent in this environment, part of a growing camp who see yields resetting to a higher range. BlackRock Inc. and T. Rowe Price recently argued that 5 percent was a reasonable target as they expected investors would demand juicier rates to keep buying longer-dated Treasuries.

Pacific Investment Management Co. ended 2024 saying it was “less inclined” to purchase Treasuries with

dated debt have climbed faster than those of their short-term counterparts, a sign of concern for the long-term outlook.

“Rising term premium to us indicates a growing concern around the US fiscal path,” said Zachary Griffiths, head of US investment grade and macro strategy at CreditSights. “The steepening of the curve is also more consistent with the historical relationship between large and rising deficits.” There are still some who see yields reversing, assuming the related tightening of financial conditions means the economy finally does buckle and the Fed can ease anew. Sustained declines in risk assets might also change the equation and stoke demand for bonds. On Friday, declines in the S&P 500 wiped out its early gains for the year.

extended maturities in light of ballooning US deficits,” and advocated “vigilance before vigilantism.”

“If 2024 was a lesson that monetary policy isn’t everything in driving bondmarket returns, this year seems likely to cement that lesson by amping up the focus on fiscal policy and other government measures. These include things like tariffs, potential tax cuts, possible spending cuts, measures impacting the labor force, and issuance patterns,” said Bloomberg macro strategist Cameron Crise.

The more debt, the more issuance. On the present trajectory, the size of the bond market may almost double to $50 trillion over the next decade, adding supply at a time of nervous demand. Juggling that will likely be a challenge for Bessent.

Another headache for Bessent and the bond market: The impending hitting of the federal debt limit and pursuant political wrangling.

Budget concerns are playing out elsewhere around the globe. France and Brazil got attacked by investors at the end of last year and just last week UK gilt yields were propelled higher amid a protest over the nascent Labour government’s fiscal plans. At one point, the 30-year gilt yield spiked to its highest since 1998, leading some to draw parallels with the market meltdown witnessed during Liz Truss’s brief premiership of 2022.

“We will have some kind of fiscal type of bond market event sometime over the next couple years, said PGIM Fixed Income’s Peters. “There has to be some kind of governor of fiscal discipline and the bond market seems to be the only place where that can occur.

The contours will be different of course—in countries—but the idea will be the same, ‘Hey government, we need to have faith in your abilities to focus on this situation.’”

While the US enjoys some insulation given its debt is traditionally the world’s safestasset and the dollar dominates markets and commerce, warning signs of a permanent change in sentiment are flashing there too.

The so-called term premium on 10-year notes—the extra yield investors demand to accept the risk of taking on longer-term debt—is now at a more than decade high and, according to a Fed model, has become an increasingly bigger component of overall yields.  Meanwhile, yields on longer-

“I just don’t believe in the idea that bond yields can keep rising without having an effect on the economic cycle,” said Brij Khurana, portfolio manager at Wellington Management. And yield spikes can be fleeting. Bond markets are renowned for throwing tantrums—memorably in 2013 when the Fed said it would reduce bond purchases and in late 2023 when 10-year yields touched 5 percent—only to reach a point perceived as a buying opportunity that starts off a fresh rally.

To Jim Bianco, founder at Bianco Research, the rise in bond yields isn’t necessarily ominous. It’s how the world used to be before the financial crisis. He points out that 10year yields averaged about 5 percent in the decade through 2007.

The real outlier, he said, was the post-2008 period, when rates were pinned to zero, inflation was persistently running low and central banks were buying massive amounts of bonds in response to the crisis. That lulled the new generation of investors to accept that a 2 percent bond yield and zero inflationadjusted—or real—interest rate were “normal.”

The Covid shutdowns and the subsequent massive government stimulus reset the global economy and “changed things, frankly, for the rest of our life,” Bianco said. The consequence is persistently higher inflation, around 3 percent, and a 2 percent inflation-adjusted interest rates. Adding them together produces a 5 percent rate that Bianco says looks about right. He expects 10-year yields to move toward the 5 percent to 5.5 percent range.

Some note there are structural reasons behind the shift higher in yields that signal a paradigm shift as opposed to a return to normal.

In a report this month, strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. listed de-globalization, an aging population, political volatility and the need to spend money fighting climate change as reasons to expect the 10year note to yield 4.5 percent or higher in the future. For Bank of America, US Treasuries are already well into the latest “Great Bond Bear Market,” the third in 240 years after a decades-long bull run that ended in 2020, when rates touched an all-time low during the start of Covid lockdowns.

“That cycle is over,” Bianco said.

Bloomberg News

GREGORY PETERS JASON ALDEN/BLOOMBERG

Editor: Tet Andolong

Dine, Drink anD Dance in cebu’s sinulog Fest

By Bernard L. Supetran

It is this time of the year once more when festival hunters and religious devotees flock to Cebu for the Sinulog Festival, arguably the country’s biggest and oldest feast dedicated to the Holy Child Jesus or the Santo Niño.

The monthlong festivity, which is highlighted by today’s colorful and frenzied street dance parade, hopes to lure back a bigger and more interactive crowd as it is brought back to its traditional route in the heart of the city after being transplanted to the South Road Properties in recent years.

What makes this festival so irresistible apart from the pomp and pageantry is the countless fringe events and exciting offers and promos catering to merrymakers and locals alike. Revelers can bask once more in the street beat, while those who want a more quiet experience can laze in the urban getaways which have endeared Cebu to global travelers.

Closest to the center of action is Diamond Suites and Residences, a 3-star boutique hotel which is a convenient homebase in immersing in the festivity or simply exploring the city’s sights and sounds, and nocturnal lifestyle.

For the annual event, the hotel has cooked up the Sinulog BBQ Feast featuring all-time favorites done the Cebuano way: balbacua, sisig rice bowl, and grilled chicken quarters, pork belly skewers, chorizo de Cebu, and hotdog.

Just a few minutes away from the parade route, the eclectic city center, and Ayala Center’s lifestyle hub, this is a homey spot for a snug accommodation and comfort food away from the madding crowd.

And even after the festival, you can visit the Magellan’s Cross Shrine across the Santo Niño de Cebu and witness old women candle vendors doing the time-honored “sul-og” prayer dance, where the Sinulog derived

Bataan

The historic and touristic province of Bataan recently celebrated its 268th foundation anniversary with a vibrant lineup of activities in the capital city of Balanga. Themed “Selebrasyon ng Matatag na Pamilyang Bataeño,” the daylong observance kicked off with the h istory Symposium and the Kasayahan sa Kapitolyo which

its modern dance steps.

An upscale dining in the city’s fringes is The Weekend Chophouse and Taproom at the 88th Avenue Mall in Kasambagan district, which is soughtafter for its 50-day dry-aged Porterhouse, T-bone and wagyu steaks, USDA prime-grade ribeye, mackerel, pork belly confit, 30-day dry-aged pork chop, chophouse burgers, and e uropean specialties.

You can pair your food choice with premium wines, spirits, craft beer and connoisseur rums from Carribean countries.

Across the iconic Marcelo Fernan Bridge at the banks of the Mactan Channel is Marina Seaview, an upscale seafood resto and events place which can rival a hotel with its elegant furnishings, ornate interiors, and delectable specialty dishes.

Its al fresco area has a mesmerizing riverine panorama of harbor lights and passing ships across the channel as you sip the best spirits in town, and sway to

the beat of the music at the dining lounge.

Farther away from the festivity in Mactan is the luxe and award-winning Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort, a 5-star, 10-story hotel which boasts of 261 luxe rooms and suites, and an array of superb international dining options.

Its flagship dining outlet is 5

Cien which prides itself of a merry mix of international gourmet selections, Pinoy favorites and home-grown specialties. Named after the five centuries of interaction with Western colonials, it embraces the culinary and cultural heritage of Cebu and everything in between.

And if it is your lucky day, you will be able to sink your teeth

on occasional Indian, Mediterranean, Arabic and other Asian cuisine.

A smaller restaurant which is closer to the beach is Dip which specializes in Nikkei food which blends the best of Japan and Peru influences.

Moreover, Buhi Cave Bar is a poolside watering hole which looks out into the sea and Olango Island, and serves Mediterranean selections, bar chows, and the best spirits in town.

Complementing this epicurean indulgence are world-class Sheraton-branded facilities such multi-tiered swimming pools, spa and fitness center, and a shop for water recreation and scuba diving.

Deep down in Cebu’s southern fringes is Club Serena Resort in Moalboal town, a sprawling complex dotted with elegant and spacious tropical-themed suites

and villas with a panoramic view of Basdaku white sand beach and the Tañon Strait.

And despite its distance from the big city, you can savor an indulgent fare as the resort whips up the tastiest dishes and concoct the best cocktails and spirits in this southern serendipity. Lunch on delightful grilled presentations or have an entrancing sundowner by the sea at the allday dining restaurant, Mira. Beach bums can bask in the sun and sand, or plunge beneath the waved into the swirling run of a million sardines, row a kayak or a stand-up paddle board or island-hop around the virtual string of pearls across the biodiversity-rich Strait. With Cebu’s ever-growing leisure options, you can dine, drink, dance, and repeat the cycle in the Sinulog Festival and beyond.

Club Serena Resort in Moalboal

DIP Nikkei of Sheraton Mactan Resort

Kebab S of Marina Seaview

State of the Province address at People’s Center

Wee K e ND S Fat b astard, Cebu’s favorite pork chop

at ON Mactan Cebu

UPD experts: Algal blooms can now be predicted to prevent Laguna Lake fishes from dying

By Geraldine Bulaon-Ducusin

SINCE 1973, the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) has routinely monitored the lake’s water quality through remote sensing and monthly assessments.

The standard method used for monitoring the algal population in water is to measure chlorophylla, the green pigment produced by algae.

But having to wait for the instruments to indicate high algal content poses risk and the results may come out too late that the bloom may have already occurred.

“Algal blooms, which occur when algae overgrow in bodies of water, not only turn the water green, but also kill fish and contaminate the water supply of nearby communities,” explained Dr. Karl Ezra Pilario of the University of the Philippines Diliman Department of Chemical Engineering.

A more effective approach would be to monitor nitrate and phosphate concentrations in the water, as changes in their concentrations are often linked to increases in chlorophyll-a.

UPD experts showed that advanced tools such as machine learning (ML) models can be used to establish the complex relationships from data.

“Now, we have an accurate, robust, and explainable predictor of chlorophyll-a, we can deploy the model for rapid detection of impending algal blooms,” Pilario, said.

Researchers from UPD just published a study comparing the robustness and accuracy of eight common ML models for predicting algal blooms. The UPD study is titled “Robust Prediction of Chlorophyll-a from Nitrogen and Phosphorus Content in Philippine and Global Lakes Using Fine-Tuned, Explainable Machine Learning, Environmental Challenges.”

Along with Pilario, Dr. Maria Pythias Espino of the UPD College of Science Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Aurelio de los Reyes V and Eric Jan Escober of the UPD-CS Institute of Mathematics used water quality data from Laguna Lake and historical data from global lakes to train these models.

Recently, LLDA’s monitoring programs have employed these mathematical tools and ML models. Of the eight models, researchers discovered that two, called the Kernel Ridge Regression (KRR) and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), performed better than others. The other models included tree-based, which function like a decision-making flowchart, and artificial neural nets, a framework inspired by human brains’ neural networks.

Although all models achieved high accuracy, KRR was the most

accurate for Laguna Lake, while GPR was the best for global lakes. Moreover, KRR and GPR were more robust than the other models, allowing them to handle noisy data more effectively.

“We can take a water sample from the lake at any time, bring it to the lab to obtain the current nitrate ion and phosphate ion content, then estimate the chlorophyll-a from these values using KRR or GPR,” Pilario said.

The researchers recommend monthly monitoring of these values so that if an impending algal bloom is detected, there is ample time to prepare for interventions or mitigation strategies.

Laguna Lake, the largest lake

in the Philippines, one of Metro Manila’s major sources of bangus and tilapia, as well as drinking water, is particularly prone to algal blooms, especially during El Niño.

Approximately 100 rivers and streams flow into the lake, with the Pagsanjan River contributing almost one-fifth of the total inflow. The only outlet is the Pasig River, which connects the lake to Manila Bay, the study said.

While KRR and GPR can now be used for algal bloom prediction, the researchers noted that there are still many ways to improve the models. For instance, they are considering additional predictors like weather conditions, land cover types, and other effects caused by

KNIF2E laboratory for functional food R&D in W Visayas launched

THE Niche Center in the Region (Nicer) called Kasanggang Nicer in Functional Food Excellence (KNIF2E) Laboratory that signals a new era in advancing functional food research and development (R&D) in Western Visayas was inaugurated in Iloilo City on January 10.

A collaborative effort, the project is led by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) and the Iloilo City-based University of San Agustin (USA), said a DOST news release.

The KNIF2E Laboratory aims to advance functional food R&D derived from sugarcane, legumes, lagundi, and cacao that would also leverage local agricultural resources for health innovations.

The facility based at the USA is set to conduct research to develop health-centered food products from the abundant crops in the Western Visayas Region. Thus, it will help build the university’s reputation as a leader in functional food R&D in the region and in the rest of the country.

Science Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. remarked: “The KNIF2E laboratory reflects DOST’s commitment to developing solutions through functional food R&D. By concentrating on

local crops, we can address nutrition-related concerns while providing more opportunities for our farmers and food industries.”

DOST Undersecretary Dr. Leah J. Buendia, in her keynote address, emphasized the laboratory’s role in addressing the country’s health and nutrition challenges through innovative and functional food solutions.

“Establishing this Niche Center is a testament to the vision, dedication, and hard work of the University of San Agustin,” she said in her keynote address.

“With the Kasanggang Nicer, we can focus on functional foods and develop sustainable and accessible means to improve health, prevent diseases, and empower our agricultural and food manufacturing sectors,” Buendia added.

For his part, Rev. Fr. Arnel Dizon, OSA, president of USA, who led the blessing at the event, said: “The program does not only underscore prompt innovation and discovery of pertinent products but it also emphasizes researchers’ contribution to linkages and consortium among concerned organizations with mutual goals and initiatives.”

“The realization of the KNIF2E facility as a partner in the region under the R&D Program of the DOST is a concrete testament

of active networking and collaboration, translating knowledge in using ability to serve the community and society at large. The establishment of the facility exemplifies the USA’s commitment to innovation, service, and excellence through forward thinking trajectory,” he added.

USA Vice President Dr. Jonel P. Saludes, also the director of the USA Center for Natural Drug Discovery and Development, pointed out that “KNIF2E is the facility for Filipino scientists and researchers who want to push the frontiers of knowledge and discovery of functional foods, hence, welcomes collaborators from all over the country.”

He added: “[Through] research, verified through publications of international journals and protected through IPOPHIL [Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines].”

Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, executive director of the DOST-PCHRD, highlighted the significance of partnerships in scientific advancement.

“This initiative shows how science and technology, through R&D, can transform agricultural resources into functional products that enhance health and nutrition for our nutrition. This partnership between the DOST and the USA brings functional food R&D closer to the communities it seeks to serve,” he added.

The event was also graced by Dr. Shirley Agrupis, CHED Commissioner, representatives from the Office of the Governor and the Office of the Mayor.

Agrupis congratulated USA for its successful establishment of the niche center in the region.

“KNIF2E, as sharp as the knife, I can see a big future through this initiative. This milestone not only elevates the university but also advances the functional food industry in the Philippines,” she said.

She acknowledged DOST for its unwavering support and generous funding for R&D which made the initiative a reality.

“As a researcher myself, I can see that the center will serve as a training ground for the next generation of scientists and innovators in this field of research,” Agrupis added.

The SPC-FUEL, short for Sugarcane, Pulses, and Cacao Products from Functional Food Innovations to Enhance Life, for Health program is at the center of the KNIF2E Laboratory’s efforts, which explore the potential of sugarcane, legumes, lagundi, and cacao. Each crop anchors a specific research project on the following:

Project Asucar led by USA’s Center for Natural Drug Discovery and Development in collaboration with Pharma GalenX and DOST Region VI.

Pulses Project in partnership with the University of St. La Salle Bacolod and Herbanext Laboratories.

Choco Care Project spearheaded by USA’s Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology and Malagos Chocolates.

The inauguration also featured the signing of agreements between the USA and two key industry partners: RainPhil Inc., represented by Managing Director Patrick Ng, and Shimadzu World Lab Network, led by Executive Officer Dave Chua, and the unveiling of partnership markers with RainPhil and Shimadzu. These signify new collaborations in scientific research.

Father Dizon invoked blessings for the endeavors ahead,

humans.

Since samples from Laguna Lake were collected in just one season, they also plan to test the models with samples taken at different times of the year.

The researchers pointed out that for the Laguna Lake, they suggest two ways to improve lake management, the study said as published in Elsevier, a leading global scientific publisher and data analytics company.

Second, the trained model can be used by authorities for planning interventions, which can help in mitigation strategies ahead of time and in the forecasting of algal blooms.

The researchers said that on the modelling side, there’s a need to test more models that might be more accurate than KRR or GPR. The UPD researchers also “encourage other researchers to test for the robustness and explainability of their machine learning models, not just for accuracy,” because that would help validate the results that could eventually improve policies.

First, with the availability of ML generated models, the authorities can focus more on monitoring variables that indicate algal blooms. It is still advisable, however, to maintain the current practice of measuring other indicators in the lake to allow for continuous validation of the trained models.

‘Drug used in federal executions under Trump may cause unnecessary pain, suffering’

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is rescinding its protocol for federal executions that allowed for single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital, after a government review raised concerns about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s order to withdraw the lethal injection policy comes days before President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to restart federal executions, is set to return to the White House.

Trump’s Justice Department could reinstate the protocol to use pentobarbital as a single drug to carry out executions.

A moratorium on federal executions has been in place since 2021, and only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.

The governments’ findings about the potential risks of unnecessary pain could have broader implications. Legal challenges have been brought in several states where pentobarbital is the primary method of execution, potentially leading to reviews of execution protocols nationwide.

The department’s review of scientific and medical research found there remains “significant uncertainty about whether the use of pentobarbital as a single drug lethal injection causes unnecessary pain and suffering,” according to a report published on Wednesday.

“In the face of such uncertainty, the Department should err on the side of treating individuals humanely and avoiding unnecessary pain and suffering,” Garland wrote in his memo ordering the director of the Bureau of Prisons to rescind the protocol. Garland said it should not be reinstated ”unless and until that uncertainty is resolved.”

The report from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy noted that the Food and Drug Administration “has not reviewed or approved of the use of pentobarbital in high doses or for the purpose of causing death.”

Government lawyers said the process of dying by lethal injection was like falling asleep and they called gurneys “beds” and final breaths “snores.”

But accounts by reporters from The Associated Press and other media witnesses described how prisoners’ stomachs rolled, shook and shuddered as the pentobarbital took effect during executions at the US penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. The AP witnessed every federal execution. Questions about whether inmates’ midsections trembled, as media witnesses reported, were a focus of litigation throughout the series of executions.

Inmates’ lawyers argued it proved pentobarbital caused flash pulmonary edema, in which fluid rushes through quickly disintegrating membranes into lungs and airways, causing pain akin to being suffocated or drowned.

The Constitution prohibits execution methods that are “cruel and unusual.”

Several states also have policies allowing single-drug executions with pentobarbital. Tennessee announced last month that it would use the single drug to carry out executions that have been halted since 2022. The state’s previous protocol called for three different drugs to be used in a series.

Shawn Nolan, a lawyer who has represented federal death row inmates, said in a statement that the report makes clear that “no jurisdiction, federal or state, should continue using this cruel, unconstitutional execution method.”

The chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit in Nashville, Tennessee, Kelley Henry, said the review was “a damning condemnation of the use of pentobarbital to poison prisoners to death” and that Tennessee “should rescind its execution protocol immediately.” Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press

The pentobarbital protocol was adopted by Bill Barr, attorney general during Trump’s first term, to replace a three-drug mix used in the 2000s, the last time federal executions were carried out before Trump was in office. The Trump administration carried out 13 federal executions, more than under any president in modern history. Under Trump, the Justice Department also sanitized the accounts of the executions carried out in 2020 and 2021.

LAGUNA Lake view from Muntinlupa City. WIKIPEDIA

3.0

A6 Sunday, January 19, 2025

Faith Sunday

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

Pope Francis introspective, self-critical in autobiography

By Nicole Winfield The Associated Press

ROME—An introspective, Pope Francishas divulged some of the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the secret 2013 conclave that elected him pope and the resistance he has encountered ever since, in his autobiography that was released on January 14 that also doubles down on some of his more controversial decisions as pontiff.

“Hope: The Autobiography,” published by Random House in its 320-page English edition, was only supposed to be published after Francis’ death. But at his own request, the book is hitting bookshelves now in more than 80 countries to coincide with the start of the church’s Holy Year.

“But since I’m not dying [he laughs], they’re afraid that it will lose relevance and they decided to do it now,” the Holy Father explained last December in a conversation with Argentine journalist Bernarda Llorente, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.

Tagged as the first autobiography ever written by a sitting pope, although Francis has collaborated with plenty of other memoir-type books before, and much of his papacy and personal backstoryare already well known.

Decisions made or regret HOPE ” does provide personal insights into how history’s first Latin American pope interprets his childhood in Buenos Aires and how it has informed his priorities as pope.

Drawn from conversations over six years with Italian journalist Carlo Musso, “Hope” offers Francis’ own sometimes unflattering assessments of decisions he made or things he regrets—at least before he became pope. It’s almost confessional at times, an 88-year-old Jesuit performing the Ignatian examination of his conscience at the end of his life to identify things he said or did that he now realizes could have

been done better.

Whether it’s the time when he insisted that a schoolmate pay to repair a bike he had broken, or knocked another schoolmate nearly unconscious, he seems deeply ashamed of his younger self and says he still doesn’t believe himself worthy of the papacy.

“If I consider what is the greatest gift that I desire from the Lord, and have experienced, it is the gift of shame,” he writes at one point.

Mysterious past avoided CURIOUSLY , two periods of Bergoglio’s past which have remained somewhat mysterious to outsiders are once again avoided in “Hope.”

One concerns his stint in Córdoba, Argentina, from 1990-1992. Francis has never really explained the internal Jesuit dynamics that resulted in him being exiled to work as a confessor at the Jesuit church more than a decade after he was provincial of the order in Argentina.

The period is mentioned only in passing when Francis refers simply to “the dark night at Córdoba.”

The other period of unknown in Bergoglio’s backstory concerns the time he spent in Germany doing research on the theologian Romano Guardini for a dissertation he never finished.

Also given short shrift was the impact of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, which convulsed his papacy for several years. The scandalexploded during Francis’ 2018 trip to Chile.

The pope mentions the scandal

briefly in the book. But he spends far more time recalling a more heart-warming memory from the Chile trip, when hemarried a pair of flight attendantson board the papal plane during the flight to Iquique.

Emotions during conclave balloting

THE second half of the book, focusing on the papacy, is far less self-critical and in fact is strident in defending his sometimes controversial decisions.

It is here that Francis provides further details of his emotions as thevotes started going his wayon the second day of balloting during the March 2013 conclave that elected him pope.

Francis reveals that he was among those cardinals receiving “stopgap votes” in the first rounds, when cardinals toss out votes to see which way the balloting winds are heading.

He says he wasn’t keeping count in the early rounds but realized that his fate was sealed once he got 69 votes on the fourth ballot, out of the 77 needed for a two-thirds majority of the 115 cardinals.

The fifth ballot—the one that made him pope—actually had to be done twice.

An extra ballot paper got stuck to one that a cardinal had filled out, so that when the papers were counted there were 116 rather than 115. The papers were burned without having even been opened and a new fifth ballot called.

“When my name was pronounced for the 77th time, there was a burst of applause, while the reading of the votes went on,” he writes. “I don’t know exactly how many votes there were in the end, I was no longer listening, the noise covered the voice of the scrutineer.”

One of the first things he did after the vote was to embrace Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan who had been such a favorite going into the conclave that the Italian bishops conference had dummied up a press release announcing his election.

“He deserved that embrace,” Francis writes.

Once in the sacristy, known as the “Room of Tears,” to be outfitted with the papal garb, Francis reveals that he had in his pocket his old episcopal ring which he

used, suggesting that he had an intuition getting dressed in the morning that he would indeed be elected.

“The red shoes? No, I have orthopedic shoes. I’m rather flatfooted,” he writes of his sartorioal choices that night.

Nor did he want the red velvet cape, known as a mozzetta, favored by his predecessor.

“They were not for me. Two days later they told me I would have to change my trousers, wear white ones. They made me laugh. I don’t want to be an ice cream seller, I said. And I kept my own.”

Most difficult task: Reform of Vatican bureaucracy THOSE looking for current Vatican gossip in “Hope” will be somewhat disappointed, as Francis only fleetingly touches on the more controversial parts of his papacy.

He is far more certain of his decisions made as pope, even doubling down onblasting traditionalist Catholic priestsas rigid and mentally unstable.

“This rigidity is often accompanied by elegant and costly tailoring, lace, fancy trimmings, rochets. Not a taste for tradition but clerical ostentation,” he writes. “These ways of dressing up sometimes conceal mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioral difficulties, a personal problem that may be exploited.”

He writes that the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, particularly the effort to impose international accounting and budgeting stan -

dards on its finances, have been the most difficult task of his papacy and one that generated “the greatest resistance to change.”

“I have been summoned to a battle,” he writes.

He strongly defends his decision to authorize a sweeping trial of 10 people, including a cardinal, accused of alleged financial misconduct related to an investment in a London property.

The trial resulted in several convictions, but also cost the Holy See reputational harm, given questions about whether the defendantsreceived a fair trialand Francis’ own role in the saga.

“The decisions that I made in that respect were not easy, I was sure there would be problems, but I also know that the truth must never be hidden and being opaque is always the worst choice,” he writes.

After African bishops unanimously rejected his approval of gay blessings, Francis stands by his decision and insists that the blessing is for the people, not the relationship.

“Homosexuality is not a crime,”he writes, repeating a statement he first made in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press.

‘Healthy irony’ as a medicine to counter narcissism

THE Holy Father devotes a large amount of space in his autobiography to the value of a sense of humor to deal with sadness and “healthy irony” as a medicine to counter narcissism, the CNA reported.

Millions of pilgrims, naked, ash-smeared ascetics dip in India’s mega

PRAYAGRAJ, India—Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival, known as the largest religious congregation on Earth. Holding tridents, swords, spears and small two-headed drums, ash-smeared Hindu holy men marched and rode chariots at sunrise toward the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in the northern city of Prayagraj. The men—with matted dreadlocks and crowns of marigolds—chanted religious slogans praising Hindu deity Lord Shiva on the way to the bathing site in a large procession with singing, drumming and blowing of horns.

Millions of Hindu pilgrims followed them into the confluence.

The Maha Kumbh festival—held every 12 years—started on Monday, with more than 15 million pilgrims bathing in the holy rivers, according to officials. Over about the next six weeks, the festival is expected to draw more than 400 million people, many of whom will take part in elaborate rituals.

Hindus believe that bathing at the confluence will cleanse them of their sins and release them from the cycle of rebirth.

Among the bathers was Venkatesh

Ramaling, a tech specialist from southern Pune city.

“It is amazing to see how people are just diving in such cold water. People have such strong faith here, and looking at them I feel inspired,” Ramaling said.

“After taking the bath, I feel really good and full of positivity.”

The festival has its roots in a Hindu tradition that says the god Vishnu wrested a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. Hindus believe that a few drops fell in the cities of Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar—the four places where the Kumbh festival has been held for centuries.

The Kumbh rotates among the four pilgrimage sites about every three years on a date determined by the cosmic alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter.

This year’s festival is the biggest and grandest of them all.

Authorities have built a sprawling tented city on the riverbanks to accommodate the holy men, pilgrims and tourists visiting the festival.

The government has provided more than $765 million for the event, hoping to impress India’s largely Hindu population and draw visitors from around the world.

“It is some culmination, some distillation of so much spiritual pursuit, so it is fascinating to see everyone with one purpose,” said Stephen Barker, a New

York-based artist who was at the festival. The tent city is equipped with 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 toilets.

“Irony is medicine, not only to elevate and enlighten others but also for oneself, because self-irony is a powerful tool to overcome the temptation of narcissism. Narcissists continually look in the mirror, they get all primped up, they observe themselves over and over again, but the best advice in front of a mirror is always to laugh at oneself. It will do us good,” the pope comments in the book.

The reader will find some jokes told by the pope himself. The Italian newspaper “Avvenire” gave a preview of one of them when he went to the US.

“As soon as he lands at the New York airport for his apostolic trip to the United States, Pope Francis finds an enormous limousine waiting for him. He is a little embarrassed by all that pomp, but then he thinks that he hasn’t driven in ages, and never a car like that, and in short he says to himself: Well, when will I get another chance? He looks at the limousine and asks the driver: ‘Would you let me try it?’ And the driver: ‘Look, I’m really sorry, Your Holiness, but I just can’t do it, you know the procedures, the protocols…’

“But you know how they say the pope is when he gets something into his head; in short he insists and insists, until the guy gives in. Pope Francis then gets behind the wheel on one of those major streets and…gets a taste for it, starts to press on the accelerator: going 50, 80, 120… Until a siren is heard and a police car pulls up alongside him and stops him.

“A young policeman approaches the tinted window, the slightly intimidated pope rolls it down and the man turns pale. ‘Excuse me a minute,’ he says, and goes back to his car to call the station. ‘Chief… I think I have a problem.’ And the chief says, ‘What problem?’ ‘Well, I stopped a car for speeding… but there’s a really important guy in it.’ ‘How important? Is he the mayor?’ ‘No, chief, more than the mayor…’ ‘And who is more than the mayor? The governor?’ ‘No, more…’ ‘But is he the president?’ ‘More, I think…’ ‘And who could possibly be more important than the president?’ ‘Look, chief, I don’t know exactly who he is, but I’ll just tell you that the pope is his chauffeur!’” With Almudena Martínez-Bordiú/Catholic News Agency

POPE Francis as then Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio giving a Mass outside the San Cayetano Church in Buenos Aires, on August 7, 2009. AP/NATACHA PISARENKO/FILE

NAKED Hindu ascetics and holy men bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers on the second day of the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, India, on January 14, 2025. AP/ASHWINI BHATIA

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Long-term exposure to wildfire smoke a growing risk

By Luke Montrose

MILLIONS of people across the Los Angeles area are being exposed to wildfire smoke as fires burn through homes and vehicles.

The fires in January 2025 have burned thousands of structures, along with the building materials, furniture, paints, plastics and electronics inside them.

When materials like these burn, they can release toxic chemicals with the potential to harm people breathing the air downwind.

A 2023 study of smoke from fires in the wildland-urban interface—areas where urban neighborhoods bleed into the wildlands—found it contained a vast array of chemicals harmful to humans including hydrogen chloride, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins and a range of toxic organic compounds, including known carcinogens, such as benzene, as well as toluene, xylenes, styrene and formaldehyde.

The researchers also found metals in the smoke, including lead, chromium, cadmium and arsenic, which are known to affect several body systems, such as the brain, liver, kidney, skin and lungs.

The short-term effects of exposure to smoke like this can trigger asthma attacks and cause lung and cardiac problems. But smoke can also have longterm effects, and those are less well understood.

As an environmental toxicologist who focuses on wildfire smoke health effects, I, along with many of my colleagues, am increasingly concerned about the impact of long-term and repeated exposures to wildfire smoke that more people are now facing.

Long-term smoke exposure is increasing NATIONWIDE , the acreage burned in wildfires in the US has nearly doubled each decade since 1990. That is changing how people are exposed to wildfire smoke. Communities have found themselves blanketed in smoke for days and weeks at a time increasingly often. In 2023, massive wildfires in Canada repeatedly spread thick smoke into many US communities.

Intl conference spotlights sustainable agri-biodiversity, food security

AN international conference provided a platform for tapping into the shared potential of sustainable agricultural intensification practices and biodiversity for food and nutrition security and improving livelihoods of households and communities, and resilient ecosystems.

The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca), through its Research and Thought Leadership Department (RTLD), teamed up with the Center of Excellence on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Nutrition (CE SAIN) for the “CE SAIN-Searca Joint International Conference 2024: The Fourth International Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Nutrition (SAIN4) and the Third School-plus-Home Gardens cum Biodiversity Enhancement Enterprise (SHGBEE3) Conference.”

Themed “Harnessing synergies of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity towards food and nutrition security and improved livelihoods,” the conference was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from November 19 to 22, 2024.

More than 120 attendees participated in the conference, featuring 64 paper and poster presentations from the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the USA. The presentations focused on four thematic areas: sustainable agricultural intensification practices, biodiversity enhancement, promotion of food and nutrition security in schools and communities, and agripreneurship and social enterprise.

Keynote speeches and conference

Controlled burns, which firefighters set to clear away flammable brush and reduce the severity of future wildfires, also add smoke to the air.

Wildfire smoke is now the leading source of PM2.5—microscopic particulate matter that can penetrate into the lungs—in the western US.

This growing exposure increases the need to understand the long-term consequences of living and working in wildfire-risk areas.

Dose, duration and frequency matter

WHEN scientists study the health risks of wildfire smoke, they tend to use analysis methods that were developed to assess health effects caused by low-level, chronic, urban air pollution exposures—picture car exhaust or smokestack emissions.

However, these approaches fail to capture the dynamic and intense nature of wildfire smoke.

Researchers suspect there are differing consequences for people exposed to smoke at varying intensities and durations. Repeated exposure to wildfire smoke may also have compounding health effects over time.

To study the long-term impact of wildfire smoke, scientists need to know how much smoke people were exposed to, for how long and how often. That’s not an experiment anyone can conduct on humans in a lab, but the data can be gathered from communities being

agriculture.

They stressed the need for a holistic approach to sustainable health and human nutrition, incorporating education, agriculture, and community engagement.

Collaboration among the academe, government, and private sector was also pointed out as key in capacity building and technology transfer.

The session brought together experts from various fields, including Charlotte MasielloRiome, Communications and External Engagement officer of the School Meals Coalition; Dr. Danny Hunter, principal scientist at the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT; Bernice Anne De Torres, program coordinator at RTLD-Searca; Shiela V. Anunciado, program manager for Food Security and Nutrition/Food Systems at the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction; and Dr. Leangsrun Chea, Agricultural Technical manager at CE SAIN.

affected by wildfires.

Right now, however, this kind of data collection is rare.

Most studies that have explored long-term exposure, such as its impact on dementia or pregnancy, have used an average exposure over years rather than detailed data on exposures.

A few have focused on specific events. For example, a study of residents who had been exposed to six weeks of smoke during the 2017 Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake, Montana, found their lung

function was significantly reduced for at least two years after the fire.

That was a forest fire, and while burning vegetation is bad, it’s generally thought to be less toxic than burning buildings.

Thinking differently about smoke exposure

IMPROVING understanding of the long-term effects of wildfire smoke will require thinking differently about smoke.

If epidemiologists can begin clearly defining the negative

health effects from wildfire smoke exposure in terms of dose, duration and frequency in their studies, taking into account the dynamic and episodic nature, then toxicologists can model these human experiences in animal experiments. These experiments would have the potential to improve the understanding of the long-term health risks and then help scientists develop effective guidelines and strategies to mitigate harmful exposures. Colorado State University/The Conversation (CC) via AP

LA tree advocates hope their work recovers from devastating fires

LOS ANGELES—Some people across Los Angeles have worked for years to increase the number of trees that give respite from heat and air pollution.

The tree advocates have confronted increasing drought, bad trimming and objections from neighbors who resent leaves and sap.

Now they wonder what this month’s devastating fires have done to their efforts.

messages were delivered by Dr. Bunthan Ngo, rector of the Royal University of Agriculture; Dr. Lyda Hok, Center director of CE SAIN; Dr. Glenn Gregorio, Searca Center director; and Dr. Dexter Galban, assistant secretary of the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd). Galban underscored the importance of cultural sensitivity in meal planning, highlighting strategies, such as incorporating indigenous foods and recognizing local agricultural diversity.

He said that DepEd employs a multifaceted approach to impart agricultural knowledge and develop future farming leaders in its educational programs, and reinforces the link between school gardens, nutrition, and sustainable communities.

The conference focused on mainstreaming agrobiodiversity to promote climate resilience, nutrition, livelihoods, and ecosystem health.

It emphasized collective action through SHGBEE initiatives and sustainable agricultural practices, such as diversifying crops and improving seed access to enhance nutrition and agricultural value.

The discussion was led by Hok, Gregorio, and Dr. Jai Rana, senior scientist and country representative for India Office of the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

Discussions were held on promoting planet-friendly school meals, implementing national and regional school-based food and nutrition (SBFN) initiatives, ensuring farmer inclusion in the programs, and encouraging youth engagement in

Meanwhile, panel discussions moderated by Dr. Manuel Reyes, adjunct professor at Kansas State University and Searca Senior Fellow, and Dr. Gerlie Tatlonghari, program head of RTLD-Searca, zeroed in on integrating sustainable agriculture and biodiversity for improved food security and livelihoods, as well as fostering multistakeholder collaboration to strengthen school and community food and nutrition systems through school gardening initiatives.

The experts called for the involvement of “champions,” especially at the local government level, to amplify school and home garden initiatives.

They stressed the importance of raising awareness of nutrition and sustainable agriculture, inspiring youth, and using data-driven decision-making and evidencebased policies, specifically monitoring and evaluation systems.

Alongside the plenary and parallel sessions was the two-day mobile workshops that provided attendees with practical insights into sustainable farming, biodiversity enhancement, and nutrition-driven initiatives.

This included visits to the Hang Eco Farm, a nine-hectare model farm that supplies farm produce to local primary schools through school feeding programs; the Somrong Primary School Home Grown School Feeding site supported by the World Food Programme; and CE SAIN’s Agricultural Technology Park (ATP), which functions as a multipurpose platform for agricultural technologies, research, internships, and collaborations.

They also toured the mini-ATP at the Samdech Euv High School, which engages youth in agriculture through classroom and field activities, and a visit to the Angkor Wat Biodiversity Conservation Area.

City arborists have “sobering” photographs of large trees knocked onto homes and parkways from the same powerful winds that sent fires out of control, said Bryan Vejar, associate director of community forestry for TreePeople, an environmental nonprofit that works to plant and care for trees across Los Angeles.

Other images show scorched canopies, he said.

The powerful Santa Ana winds damaged trees in South Los Angeles, Watts and Inglewood, historically underserved neighborhoods with less shade and TreePeople’s primary focus areas.

The air is still so bad that field crews cannot yet work safely. When they go out, he said, they expect to find snapped, broken or dried out young trees.

New trees are vulnerable, and volunteers often have to go out and water them for the first few years.

“Events like this can greatly increase our mortality rates,” Vejar said.

Past fires and extreme winds have torn off many limbs and taken down trees, especially ones planted in narrow strips of land where there isn’t room for much soil, he said.

When it’s safe, urban tree experts will go out to inspect, restake and retie trees toppled by winds, and remove and replace those that were lost.

Replanting trees in burned neighborhoods is harder because of climate change, said Will Berleson, a professor at USC’s Department of Earth Sciences and researcher with the university’s Urban Trees Initiative.

Even though many of the city’s mature trees might be 30 or 40 years old, they “started growing at times when it was not as hot and didn’t have these kinds of wet and dry fluctuations that we seem to be seeing now,” he said.

Some experts see tree loss as an opportunity to teach Los Angeles residents about where they live and which plants are the best fit and that’s not necessarily the iconic ones from Hollywood movies.

They would like to replace nonnative species like palms—which are more closely related to grasses—with trees that provide shade and can withstand extreme heat and drought.

Trees such as the coast live oak are a good option, said Aaron Thomas, director of urban forestry at the environmental nonprofit North East Trees. They are native to the region and are fire resilient—in fact, they need to burn to reproduce, he said. Thomas, who grew up in Altadena, has family members who lost homes to the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. His brother’s home burned, but the five coast live oaks in his backyard survived.

For him, it’s another reminder that cities need to think about how to rebuild and reforest with native flora: “That’s what we need to do.” But planting trees with climateresilient features such as large canopies isn’t always easy, and cities must consider community input when deciding what to plant. Trees that provide a lot of shade can make it difficult for drivers to see around corners and where space is at a premium, sometimes there’s just not enough room above or below ground to plant them. Berleson added that it will take a long time for neighborhoods to look like they did before the fires. Vejar said his group knows there will be setbacks, but that is reality. “It’s climate change. It’s water restrictions. It’s extreme weather events,” he said. “And so in the face of this, all we can do is continue to build and rebuild and steward our urban forests in such a way that makes it more resilient in the face of these extreme weather events.” Tammy Webber and Dorany Pineda/ Associated Press

A CAR (center) drives past homes and vehicles destroyed by the Palisades Fire at the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates in Los Angeles, on January 12. AP/NOAH BERGER

Aussie Open streams live with gaming-style avatars

MELBOURNE, Australia—Maybe attending sports events in person is too been-there, donethat in the modern age. So, apparently, is watching the actual action on a TV, laptop or phone. The Australian Open is getting in on the newest trend in the sports world by re-creating tennis matches in video-game form.

The year’s first Grand Slam tournament, which runs through January 26, is streaming real-time animated feeds on its YouTube channel that mimic what’s happening in the three main stadiums.

Players are represented by characters that look like something out of a Wii game—not exactly perfect portrayals of Coco Gauff or Novak Djokovic, perhaps, but the graphics do try to show the correct outfit colors or hats and bandanas the athletes are wearing and reflect what is happening in the matches, with about a one-point delay.

BOSTON—A gold medal awarded to the winner of the 110-meter hurdles at the  1904 St. Louis Olympics , the first Games hosted on US soil, is being auctioned off as part of hundreds of lots of memorabilia representing various Olympics over the decades.

The medal bears the inscription “Olympiad, 1904” and shows a victorious athlete holding a wreath on the front. On the other side, Nike, the goddess of victory in ancient Greek mythology, is shown alongside Zeus, the pantheon’s king of gods, and the words for the hurdles event it was awarded.

The medal, awarded to American Fred Schule, includes the original ribbon and leather case. This was the first Olympics where gold medals were awarded and the Americans took advantage, winning 78 of 96 events. Unlike Olympic medals these days which are mostly made of silver with gold plating, these were smaller and made entirely of gold. Bobby Eaton, an Olympic specialist at Boston-based RR Auction, said it is unusual for a medal of this kind to come up for auction though this particular one came from Schule’s family’s collection.

“No one really knows exactly how many 1904 Olympic gold medals are still out there,” Eaton said. “What we do know is they’re exceedingly rare. Of the roughly 100 gold medals awarded in St. Louis, many have been lost to time or are tucked away in private collections and museums.”

Beyond the gold medals, the 1904 Games also were remembered for plenty of controversy and oddities.

The Games were originally awarded to Chicago, but organizers of the World’s Fair in St. Louis feared competition for attendance and protested against a second international event held simultaneously.

Fair organizers threatened to host their own athletic events and it took the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin, to forge peace by moving the Olympics 300 miles (483 kilometers) south. AP

“Sometimes I think it’s a very accurate [depiction] of the actual player that’s playing. So it’s weird. It’s funny and weird,” said 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who will face Gauff in the third round Friday.

“I did not see myself just yet. Maybe I will. Now I’m curious, because I’ve seen different players...and I think I want to watch myself, too.”

Tennis Australia created its own

“skins” to represent players, chair umpires and ball persons.

“The wonderful part of it is it’s

the players’ actual movement. It’s the actual trajectory of the ball,” Machar Reid, Tennis Australia’s director of innovation, told The Associated Press.

“We’re taking the real into the unreal. That’s part of the magic.”

Carlos Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion at age 21, called it “a good alternative.”

Like many players preparing for future opponents, Fernandez often scours YouTube to try to find footage of past matches to aid with scouting. That, Fernandez said with a chuckle, is how she accidentally discovered the cartoonish replays from Melbourne Park that have been creating a buzz among the competitors.

She was having trouble finding a certain match when she noticed a thumbnail photo of two players, Fernandez said.

“So I click on it and think, ‘This is it! Finally! I have one,’” Fernandez said. “Nope. It’s a Wii character, which is hilarious.”

Jiri Lehecka, a Czech player seeded 24th in Australia, was checking social media the other day when he came across a “replay” of 2021 US Open champion Daniil

Medvedev’s avatar destroying a net camera by smacking it repeatedly with his racket during a first-round victory.

“I had no idea that something like that exists, so for me, it was quite funny to see that,” Lehecka said.

“Maybe I will see myself as a game character one day. We will see.”

To get the chance, he’ll need to play

Ta match in Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena or John Cain Arena.

Tennis Australia first experimented with this on one court during last year’s tournament, hoping to attract gamers and a younger audience to the sport.

The National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League also have tried this type of approach, using animation for alternate game telecasts.

The 2024 debut in Melbourne “was kind of in stealth and didn’t necessarily capture the world’s imagination. But this year, we’ve seen that happening,” Reid said.

The streams in the first four days of the event this week drew more than 950,000 views, according to Tennis Australia; the figure for the same time period in 2024 was about 140,000.

“It’s part of our DNA to innovate and try to challenge the status quo or, in this instance, provide experiences to different groups of fans that are more personalized for them to consume,” Reid said. “We’re seeing younger kids or the gaming demographic gravitating to the sport maybe in this way. Clearly, it’s not for everyone.”

Might this eventually became the No. 1 way fans “watch” sports?

“Not in my lifetime and not in yours, I don’t think. But who knows? The world of sport and entertainment is moving so, so quickly,” Reid said. “But I think we’re always going to be drawn to the amazing athletes doing their thing in front of our very eyes.” AP

Australians biggest threat to Gilas Asia Cup campaign

SBy Josef Ramos

AMAHANG Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) President Al Panlilio hopes that the national team won’t play powerhouse Australia in the preliminary and knockout stages of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup set August 5 to 17 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Panlilio, also the first vice-president of Philippine Olympic Committee, is also hopeful of the country’s chances in winning the Asia Cup.

The Philippines is 4-0 in the ongoing qualifiers and are already entered in the tournament proper.

“We are already qualified, but we are not satisfied yet,” Panlilio told BusinessMirror . “If we can win the Asia Cup crown, why not? So, I expect coach Tim [Cone] to assemble a competitive team.”

“We want to perform well to have a better seeding there,” he added.

Besides Australia and World No. 34 Philippines, already eligible for the Asia Cup are Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Jordan and host Saudi Arabia with nine other countries vying for qualification.

“Australia is going to be No. 1 for sure so we are hoping to avoid them.

If we face them, we hope it is in the final already,” Panlilio said. “Although we are already qualified, we will treat our remaining games in the Asia Cup qualifiers as must-win games.”

World’s No. 7 Australia, an elite

HE Capital1 Solar Spikers beefed up their roster by signing up on Friday Trisha Genesis just in time for the resumption of the Premiere Volleyball League AllFilipino Conference this weekend.

Genesis’s arrival is like whiff of fresh air as the team co-owned by sisters Milka and Mandy Romero are determined to turn their fortunes around—they are 1-4 won-lost in the conference.

Genesis, who played for the Nxled Chameleons last year, is known for her thunderous spikes.

The Romero sisters witnessed the signing of the contract along with several team officials.

Under coach Roger Gorayeb’s guidance, Genesis, 24, is likely to blossom into a potent spiker apart from giving the team depth.

“We will have now another offensive option,” Gorayeb said. Genesis will have her baptism of fire when the Solar Spikers battle the Creamline Spikers on Tuesday. The 5-foot-7 Genesis played for the Adamson University Lady Falcons that saw them rule the 2019 Collegiate Conference and won the Conference Most Valuable Player and First

to a training camp later this month in Doha, Qatar. Expected to reinforce Gilas in the Asia Cup are naturalized player Justine Brownlee, CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos, June Mar Fajardo, Calvin Oftana, Carl Tamayo, Japeth Aguilar, and Scottie Thompson. Gilas is coming off an inspiring 93-89 win over New Zealand last November.

BASKETBALL association president Al Panlilio (bottom) with Gilas Pilipinas players during the singing of the national anthem in their match against New Zealand last November.

THIS image made from animation and provided by Tennis Australia shows the second round match between Iga Swiatek and Rebecca Sramkova. AP

Relief, 21st-centuRy style:

As wildfires burn, GoFundMe becomes a repository of harrowing stories

| soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

BIG TICKET RELEASES TO WELCOME THE NEW YEAR

From Mondo, Barbie Almalbis, Spill Harbour, Paolo Sandjas, Jolianne, and Vincent Eco

MONDO with Kitchie Nadal and Diego Mapa “A Thousand Voices”

WITH the latest single “A Thousand Voices,” Mondo breaks new ground, several new grounds, in fact, to kick off 2025. First, Mondo is in solo singer-songwriter mode rocking in collaboration with Diego Mapa and Kitchie Nadal.

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Second, the single comes in two flavours: a stripped down acoustic original version and a dynamic full band treatment which resonates with the energetic sound of New Order, Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails. Third, the accompanying music video taps into Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in merging cutting-edge visuals with the song’s message of hope, resilience, and divine grace in an immersive experience.

In an exclusive interview, Mondo told Soundstrip, “It’s called A Thousand Voices and we felt it was just perfect timing for something different, completely different from the sound of Mondo (the band). I shared the original track with Diego Mapa who put in the beats and to Kitchie Nadal who put in her vocals. As for the video, I gave Eric aka Projek Messiah a free hand and he came up with the dystopian future concept.” The single has begun firing up senses upon its formal release last January 3, 2025.

SPILL HARBOUR “Filaments”

INtheir latest release “Filament,”

Davao-based Spill Harbour drops the next evolution of its post-rock sound with hints of pop, creating a grand, cinematic atmosphere. Drawing inspiration from bands like Mae, Copeland, and Death Cab for Cutie, Spill Harbour has crafted a sound that speaks to both the heart and the mind. Their goal is to reach a younger audience who are likely to respond to the intimate and introspective nature of their music.

Describing their music as “instrumental/emotional post-rock,” guitarist Pol Marcos explains, “The entire song was recorded live, all four of us playing together without a click track.” Thus, the vision was achieved by layering keys and orchestral textures into the fundamentally guitar-driven structure of the song.

JOLIANNE “Plain Girl”

WITH the incredibly witty new track “Plain Girl,” Cebuana singer-songwriter Jolianne offers a playful yet honest anthem that depicts the complexities of being a single young woman in a world full of love stories. Jolianne’s second single blends jazz-infused pop with a subtle touch of Disney-like whimsy, making it impossible to ignore. The song strikes a perfect balance between vulnerability and humor, with the soothing melodies contrasting sharply against the candid lyrics. The rising artist explains, “I didn’t want it to come across as overly selfdeprecating. Instead, I wanted it to sound like I was poking fun at my situation. This is why I paired the lyrics with dreamlike melodies and production.”

PAOLO SANDEJAS

“the world is so small” album

FILIPINO

singer-songwriter Paolo Sandejas’ highly anticipated debut album, the world is so small is a profound voyage into love, loss, and selfdiscovery in the formative years of one’s 20s. According to Sandejas, the world is so small is an anthology of moments that mirror the intricate web of human connections.

“This album is divided into four thematic phases of a relationship,” Sandejas elaborates. “There’s the excitement of a honeymoon phase, mental health phase, then the challenges of long-distance relationships and the final stage of moving on and finding peace. Through these stories, the album paints a picture of interconnectedness, that we are always tethered to one another.”

VINCENT ECO

‘Sa May Baybayon’ EP

CELEBRATED

singer-songwriter

Vincent Eco has finally premiered his much-awaited 6-track EP, Sa May Baybayon, which showcases a narrative of the cycle of love: from falling in love, falling out of love, and moving on. Eco utilizes vivid imagery of the waves and ocean to represent the different emotions and journeys one goes through love’s ebbs and flows.

“The first two songs of the EP introduce you to the feeling of being hopelessly in love. The mood suddenly changes as the third song hits you like an ocean wave, bringing with it waves of heartbreak, rage, regret, and acceptance,” Eco shares, “Sa May Baybayon aims to create a sense of being on the opposite side of the seashore where, instead of a sunny and lovely day at the beach with family or friends, you are alone at midnight.”

BARBIE ALMALBIS

“Not That Girl” Album

ACCLAIMED

singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis’ fifth and latest recording has been described as an experimental pop record reflecting a bold, introspective journey into healing, resilience, and self-discovery. Far from her previous works, “Not That Girl” explores themes of emotional healing, resilience, and the challenges of navigating mental health— subjects Almalbis approaches with raw honesty and vulnerability.

“This album was written during one of the most difficult periods of my life, yet it has become one of my favorites,” Almalbis shares. “The overarching themes are about holding on to faith through struggles, finding hope through surrender, and celebrating the joy that comes from love and friendship.”

ROCK STARS’ REUNION

Lead singers of After Image, Color It Red, Prettier Than Pink, and Orient Pearl in one concert

THE concert’s title, Frontmen & Rock Chix, could use more wit and imagination. But what’s more important is, it’s happening on Jan. 25 at the Music Museum, featuring four of the most popular lead singers in the groundbreaking alternative scene of the 1990s — Wency Cornejo, Cooky Chua, Lei Bautista, and Naldy Padilla.

Where have they been after all these years? And what are they busy with these days?

Cornejo went to Italy to learn to bake pizza and wants to put up his own pizzeria. Chua has slowed down from her rock ’n’ roll days, but is still active with her band Color It Red. Bautista has been helping promote similar ’90s revival concerts but says it’s not over yet for Prettier Than Pink. Padilla, who has not performed much lately, admits he agreed to do the concert because it’s fun to be in the company of his peers.

Read the rest of this delightful Q&A.

Wency Cornejo

What have you been doing all these years after the breakup of After Image?

Cooky and I formed an ’80s tribute band called Scarlet Boogie. We’ve been performing these past few years.

What I’m really passionate about right now is pizza. I spent several months in 2023 in Italy studying and undergoing an internship to become a certified pizzaiolo. I helped my chef mentor put up his first pizzeria in San Pablo, Laguna at the end of 2024. Goal at the moment is to put up my own pizzeria. I feel that I am extremely lucky to have been able to pursue both of my ultimate passions, cooking and music, in this lifetime. Another thing that keeps me busy is pickleball. I am currently the director for the sport at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

What do you miss most from the closely-knit music community of the 1990s?

I DON’T think there’s much to miss coz I’m still with the people I was closest to during those years. Besides, I’m not a very sentimental person. I live for the future.

What’s the best thing you’ve learned from life? THAT it owes you nothing and it’s up to you to make staying on this earth worthwhile.

You’ve also been doing reunion gigs here and abroad with Cooky and Lei. What’s different about this coming show at the Music Museum?

This is a difficult question. The original music is practically the same, but for this show we’ll be doing songs that people wouldn’t expect us to do. Hopefully the audience will appreciate the effort.

Cooky Chua

Color It Red was formed when you were still in college. What’s the difference then and now, aside from the members’ respective ages?

When we formed CIR nung college, grabe kaming idealistic and uncompromising. Matigas din ang ulo pagdating sa requests ng producers and clients. Kung ano lang gusto naming, yun lang ang gagawin. Ngayon mas kinder na kami at nag-aadjust na. Grabe yung passion and dedication, umiikot lang ang buhay sa banda dati. Ngayon ay passionate pa rin, pero part na lang ito ng maraming components ng kanya-kanya naming buhay.

What was the lowest point the band went through from the ’90s till the present, and how did the band deal with it?

Lowest point yung cancer diagnosis ni Barbie (Paraguya). Lifetime chemo siya and we’re doing our best to come up with regular benefit shows para sa treatment niya. Nakakatulong na malakas ang mindset ni Barbie, malakas ang faith niya kay God at ayaw niya mag self-pity. Idol at inspiration ko siya.

What about the highest point, when you felt like you were doing something good as a musician?

Every time makaka-release kami ng album ay high point nung peak naming, at sa lahat ng concerts na alloriginal songs, tapos kumakanta ang audience with us, ’di lang sa “Paglisan.”

You’ve managed to keep singing while holding a day job and raising a son. How do you stay healthy?

Sa totoo lang, matagal na akong nag-slowdown sa drinking. I think may decade na. Akala na lang ata ng friends, rock ’n’ roll pa rin. Image ko na lang ata. I never tried drugs. Addict ako sa Zumba and walking. I also do intermittent fasting. Pero nabe-break ’pag may shows kasi umiiba oras at ’di ako makakain before singing

What can the audience expect from the concert?

MAGKAKAIBIGAN kaming apat at nakakatawa magusap. So, aside dun sa mga numbers na pinaghandaan, palagay ko mahahawa ang audience sa saya ng samahan ng performers.

Lei Bautista

How was Prettier Than Pink formed, and what made you join it?

PTP was formed in high school at Colegio San Agustin as part of a talent show. At that time, I didn’t know how to play any instrument, except piano. I was a dancer, a choir member, and a volleyball varsity player. But I learned to play the bass by asking batchmates in male bands to teach me, because it was the easiest instrument to play and I wanted to be part of an all-girl band.

Two days before graduation in March 1991, and having played only a handful of school gigs, we auditioned for RJ Jacinto with the only three songs we knew: “Imagine” by John Lennon, “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, and “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips. RJ said, “You’re hired!”

We spent the entire two months that summer practicing and learning 25 more songs so we could play three sets of an hour each. Our talent fee started at P1,200 per night for the entire band. That’s only P240 each since we were five. Kulang pa pang-gas, hahaha. I still remember being so excited receiving my first pay ever. We then started juggling college classes and gigs. It started our professional career at the very young age of 17.

An all-women band is uncommon in the local music scene. What were the challenges you had to deal with?

First, when we had a member who quit, it was very difficult to find a replacement. Our standards were also high — they must be pretty, play an instrument, and know how to sing backup. Where do you find that in the ’90s? Second, we had to work harder than the male bands to prove that we could play alongside them, and we were not just pa-cute and eye candy (which we were, too hehe). We had to ward off a lot of DOMs and manyak. In short, we had to be tough while balancing charisma and talent to make it in a male-dominated industry.

On the other hand, what were the rewards you enjoyed during the band’s heyday?

We got lots of favors and attention that were not usually enjoyed by male bands. We were the only female band to be recognized in mainstream music (there were a few in the underground scene) with multiple chart-topping hits (“Cool Ka Lang” being the longest lasting). We didn’t need day jobs because we were gigging six to seven times a week. I remember other girl groups sprouted after we released “Cool Ka Lang,” but none of them could claim to play their own instruments and sing at the same time. You really had to be a musician at heart to do what we did.

How long did the band last, and what caused the breakup?

For the first run, we went professional in 1991 and ceased playing in 1999 when I migrated to Los

Angeles. But I revived a US version of the band in LA which included Melody del Mundo of Sugar Hiccup, Pam Aquino of Keltscross, and Annette Ortiz of Fatal Posporos. This was like an ’80s punk rock version of PTP. We released an indie album called Chopsuey. Coming back to Manila in 2007, and more permanently in 2017, led to the rebirth of several PTP iterations. So, it’s not really over for PTP to this day.

You’ve helped organize ’90s band concerts here and abroad. Is there anything else to experience in the shows, aside from nostalgia?

Of course! Good, raw, organic, and non-techmanufactured music. It makes you want to sing along to your heart’s content while bobbing your head, dancing, or head banging. Also hearing stories of how the music was before technology and social media took over.

Naldy Padilla

Orient Pearl had a pop element in its sound that made it stand out among the rock bands of the ’90s. Was it a deliberate effort?

I guess it was more organic than deliberate. When we started, prior to getting signed, we were more into the heavier stuff which was pretty much the trend. But since the members had different musical influences — encompassing country, rock, metal, classical and all the way to the “poppiest” of pop — the end result was our sound when we recorded our debut album.

The band didn’t seem to have played much, if at all, at Club Dredd, Mayric’s, and ’70s Bistro — the three bars where the alternative music scene was born. Was it because Orient Pearl was more in demand somewhere else?

Contrary to what many people may remember from the ’90s, we did play in those bars in our early stages. But, yes, as our career progressed, provincial tours really took up most of our time. And in those occasional in-betweens, we became more associated with venues like Chatterbox and Kampo where we were more sought after by its niche crowd.

Did Orient Pearl’s members earn a lot from concerts?

That’s quite difficult to answer since “a lot” is relative. But, speaking only for myself, I would say it was worth quitting your day job. Although, truth be told, I never really had one to begin with, hahaha.

What caused the band’s breakup?

That’s quite a contentious topic right now, better discussed in a more personal setting, lest things be lost in translation. I hope you understand.

You have not been seen for a long time onstage in Manila. How excited are you with this concert?

I’m just as excited about the company (Wency, Cooky, Lei) as I am about the concert, whether in Manila or elsewhere. For a long time now, I’ve rarely performed, but the likeliest chance of getting me onstage — at least for now — is when I’m with them because it’s fun.

‘FRONT men and rock chix’ (from left): Wency Cornejo, Naldy Padilla, Leí Bautista, Cooky Chua. Contributed photo

Relief, 21st-centuRy style: As wildfires burn, GoFundMe becomes a repository of harrowing stories

By Matt Sedensky The Associated Press

nEW yOrK— They seem endless, these sapping stories of loss. a grandfather starts over in his 90s. a family loses their dream home. People who were already struggling are dealt new, brutal blows.

As California’s massive wildfires burn, a barrage of GoFundMe campaigns for victims have become an outlet for onlookers transfixed by the blazes and eager to do something to help. Those appeals for help—plastered with photos of saffron flames or the charcoal aftermath or, most of all, the faces of the people at the center of the plea—are personalizing a tragedy too big to comprehend.

“I feel connected in a strange way to all these people that I don’t know,” says Rachel Davies, a 27-year-old writer in New York, who went through hundreds of GoFundMe’s wildfire campaigns and felt drawn in to stories of strangers, donating to fundraisers for landscapers, housekeepers and a cook.

Davies was moved by the little details of victims’ stories—like the fact that someone lost their home just as they were bringing a baby home from the hospital—and compiled and circulated a list of GoFundMe sites, thinking others would feel the same and be spurred to donate.

“Those stories,” Davies says, “will stick with me.”

They’re offering glimpses into lives you might never see

The pages feel intimate. They serve up glimpses into the lives of a compassionate nurse or a goofy driver, and into the things they lost—be it a prized sneaker collection or the tools they counted on for work. here, each is not some faraway, faceless victim. They’re Todd or Ulli or Susan.

“People can look for someone they see as the ideal victim for them,” says Amy Pason, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, who has studied social movements and teaches a class on persuasion.

In an era of constant connection, ondemand expectations, pinpointed prefer -

“I feel connected in a strange way to all these people that I don’t know,” says Rachel Davies, a 27-year-old writer in New York, who went through hundreds of GofundMe’s wildfire campaigns and felt drawn in to stories of strangers.

ences and endless customization, browsability and tailoring are second nature. Why not for disaster relief, too?

Plus, Pason says, it feels to many like a “more authentic” way to give.

In a statement, GoFundMe says thousands of fundraisers have been launched in connection with the fires, including its own Wildfire Relief Fund, which has already garnered about 30,000 donations. All told, the campaigns have already raised more than $100 million for wildfire victims.

e lla Marx, a 26-year-old social worker in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is among those who chipped in. She came across an appeal from a woman who said the houses of her grandmother and three aunts were all destroyed by the e aton Fire. She quickly donated $20.

Marx finds herself donating to GoFundMe campaigns every month or so. She likes them because she doesn’t have faith in the government to help victims and doesn’t like the constraints that nonprofits might put on recipients of aid. Plus, she likes the feeling of knowing who she’s donating to.

“I think it does personalize it a little more,” she says.

Stories that can touch many

S CRoll ING through GoFundMe’s pages, there is something to pull at nearly anyone’s heartstrings. It is a veritable catalog of grief.

Runners might be drawn to a cam -

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paign organized by the Pasadena Pacers, which posted photos of members who lost homes on happier days, on a favorite trail or sporting a race-day medal. Rabbit lovers can flock to an appeal for The Bunny Museum, which paid tribute to the fluffytailed animal through its collection of tens of thousands of items, now all gone.

A bar, a coffee shop, a mosque, a school— all are among the places left in ashes by the fire and now the subject of campaigns

raisers result in a massive response, Wade says many raise little or nothing. o nly the most uniquely compelling stories manage to garner a fickle public’s attention, he says, reinforcing existing inequalities.

“Social crowdfunding platforms are effectively markets for sympathy, where the crowd weighs claims to moral worthiness,” Wade said in an email interview.

But John Dent, who created a GoFundMe page for his cousin’s family, who lost

‘In an era of constant connection, on-demand expectations, browsability and tailoring are second nature. Why not for disaster relief, too?’

to bring them back.

Matthew Wade, a sociologist at l a Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, who has researched GoFundMe, says donors are drawn to the immediate gratification of their gift and the ability to follow along as their beneficiaries recover from tragedy.

“A concrete action,” he says, “in these otherwise helpless moments.”

But while some crowdfunded fund -

their home in Altadena, remains in awe of the generosity his campaign elicited. h is relatives had initially rebuffed the idea of the fundraiser but were left in tears by the response of more than $22,000 so far.

“It’s just been so powerful,” says Dent, a 52-year-old teacher from Goleta, California. “These are often people that have no clue who they are.”

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