BusinessMirror November 01, 2020

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A TASTE FOR THE EXOTIC

New food preservation technology allows exports of highly perishable fruits

DURIAN, the “king of fruits”

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HONGCHAN001 | DREAMSTIME.COM

By Manuel T. Cayon

AVAO CITY—What used to be impractical to ship even to as far as Manila because of the fast overripening of fruits like lanzones and even a sweet fruit like marang has found a solution: preserving these to reach markets as far as the US.

The new technology to lengthen shelf life of seasonal fruits to preserve their pristine ripeness while in transit has sparked hope for farmers that their fruits, which usually ripen in two days and immediately rot upon opening, will now survive the long trip, said Larry Miculob, a trailblazer in the export of durian to Singapore, and with a current agreement to ship to the US.

Durian fruit, which has a longer shelf life when frozen, has no problem with being shipped to the US, but his US buyer also wanted

the lanzones, mangosteen and the easily perishable marang (Artocarpus odoratissimus).

“There’s the blast freeze technology that can solve that predicament,” he said.

The technology is actually already existing and used to preserve meat in transit, but for fruits, this is something new to be applied to maintain their ripeness when they reach far markets like the US. Miculob, meanwhile, is still awaiting word from the agent of the shipping line serving the direct Davao City to the US route, in order to start the first shipment of durian, lanzones, mangosteen and marang.

It would be a one-time shipment for now, he said, with about 300 kilos of durian, and a test volume only for the other fruits.

“This would add to the likely dwindling of supply for local consumers,” he said.

Hope for growers LARRY MICULOB

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.4010

THE opening of the US market for Davao City’s endemic fruits Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4628 n UK 62.5825 n HK 6.2438 n CHINA 7.2067 n SINGAPORE 35.4119 n AUSTRALIA 34.0259 n EU 56.5082 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9066

Source: BSP (October 30, 2020)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, November 1, 2020

A TASTE FOR THE EXOTIC Continued from A1

sparked hope for farmers who have to contend with wasted fruits if these are left unsold for several days. In the case of marang, a species of a flowering plant in the Moraceae family, farmers have been resigned to the fact that it could not offer prime income because the fruit ripens fast and rots easily.

Income for fruits has been provided by local consumers who patronize them for decades, and revenues have been rising steadily as the markets in the Visayas and Manila have also begun to demand for them. This led to tightening supply at certain times, especially since these fruits are only available in the third quarter and harvest wanes by the middle of the last quarter.

Davao City capitalized on this fruit harvest season when it instituted the Kadayawan fruit harvest festival, a successor to the Apo Duwaling festival established in the late 1980s. The latter was meant to highlight the beauty and attraction of the bounty of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak, the durian, the king of fruits, and the Waling-Waling, a rare orchid found only on Mount Apo. This orchid eventually replaced the Sampaguita as the national flower.

Trailblaze

IN 2013 Miculob started to export durian to Singapore—at a volume of 500 kilos to one ton per shipment, which could be every other day depending on the harvest season.

He would not say how much he would earn in this venture, but he said the freight-on-board value of these fruits would range from $100,000 to $250,000 per container van.

Among the varieties, the Puyat variety has

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been more acceptable to the taste of non-durian and first-time durian eaters.

Through the years, though, Miculob said Singapore buyers have accepted the other varieties for as long as they pass the standard sweetness measure of 30 brix. “We have been exporting other varieties such as the Cob and arancillo.”

He said there were at least five other exporters who followed suit, mostly Chinese-Filipinos.

“In a way, there is some competition for farmers because we go around for fruit growers who could supply us with the volume,” he said.

“That is why you would notice that there would be a shortage of supply in the city; you could see less fruits in the streets occasionally,” he said, “because there is already the demand from Manila and even local growers have begun to send them direct to their contacts there.”

“And now, here we are, also scouting for supplies for our export needs,” he added. “That is also the reason why there is an increase of price.”

“We did not stop the export of fruits despite the pandemic,” he said. “It’s also because the fruits are only in season beginning in September.”

Last year, though, he stopped supplying the Singapore market, and told his buyer to contact the other Davao City exporters for their needs.

“This was the time that we began to explore the US market, which we officially agreed to start in September,” he said. “Our buyers know that these fruits are seasonal only, that is why they also travel a lot in Asia as fruit connoisseurs to search for any available exotic fruits.”

When the first shipment happens anytime soon, he hopes that more opportunities would be opened, not only for the Davao fruits but for the fruit farmers themselves.

Virus economic destruction renews push against GDP fixation

“The time is right because people have become much more aware that it is not only material success, but there are other things that count in life. Covid has shown us very clearly what those are.”—WEF FOUNDER KLAUS SCHWAB

By Jana Randow, Catherine Bosley & Jill Ward

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Bloomberg News

HE damage unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic might turn out to be the catalyst for weakening our fixation with gross domestic product (GDP).

A renewed push to demote GDP as a measure of economic welfare has emerged amid a crisis that brutally exposed gaps in healthcare and social safety nets. The subsequent economic rebound has deepened the divide through the K-shaped recovery, where the wealthiest benefit from rising asset prices and others live in daily fear of losing their job.

On October 21, the World Economic Forum released a report in which it proposes embedding GDP into a dashboard that also takes into account factors such as

inequality, energy use and public health. The same day, at the European Central Bank’s first public hearing as part of its policy review, contributors raised the topic of alternative economic models.

What we care about

“THE pandemic has completely highlighted that what we care about, including as economists, is not the amount of money circulating in the economy but people’s wellbeing in a broader sense,” said Diane Coyle, a professor at the University of Cambridge and author of GDP: A Brief but Affectionate His-

tory. However, “there’s no obvious single candidate to replace GDP at the moment.”

The indicator has dominated for nearly a century, and its endurance has much to do with its simplicity. It’s a single number, an easy-to-understand metric, and one that politicians can use—when it’s good—to crow about their policies.

But GDP’s hegemony has come under assault in recent years. Nobel-laureate Joseph Stiglitz has spoken of “GDP fetishism” and, along with Jean-Paul Fitoussi, proposed a nuanced approach that includes wellbeing and the environment.

“You can have a very important growth rate of GDP but if it goes to only 1 percent of the population, it has no meaning,” says Fitoussi, professor emeritus at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

“When you are missing some metric you are probably taking some bad decisions.”

Crude measure

GDP’s origins reach back to the

Great Depression, when American economist Simon Kuznets was looking for ways to explain to Congress what was happening to the US economy. Even back then, he warned of its limits.

“The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income,” he wrote.

The big problem is that the measure is crude—production of weapons, hospital beds or chocolate cake all get counted in the same way, regardless of whether or not they are beneficial to society and the environment.

Also, it’s an imperfect tool for measuring production of intangibles—a definite downside in the digital age. And it makes no allowance for unpaid labor like child rearing and housework, despite the fact that these take up a huge proportion of peoples’ lives.

As an alternative, Bhutan started pursuing gross national happiness in the 1970s, and other measures have sprung up this century, but nothing has come close to usurping GDP.

The ‘donut model’

AUSTRALIA started measuring wellbeing in 2001, while Europe’s “Beyond GDP” initiative of more comprehensive indicators dates to 2007. New Zealand has a “wellbeing” budget with a focus on metrics, including spending on mental health issues and child poverty. A United Nations-linked group publishes a World Happiness Report.

Kate Raworth, an adviser at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, came up with a “donut model,” that includes access to housing, food, healthcare and education, as well as climate change.

The ring of the donut is the sweet spot between minimum social standards on one side and overusing the planet’s resources on the other.

Others, like Harvard Professor Karen Dynan, favor a dashboard, though the metrics—income inequality, healthcare and the environment—are similar.

Virus factor

THE US Bureau of Economic Analysis has embarked on a “GDP and Beyond” initiative to improve its

use of data on economic wellbeing and sustainability. It released a set of prototype measures in March and expects to update some of them regularly from December.

Climate change and social justice feature heavily in many alternative models. Some even argue the objective of growth itself must be abandoned in major economies in order to save the planet. That’s the crux of the “degrowth” movement.

“It’s not just enough to switch to a better indicator, although we must also do that,” said Jason Hickel, senior lecturer in anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. “We also have to have policy that’s actively organized around reducing energy and material throughput.”

The coronavirus crisis could accelerate the shift.

“The time is right because people have become much more aware that it is not only material success, but there are other things that count in life,” said WEF founder Klaus Schwab. “Covid has shown us very clearly what those are.”

Science

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Families in Laguna, Batangas benefit from PCAARRD's tilapia farming proj

DOST-PCAARRD officials release tilapia fingerlings. They are (from left) OIC-Deputy Executive Director for R&D Juanito T. Batalon; Deputy Executive Director for ARMSS Melvin B. Carlos; Executive Director Reynaldo V. Ebora; and Director of IARRD Eduardo V. Manalili. ACD PCAARRD

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ilapia farming is now accessible to selected beneficiaries in Laguna and Batangas. Through the initiative of an agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), a total of 14 farmer cooperators are trained and involved in tilapia culture.

The project, “Tilapia para sa Pamayanan [Backyard Tilapia Farming],” of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) provided free fingerlings, feeds and technical support to farmer cooperators in 17 fishponds with area of 2,798 sq m in Laguna and Batangas.

Started in June, the project has benefited the following barangays in Laguna: Malinao, Taytay and Munting Kawayan in the municipality of Majayjay; Pupuy in Bay; Mabacan in Calauan; and Malinta in Los Baños.

In Batangas, the barangays covered are Bucana, Cogonan, Manggahan Putat, Bautista, and Butucan in the municipality of Nasugbu.

Benefits to farmer cooperators

“The project will provide our family food supply and additional income as we can sell our tilapia harvest to our neighbors in our barangay,” said Fe Amor Barcelon in Filipino. Barcelon is a farmer cooperator from Cogonan, Nasugbu, Batangas.

According to Engr. Eduardo V. Manalili, director of the Inland Aquatic Resources Research Division of PCAARRD, beneficiaries were selected based on two criteria: first, the area of the farmer should have a sustainable source of water and a dug-up land that can serve as a fishpond; and second, the farmer should be willing to learn about tilapia culture and processing.

Before the conduct of tilapia farming, farmer cooperators were trained on developing and maintaining a fishpond; fertilizing the fishpond using organic or inorganic fertilizers; and harvesting.

Moreover, they were also provided information on what feeds should be given to the tilapia, postharvest technology and record keeping.

Making tilapiang dinanggit, a tilapia processing method, was also taught to the farmer cooperators.

“Our overarching objective for this project is to provide our fellow Filipinos a source of livelihood that can sustain for many years,” Manalili said.

Since the fingerlings and feeds are given for free, James Jacobo, a farmer cooperator from Nasugbu, Batangas, said the initiative is a huge help for them and other farmers selected for the project.

“This initiative of the government and PCAARRD is a huge help for us. The only thing we need to do is to maintain the fishpond. In three to four months, we can harvest tilapia, which will benefit our family as well as my caretakers and our neighbors,” Jacobo said in Filipino.

Monitoring the growth of tilapia ACD PCAARRD

Providing fresh tilapia to indigent families

Part of the project is maintaining three fishponds of Laguna State Polytechnic University (LSPU), measuring 180 square meters each.

After three months of tilapia culture, the grown-up tilapia were harvested from two ponds, totaling 130 kilograms. Seventy percent, or 90 kg, of the harvest were given to indigent LSPU employees and their families.

Meanwhile, 30 percent, or 40 kg, of the harvest were donated to families isolated in the Los Baños Isolation Facilities.

The donation was handed over to Los Baños Mayor Caesar Perez and Hanna Erika Labina, Los Baños Municipal Social Welfare and Development officer.

Galing-PCAARRD Kontra Covid-19

DOST-PCAARRD spearheaded the project in collaboration with the LSPU, Batangas State University, local government units, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture.

The Tilapia para sa Pamayanan is one of the many projects of the council to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in poor communities of the country.

It is part of the program, Good Agri-Aqua Livelihood Initiatives toward National Goals (Galing)-PCAARRD Kontra Covid-19.

Previously launched projects of Galing-PCAARRD included “Gulayan sa Pamayanan [Urban and Backyard Vegetables Gardening],” which provides materials for urban gardening in select areas in Metro Manila.

There was also the “Manok at Itlog sa Pamayanan [Village-scale chicken meat and eggs production],”which promotes chicken farming for meat and egg, as well as “ItikPinas [Duck egg production and processing]” as sources of livelihood.

Rose Anne M. Aya/S&T Media Services

D.O.S.T.-FPRDI celebrates 63rd anniversary

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he Forest Products Research and Development Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-FPRDI) celebrates its 63rd anniversary this year with a series of events that highlight its commitment to better serve its clients in the midst of the pandemic.

“During these difficult days, we are witnesses to how the nation manages to stay afloat through social solidarity,” said DOST-FPRDI Director Romulo T. Aggangan.

“This year’s anniversary celebrates the Filipino people’s innate bayanahin spirit, as it also underlines the institute’s unwavering support to help the public battle the effects of Covid-19,” Aggangan said.

With the theme “Bigkisan at Damayan sa Gitna ng Pandemya,”the anniversary is also a way of recognizing the DOST’s contributions towards stopping the spread of the deadly virus.

Anniversary events include the following:

1. Series of training-webinars on bamboo-framed face shield production

The Institute’s Technology and Manpower Delivery Services Section (TMDSS) is conducting a weekly technology-webinar on the FPRDI bamboo-framed face shield production until November.

Besides the face shield production, other topics are charcoal production and briquetting, fossilized leaves processing, engineered bamboo production, handmade paper production, bamboo furniture making, wood and nonwood preservation and treatment, anti-microbial personal hygiene products, and basic finishing.

2. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses for forestry professionals

The DOST-FPRDI, through the TMDSS, has recently been accredited by the Professional Regulation Commission as a CPD provider for forestry professionals.

CPD units are required for foresters renewing their professional licensure cards.

The institute is offering training-webinars with CPD units for free. Sessions on wood preservation and treatment have already been conducted in early October, while trainings on handmade paper making will be held on November 11 and 12.

3. Bamboo Musical Instruments (BMI) Webinar and Virtual Concert

Fusing science with the arts, the BMI Webinar and Virtual Concert are a celebration of the country’s indigenous music.

The events aim to raise public awareness and

appreciation for the cultural and socioeconomic importance of bamboo musical instruments.

Dubbed “Pantugtog Kawayan ni Juan: Usapang Kultura at Kabuhayan,”the webinar will be on November 12, with Datu Waway Saway of the Talaandig tribe and Prof. Siegfredo B. Calabig of Banda Kawayan Pilipinas as speakers.

The virtual concert, meanwhile, will happen on November 24. Both events will be streamed live at DOST-FPRDI’s official Facebook page.

4. Technology forums and appreciation webinars cum technology clinics

To further assist local businessmen with technologies to improve their operations, the Institute conducted virtual technology forums on bamboo and other FPRDI technologies in July and September.

Appreciation webinars were also held to showcase FPRDI technologies to interested entrepreneurs and start-ups. The last session on October 28 featured topics that aim to provide a deeper understanding of wood as used in construction and furniture, and an informative topic on wood panel products in the market.

5. Forest products research chair lecture

A public lecture on local handicraft producers will be delivered by For. Jennifer M. Conda on November 4.

Titled“Status of Community-Based Handicraft Producers in Selected Bicol Provinces,” the lecture will tackle the issues confronted by the handicraft makers, as well as possible interventions to help them.

Inauguration of new DOST-FPRDI facilities

Two new DOST-FPRDI facilities will be launched on November 3—the Forest Products Innovation Center (FPIC) and the Bamboo Musical Instruments (BMI) Processing Facility.

The FPIC will house modern equipment and innovative products on furniture, handicraft and construction. The BMI Processing Facility, meanwhile, will feature a mini-museum where students, ethnic music enthusiasts, and the public can appreciate the bamboo instruments, as well as the technologies that will improve their production.

The Technology Business Incubator marker will also be unveiled on the same day.

For a more detailed schedule of activities, please check DOST-FPRDI’s official Facebook page ( www. facebook.com/fprdi), or contact Dr. Maria Cielito G. Siladan, Anniversary Program Committee chairman at info@fprdi.dost.gov.ph or fprdi@dost.gov.ph. Apple

Jean C. Martin- de Leon/DOST Media Service

Sunday

Sunday, November 1, 2020 A3

Cancer staging center to rise in QC, to make diagnostic cost affordable

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he detection of cancer will soon become more affordable for Filipinos. This will be made possible with the establishment of a cancer staging center spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI).

The proposed Center for Nuclear Medicine Research and Development in Diliman, Quezon City, under the DOST-PNRI, will be a major center for diagnosing cancer and other noncommunicable diseases.

Among its facilities will be a medical cyclotron and several positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanners.

A cyclotron in tandem with PET-CT scanning can provide better imaging and will be far more reliable for detecting cancer than conventional CT scans MRI, ultrasound or blood testing.

“Every year, 70,000 people die from cancer, and the best way to diagnose them early is through PET-CT scans,” said PNRI Director Carlo Arcilla.

While early diagnosis is key to getting better and timely treatment, the sheer expense is discouraging—sometimes beyond the reach—for many Filipinos. Cancer, diabetes, heart and lung diseases make up the top causes of annual deaths in the Philippines.

PET-CT scanning currently costs around P40,000 to P60,000. But it will cost only around P20,000 to P25,000— about 50 percent cheaper—with the proposed nuclear medicine facility.

As the Philippines only has four cyclotron facilities and 11 PET-CT scanners, and with most of these facilities located in Metro Manila, lowering the cost of PET-CT scans

remains quite a hurdle for the medical sector.

Government investment in cyclotron and imaging facilities will go a long way in making the procedure more available across the country, said Dr. Thomas Neil Pascual, an international expert on nuclear medicine and DOST-Balik Scientist spearheading the project.

“We really have few operational medical cyclotrons in the country, which limits our access in terms of cost and technology,” Pascual said.

Cyclotrons produce important radiopharmaceuticals, such as Fluorine-18, which are used for PET-CT scans.

When taken in by the patient, these special drugs emit low doses of radiation which are otherwise not harmful.

Radiation is used to provide images of organs, such as the brain, lungs, kidneys, liver and thyroid. The images are, in turn, studied by doctors to find any tell-tale signs of particular diseases like cancer.

Apart from serving as a diagnostic center, the proposed facility will also serve as a training hub for current and aspiring nuclear-medicine practitioners in the country.

Despite the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the planning of the center pushed through.

The DOST-PNRI aims to complete the Center for Nuclear Medicine Research

An artist’s depiction of the DOST-PNRI Center for Nuclear Medicine Research and Development that will soon rise in Quezon City. DOST-PNRI

Positron emission tomographycomputed tomography (PET-CT) scanning is the gold standard for imaging and diagnosis for various diseases. DOST-PNRI and Development in at least two years.

With the new facilities, the institute believes it will help lower the costs in a life-saving effort to bring

Govt urged: Hasten adoption of locally developed mass transport technologies

Hybrid Electric Train (HET) in Philippine National Railway tracks. DOST-PCIEERD

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ith Metro Manila ranking 49th out 50 Asia-Pacific cities in the Urban Mobility Readiness Index conducted by the Oliver Wyman Forum and University of California, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is calling on government agencies to hasten the adoption of available mass transportation technologies.

Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) pointed out that Filipino researchers have come up with viable and locally developed mass transport technologies that can ease the burden of commuting for residents in Metro Manila.

“We hope that these [locally developed mass transport] technologies will be fully utilized by the riding public to ease their commute, especially in the new normal. We hope the adoption of these technologies will gather speed and accelerate to provide more options for commuters who traverse Metro Manila,” he said.

DOST has supported the development of vehicles made from locally available materials and were designed and fabricated by Filipino engineers. These are the Hybrid Electric Train (HET) and Hybrid Electric Road Train (HERT).

With lower production cost than its imported counterparts, such as the light rail transit (LRT) and the metro

rail transit (MRT), the automated guideway transit also has slimmer dimensions and can be built along narrow streets.

It is also electricity-powered and has zero greenhouse-gas emissions.

Implemented with the goal of augmenting the number of train sets currently being used by the Philippine National Railways (PNR), the HET is envisioned to be a long-term solution to heavy traffic congestions in many parts of the country, particularly in Luzon.

The HET has already passed PNR’s testing and calibration. It is presently conducting free rides test passenger experience.

Meanwhile, HERT is a 40-meter long train-like bus that can be an alternative means of transportation in the country. It is now being used in Cauayan City, Isabela, and General Santos City, South Cotabato.

The DOST has also supported technologies on intelligent transport systems that can help increase urban mobility.

One of these is the Local Traffic Simulator (LocalSIM), a microscopic traffic simulation software, designed to be used by road and traffic engineers as a decision support system for traffic management.

LocalSIM can be used for defining out transportation routes, traffic rules and ordinances, road improvements and other transportation solutions deemed appropriate.

It enables traffic managers to have evidence-based traffic analysis

and evaluation of alternative schemes and minimizes the trial-and-error implementation of traffic schemes.

There is also the Detection and Identification of Legitimate Public Utility Vehicles (Dilaw), a system that works by deploying handheld devices called “motes” on the dashboard of PUVs. These devices then communicate through radio with the “base stations” that are with traffic enforcers to allow them to detect if a passing PUV is colorum or not.

Likewise, the Contactless Apprehension of Traffic Violators on 24-hours Basis, All Vehicle Detection System (CATCH-ALL) is a camerabased traffic management system for traffic-violations detection.

The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) in analyzing CCTV videos in traffic management agencies.

Paringit said DOST-PCIEERD will continue to find solutions to urban mobility in the Philippines through research and development and help ease the commuting experience in the country.

“As leader and partner in the development of innovations for the benefit of Filipinos, we at DOSTPCIEERD will be relentless in our pursuit of making innovations work for the people in these challenging times.

We will continue to look for ways to make public transportation efficient, inexpensive, and easily accessible,” he said.

Hans Joshua V. Dantes/S&T Media Service

Filipinos sweep SE Asian ‘Youth CoviDeo Contest’

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The Hybrid Electric Road Train (HERT) during a test run in Metro Manila. DOST-PCIEERD

among the most advanced medical technologies closer to Juan and Juana de la Cruz.

hree Filipinos won the top prizes in the Youth CoviDeo Contest of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca), besting 72 entries from five countries.

The contest aimed to showcase how the youth played a part in local food production during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of Searca’s Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation (#Y4AGRI) program.

Themed “Youth and Locally Grown Food,” the contest sought video stories from Southeast Asian youth on how and why young people grow their food at home, in school or in the community during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Frontliner-turned-farmer Marcelino Padilla of Northern Samar bagged the top prize with his story of how he transitioned from being a nurse to pursuing his passion for farming.

The second prize went to Myka Fragata of Nueva Vizcaya, who, along with her sister, told the story of Arapaap Farm, her family’s passion project during the quarantine period.

Bagging the third prize was Benson Cariñaga, a son of Albay. He also won the Popularity Award for the entry that garnered the most Facebook reactions.

Padilla’s winning video shows his remarkable journey and skill in practicing and promoting environmentally friendly, circular, and zero waste integrated farming system.

At the onset of the community quarantine, he germinated his reserved seeds and distributed seedlings to neighboring communities together with the members of 4-H Club, a youth organization.

His video also showcased the benefits of home gardening to his family and how he encouraged the youth in his community to engage in agricultural activities during the pandemic.

For the Fragata sisters, to ensure food and nutrition security for their family and community amid the Covid-19 crisis, they developed an idle land into a productive vegetable garden within three months.

Their video gives a quick rundown of starting and sustaining a family farm.

Cariñaga’s video features the communal garden of Tinago Youth Volunteers (TYV) which was established during the community quarantine to promote local food security.

His video shows TYV members providing practical tips in growing vegetables, composting, and harvesting.

The entries were evaluated by multimedia experts, agriculturists, and Searca experts and officials.

The top 3 winners and the finalists in the top 10 received cash prizes. A smart tablet was the prize for the Popularity Award.

“We are happy to see through your videos the different practices in growing food with your family and friends, and in promoting youth engagement in your community through productive activities in agriculture amidst the pandemic,” said Searca Director Glenn B. Gregorio during the virtual awards ceremony.

Joselito G. Florendo, Searca deputy director for Administration, encouraged all participants to carry on with their involvement in agriculture, especially with their families and immediate communities.

He said, “Our youth engagement agenda continues beyond this contest and we look forward to working with young people like you again in our efforts of engaging and empowering the youth in agricultural and rural development.”

Faith A6 Sunday, November 1, 2020

Sunday

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

Vatican extends plenary indulgence for the dead throughout November

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ATICAN—The Vatican has extended the availability of certain plenary indulgences for the souls in purgatory, amid concerns about avoiding large gatherings of people in churches or cemeteries and including those confined to home due to the pandemic.

Archbishop Florentino Lavarias of San Fernando blesses the tombs of deceased priests and the religious at the Holy Mary Memorial Park in Angeles City on October 23. HOLY ROSARY PARISH

According to a decree on October 23, certain indulgenced acts, which can help to remit the temporal punishment due to sin for those who have died in a state of grace, can be obtained throughout the entire month of November 2020.

T he decree was sig ned by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiar y.

In an interview with Vatican News, Piacenza said that bishops had requested an extended the timeframe for the plenary indulgence, considering the importance of the commemoration of the feasts of All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2.

In the interview, Piacenza said that, although the availability of livestreamed Mass was good for

the elderly who cannot attend the liturgy in person, “some people have gotten a little used to celebrations on television.”

This “can mark a certain disinterest in presence in [liturgical] celebrations,” he said. “ There is therefore a pursuit by the bishops to implement all possible solutions to bring people back to the Church, always respecting everything that needs to be done for the particular situation in which we unfortunately find ourselves,” he added.

Piacenza also noted the importance of the availability of the sacraments during the feasts of All Saints and All Souls, which for some countries can have very high sacramental attendance and participation.

With the penitentiary’s new decree, those who cannot leave home can still participate in the indulgence, and others can have more time to attend Mass, to receive the sacrament of confession, and to visit the cemetery, while still following local coronavirus measures on crowds, he said.

The decree also encouraged priests to make the sacraments as widely available as possible during November.

“For an easier attainment of divine grace through pastoral charity, this penitentiary earnestly prays that all priests endowed with the appropriate faculties offer themselves with particular generosity to the celebration of the sacrament of Penance and to administering Holy Communion to the sick,” the decree said.

Plenary indulgences, which remit all temporal punishment due to sin, must be accompanied by full detachment from sin.

A Catholic who wishes to obtain a plenary indulgence must also fulfill the ordinary conditions of an indulgence, which are sacramental confession, reception of the Eucharist, and prayer for the intentions of the pope.

Sacramental confession and reception of the Euchar ist c a n o c c u r w it h i n a w e e k of t he i ndu l ge nc e d a c t .

In the month of November, the Church has two traditional means of obtaining a plenary indulgence for the souls in Purgatory. The first is to visit a cemetery and pray for the dead during the Octave of All Saints’ Day, which is from November 1 to 8.

This year, the Vatican decreed that this plenary indulgence can be obtained on any day in November.

The second plenary indulgence is connected to the Feast of All Souls’ Day on November 2, and can be received by those who piously visit a church or oratory on that day and recite the Our Father and the Creed.

The Vatican said that this plenary indulgence has also been extended and is available to Catholics

throughout the month of November to reduce crowds.

Both indulgences must include the three ordinary conditions and full detachment from sin.

The Vatican also said that, because of the health emergency, the elderly, the sick, and others who cannot leave the house for serious reasons can participate in the indulgence from home by reciting prayers for the deceased before an image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary.

They must also spiritually unite themselves to other Catholics, be completely detached from sin, and have the intention of fulfilling the ordinary conditions as soon as possible.

The Vatican’s decree offered examples of prayers that homebound Catholics can pray for the dead, including lauds or vespers of the Office for the Dead, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, other prayers for deceased among their family or friends, or performing a work of mercy by offering their pain and discomfort to God. The decree also said that “since the souls in purgatory are helped by the suffrages of the faithful and especially with the sacrifice of the Altar pleasing to God…all priests are warmly invited to celebrate three times the Holy Mass on the day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed, in accordance with the apostolic constitution ‘Incruentum altaris,’ issued

by Pope Benedict XV, of venerable memory, on August 10, 1915.”

Piacenza said that another reason they are asking priests to say three Masses on November 2 was to allow more Catholics to be able to attend.

“Priests are also exhorted to be generous in the Ministry of Confessions and in bringing Holy Communion to the sick,” Piacenza said.

This will make it easier for Catholics to be able “to offer prayers for their deceased, to feel them close, in short, to encounter all these noble sentiments that go into creating the Communion of Saints.” Hannah Brockhaus/Catholic News

Agency via CBCP News

India’s festive season spawns fears of renewed virus surge

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EW DELHI—Just weeks after India fully opened up from a harsh lockdown and began to modestly turn a corner by cutting new coronavirus infections by near half, a Hindu festival season is raising fears that a fresh surge could spoil the hard-won gains.

“I’d be very worried about what we are going to see in India,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and a leading infectious disease expert.

The festivals draw tens and thousands of people, packed together shoulder-to-shoulder in temples, shopping distric ts and family gatherings, leading to concerns among health experts who warn of a whole new cascade of infections, further testing and straining India’s battered health care system.

The Hindu festival season is traditionally laced with an unmatched fanfare and ex t rava g a n z a , w i t h s o c i a l i z i n g b e i n g t h e hallmark of the celebration. But this year’s festivities have started on a pale note.

So far, the colorful and elaborate rituals for Durga Puja last October 22 to 26, and Dussehra last October 25 have been scaled down. The celebrations, bereft of all the grandiose, have been muted.

The towering displays of religious sculptures are rare, and at many places, prayers have gone virtual, with organizers livestreaming the sessions for the devotees.

In many states, police barricades have been erected around the usually buzzing places of worship to avoid large gatherings.

But this could change.

Nearly 1 billion Indians will celebrate Diwali on November 14, the Hindu festival of light, and

Hindu women, some wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, perform rituals outside a temple in Kolkata, India, on October 27. Health experts worry the festivals can set off a whole new surge of infections. AP/Bikas Das the country’s biggest.

Socializing is key part of the most highly anticipated event of the year, with malls and markets buzzing with shoppers.

It also traditionally brings in a massive increase in consumer spending across India.

Even though the government is expecting the festival to help resuscitate the ailing economy, it is also worried about people packing together, foregoing social distancing and masks.

Such concerns prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the nation in a televised speech earlier this week, warning people of “any laxity” during the festive season that “could strain India’s health system.”

India is second to the U with the largest coronavirus outbreak. Last month, the country hit a peak of nearly 100,000 cases in a single day, but since then daily infections have fallen by about half and deaths by about a third.

Some experts say the decline in cases suggests the virus may have finally reached a plateau but others question the testing methods.

India’s testing rate has remained constant but it is relying heavily on antigen tests, which are faster but less accurate than traditional RT-PCR tests.

Even as the reasons behind the decline are not fully clear, India is still clocking more than 50,000 cases a day, making any new surge all the more important.

These fears stem largely from India’s initial success story—until it wasn’t.

In June, the southern coastal state of Kerala was cheered for flattening the curve, generating worldwide appreciation, even from the United Nations. But in a stunning reversal, it now fares as the second-worst state in active coronavirus cases in the country.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan blamed “gross negligence” during the 10-day Onam festival celebrations in late August for Kerala’s virus surge. Since then, repor ted infections there have jumped by five times, far outpacing the nationwide trend.

Kerala’s story has alarmed health experts who fear similar problems in the runup to Diwali that could reverse the gains.

“If we don’t avoid socializing during the upcoming festival season, I fear we will be back to where we started,“ said Dr. T. Jacob John, a retired virologist. “There is a significant risk ahead of us.”

For the many faithful, scaled-down celebrations aren’t bringing home festival cheer and the urge to step out is only growing.

Sumita Chaterjee’s family has avoided outdoor gatherings for months after the 64-year-old resident of New Delhi and her granddaughter survived the virus in late June.

But now the family has planned to forego the restraint and took part in a ritual where the idol of goddess Durga was immersed in a community pool last Sunday. The entire neighborhood took part in the ritual.

“This is a matter of faith,” said Chaterjee. “I know there are risks but we can’t make the gods angry.” AP

Praying for the dead. Relatives pray for their departed loved ones at the St.

Therese Columbarium in the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Villamor, Pasay City, on October 28, the day before the closure of cemeteries and columbaria. The Inter-Agency Task Force recently ordered the closure of all public and private cemeteries from October 29 to November 4, except for burial and cremation services. The order aims to prevent the mass gathering of people in cemeteries on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, respectively, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease. Florence Sevillaga

Pope approves coronation of Tarlac’s Marian image

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he Diocese of Tarlac will soon have its first pontifically crowned Marian image.

Pope Francis has approved the canonical coronation of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Capas that is enshrined at the Our Lady of Sorrows Parish Church.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments approved the petition on October 1 but the decision was only made public by the diocese on October 26.

The parish’s head pastor Fr. Melvin Castro said the Vatican’s approval only “affirms our faithful’s devotion to the Mater Dolorosa.”

“Our Lady heard our prayer,” Castro said.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he said their parish “prayed more fer vently than ever to Our Lady.”

Through live streaming, the priest said they campaigned for prayers, sacrifices and held Eucharistic and Marian motorcades on a regular basis.

“To this day our parish has been spared from deaths caused by the pandemic,” he added.

It will be the first such coronation in the Diocese of Tarlac’s 57-year history.

But Castro said the devotion to the Mater Dolorosa has been recorded to have started as early as 1923.

In 2018, the image was honored with episcopal coronation, or by an approval by bishops.

The Tarlac diocese has yet to announce the date for the canonical coronation of the Marian image. CBCP News

Covid-19 shines light on millennia-old balance between public, private worship

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s religious services went online to protect congregants from the coronavirus, a paradox emerged: Worshipers were connected via the Internet to a potentially wide community, but it felt like a more private affair.

Yes, such Zoom services are viewable by audiences worldwide. But this diverted attention, if not attendance, away from many small, local congregations struggling to survive. While many have liked this new format, there has also been criticism.

This is not the first time tensions between private worship and public expressions of religion have been felt. As a scholar of the Bible, Judaism and Christianity, I am aware that even thousands of years ago private piety and public expressions of religion existed in a delicate balance—one that is not a simple either/ or proposition.

Biblical roots

Many cultures in antiquity incorporated elements of both private and public aspects of religion.

For example, in ancient Babylon, approximately 3,800 years ago, private religious practices were conducted in the household. These religious practices were largely distinct from the publicly supported rituals that occurred in temples.

The Hebrew Bible also contains a mix of both public and private practices of religion.

The texts have a number of examples of public expressions of faith alongside passages that have become foundational for personal prayers and expressions of individual religious devotion.

In the book of Leviticus, for example, the rituals of sacrifice that took place in the temple are devoid of any personal prayers.

The high priest of ancient Israel makes a confession of sin for all of Israel at one point during one sacrifice, but this hardly counts as a personal prayer.

Some rituals conducted at one of the temple altars, where a particular type of sacrifice called a burnt offering took place, were done in public view.

Yet moving expressions of personal piety also exist in the Psalms, a collection of poems in the Hebrew Bible.

Many of these may have been liturgical recitations sung or recited at certain occasions and times of the year, such as at feasts and festivals in the religious calendar.

When Babylonians in 586 BC destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, the place where public sacrifices occurred, it sparked a crisis that changed the way people worshiped.

According to religion scholar Susan Niditch, the destruction of the temple, as the center of institutional religion, resulted in much more personal, private expressions of faith.

This shift toward personal religion happened as the population in Jerusalem, the capital of a land believed to have been given to Israel by God, was exiled to Babylon.

With the loss of the temple and the land, the former inhabitants of Jerusalem had to find new ways to worship. It had to take place without the public support of the temple.

Additionally, this community no longer had their traditional family networks in the homeland.

Practices in antiquity

The shift to a more personal expression of religion continued with books like Job and Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible, which were written after these tragedies.

These books are about the manner in which suffering happens to good people and about the difficulties of divine justice in the world.

Both Job and Ecclesiastes portray the agony of the sufferer in a first-person sort of narrative, infused with individual expressions.

More than in previous writings from the Bible, these books highlight how an individual character in the book—Job or Qohelet in Ecclesiastes— struggles to understand why bad things happen in the world.

At the same time, being a part of the Hebrew Bible, Job and Ecclesiastes have shaped how religious groups have understood the relationship between individual suffering in the context of a community.

When Jewish and Christian groups read these books, the interpretation of these texts shaped the communities as well.

When read in religious groups, these books are not simple stories of individuals but rather become narratives of virtue that inform religious congregations of what righteous suffering and profound questions can look like.

This tension between public and private expressions of religion continued into the first centuries BC and AD. In these centuries, the Latin term “religio,” from which came the English term “religion,” often referred to civic, public expressions of ritual in service to traditional Roman gods and goddesses.

During this same time, Jesus of Nazareth encouraged His followers to pray in private and not to make a public show of prayer.

The latter might, according to Jesus, promote hypocrisy and lavish displays of religion meant to promote oneself instead of care for others.

Prayers said in private rarely stay private

However, personal reflection and concerns for communal identity were never far from each other.

The history of religions is replete with examples of individual, personal piety, offering alternative access to God from priestly, temple-based or church-based hierarchies.

An example is monasticism in Christianity, which often cultivates private prayer practices and meditation.

In each instance, however, private piety is typically connected in some fashion to community, such as orders in monasticism.

As a result, scholars of religion as well as political scientists have questioned any absolute divide between notions of a private, personalized religion and public expressions of faith.

The idea of a retreat of religion from public view into privatized experiences is never fully accomplished, nor, as some would argue, possible.

Private practice and public sphere

This history of how communities adapt to tragedy could help explain the tension today between public and private practice of religion.

The effects on smaller congregations is evident when individuals prefer a pick-and-choose menu of services worldwide, such as Central Synagogue’s livestream ser vice in New York, instead of engagement in local communities.

Even beyond religious communities, Zoom has made the expression of religion increasingly a private affair at the same moment that the election and the Supreme Court hearings have thrust religion in the public sphere.

It is wor th remembering that whether historically or in the current era, one’s personal piety is never too far from the public sphere.

Samuel L. Boyd/The Conversation

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday, November 1, 2020

A7

Indigenous peoples: Environmental defenders

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

IPs in Mindoro are helping protect the forests. Diamante said 69 members of the PO they are working with are waiting to be tapped by the DENR as forest protectors.

amaraw rangers and forest wardens help protect the iconic Philippine tamaraw and their Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park (MIBNP) habitat on Mindoro Island.

The Mindoro environment protectors include indigenous peoples (IPs), who lost their jobs and are suffering from economic setbacks owing to the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, with the community quarantine enforced by the government since March to contain the disease.

In this light, a P1.1-million fund was raised to provide for the allowances and provisions of the forest frontliners in recognition of their important role in protecting the tamaraws and their natural habitats.

T he initiative a lso high lights the celebration of October as t he Tamaraw Mont h.

Concerned groups and individuals comprising the Tamaraw Society turnedover the fund to the Tamaraw Conservation Program (TCP) on October 29.

IP Sundays, IPRA month The IPs’ rights and contributions to humanity are recognized by many sectors worldwide.

The United Nations commemorates August 9 as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It is celebrated around the world and marks the date of the inaugural session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in 1982.

At the same time, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) led the celebration of the 23rd year of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in October with the theme, “Correcting Historical Injustices for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Welfare.”

For the Catholic Church in the Philippines, October 10 is IP Sunday. Celebrated every second Sunday of October, priests dedicate homilies about the sad plight of the IPs and encourage support for their struggle for self-determination.

In his homily, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the administrator of the Manila archdiocese, also recognized the role of IPs in protecting and conserving the environment and biodiversity.

IPs are known to be the ultimate defenders of land rights. But little is known about their role as the protectors of the environment.

Land is life According to the NCIP, there are a total of 133 different IP groups in the Philippines. Some 1.2 million are IP rights holders with a total of

5,411,798.93 hectares covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles.

A United Nations Development Programme report said there are around 14 million to 17 million IPs in the country.

At the core of the issue of the right to self-determination of IPs is the issue of land rights. For centuries, IPs all over the world have been fighting for their right over their ancestral lands which have been taken away by governments or by law.

Beverly Longid, global coordinator of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), said IPs believe land is life, therefore, it is integral to IPs not only in the Philippines but around the world.

Land-grabbing, encroachment The encroachment to ancestral lands of IPs has been happening for a long time, Longid said.

“Since the onset of colonization, encroachment has been happening. Now, it is development projects, mining, energy, among others [that have been encroaching on IPs lands],” she said in a Zoom meeting with the BusinessMirror on October 13.

Unfortunately, she said not only in the Philippines, but also elsewhere around the world, there is no legal recognition on the rights of IPs to their native lands that makes companies easily encroach on their territories.

According to Longid, sometimes, the government even allows or facilitates the encroachment on ancestral lands to pave the way for so-called development.

This, she said, almost always result in the massive destruction of the environment and natural resources.

Environmental defenders IPs are known as defenders of the environment. They protect the forests, as well as the plants and animals that thrive within their ancestral domains—because they are crucial to the IPs’ survival, Longid explained.

The fact that the remaining forests are found in IP lands is proof of IPs value and defense of their ancestral domains, she pointed out.

Unfortunately, Longid said the programs and policies of governments are not very supportive or beneficial to IPs, even in the Philippines.

“Currently, there’s no such program

Sustainable living

Curious Taw’buid children in Tamisan Uno on the foothills of Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park in Mindoro. Gregg Yan / National Geographic Channel

Taw’buid tribesman armed with a tulag, or spear, inside the Mounts Iglit-Baco Mountain Range. Indigenous tribesmen are employed as porters, scouts and trackers and serve to educate their fellow tribesfolk about the merits of protecting the land.

Gregg Yan/National Geographic Channel

or policies where we can work with government on that score,” added Longid, an Igorot from Benguet province, an IP tribe in Cordillera Administrative Region in northern Philippines.

IP territories, KBA For centuries, IPs have been fighting against destructive development projects in their ancestral domain, she said.

It is for this reason that the remaining forests that are rich in biodiversity and key biodiversity areas (KBA) are found in IP territories “This is no longer in the framework of protection or saving [our ancestral domain]. It is now in the framework of defending the remaining areas of biodiversity,” she said.

Longid cited what she described as human-induced fires in the Amazons rainforest in South America which are being targeted by ranchers who want to intrude in the territories of IPs. The IPs in the Amazons are now fighting for their forests, she said.

Closer to home, she cited the successful defense of their right to land and natural resources by Kalinga people of the Cordillera against the proposed Chico River Dam Project in the 1970s.

The Chico River, also called the “river of life,” is essential to the people in the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley.

The people feared that the planned dam was environmentally destructive and would deprive thousands of people of their right to land and water.

The strong people’s opposition forced the government to cancel the project in the 1980s.

“Had the IPs not succeed in opposing the projects, the communities along the Chico River would have all been gone,” she said partly in Filipino.

Fufu Ama, or tribal elder, Ben Mitra with a gadun, or short bow, used for hunting small prey like birds and lizards. The Taw’buid are the most numerous of Mindoro’s eight ethnolinguistic groups. Though they revere the tamaraw, they also engage in slash-and-burn farming and set-up both spike traps and snares to snag wildlife. Gregg Yan

Best practices IPs around the world, as well as in the Philippines, are known for their best practices in protecting and conserving their natural wealth.

Longid said their group is trying to popularize IP practices in forest protection and in certain values, such as in gathering or using resources that are only needed.

“This means production and consumption is not wasteful. Reduce, reuse and recycle. In certain [organized IP] communities, we are able to introduce nondestructive projects like [constructing] micro dams that will provide electricity to communities to counter accusations that we are antidevelopment,” she said.

According to Longid, without IPs’ right to self-determination, the remaining biodiversity areas will be gone for good.

“If not for the active defense by IPs, most of these areas that are key biodiversity areas would be gone by now,” she said.

Vulnerable, highly at risk

In Mindoro, the plight of the tamaraws, their natural habitat and their protectors mirror what is happening across the country, one of the 17 megadiverse countries in terms of flora and fauna and one of 35 biodiversity hot spots in the world due to the rapid rate of biodiversity loss.

The situation was aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic because some people who lost their jobs are forced to turn to alternative source of income and livelihood that are destructive to the environment.

At the same time, forest protectors, including IPs, are at risk of eventually losing their jobs because of income loss

in protected areas and national parks whose operation is partially dependent on tourism income.

Important role

The important role played by IPs goes beyond simply protecting and conserving the environment. Their role in biodiversity conservation is globally recognized, the Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. (MBCFI) believes.

Grace Diamante, MBCFI executive director, said IPs are the main players in conservation because since time immemorial, they are the original inhabitants of a particular area.

While most of vast areas are no longer exclusive to IPs, they still have traditional access to them for their subsistence.

“IPs believe that they coexist with plants and animals around them. But they themselves admit that they cannot do it alone, hence, the help from lowlanders are needed,” Diamante said via Messenger on October 19.

Enhancing IP capacity

Diamante said the MBCFI help IPs develop their individual and organizational capacity to carry out biodiversity conservation “even in the management of their ancestral domains without canceling their own cultural practices and the traditional system of resource use.”

In working with peoples’ organizations (POs), who are also Mindoro IPs, each member has allotted almost 1 hectare for conservation. Half of the land area is dedicated to reforestation using native trees that will never be cut down under a conservation agreement between the individual and MBCFI. The rest is planted to fast-growing trees for fuelwood and fruit-bearing trees.

Ice sheet melt reshaping coastal Greenland Nickel industry boosts rehab and other environment efforts W

ASHINGTON—Ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet has accelerated significantly over the past two decades, transforming the shape of the ice sheet edge and, therefore, the coastal Greenland, according to new research.

A new study in AGU’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface , which publishes research on the processes affecting the form and function of Earth’s surface, finds these changes could have far-reaching impacts on ecosystems and communities as the flow of water, nutrients and sediments under the ice sheet are altered.

“The speed of ice loss in Greenland is stunning,” said Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of the new study.

“We can now see many signs of a transformed landscape from space. And as the ice sheet edge responds to rapid ice loss, the character and behavior of the system as a whole is changing, with the potential to influence ecosystems and people who depend on them,” Moon said In the new study, researchers compiled data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other satellites from 1985 to 2015 to compare ice edge position, ice sheet surface elevation and glacier flow over three decades.

Advancements in satellite technology allowed them to observe the changes to the ice sheet in

much greater detail than was possible in the past.

Using these comparisons, the researchers developed a few key findings. The most consistent trend, found across the entire ice sheet, is widespread ice edge retreat.

While there is a range of behavior among glaciers across the ice sheet, there is a noticeable lack of sustained ocean-connected glacier advance.

O u t o f 2 2 5 o ce a n - co n n e c te d g l a c i e r s that were measured, none have substantially advanced while 200 have retreated, particularly since the year 2000.

This is notable even in regions dominated by slower-moving glaciers and cooler ocean water, such as the northern and northeastern regions of the ice sheet.

In addition, while most glaciers are retreating, ice flow response on those glaciers, such as speeding up or slowing down, is affected in large part by topography and upstream factors.

This includes the slope of the landscape and the presence and shape of bedrock and sediments underneath the glacier. Therefore, even glaciers within the same regional or local area can behave differently.

As the researchers examined changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet, they found that zones of fast glacier flow are narrowing, ice is being rerouted, and in some cases, the flow of new ice to glaciers is slowed, stranding glaciers in place.

These processes could have a variety of downstream impacts, such as altering how water moves under the ice sheet, which could affect the availability of water to communities and animals, altering where nutrients and sediment enter the ocean, exposing new land areas, opening new fjord waters, and altering ecosystems and physical landscapes.

“As the Arctic ocean and atmosphere warm, we can clearly see the flow of ice into the ocean accelerate and the ice edge retreat,” said Alex Gardner, a research scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and coauthor of the study.

“When we look more closely, however, we can see the complexity of how individual glaciers respond, owing to differences in the properties of the ocean water that reach the glacier front, the bedrock and till that lie below, and in how meltwater runoff is routed beneath. Understanding the complexity of individual glacier response is critical to improving projections of ice sheet change and the associated sea level rise that will arrive at our shores,” Gardner said.

The researchers hope the study findings can help project future changes in ice sheet dynamics, ice loss and local to regional impacts as global warming continues to reshape the cryosphere. Twila Moon/

NSIDC/American Geophysical Union

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he Philippine Nickel Industry Association ( P N I A ) t h ro u g h i t s e i g h t m e m b e r companies have boosted its Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program (EPEP) and have reported a total of 6.59 million trees planted over 3,167 hectares in their respective mining areas.

Despite the slowdown in operations during the community quarantine period, PNIA membercompanies have planted an additional 809,656 more trees in the first two quarters of 2020 alone.

It covered 322 hectares of land, or equivalent to approximately 600 football fields, which brings their total number of planted trees to over 6 million to date.

Last year, PNIA reported 5.3 million trees planted.

“PNIA members have consistently delivered beyond compliance to demonstrate our commitment to environment protection and rehabilitation,” said PNIA Executive Director Charmaine Olea-Capili.

O l e a - Ca p i l i s a i d P N I A m e m b e r s “ h ave invested over P203 million on continued EPEP

activities and specifically P59.7M on progressive rehabilitation this year despite the pandemic.”

She pointed out that the implementation of the progressive rehabilitation program is based on research and follows rigorous scientific methods.

“PNIA members have full-time environment and technical experts who study the ecosystem and soil of each area that will be rehabilitated to identify which tree species will suit the e nv i ro n m e nt a n d b e n e f i t t h e co m m u n i t y.

Member- companies have planted over 70 different tree species including bamboo in their respective mining sites,” she added.

As of August 2020, the group reported over 23,100 bamboo seedlings have been planted across 43 hectares.

Besides rehabilitating the environment, bamboo-planting can also provide livelihood oppor tunities for the local communities by selling various bamboo-made products.

Apar t from boosting tree planting, the nickel industry members have also conducted numerous environmental programs for the

Asean Centre for Biodiversity Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said via Messenger on October 14 that IPs are known to live in harmony with nature, living and working with their natural environment.

“Since time immemorial” indigenous peoples have lived peacefully with nature, taking only what they need for sustenance, and adopting sustainable practices that allowed the Earth to replenish itself,” Lim said.

“This is what we consider their traditional practices, and the informal know-how that is passed on from generation to generation is traditional knowledge,” she added.

L i m s a id suc h k nowled ge, once har nessed, w i l l be ver y helpf u l i n p r o t e c t i n g b io d i v e r s it y a n d p r e v e nt i n g e x t i n c t io n .

“Being designated by the CBD [Convention of Biological Diversity] as the regional node for the global biodiversity target on protected areas in the Asean, the ACB, per request of member-states, also supports activities that promote and recognize IPs as they apply traditional measures for area-based conservation. We consider this as one of the means to achieving the global protected area targets,” Lim said.

Make or break

Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on October 26 that IPs play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, especially because they have control over vast tracts of land within their ancestral domains.

IPs, he said, have the potential of being the ultimate environmental defenders, given that they promote practices in sustainably managing the natural resources. Such potential, however, can go sideways.

“Some IPs facilitates environmental abuse as they partner with unscrupulous individuals,” said Calderon, also the concurrent director of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB). He was referring to wildlife traders, loggers or timber poachers, or people representing big companies with vested interest over IPs’ lands.

It is for this reason that IPs, he said, should always be mindful of the environment more than the benefits offered by proponents of potentially destructive activities.

“The IPs should always be on the side of conservation. What we need to do is harness their potential,” Calderon said. benefit of their host communities.

They held 17 coastal cleanups in Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte and Palawan, and the planting of almost 95,000 mangrove seedlings as of August of this year.

The ongoing reforestation is just par t of the continuous effor ts of the industr y to help the local communities during the pandemic.

As of July, the nickel group members have allotted almost P30 million in pandemic relief assistance under their Social Development and Management Programs in the forms of personal protective equipment, food security packs, medicines and test kits and disinfection tents.

They also organized transpor tation and intensive information dissemination campaign in their host communities to ensure that localities including the indigenous communities are taken cared of during the pandemic.

“We ensure that no one gets left behind, especially in these trying times. In partnership with the local government, we continuously provide assistance through our various social development, crisis response and environment protection programs,” Olea-Capili said.

“Although production slowed down this year, PNIA members have ramped up their social development and environment programs to help the community throughout the pandemic and deliver our commitments to our stakeholders,” she added.

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 Sunday, November 1, 2020

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

ARE YOU WATCHING THIS? L

OS ANGELES—Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. got permission from California’s athletic commission to return to the boxing ring next month because their fight would be strictly an exhibition of their once-unparalleled skills.

These 50-something former champions still say they’re taking this showdown far more seriously than any exhibition.

“Not a real fight? We got Mike Tyson versus Roy Jones,” Tyson said Thursday in an online press conference. “I’m coming to fight, and I hope he’s coming to fight, and that’s all you need to know.”

Promoters of the pay-per-view spectacle announced that Los Angeles’s Staples Center will be the site of the 54-year-old Tyson’s return to boxing on November 28 for an eight-round main event against the 51-year-old Jones.

Tyson’s last official bout was in June 2005, and the former undisputed heavyweight champion hasn’t held a title since 1996. Jones fought steadily through his 40s, long after his

super middleweight and light heavyweight title reigns had ended, with his most recent bout in February 2018.

Jones also laughs at the idea that any time spent inside a boxing ring with Tyson could ever be a mere exhibition, even though California commission officials have made it clear that Tyson and Jones shouldn’t be attempting to seriously hurt each other during a fight with two-minute rounds. Officials say they plan to stop the bout if either fighter is cut or significantly injured.

“Who goes in the ring with the great, legendary Mike Tyson and thinks it’s an exhibition?” Jones said. “Twelve-ounce gloves?

No headgear? Really? This is an exhibition? Come on, bruh. Be real.”

In short, Tyson and Jones said everything one might expect from two cagey veterans of the fight game to promote real sporting interest in this endeavor, which came to life after the online world saw footage of Tyson looking impressive while sparring earlier this year. Jones eagerly

accepted the opportunity for his highest-profile fight in a decade.

Tyson and Jones believe they’ll be able to put on a show worthy of their legends. They’re also eager to be the latest in the growing line of athletes competing at elite levels into their 40s and beyond with improvements in sports science, nutrition and training.

“When I came along, at 32 years old, you were considered an old guy,” Jones said. “But we’re freaks. That’s why this is such a big thing.”

Tyson, who is down to 215 pounds for the first time since he was a teenager, put it even more succinctly: “Time isn’t anything.”

Tyson is even using the bout to kick off his still-nebulous venture called the Legends Only League, which aims to offer competitive outlets to athletes in many sports past what was once considered their athletic primes. Tyson said he probably won’t be done competing after this showcase with Jones, either.

“I’m going to go as long as the league is working,” Tyson said. “I’m going to do this, and

Mike Tyson and Roy Jones promise a fight in “exhibition” return. AP

I’m going to help a lot of people, and my legend is going to be that I gave a lot more than I took.”

The fight’s designation as an exhibition didn’t stop the World Boxing Council from jumping in to offer a green championship belt to the winner, calling it the “Frontline Battle Belt.”

Fans won’t be allowed inside Staples on Thanksgiving weekend for a show that will also feature three-time National Basketball Association (NBA) slam dunk champion Nate Robinson making his professional boxing debut against YouTube star Jake Paul. AP

LOCKDOWN BRINGS CHAMPION ARCHERS CLOSER TO CHILDREN

O

NE of the benefits of the lockdown was it brought together families who had to live apart during normal times because of work or other endeavors.

For Paul Marton de la Cruz and his wife Rachelle, the couple who won the mixed team gold medal in archery’s compound discipline in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, the quarantine allowed them to be with their two kids in their home in Marilao, Bulacan.

“We were able to attend more to the kids,” Paul Marton said. “Now, we are focused on them full time.”

Before the lockdown, the couple stayed most of the week at the FR Sevilla range in Novaliches to train. The facility is owned by World Archery of the Philippines (WAP) chairman, Felizardo Sevilla Jr. When quarantines were relaxed some four months ago, they took the opportunity to go home to their kids, six-year-old Paul Ezekiel and twoyear-old Lady Aki and be full-time parents to them.

“When it was normal, we were training most of the time. And when we compete, we bring the kids to my brother-in-law Michael, who had

to skip his job while we were away,” said Paul, 35, who is also the head coach of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines team. Rachelle, who is a year younger, works as a document controller at Sevilla’s company.

Paul met Rachelle, 35, when he was named to the national archery team in 2003. By then, Rachelle was already a national archer. Love bloomed between the two athletes and they got married eight years ago.

Paul said Cupid strucked his heart bullseye the moment he saw Rachelle.

“The first time I saw her, I got hit by Cupid right away. That’s why I persevered to be part of the national team to be with her,” he said.

“But she wasn’t that easy to woo, she was aloof. But I was persistent.”

Fast forward to 2019 and the couple gave their share—a gold medal in the SEA Games—that added to the country’s haul on its way to emerging as overall champion.

With the gold medal came financial incentives from the government (P300,000) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (P200,000), and like all the other athletes, the bonus was, indeed, a bonus.

“The cash incentive was a big help,”

Paul said. “All our efforts and hard work in training really paid off.”

But while quarantines remain, the couple had to settle for virtual training with the other national archers and a 5-meter range at their home, a far cry from the competition distances of 60 and 70 meters.

“While the kids are still asleep in the morning, that’s the time I train,” Paul said.

“As for Rachelle, she trains after her work is done for the day.”

“It’s all we can do for now, improvise our training method. But we are hopeful that soon, we’ll be back in the field for actual training,” he added. Annie Abad

Paul Marton de la Cruz and wife Rachelle pose with their kids—six-year-old Paul Ezekiel and two-year-old Lady Aki—wearing the national team jersey and their gold medals.

Boston Marathon in 2021 postponed

N

EXT year’s Boston Marathon has been postponed until at least the third quarter of 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the sporting calendar—and in particular mass-participation events.

The Boston Marathon is usually held on the third Monday of April, but the 2021 edition will not be run until “at least the fall of 2021,” the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) has announced.

That is if the event can go ahead at all.

Patriots’ Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts, falling on the third Monday of April each year, and that is why the race is traditionally held on that date. The 2020 Boston Marathon was canceled, a first in the event’s 124year history.

Four of this year’s six World Marathon Majors were canceled, with races in Berlin, New York and Chicago also falling victim to the pandemic, while the London Marathon was an elite-online event moved to a loop course in a park and the Tokyo Marathon’s mass-participation race was scrapped.

Next year’s Tokyo Marathon has already been moved from March to October because of the global health crisis, with the London race also pushed back to October.

“With fewer than six months until Patriots’ Day and with road races prohibited until Phase 4 of the Massachusetts reopening plan, we are unable to host the Boston Marathon this coming April,” BAA Chief Executive Tom Grilk said.

Massachusetts is in Stage 3 at present, but different areas are at varying stages of Stage 3, meaning they are subject to different resrictions.

“By shifting our focus to a fall date, we can continue to work with stakeholders to adjust the in-person experience for runners and supporters alike,” Grilk said. “Prioritizing the safety of participants, volunteers, spectators, and community members, we continue to assess all elements of the race including a potential reduced field size or weekend date.”

The BAA is set to work with its Covid-19 Medical and Event Operations Advisory Group, as well as state, city and local officials, to determine exactly when the next in-person Boston Marathon can take place.

A date should be announced by the end of 2020, organizers said. Insidethegames

Palmer: I feel like it is something I should do

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RISBANE, Australia—Former rugby union international Dan Palmer has come out as gay in a lengthy self-written column in Australia’s Fairfax Media in which he admits that earlier in his life it wasn’t “an exaggeration to say my own death felt preferable to anybody discovering I was gay.”

Palmer played a test in the front row for Australia in 2012. He had been vice-captain of the ACT Brumbies in Super Rugby and made his Wallabies debut that year, but cried himself to sleep “most nights,” often “numbed” by opioids.

Palmer, 32, joins former Wales winger Gareth Thomas as the only two rugby union internationals to say they are gay. The highestprofile gay player in rugby league in Australia was Ian Roberts, who came out as gay in 1995 while he was still playing in the National Rugby League but after he had played his last of 13 tests for Australia. Rugby referee Nigel Owens came out in 2007 during his high-profile international career.

Palmer describes his “incredibly frustrated, angry, and desperately sad” state, despite a year in 2012 where he was living out his childhood dream.

He said that although he thought he had “made it,” he “fantasized about disappearing, changing my name and starting my life all over again.”

Palmer said the article published Friday was “something I have been very apprehensive about writing. I have not been forced to do this, nor do I seek the attention it may bring.

“In fact, at this point I feel like I am describing the life of a completely separate person; albeit someone that shaped who I am today, for better or worse. I don’t think describing my experiences in this way is something I am obliged to do, but rather, I

feel like it is something I should do, on the off chance it will help someone who finds themselves in a similar position.”

After sustaining a series of injuries in 2013, Palmer signed a rugby contract with FC Grenoble in the French Top 14 competition.

That’s when he said his life hit rock-bottom.

“After overdosing on painkillers and waking up in a pool of the previous day’s food, it was clear to me that I was rapidly self-destructing and that something had to change,” the former prop wrote.

A painful conversation with a friend in London followed, but “he was the first person I told that I was gay in my 25 years on the planet. Telling him removed a weight I had been carrying for as long as I could remember.”

He said he felt he wouldn’t be accepted by family and friends, but feared telling them would make him look as though he had deceived them for years.

Palmer continues his involvement with rugby as a coach with the Canberrabased Brumbies.

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper said he believes Palmer’s column could spark a positive change.

“I guess that’s why someone like Dan is putting that out there, his words speak loud,” Hooper said. “I feel really happy for Dan, he’s a great bloke, a great Wallaby, a great rugby

player and now coach.”

David Pocock, a former Australia captain and veteran of three Rugby World Cup campaigns, went on social media to lend his support, saying Palmer was “one of the best men I got to know and play alongside in rugby.

Incredibly hard working and an actual genius.”

“I believe sport is at its best when it’s challenging society to be more inclusive,” Pocock, who been an outspoken advocate of marriage equality and inclusiveness in general, posted Friday with a link to Palmer’s story. “A good reminder of how much more work there is to do.” AP RUGBY prop Dan Palmer opens up as gay.

Halloween

in 2020

Can being scared—under certain, controlled conditions—still be fun?

2

BusinessMirror NOVEMBER 1, 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

REFLECTING THROUGH MUSIC

Johnny Orlando on evolving through uncertain times

A

By Stephanie Joy Ching

FTER his 2018 hit “What If” experienced a resurgence in popularity through TikTok, Johnny Orlando released his newest single “Everybody Wants You” last September 10. A soft pop-rock song with a beat that drifts between somber and determined, the song is a collaboration with New York-based songwriters/producers Pom Pom aka Kellen Pomeranz and Jesse Fink, and singer-songwriter and label-mate Soran Dussaigne (Soran) as part of Orlando’s upcoming second EP.

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

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: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

Group Creative Director : Eduardo A. Davad Graphic Designers Contributing Writers

Columnists

: Niggel Figueroa Anabelle O. Flores : Tony M. Maghirang, Rick Olivares, Darwin Fernandez, Leony Garcia, Stephanie Joy Ching Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez

For Orlando, the EP is a culmination of the person he has become over the last year. However, it is also the realization that he is far from the person he will be in a year’s time. It is a time for reflection during these uncertain times and a sense of hope for when things will get better.

The first single “Everybody wants you” is a song about “the four or five girls who run your school” and how it is hard to fall in love with one of them because they seem just so unreachable.

“It’s not a good time if you end up falling for one of them because I did,” he shared during an online interview. Though the song can come off as a wake up call to former popular girls, he stated that he never

: Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

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: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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JOHNNY Orlando

meant to interpret it that way.

“It’s kind of a universal experience,” he said, “It’s something a lot of people go through and I like the relatability of it,” Born and raised in Toronto, the Canadian singer and songwriter first got his start by posting covers on platforms like YouTube and Musical.ly. He says that his approach to music was largely influenced by his father, who played a lot of classic rock and country music.

“He played a lot of the stuff he grew up on, which impacted the way I view music and the stuff that I like. He played a lot of classic rock and country like Counting Crows. I like the lyricism a lot and the real stuff that they talk about that is also kinda abstract, which I like as well,” As for modern artists who influence his style, he cites The Weeknd and fellow Candians pop star Justin Bieber as inspirations.

He first released his debut EP entitled Teenage Fever in 2019, which captured the attention of the music world through his extremely heartfelt lyrics. The EP won him the Europe Music Award for Best Canadian Act at the 2019 EMAs and a nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2019 JUNO Awards.

Now with another EP under his

belt, he shares that he is just “going with the flow” as he plans to release more songs by the new year.

Currently, “Everybody Wants You” has entered Spotify Philippines Viral 50 and has been receiving airplays on 99.5 Play FM & Magic 89.9. Johnny Orlando is also nominated in this year’s MTV European Music Awards as Best Canadian Act alongside fellow nominees Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, and his inspirations Justin Bieber and The Weekend.

To date, his music has generated over 500 million streams and over 500 million YouTube views and has garnered acclaim from the likes of Billboard, Variety, Paper, Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Just Jared Jr, Tiger Beat and more. At this point, it’s safe to say that we’ll be hearing a lot more of him in the near future.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com |NOVEMBER 1, 2020

BUSINESS

3

RHYTHM & RHYME

by Kaye Villagomez-Losorata

Park Seo Jun and Smart make beautiful music together

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AST Wednesday, Korean superstar Park Seo Jun dropped his latest TVC via local mobile services provider, Smart. As if on cue, Philippine social media swooned over the actor, who actually sings too. He performed the original soundtrack “Come Into My Heart” from the 2014 drama “Witch’s Romance” back in 2014.

For this latest project with Smart, PSJ is the face of #SmartKLife and is encouraging his Filipino supporters to try out GIGA K-Video offer with Premium Viu streaming access. He can be seen doing what he does best (Read: Spreading legit K-lig) via this link, https://www.facebook. com/137599377310/posts/10158975 279312311/?vh=e&extid=0&d=n and hints on his possible return to Manila, according to a press conference held October 28.

“Filipinos and Koreans uphold common values especially when it comes to love for family and friends and I think this is one of the reasons K-Dramas resonate well with Filipino viewers,” PSJ said in a pre-taped interview for the TVC launch. “I am thankful for this opportunity to encourage more Filipinos to discover and enjoy more Korean content and to take a breather from these uncertain times,” he added as the Smart TVC harps on his “K lang yan” line, a spot-on word play meant to spread positive vibes.

And yes, it helps when it’s Park Seo Jun who’s saying,“K lang yan.”One wink from the “Itaewon Class” star and it’s so much simpler and easier to believe there are more reasons to keep the “kapet” mode on and push forward.

THE Wishfuls

OPM and the e-concert trend

MEMBERS of the all-female vocal ensemble, The Wishfuls, delivered an e-concert last Sunday (October 25) that drew 18,000 online viewers and trended on Twitter.

The show has likewise gotten the buzz for being a special tribute night for hitmaker Vehnee Saturno whose classic compositions were sung during a segment paying homage to his longevity in the music industry.

E-concert promoter and talent management Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International (BMPI), Inc., has once again succeeded in contributing to the OPM cause by orchestrating a show featuring young,

PARK Seo Jun

sought-after talents popular on social media and then backing them up with more established, even iconic stars.

Last month, it partnered with communication app QONEQ in delivering the concert of its band signee Bradz which drew 15,000 livestream viewers.

“OPM is resilient in these hard times and that was reflected in The

Wishfuls paying tribute to the man behind some of the finest love songs produced by a local composer,” said Adjes Carreon of BMPI Talent Center which handles the group.

The Saturno tribute celebrated the composer’s 40th year in showbusiness as The Wishfuls performed some of his hits with local royalty Sheryn Regis.

The show simply dubbed“OPM Live” is, if we look at the big picture, a tribute to the broadness and charm of OPM music. Other big stars who backed the girl group were the concert king Martin Nievera, Soul Diva Jaya, RnB King Jayr, balladeer couple Jessa Zaragoza and Dingdong Avanzado, among others.

The e-concert was staged at La Verdad College Auditorium in Apalit, Pampanga. It was the same venue wherein last year the group was loudly applauded performing in “This Is The Time,” an event showcasing the talent stable of BMPI talents.

Carreon shared, “The Wishfuls are not new in performing in front of a huge crowd. The group entertained many of their fans in a previous pre-pandemic show called The Wishful Journey at the Araneta Coliseum. They also treated OFWs at The Wishfuls Live in Dubai, UAE and performed with other stars in events like Wish Music Awards, the Songs for Heroes in MOA Arena, and the 90’s Upload, also staged in Dubai.”

The group is composed of starsearch Wishcovery Season 1 alumni Princess Sevillena, Kimberly Baluzo, Louie Anne Culala, Carmela Ariola, and Ace Bartolome. Season 2 grand winner Rhea Basco had also joined the line-up.

Carreon added, “As a result of their triumphant series of performances, they were also invited to participate in the local reality talent competition dubbed ‘Your Moment’aired by erstwhile free TV giant ABS-CBN.” Last September 27, the trio of singing brothers, Sean, Chris and JC, collectively called Bradz, celebrated its 8th anniversary in the band scene with an e-concert of their own. Its official hashtag #BRADZAnnivConcert landed at the 4th spot of Twitter’s Philippine Trending Topic.

“BMPI, Inc. is now set to stage more virtual events in the coming months for other signed artists,” hinted Carreon.

The author is a former entertainment reporter and editor before shifting to corporate PR. Follow @kayevillagomez on Instagram and Twitter for more updates.

Halloween in 2020

Can being scared—under certain, controlled conditions—still be fun?

By Ted Anthony

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The Associated Press

ORTERSVILLE, Pa.—The setting: a rolling patch of Pennsylvania farmland, about 15 miles from the little town where Night of the Living Dead was filmed. The moment: Halloween season 2020, a moonlit Friday night.

She strides up to the hayride and beckons you to the dimly lit tent behind her. Her eyes are hollow. “Blood” streaks her nurse’s uniform. Across her forehead is a deep, oozing wound.

“This is the corona tent,” she says. “I’m Nurse Ratched. We’re gonna test you all for the corona.” On the truck, the voice of a teenage girl slices through the darkness: “I told you there’d be a Covid section.”

This is Cheeseman Fright Farm, one of those stylish Halloween attractions that emerge from the shadows in the United States of America when the leaves start falling and the days grow shorter.

On this night, it is the place to be: By 8:45 p.m., a line 400 strong—some wearing face masks, some not—waits, at $20 a pop, to be carted off into the darkness and have creatures in various stages of decay leap out at them for the better part of an hour.

Good fun? Other years, sure. But this year? This 2020 that we’ve clawed through 10 months of so far, through pandemic and uncertainty and racial injustice and sometimes violent unrest and unthinkable political divisions and, and, and, and all of it?

In this October 22, 2020, file photo a man walks past a large face mask hanging over pumpkins in front of a house during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco.

ON THE COVER: Co-Owner of Terror Town, James Gregory, holds a lantern as he wears a black plague mask while scaring visitors, Saturday, October 17, 2020, in Williamsburg, Ohio. AP In a year when fear and death have commandeered front-row seats in American life, what does it mean to encounter the holiday whose very existence hinges on turning fear and death into entertainment?

What happens when 2020 and Halloween collide? Can being scared—under certain, controlled conditions—still be fun? nnn When we are afraid, we have sought out fear. For a century, that’s been the odd contradiction in American popular culture.

In 1931, when the Great Depression was at its height and American society seemed fragile, Universal Studios uncorked the first of its iconic horror films, delivering up Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster. In the 1950s, when American life felt finite, with nuclear menace from without and subversive threats from within, science fiction produced Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing From Another World.

But usually the fear Americans have

chased is different than—though certainly related to—the fear present in our lives.

Today, in a nation that has buried more than 225,000 of its own from Covid, how does the iconography of death play—the tombstones and caskets and decaying corpses and the feeling, however fleeting, that you might not make it around the next corner? With so many affected by the events of this year, is that the kind of release people seek?

“There’s a real dichotomy right now,” says Matt Hayden, co-owner of Terror Town, an Old West-themed horror village in Williamsburg, Ohio. “If you’ve been directly impacted by serious illness or loss, we’ve heard from people that this isn’t something that appeals to them this year.”

That’s not the majority. Hayden reports record attendance this year, people who want to swap that dull, pounding fear for something immersive and cinematic—to lose themselves in a storyline for a moment.

“They can come to places like this,” he

says, “and separate themselves from this year and what it’s been.” nnn The coronavirus might be 2020’s newest bogeyman, but other, older ones are just as menacing. Even beyond Covid, there’s enough fear and death in American life to go around this year.

Among the scares: What will happen on Election Day? What will happen to the republic after Election Day? Both sides of a polarized citizenry have their own brands of unease at those questions.

Then there’s the racial reckoning fueled by centuries of fear and death visited unto Black people in America—and renewed by 2020’s convulsive events. As The Root wrote in October 2016, “Every day is Halloween for Black people.” nnn So 10 months into this wretched year, what do fake blood, zombie mannequins in the supermarket foyer and hands clawing out from front-yard Halloween graves in the suburbs really give us?

“In light of 2020, playing with fear and death acts as kind of an escape from fear and death.” That’s how Ben Lish, 17, a senior at Hampton High School north of Pittsburgh, explains the allure of a place like Cheeseman Fright Farm, which he visited this month.

Horror lover Melody Bentson offers a similar assessment. “It’s fun to look in the face of something that’s dark or scary and come out the other side,” she says.

That may be it right there. Perhaps the fear itself isn’t what offers release. Maybe it’s that the fear, consumed in bite-sized doses, comes to a distinct and measurable end. And when it does, no matter what the rest of the world is dishing out, turns out you’re still fine after all. You’ve made it. Or, at least, you can pretend you have.

A look into education’s new normal

V

arious industries in the Philippines are already on their slow but steady path to recovery and that includes the education sector. Despite the compromises and major changes made in the educational system to navigate through the new normal, the Department of Education (DepEd) has successfully opened classes for SY 2020-2021.

For the first few weeks of classes, the Department has been focusing on the proper implementation of the alternative learning delivery modalities and providing the necessary psychosocial support for the academic community.

“DepEd recognizes the challenges of the school year ahead, but if we opted for an academic freeze, we would have lost many months of the children’s learning,” said Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones. “The opening of the school year has generally been very successful, and we will continue to face any challenge that lies ahead with great resolve to continue education in the country.”

Learning in the new normal

Following the DepEd’s successful implementation of the different learning modalities across the country, Regional Offices (ROs) are working hard to continuously provide students with learning materials.

With the vision of making education accessible to every student in the country, DepEd reports that 690,578,576 Self Learning Modules (SLM) have already been printed. Distribution of the said learning materials has also been successful, with 465,225,636 SLMs being distributed to students nationwide for the first quarter of the school year.

Learning materials for Online Distance Learning students have already been prepared in time for the first quarter of the academic year, with 3,841,474 digitized SLMs, e-books, online video lessons, and the like ready for rollout.

Recently, DepEd also announced the DepEd Error Watch initiative. The goal of this initiative is to receive and collate reports of

4 BusinessMirror

errors found in different learning materials so that the DepEd can forward these to the appropriate offices for validation and correction.

The initiative allows the Department to be more open to public feedback in order to further improve the learning experience of every student in the country.

Parents and students can use various platforms such as e-mail (errorwatch@deped.gov. ph), Facebook messenger (@depederrorwatch), and text message (0961-680-5334) to report any discrepancies, and are also encouraged to use the hashtag #depederrorwatch when submitting reports.

Putting emphasis on mental health

The mental health of the academic community also continues to be one of DepEd’s top priorities for this school year. Prior to the opening of classes, DepEd trained teachers to provide support to students who may be struggling to cope

November 1, 2020

with education’ new normal.

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) program gives learners the necessary support they needed during the first week of remote learning. Likewise, DepEd’s stakeholders also enjoy wellness checks to also help them cope with working at such a peculiar time.

“The millions of learners who are doing their best to learn despite the pandemic are truly inspiring and encouraging,” said Secretary Briones. “The Department remains steadfast in its commitment to provide all learners with the quality education they deserve, and we will continue to work hand in hand with our stakeholders to continue education for Filipinos across the country amid these trying times.”