BusinessMirror April 21, 2024

TBy Lenie Lectura

HE construction of critical transmission projects was completed in recent months. However, the Luzon and Visayas grids experienced rotating power outages early this week due to over 30 power plants either being shut down or operating at limited capacity.

with low water levels. “Irrigation is a priority before power generation,” it said, adding that “it is the heat and the drought that play a big role.”

Coal and thermal plants, depending on the design, are affected by ambient temperature. “There are several factors that come into play. Remember that electricity has inherent heat,” commented PIPPA President Atty. Anne Escoro Montelibano, when asked how power plants perform during summer months when demand for electricity is at its peak.

The paucity of power supply and reserves is shown up, along with the need for a whole-sector approach to the energy infrastructure, in last week’s rotating power outages, as extreme temperatures worsened the problems of aging plants.

Therma Visayas Inc. had to shut down its 150MW coal plant in Cebu due to a “bed material leak” inside the boiler. The Pagbilao power facility likewise encountered boiler tube leak.

The Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. (PIPPA) said majority of the power plants in the Luzon grid that were on outage were hydropower plants

Both the Luzon and Visayas grids have reached all-time-high peak demands for the year so far. The peak demand in Luzon was recorded at 13,222 MW on April 17 at 2:48 p.m., while the Visayas grid reached a peak demand of 2,525 MW at 3:34. p.m. In 2023, peak demand in Luzon stood at 12,550MW; 2,458MW in Visayas; and 2,315MW in Mindanao.

This year’s peak demand nearly outpaced available capacity for both grids for the past three days, prompting the NGCP to issue red and yellow alerts.

A red alert status is issued when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand

and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement, while a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

As a result, manual load dropping (MLD) or rotational power interruptions happened this week.

“The red alert status in the Luzon grid and the yellow alert in the Visayas grid are unacceptable and alarming. We have repeatedly called on the DOE to implement the necessary contingency plans that would tide us over when one or several of our power plants are incapacitated or unable to operate at full capacity,” said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

The DOE constantly reminded power generation firms of their compliance with the Grid Operating and Maintenance Program (GOMP), which states that no baseload plants should undergo any outages, both scheduled and unscheduled, from April to June this year.

But since many of the power plants are aging, unscheduled shutdowns could not be avoided.

“No matter how extensive the maintenance activities are being done on the power plants, we cannot totally prevent the ‘wear and tear’ of some parts of the plants,” said DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan.

ERC investigation

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has already begun its probe and has directed power plant operators to submit their estimated timelines for the resumption of their operations.

“We will continue to monitor their timely compliance. We are fully aware of the difficulties brought about by these power disruptions and affirm our commitment to a thorough investigation,”

AI-powered World Health Organization chatbot is flubbing some answers

By Jessica Nix Bloomberg

TSARAH, short for Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health, is a virtual health worker that’s available to talk 24/7 in eight different languages to explain topics like mental health, tobacco use and healthy eating. It’s part of the WHO’s campaign to find technology that can both educate people and fill staffing gaps with the world facing a health-care worker shortage.

WHO warns on its website that this early prototype, introduced on April 2, provides responses that “may not always be accurate.” Some of SARAH’s AI training is years behind the latest data. And the bot occasionally provides bizarre answers, known as hallucinations in AI models, which can spread misinformation about public health.

HE World Health Organization is wading into the world of AI to provide basic health information through a human-like avatar. But while the bot responds sympathetically to users’ facial expressions, it doesn’t always know what it’s talking about. Continued from A1

SARAH doesn’t have a diagnostic feature like WebMD or Google. In fact, the bot is programmed to not talk about anything outside of the WHO’s purview, including questions on specific drugs. So SARAH often sends people to a WHO website or says that users should “consult with your health-care provider.”

“It lacks depth,” said Ramin Javan, a radiologist and researcher at George Washington University. “But I think it’s because they just don’t want to overstep their boundaries and this is just the first step.”

WHO says SARAH is meant to work in partnership with researchers and governments to provide accurate public health statistics and suggest basic steps to healthier living. The agency is asking for advice on how to improve the bot and use it in emergency health situations. But it emphasizes its AI assistant is still a work in progress.

“These technologies are not at the point where they are substitutes for interacting with a professional or getting medical advice from an actual trained clinician or health provider,” said Alain Labrique, the director of digital health and innovation at WHO.

SARAH was trained on OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5, which used data through September 2021, so the bot doesn’t have up-to-date information on medical advisories or news events. When asked whether the US Food & Drug Administration has approved the Alzheimer’s drug Lecanemab, for example, SARAH said the drug is still in clinical trials when in fact it was approved for early disease treatment in January 2023.

Even the WHO’s own data can trip SARAH up. When asked whether hepatitis deaths are increasing, it could not immediately provide details from a recent WHO report until prompted a second time to check the agency’s website for updated statistics. The agency said this is due to the bot’s training on ChatGPT 3.5.

to an IP address or person to protect users.

Still, using open-source data like GPT’s has its own dangers because it is a frequent target of cybercriminals, Jingquan Li, a public health and IT researcher at Hofstra University, said. Some people accessing SARAH through Wi-Fi are vulnerable to malware attacks or video camera hacking. Guerra said attacks trying to access data shouldn’t be a problem because of the anonymous sessions.

Government partners and researchers also do not have regular access to the data, including questions that might help track health patterns, unless they ask for the voluntary survey data. Guerra said this means SARAH would not be the most accurate tool to predict the next flu outbreak, for example.

ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta. She stressed that while the primary focus remains on the immediate restoration of capacity, the agency is mandated to also review the performance of stakeholders concerned to ensure compliance with reporting requirements, maintenance and technical standards, as well as observance of allowable outage limitations.

The ERC, in a 2020 resolution, had set the maximum days of planned and unplanned outages per year and per generating plant technology.

This week’s power situation has led many to believe that the three sectors—generation, transmission and distribution—of the energy industry, coupled with a sound framework should be the right formula to solve the country’s power woes.

“As in the past years, the unplanned maintenance shutdowns of power plants have a considerable impact on supply and demand balance. The entry of new generation must always outpace the growth in demand,” NGCP stressed. The DOE earlier said that

None of this is unusual in these early days of AI development. In a study last year looking at how ChatGPT responded to 284 medical questions, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that while it provided correct answers most of the time, there were multiple instances where the chatbot was “spectacularly and surprisingly wrong.”

Safety and privacy concerns

TO be able to mimic empathy for question sessions, SARAH accesses computer cameras to store users’ facial expressions for 30 seconds, then deletes the recordings, WHO communications director Jaimie Guerra said. Each visit is anonymous, but users can elect to share their questions with WHO in a survey to improve the experience, though Guerra said any data collected is randomized and not tied

And sometimes the AI bot draws a blank. Javan asked SARAH where one could get a mammogram in Washington, DC, and it could not provide a response.

SARAH is a continuation of a 2021 WHO virtual health worker project called Florence that provided basic information on Covid-19 and tobacco, and New Zealand-based Soul Machines Ltd. built the avatars for both projects. Soul Machines cannot access the SARAH data, but Chief Executive Officer Greg Cross said in a statement the company is using the GPT data to improve results and experience. Earlier this year, WHO released ethics guidance to its government partners for health-related AI models, including promoting data transparency and protecting safety.

While Florence appeared to be a young, nonwhite woman, SARAH appears White. Changing the appearance and updating the avatar isn’t out of the question, Labrique said, and users may be able to choose an avatar preference in future versions.

As for SARAH’s gender, when asked it said “I am a chatbot digital health promoter, so I do not have a gender or use personal pronouns. My purpose is to assist you in living a healthy lifestyle. Do you have any questions about quitting tobacco, reducing alcohol consumption, or improving your overall well-being?”

OUTAGES?

growth in demand for this year could rise by nearly 11 percent in Luzon, 17 percent in Visayas, and possibly 11 percent in Mindanao.

NGCP stressed that it has long advocated for a holistic approach to energy planning. “We must focus development on the three sectors of the energy industry—generation, transmission and distribution—and not just on transmission. NGCP only transmits power when it is available. We remain committed to strengthening the transmission network in the country,” the grid operator said, adding that it continues to pursue its mandate of expanding the transmission system to keep pace with the developments.

Montelibano also recognized the need for additional capacity.

“The climate contributes, but that’s not everything. We need more peaking plants. We need more baseload, so in the event a lot of plants bog down, we have sufficient back-up,” she said.

While additional capacities are needed, these should be supported by policies conducive and fair to capital-intensive investments.

“Towards this end, the current regulatory framework relating to merchant plants, government ap-

provals, price caps, and the reserve market may be enhanced to allow economically feasible operations by investors,” added Montelibano.

ACEN Corp. President Eric Francia said the three red alerts raised over Luzon and Visayas were not unexpected, given the lack of power reserves.

“We hope that the reserve market will resume operations soon, and that the ancillary service contracts that NGCP signed about a year ago will be honored and executed.

“A predictable and functioning reserve market is needed to encourage the building of much needed new capacity. It is also important to keep the viability of existing power plants that are primarily designed to serve the reserve market as opposed to the energy market,” he said.

The reserve market is envisioned to usher in the trade of power reserves in the WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market), providing additional supply that is crucial during power interruptions.

As of this writing, the alerts are still in place to date for certain hours, as issued by the NGCP, due to insufficient supply and/or insufficient reserves in the said grids.

THE WHO’s artificial intelligence tool provides public health information via a lifelike avatar.

Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World

Clean hydrogen’s best bet may be a rainforest state in Borneo

By Ram Anand & Stephen Stapczynski

THE oil-rich Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo is aiming to transform itself into a center for clean hydrogen energy, betting that its ability to harness an abundance of hydropower can help it defy challenges that are clouding the fuel’s prospects elsewhere.

In state capital Kuching, the gambit is well underway after Sarawak plowed $3.4 billion into a network of power-to-transport projects. Three fuel-cell buses made in China that are free to ride ply the city’s roads, refueling at multi-fuel stations that come with hydrogen bays. Officials travel around in Toyota Motor Corp.’s Mirai, the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle.

Authorities in Sarawak “are in a way world leaders in hydrogen activities,” said Gniewomir Flis, a senior advisor at Washington-based climate policy advisory firm Kaya Partners specializing in hydrogen. “They are among the ones getting the ball rolling.”

Sarawak, a state the size of England with a population of 2.5 million, is blessed with the rivers and heavy rainfall needed to create hydropower that can generate clean electricity needed for emissionsfree hydrogen. Kuching, meanwhile,

is a city of over half a million people where the fuel can be much more easily adopted. The true test of Sarawak’s potential is whether it can help hydrogen commercialize on a larger scale overseas.

“We have the means to help cool down the world,” Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Tun Openg, who formulated the state’s hydrogen blueprint in 2019, said in an interview.

Taking Sarawak’s hydrogen global, however, remains a costly and complex task. For one, it requires the construction of whole new infrastructure to produce the gas, transport it to customers and then burn it. Hydrogen cannot be transported on its own due to its low density, and needs to be converted into another chemical liquid compound first.

Global hydrogen use rose to 95 million tons in 2022, and less than 1 percent of the total was low-emissions fuel, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The fundamental challenge with hydrogen lies in its transportation logistics, as most hydrogen currently used is situated near demand centers,” said Minh Khoi Le, head of hydrogen research at Rystad Energy.

Nonetheless, two Asian countries where hydrogen is seen as crucial to the green transition have already set their sights on Sarawak as a key provider of the fuel.

South Korea’s private sector has pledged to pour billions of dollars into creating a value chain for the clean fuel, while Japan, which created the world’s first hydrogen strategy in 2017, said in the latest update in June that it aims to increase consumption of the fuel to 20 million tons by 2050 from about 2 million tons now.

The countries’ biggest energy companies are partnering with Sarawak’s new state-backed entity, SEDC Energy, to build two hydrogen plants in the port city of Bintulu called H2ornbill and H2biscus, named for the state bird and Malaysia’s national flower.

The Japan-backed plant, H2ornbill, aims to convert hydrogen into methylcyclohexane, a chemical

also known as MCH, to be exported to Japan. H2biscus, meanwhile, plans to convert its hydrogen output into ammonia for export to South Korea.

The two projects, slated to start commercial production in 2028 at the earliest, together aim to produce 240,000 tons of hydrogen a year. The figure rivals the stated output of Saudi Arabia’s Neom plant, set to be the world’s biggest after announcing last year it would produce roughly 291,000 tons a year from 2026.

Malaysia is attractive mainly because of the low cost of production of green hydrogen, expected to be the cheapest among Southeast Asian countries by 2035, according to BloombergNEF forecasts, and roughly 20 per less than in South Korea.

“A stable supply of electricity at a low cost are the most important points” for Japan’s hydrogen goals, said Shohei Yasuda, an official at the hydrogen promotion department of Eneos Corp., one of the Sarawak project’s partners.

Despite Malaysia’s low costs, green hydrogen still faces huge price hurdles against much

Authorities in Sarawak “are in a way world leaders in hydrogen activities,” said Gniewomir Flis, a senior advisor at Washington-based climate policy advisory firm Kaya Partners specializing in hydrogen. “They are among the ones getting the ball rolling.”

cheaper fossil fuels—natural gas is currently about a quarter the price of green hydrogen produced with Western technology, according to BNEF. And that doesn’t include the cost to liquefy the hydrogen or convert it for export.

Liquefying hydrogen also requires vast amounts of energy— the process is expensive and consumes more than 30 percent of the energy content of the fuel, according to the US Department of Energy. It’s also less dense than liquefied natural gas, so transporting it at scale would require creating new fleets of ships, infrastructure and technology.

And the technology is still in the midst of proving itself. The world’s largest green hydrogen project, located in western China, is grappling with issues around efficiency and flexibility, according to an analysis by BNEF. Its electrolyzers—machines that strip hydrogen from water—are currently the cheapest in the market but struggle to manage fluctuations in power from sources like solar. Sarawak touts its access to unfettered hydropower as the key to prevent such problems.

“Our advantage is of course hydropower,” said Robert Hardin, chief executive officer at SEDC

Energy. “We don’t have that issue of intermittent supply.”

While hydrogen’s practical use still faces many hurdles, Sarawak is powering ahead at home. Its biggest undertaking yet is a planned autonomous, hydrogen-fuel tramline costing 5.59 billion ringgit ($1.17 billion) that is slated to start operations as early as next year. The trackless tram system, built by a unit of China’s CRRC Corp., has not been put into commercial operation anywhere in the world.

Other plans in the works in Sarawak include hydrogen-powered waste collection trucks and medium-sized boats, which are a common form of commuting in more rural areas, said Robert.

With more than enough water and hydrogen to power these ambitions, Sarawak could end up looking like a model state for hydrogen, but Kaya Partners’ Flis said there is also a risk of the investments not working out and becoming white elephant projects.

Abang Johari admits that the stakes are high.

“It is a risk, but it is a calculated risk,” he said. “There is no other option, we need alternative energy, and hydrogen, ultimately, is the cleanest.” With assistance from Shoko Oda and Heesu Lee/Bloomberg

Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders in the US more likely to believe in climate change: AP-NORC poll

By Terry Tang & Linley Sanders The Associated Press

ASIAN Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are more likely than the overall adult population to believe in human-caused climate change, according to a new poll. It also suggests that partisanship may not have as much of an impact on this group’s environmental views, compared to Americans overall.

A recent poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 84 percent of AAPI adults agree climate change exists. In comparison, 74 percent of US adults hold the same sentiment. And three-quarters of AAPI adults who accept climate change is real attribute it entirely or mostly to human activity. Among the general US adult population surveyed in an AP-NORC poll in September, only 61 percent say humans are causing it. The poll is part of an ongoing project exploring the views of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, whose views can usually not be highlighted in other surveys because of small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that heat-trapping gases released from the combustion of fossil fuels are pushing up global temperatures, upending weather patterns and endangering animal species. Many scientific organizations have made public statements on the issue.

In terms of partisanship, the percentage of AAPI Democrats, 84

percent, who acknowledge climate change falls exactly in line with the share of Democrats overall in the September poll. The share of AAPI Republicans who believe there is a climate crisis is lower, but they somewhat outnumber Republicans in general, 68 percent versus 49 percent.

Adrian Wong, 22, of Whippany, New Jersey, is registered as unaffiliated but leans Republican. A biology major in college, the Chinese American says the science behind climate change is indisputable.

“I’ve probably done more or looked more into it than the average person has,” Wong said. “It’s to me clear that it’s changing due to human activity, not natural shifts.”

There has been growing conflict within the Republican Party between those who insist climate change is a progressive-generated hoax and those—mostly younger generations—who say the issue cannot be ignored. GOP lawmakers, in general, refuse to consider measures like mandated lowering of carbon emissions. However, some consider that an untenable position long-term. American Conservation Coalition, the largest conservative environmental group in the nation, has said Republicans running for office cannot risk alienating people who care about climate change.

Wong is not surprised that AAPI conservatives like himself recognize that the climate is changing.

He thinks they are more highly educated and more likely to be exposed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they were more likely to have studied more and actually more likely to

have studied in science and STEMrelated fields rather than, say like, finance or something,” Wong said.

While climate change is an afterthought to her parents, Analisa Harangozo, 35, of Alameda, California, worries a great deal about it. She has noticed a rise in “crazy heatwaves and droughts and just like crazy weather in general” in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and her husband are teaching their sons—ages 7 and 4—to take small steps to reduce their carbon footprint like composting, growing food and eating less meat. They’re also trying to minimize their accumulation of household items.

“I always second-guess myself, ‘Do I really need this?’” Harangozo said. “Stuff will eventually

end up in the landfill. So, we’re really mindful with the products we buy, and whether or not they can be recycled or they’re made from materials that are natural, like wood or what-not.”

A registered independent with Democratic leanings, Harangozo is open to proposals from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state lawmakers to slash greenhouse gas emissions and invest in renewable energy.

“I’m not knowledgeable enough to know what an attainable goal is,” she said. “But, whatever it takes to actually make a difference, I’m all for it. I fully support.”

Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy professor at the University of California, Riverside, and founder of AAPI Data,

said the richness and detail of the data shows environmental groups need to consider reaching out to AAPI populations. They make up a relatively small share of the US population—around 7 percent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of 2021 census data—but their numbers are growing quickly.

“Asian American and Pacific Islander voters are environmental voters,” Ramakrishnan said. “Many of us still have an image in our minds of a particular kind of person maybe of a particular race, gender or age group. What we see here is across the board Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders care about the environment.”

Asian American and Pacific Islanders may also have more of a stake in climate change be-

cause of connections to relatives abroad. China, considered one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases alongside the US, vowed last year to reduce emissions. More Chinese companies are considering selling wind and solar power equipment in other countries. Around this time last year, Japan was preparing for another sweltering summer and risks of floods and landslides. That country has also pledged to curb emissions.

Heavy rains swept across Pakistan last month, causing landslides and leaving over 36 people dead and dozens of others injured.

In 2022, unprecedented rainfall and flooding in that country killed more than 1,700. In India, farmers are grappling with frequent cyclones and extreme heat. In southern India, the city of Bengaluru is seeing water levels running desperately low after an unusually hot February and March.

“There’s a fairly high level concern of what climate change means to low-income countries,” Ramakrishnan said. “That sensitivity is either because people still have friends or family back in their home country or at least have some concern about what climate change does to other countries.”

The poll of 1,005 US adults who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders was conducted from March 4-11, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based Amplify AAPI Panel, designed to be representative of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

SARAWAK Metro’s prototype hydrogen tram in January. RICHARD HUMPHRIES/BLOOMBERG

The World

Disturbing social media extortion scheme targeting teen boys in US

By David Fox

IN a frightening trend, scammers are catfishing teen boys and trying to extort them—and there have been tragic outcomes. The FBI says this type of crime, which it calls “sextortion,” is one of the fastest growing crimes targeting children in the US.

happened to Jordan DeMay: inside a horrific and fast-growing form of cybercrime targeting teens.

I’m David Gura, and this is The Big Take from Bloomberg News.

This episode discusses sensitive topics, including suicide. Here is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation:

David Gura: Before we start today’s show, I want to let you know that we are going to talk about suicide and some other tough subjects. If you or someone you know needs help…with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, a list of helplines is available at OpenCounseling. com. On March 24th, 2022, Jordan DeMay, a high school senior in Marquette, Michigan, was getting ready to leave the cold Upper Peninsula behind for spring break in Florida. That night, he was at his girlfriend’s house.

Olivia Carville: They were kind of saying their goodbyes, as I’m sure you can imagine, at that age to be apart was a really big deal.

Gura: That’s Olivia Carville. She’s an investigative reporter at Bloomberg.

Carville: So he was over at her house, he kissed her goodnight, he drove home, and started to pack for his trip for Florida the next day.

Gura: When Jordan got back to his dad’s house, he had a message on Instagram from someone he didn’t know—a teenage girl.

Carville: Initially, she just wrote to him and said, “Hey.”

Gura: That wasn’t out of the ordinary. Jordan was a high school football and basketball star, and he often heard from people he didn’t know.

Carville: He was repeatedly in the local newspaper for you know, his athletic successes so he was well known in that community and right across the Upper Peninsula

Gura: The message he got that night was from someone with the username “Dani Robertts.”

Carville: He replied asking who she was. She said that she was from Texas, but now doing school in Georgia. And they started chatting just about regular kind of teenage things, school life, and he was doing his laundry.

Gura: Dani and Jordan kept chatting—and a couple hours into the conversation it took a turn. She told Jordan she liked playing sexy games. Carville: She then sends him a naked photograph of herself, and asks for one in return. But she sets some conditions on what she wants that photo to look like. She wants it to have his face in it, and she wants him to have a cute face or a cute expression. Jordan then goes down to his bathroom, and he takes a selfie in the mirror, exposing himself, and he sends that back to Dani.

Gura: And then, everything changed.

Carville: From there forward, the conversation spirals into what I can only describe as you know, one of the most dark, sadistic message exchanges I’ve ever witnessed, reading through the transcripts.

Gura: Today on the show: what

The morning after Dani Robertts started that conversation with Jordan on Instagram, Jordan’s mom saw he had texted her during the night. Jordan was staying at his dad’s house.

Jennifer Buta: I woke up about six o’clock in the morning to get ready for work and get my kids off to school. And I saw a text message from Jordan that came in the middle of the night that said, mother, I love you.

Gura: That’s Jordan’s mom, Jennifer Buta.

Buta: I texted him back immediately said, I love you too. I hope you got a good night’s sleep. I continued to get ready. I drove my children to daycare. It was about seven o’clock, so I know that Jordan should be up about that time. And he didn’t respond to me. And Jordan always responded to me. So I sent him another text that said, are you okay? And as I got home, I still had not received a text and something didn’t feel right with me. Um, so I sent him a third text that just said, Jordan. I found out that Jordan was gone at 7:40 in the morning.

Gura: She got the news from Jordan’s dad. John DeMay went to check on Jordan that morning and found that he had died by suicide.

John DeMay: The first 24 to 36 hours, you know, it was challenging to try to process what even happened. I mean, we were just so flabbergasted that we were, you know, the giant question mark -why? You know, we just couldn’t figure it out. And we were going through all these scenarios and it was, you know, breaking up with his girlfriend or something going on. What happened? It is someone come at him. I mean, we just had no idea.

Carville: There were really no indications that Jordan had depression, that he was suffering from unhappiness, that he struggled with mental health. All those red flags that you might assume to see in a suicide case just weren’t here.

Gura: Reporter Olivia Carville says his death confused investigators.

Carville: I remember talking to the lead detective who actually went on to really solve this case. When he walked into Jordan’s bedroom the morning of his death, he understood the, the what of the case, this is how he described it to me. And by what I mean, what am I seeing? I am seeing this looks like a suicide case. But the why, the why that happened wasn’t clear. And he looked around Jordan’s bedroom and as a, as a detective you, you look for clues and all he saw was a, a bag packed for Florida with swimsuits and sunscreen. His cell phone the alarm on his cell phone kept going off. So why would he have set his alarm if he didn’t intend to go to school the next day or didn’t intend to wake up the next day? Every indication

was that Jordan was planning to wake up the next morning. And I think that was really confusing for the detective, and that gave him pause or made him realize there might be more to this than what’s just on the surface.

Gura: Instagram transcripts helped law enforcement piece together what happened in those early-morning hours while Jordan was chatting with someone with the username Dani Robertts.

Carville: As soon as that nude picture is sent, that flirtatious teenage girl disappears. And what is left behind is someone cruel, who torments Jordan, who tells him that now that he has this nude photo, they’re going to ruin his life.

Gura: Olivia obtained excerpts of those transcripts, and she read us the next message Dani sent Jordan:

Carville: I have screenshot all your followers and tags and can send these nudes to everyone. And also send your nudes to your family and friends until it goes viral. All you have to do is cooperate with me, and I won’t expose you.

Gura: What Dani wanted…was money.

Carville: Initially, the amount that they agreed to was $300. As soon as he sent that money, they came back asking for more. Then they wanted $800. And Jordan actually sent a screenshot of his bank account showing that he only had $55 in it and he said he was willing to send everything he had to prevent them from sending that photo to his girlfriend. And they replied saying, no deal. And then there was this back and forth around 3 am.

Gura: And at this point, Jordan started to sound really terrified.

Carville: Jordan: Why are you doing this to me? I am begging for my own life. Danny: Ten. Nine. Eight. I bet your girlfriend will leave you for some other dude. Jordan: I will be dead. Like I want to kill myself. Danny: Sure. I will watch you die a miserable death.

Jordan: It’s over. You win bro. I’m killing myself right now because of you. Danny: Good. Do that fast, or I’ll make you do it. I swear to God.

I have no idea what was going through his mind. But from reading the messages that he was sending, it’s clear that he was losing hope. And he didn’t know where to go from here. So he, he made the decision to delete that entire message history with the Dani Robertts account. So around 3:30 am, Jordan send two text messages, one to his mom, another to his girlfriend. And then he kills himself.

Gura: The entire conversation took less than six hours. So, who was Dani Robertts? That’s after the break.

Before the break, we heard about a conversation on Instagram Jordan DeMay had before he died by suicide. In less than six hours. Jordan went from packing for his spring break trip to taking his own life.

Carville: Everyone is just in

shock, and the police start that investigation. Jordan’s body is removed from the house. And no one knows what’s happened. His phone gets sent to the Computer Crimes Unit for a forensic analysis. But it takes a few days to get that response back. So law enforcement are looking for clues in other areas.

Gura: And reporter Olivia Carville says, while that’s happening, Jordan DeMay’s friends and family, his teachers and classmates, and his girlfriend, Kyla, are trying to process what’s happened. Kyla can’t keep up with all the messages she’s getting on her phone.

Carville: People are calling her, texting her, they don’t believe that Jordan’s really dead. News of his death is spreading, and she’s getting contacted by strangers on social media. And she’s with a friend of hers, just trying to reckon with what’s happened and she sees all of these messages coming through in the steady stream and she starts opening some of them and it was around three o’clock that afternoon that she opened one from an Instagram user called Dani Robertts. The message contained no words, it just had a photograph, and that was the nude photo that Jordan had sent the previous night.

Gura: Then, Kyla and Dani start to exchange messages. Here’s Olivia, reading from that transcript:

Carville: Kyla: What is this about? Dani: Do you know him? Kyla: Do you? Dani: Answer me. Kyla, who are you? Dani: I bet you know him. Kyla: That’s my boyfriend. Why? Dani: I swear I will ruin his life with this. Kyla: He killed himself last night. Please don’t. Dani: Do you want me to ruin his life? Kyla: He’s gone. No.

Gura: It goes on like this: Then Dani tries to extort Kyla.

Carville: Dani: Do you want me to end this and delete the pics? Yes or no? Cooperate with me and this will end. Just do as I say and all this will end.

Gura: For law enforcement, this exchange was a critical clue.

Carville: When they saw the nature of that blackmail and the back and forth, the detective immediately thought this could be the why: the why Jordan DeMay decided to end his life. So he filed preservation requests to META to try and pull data from the platform to show what was said between Jordan DeMay’s account and the Dani Robertts account. And as soon as he had that account and he saw what was discussed between the two, he searched for the IP address of that Dani Robertts account and it led him directly to Lagos, Nigeria.

Gura: And what law enforcement discovered was ... two brothers, in their early twenties, were posing as ‘Dani Robertts.’ Court records show Samson and Samuel Ogoshi had bought hacked Instagram accounts, including one belonging to the real Dani Robertts. In their e-mails, there was a wordfor-word script of what was in the messages sent to Jordan. Olivia

says these kinds of “sample” extortion scripts have been widely shared on the Internet by a group called “the Yahoo Boys.” Carville: And that comes from the e-mail address that they use to try and swindle Westerners. Back in the day, decades ago, there was the Yahoo e-mail scam or the Nigerian princes. They have evolved. This is the latest scam effort from this, you know, loosely affiliated online gang. And now instead of using traditional romance scams or preying on the elderly, they are directly targeting teenage boys across North America. These scammers are sharing information encouraging one another on what to say, how to say it, How do I act like a teenage girl? How do I make this believable? How do I turn the conversation flirtatious? How do I get that naked photo? And how do I blackmail effectively?

Gura: Olivia found videos on TikTok and Youtube in which people are sharing these blackmail scripts and encouraging one another. You can hear how matterof-factly the scammers explain how to extort people.

YouTube Blackmailer 1: In today’s video, I’m going to explain about blackmailing update.

Youtube Blackmailer 2: These are the pictures that you need to start the job.

Gura: Both companies said in written statements that they had removed posts related to this scam that have been brought to their attention and vowed to continue to take down such content. But we found similar content still exists on both TikTok and YouTube.  Olivia read a report, by Paul Raffile. He’s an analyst at the Network Contagion Research Institute who’s documented hundreds of thousands of posts on social media like these.

Carville: He found a post of exactly what was sent to Jordan DeMay down to the typos, and that had more than half a million views.

Buta: I was completely surprised.

Gura: This is Jordan’s mom

Jenn Buta.

Buta: The FBI had put out a press release the day before this happened to Jordan warning parents. And, you know, that was all brand new information to me.

Carville: The FBI has said they’re aware of more than 12, 000 victims across North America right now. They’re putting out PSAs to try and stop it, which is what they think. You know, the only thing we can really do to try and prevent or curb this crime.

Gura: But Jordan’s parents do think there is something else that could prevent this from happening to other families—they want social media platforms to take action. Jordan’s parents have filed a lawsuit against Meta, Instagram’s parent company.

DeMay: They’re literally allowing criminals to thrive on them and they’re not doing enough to prevent it. They’ve been to congressional hearings time and time again, and it’s the same song and dance. And they’re protected by a federal law in Section 230 that basically gives them carte blanche liability that says no matter what happens on our platforms, we’re not held liable no matter what we do. So, sorry that crime is happening, but it’s not our problem.

Gura: In a statement, Meta’s global head of safety said sextortion “is a horrific crime,” and the company has “spent years building technology to combat it and to support law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting the criminals behind it.” And Olivia says the platforms have been taking action:   Carville: They have been doing

things like sending sextortionfocused warnings to users of their products. They have been using artificial intelligence to try and detect suspicious accounts. They have been— just recently Meta announced it was going to use AI to blur nudity in photos that are sent between accounts and doing what they can from a trust and safety standpoint to try and proactively stop this crime. But, you know, the bad actors are savvy, and as soon as a guardrail is put up, they come up with ways to evade it, get over it, get under it, and the crime keeps changing as the social media networks create ways to prevent it.

Gura: Meta said it tracks new trends so it can, quote “regularly improve [its] tools and systems.”

The case filed by John DeMay and Jenn Buta is part of a group lawsuit, alleging social media companies have harmed children by designing addictive products. Meta said the company can’t respond to questions about pending litigation. There’s also a criminal case, involving the two brothers who targeted Jordan DeMay. They were extradited from Nigeria to the US, and last week, they pleaded guilty to conspiring to sexually exploit teenagers online. I talked to Jordan’s parents after those guilty pleas. They’d driven from Marquette to watch the court proceedings in person.

DeMay: The emotional part was just, you know, wrapping our mind around that. These two guys that I’m looking at in the courtroom, you know, were the ones that were torturing my son that night. And we were finally getting some admission from them out of their own mouths.

Buta: I was hoping that someone would be held accountable for what happened to Jordan. And yesterday, with those guilty pleas, someone is being held accountable and that is justice for Jordan, justice for our community. It will never bring my son back. It does not change my life. It does not change the pain I feel, how much I miss my son every single day.

And, overall, it’s an extremely unfortunate situation that involves not just our family, but also the family of these two individuals as well. And it’s not good what happened for anybody. And as a mom, I struggle with feeling bad for their mom, that she probably is really missing them and she’s an innocent bystander, just like I am.

Gura: Jordan’s mom, Jenn, says she hopes the outcome will send a message to extortionists.

Buta: That you can be found, you can be brought here and held accountable and that our US Department of Justice is willing to do that in order to keep our kids safe.

Gura: But Jenn Buta has a message of her own, for other families.

Buta: I want parents to sit down and have a very open conversation with their children about who they talk to on social media. And if something doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t feel right. If someone’s asking you for money or favors or pictures, you should question that. There needs to be an ongoing conversation with kids. Also letting them know that if they are targeted by someone, it’s going to be okay. And to go for an adult—a trusted adult—for help. Law enforcement does want to help you. You are the victim. You are not doing anything wrong. And this is just a small blip in your life that even if you did send a photo, your life will go on and nobody will recall that this happened.

Gura: If you or someone you know needs help with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, a list of helplines is available at

THE gravesite of Jordan DeMay in Marquette, Mi. on Sunday, March 17, 2024. KEVIN SERNA/BLOOMBERG

Today, host David Gura talks to Bloomberg investigative reporter Olivia Carville about how teen boys are targeted online—and how these crimes impact the victims and their families.

The World

Attempts to regulate AI face headwinds as industry and civil rights groups clash

By Jesse Bedayn, Susan Haigh, Trân Nguy n & Becky Bohrer The Associated Press/Report for America

DENVER—Artificial intelligence is helping decide which Americans get the job interview, the apartment, even medical care, but the first major proposals to reign in bias in AI decision making are facing headwinds from every direction.

Lawmakers working on these bills, in states including Colorado, Connecticut and Texas, came together Thursday to argue the case for their proposals as civil rightsoriented groups and the industry play tug-of-war with core components of the legislation.

“Every bill we run is going to end the world as we know it. That’s a common thread you hear when you run policies,” Colorado’s Democratic Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez said Thursday. “We’re here with a policy that’s not been done anywhere to the extent that we’ve done it, and it’s a glass ceiling we’re breaking trying to do good policy.”

Organizations including labor unions and consumer advocacy groups are pulling for more transparency from companies and greater legal recourse for citizens to sue over AI discrimination. The industry is offering tentative support but digging in its heels over those accountability measures.

The group of bipartisan law-

makers caught in the middle— including those from Alaska, Georgia and Virginia—has been working on AI legislation together in the face of federal inaction. On Thursday, they highlighted their work across states and stakeholders, emphasizing the need for AI legislation and reinforcing the importance for collaboration and compromise to avoid regulatory inconsistencies across state lines. They also argued the bills are a first step that can be built on going forward.

“It’s a new frontier and in a way, a bit of a wild, wild West,” Alaska’s Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes said at the news conference. “But it is a good reminder that legislation that passed, it’s not in stone, it can be tweaked over time.”

While over 400 AI-related bills are being debated this year in statehouses nationwide, most target one industry or just a piece of the technology—such as deep-

fakes used in elections or to make pornographic images.

The biggest bills this team of lawmakers has put forward offer a broad framework for oversight, particularly around one of the technology’s most perverse dilemmas: AI discrimination. Examples include an AI that failed to accurately assess Black medical patients and another that downgraded women’s resumes as it filtered job applications.

Still, up to 83 percent of employers use algorithms to help in hiring, according to estimates from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

If nothing is done, there will almost always be bias in these AI systems, explained Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a Brown University computer and data science professor who’s teaching a class

on mitigating bias in the design of these algorithms.

“You have to do something explicit to not be biased in the first place,” he said.

These proposals, mainly in Colorado and Connecticut, are complex, but the core thrust is that companies would be required to perform “impact assessments” for AI systems that play a large role in making decisions for those in the US. Those reports would include descriptions of how AI figures into a decision, the data collected and an analysis of the risks of discrimination, along with an explanation of the company’s safeguards.

Requiring greater access to information on the AI systems means more accountability and safety for the public. But companies worry it also raises the risk

of lawsuits and the revelation of trade secrets.

David Edmonson, of TechNet, a bipartisan network of technology CEOs and senior executives that lobbies on AI bills, said in a statement that the organization works with lawmakers to “ensure any legislation addresses AI’s risk while allowing innovation to flourish.”

Under bills in Colorado and Connecticut, companies that use AI wouldn’t have to routinely submit impact assessments to the government. Instead, they would be required to disclose to the attorney general if they found discrimination—a government or independent organization wouldn’t be testing these AI systems for bias.

Labor unions and academics worry that over reliance on companies self-reporting imperils the public or government’s ability to catch AI discrimination before it’s done harm.

“It’s already hard when you have these huge companies with billions of dollars,” said Kjersten Forseth, who represents the Colorado’s AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions that opposes Colorado’s bill. “Essentially you are giving them an extra boot to push down on a worker or consumer.”

The California Chamber of Commerce opposes that state’s bill, concerned that impact assessments could be made public in litigation.

Another contentious component of the bills is who can file a lawsuit under the legislation, which the bills generally limit to state attorney generals and other public attorneys—not citizens.

After a provision in California’s bill that allowed citizens to sue was stripped out, Workday, a finance and HR software company, endorsed the proposal. Workday argues that civil actions from citizens would leave the decisions up to judges, many of whom are not tech experts, and could result in an inconsistent approach to regulation.

Sorelle Friedler, a professor who focuses on AI bias at Haverford College, pushes back.

“That’s generally how American society asserts our rights, is by suing,” said Friedler.

Connecticut’s Democratic state Sen. James Maroney said there’s been pushback in articles that claim he and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Texas, have been “pedaling industry-written bills” despite all of the money being spent by the industry to lobby against the legislation.

Maroney pointed out one industry group, Consumer Technology Association, has taken out ads and built a website, urging lawmakers to defeat the legislation.

“I believe that we are on the right path. We’ve worked together with people from industry, from academia, from civil society,” he said.

“Everyone wants to feel safe, and we’re creating regulations that will allow for safe and trustworthy AI,” he added.

The Associated Press reporters Trân Nguy n contributed from Sacramento, California, Becky Bohrer contributed from Juneau, Alaska, Susan Haigh contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.

Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a Texas lobby restroom

WBy Amanda Seitz The Associated Press

ASHINGTON—One

woman

miscarried in the restroom lobby of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her.

Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn’t offer an ultrasound. The baby later died.

Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from US emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal.

The cases raise alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the US, especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws and sparked confusion around the treatment doctors can provide.

“It is shocking, it’s absolutely shocking,” said Amelia Huntsberger, an OB/GYN in Oregon. “It is appalling that someone would show up to an emergency room and not receive care—this is inconceivable.”

It’s happened despite federal mandates that the women be treated.

Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat or stabilize patients who are in active labor and provide a medical transfer to another hospital if they don’t have the staff or resources to treat them. Medical facilities must comply with the law if they accept Medicare funding.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday that could weaken those protections. The Biden administration has sued Idaho over its abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, arguing it conflicts with the federal law.

“No woman should be denied the care she needs,” Jennifer Klein, director of the

White House Gender Policy Council, said in a statement. “All patients, including women who are experiencing pregnancyrelated emergencies, should have access to emergency medical care required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.”

Pregnancy care after Roe PREGNANT pa tients have “become radioactive to emergency departments” in states with extreme abortion restrictions, said Sara Rosenbaum, a George Washington University health law and policy professor.

“They are so scared of a pregnant patient, that the emergency medicine staff won’t even look. They just want these people gone,” Rosenbaum said.

Consider what happened to a woman who was nine months pregnant and having contractions when she arrived at the Falls Community Hospital in Marlin, Texas, in July 2022, a week after the Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion. The doctor on duty refused to see her.

“The physician came to the triage desk and told the patient that we did not have obstetric services or capabilities,” hospital staff told federal investigators during interviews, according to documents. “The nursing staff informed the physician that we could test her for the presence of amniotic fluid. However, the physician adamantly recommended the patient drive to a Waco hospital.”

Investigators with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded Falls Community Hospital broke the law.

Reached by phone, an administrator at the hospital declined to comment on the incident.

The investigation was one of dozens the AP obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request filed in February 2023 that sought all pregnancy-related EMTALA complaints the previous year. One year

after submitting the request, the federal government agreed to release only some complaints and investigative documents filed across just 19 states. The names of patients, doctors and medical staff were redacted from the documents.

Federal investigators looked into just over a dozen pregnancy-related complaints in those states during the months leading up to the US Supreme Court’s pivotal ruling on abortion in 2022. But more than two-dozen complaints about emergency pregnancy care were lodged in the months after the decision was unveiled. It is not known how many complaints were filed last year as the records request only asked for 2022 complaints and the information is not publicly available otherwise. The documents did not detail what happened to the patient turned away from the Falls Community Hospital.

‘She is bleeding a lot’ OTHER pregnancies ended in catastrophe, the documents show.

At Sacred Heart Emergency Center in Houston, front desk staff refused to check in one woman after her husband asked for help delivering her baby that September.

She miscarried in a restroom toilet in the emergency room lobby while her husband called 911 for help.

“She is bleeding a lot and had a miscarriage,” the husband told first responders in his call, which was transcribed from Spanish in federal documents. “I’m here at the hospital but they told us they can’t help us because we are not their client.”

Emergency crews, who arrived 20 minutes later and transferred the woman to a hospital, appeared confused over the staff’s refusal to help the woman, according to 911 call transcripts.

One first responder told federal investigators that when a Sacred Heart Emergency Center staffer was asked about

the gestational age of the fetus, the staffer replied: “No, we can’t tell you, she is not our patient. That’s why you are here.”

A manager for Sacred Heart Emergency Center declined to comment. The facility is licensed in Texas as a freestanding emergency room, which means it is not physically connected to a hospital. State law requires those facilities to treat or stabilize patients, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services agency said in an e-mail to AP.

Sacred Heart Emergency’s website says that it no longer accepts Medicare, a change that was made sometime after the woman miscarried, according to publicly available archives of the center’s website.

Meanwhile, the staff at Person Memorial Hospital in Roxboro, North Carolina, told a pregnant woman, who was complaining of stomach pain, that they would not be able to provide her with an ultrasound. The staff failed to tell her how risky it could be for her to depart without being stabilized, according to federal investigators. While en route to another hospital 45 minutes away, the woman gave birth in a car to a baby who did not survive.

Person Memorial Hospital self-reported the incident. A spokeswoman said the hospital continues to “provide ongoing education for our staff and providers to ensure compliance.”

In Melbourne, Florida, a security guard at Holmes Regional Medical Center refused to let a pregnant woman into the triage area because she had brought a child with her. When the patient came back the next day, medical staff were unable to locate a fetal heartbeat. The center declined to comment on the case.

What’s the penalty?

EMERGENCY rooms are subject to hefty fines when they turn away patients, fail to stabilize them or transfer them to another

hospital for treatment. Violations can also put hospitals’ Medicare funding at risk. But it’s unclear what fines might be imposed on more than a dozen hospitals that the Biden administration says failed to properly treat pregnant patients in 2022. It can take years for fines to be levied in these cases. The Health and Human Services agency, which enforces the law, declined to share if the hospitals have been referred to the agency’s Office of Inspector General for penalties.

For Huntsberger, the OB-GYN, EMTALA was one of the few ways she felt protected to treat pregnant patients in Idaho, despite the state’s abortion ban. She left Idaho last year to practice in Oregon because of the ban.

The threat of fines or loss of Medicare funding for violating EMTALA is a big deterrent that keeps hospitals from dumping patients, she said. Many couldn’t keep their doors open if they lost Medicare funding.

She has been waiting to see how HHS penalizes two hospitals in Missouri and Kansas that HHS announced last year it was investigating after a pregnant woman, who was in preterm labor at 17 weeks, was denied an abortion.

“A lot of these situations are not reported, but even the ones that are—like the cases out of the Midwest—they’re investigated but nothing really comes of it,” Huntsberger said. “People are just going to keep providing substandard care or not providing care. The only way that changes is things like this.”

Next up for EMTALA PRESIDENT Joe Biden and top US health official Xavier Becerra have both publicly vowed vigilance in enforcing the law.

Even as states have enacted strict abortion laws, the White House has argued that if hospitals receive Medicare funds they must provide stabilizing care, including abortions.

In a statement to The AP, Becerra called it the “nation’s bedrock law protecting Americans’ right to life- and health-saving emergency medical care.”

“And doctors, not politicians, should determine what constitutes emergency care,” he added.

Idaho’s law does not allow abortions if a mother’s health is at risk. But the state’s attorney general has argued that its abortion ban is “consistent” with federal law, which calls for emergency rooms to protect an unborn child in medical emergencies.

“The Biden administration has no business rewriting federal law to override Idaho’s law and force doctors to perform abortions,” Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in a statement earlier this year.

Now, the Supreme Court will weigh in. The case could have implications in other states like Arizona, which is reinstating an 1864 law that bans all abortions, with an exception only if the mother’s life is at risk.

EMTALA was initially introduced decades ago because private hospitals would dump patients on county or state hospitals, often because they didn’t have insurance, said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Some hospitals also refused to see pregnant women when they did not have an established relationship with physicians on staff. If the court nullifies or weakens those protections, it could result in more hospitals turning away patients without fear of penalty from the federal government, she said.

“The government knows there’s a problem and is investigating and is doing something about that,” Kolbi-Molinas said.

“Without EMTALA, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

OPENAI’S ChatGPT app is displayed on an iPhone in New York, May 18, 2023. With companies deploying artificial intelligence to every corner of society, state lawmakers are playing catchup with the first major proposals to reign in AI’s penchant for discrimination—but those bills face blistering headwinds from every direction. AP/RICHARD DREW

Line judges, court assistants: Unsung heroes of sand courts

By Aldrin Quinto

THEY are heroes behind the scenes, sort of. In reality, they’re there in plain sight come rain or shine.

While everyone was focused on four players each match, this bunch of workers helped keep the action running hitch-free during the Asian Volleyball Confederation Beach Tour Nuvali Open and the FIVB Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures in the City of Santa Rosa early this month.

Line judges and court assistants are the only ones allowed on the court along with the players and referees, and they do quite well to move discreetly.

That is until a player disputes a line call, and all eyes instantly focus on them.

“That may seem to be nerveracking but really it isn’t,” line judge Jestoni Labao said.

What if the match is on the line and a player insists on overturning a call? Labao said the line judges, all national referees under the Philippine National Volleyball Federation, aren’t easily fazed.

“We’ve been doing this for a while and we know how it works. We work together with top-level referees, we trust them to make the right call,” Labao said. “If my call is overturned, no problem, it’s nothing personal.”

Keeping emotions in check MONICA LAURA CHAVEZ, one of the eight line judges in the twin tournaments, said the key is to keep calm when players get cranky in crucial situations.

“We have to be able to control our emotions,” Chavez said. “Unfortunately, some players couldn’t. We as officials need to stay calm.”

The Nuvali Open tournament saw 46 teams from 13 countries in the AsiaPacific battle it out for honors, while the FIVB tournament was a different field featuring 38 teams from 16 countries, including players from Europe and North America.

“Communication is crucial, the only issue there is the language barrier,” Chavez said.

A Physical Education teacher at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Chavez is taking each stint seriously as she seeks to take on bigger roles in bigger events.

She is now keeping an eye on the developments as the Philippines prepares to host the prestigious Volleyball Men’s World Championship in 2025.

“When I serve, it’s not about the paycheck,” said Chavez, who is affiliated with the Batangas Sports Officiating Services. “When I work tournaments, I focus on making sure the officiating is good. It’s tiring, but I’m here for the experience.”

Chavez is proud to be part of the PNVF’s effort to bring top-notch volleyball closer to the fans.

“It’s not everyday we get to hold these kinds of events,” Chavez said. “I hope to be part of the crew in the world championship.”

Diverse group, common goal A TEACHER, a dance choreographer and a high school sophomore were among the 36 court assistants—ball retrievers, sand rakers and those assigned to assist players—who worked the matches at the Nuvali Sand Courts by Ayala Land in the City of Santa Rosa. On one of the busiest days, the officials and assistants handled 12 matches in each of the three courts.

No arm, no leg?

No hindrance for amputees from Gaza war

RAMAT GAN, Israel—When Ben Binyamin was left for dead, his right leg blown off during the Hamas attack on the Tribe of Nova music festival, the Israeli professional soccer player thought he would never again play the game he loved.

“When I woke up,” the 29-year-old said, “I felt I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.”

Then Binyamin learned about a chance to be “normal” again: Israel’s national amputee soccer team.

The team, which includes two Israeli soldiers who lost limbs fighting in the war with Hamas, has offered all three a chance to heal from life-altering wounds suffered during the October 7 attacks and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza. It heads to France in June for the European Amputee Football Championships where some 16 teams, mostly from Europe, will compete.

Still, many of them had the energy to cheer on the volleyball stars, either gathering up on the spectator stands when off duty or simply shouting heartily from the court assistants’ waiting area behind the officials’ table during match intervals.

Most of those who were tapped for the events are in their teens, while a number of them are in their mid to late 20s.

“We need young and energetic people to help keep the matches running smoothly,” said the 36-year-old Labao, who coordinated the group of court assistants for the two events. To prevent interfering with the action and help maintain pace of play, the assistants also need to know how the game works. Thus, most if not all of the court assistants are volleyball

players themselves.

“These guys know volleyball, love volleyball,” he said. “It’s not a highpaying gig but I see they are proud to be part of this.”

For love of the game

JL MORALES, a 27-year-old Music Arts and Physical Education major working as an online tutor, wouldn’t reveal how much he is paid but says the work’s all worth it.

“The important thing is that I get to be a part of this,” said Morales, who gladly chased after loose balls, wiped off the sand and rolled them to the serving side during matches.

The 27-year-old Morales admitted the pay is less than what he earns tutoring but said it should cover a day’s expenses of a small family. For a week’s stint, the earnings would be enough to get a pair of good shoes, he said.

It’s P800 for a day’s work, BusinessMirror learned, but Morales and company would not confirm. What matters more, Morales said, is that it is motivating to see “Doc” AJ Pareja, the national team member who is also a physician, and the rest of the Philippine squad vie for honors.

Cesar Caravana, one of the seniors

Dream come true for Filipino-Spaniard Rublico

SBy Josef Ramos

ANTIAGO “SANTI” RUBLICO was born in Spain but as a fullblooded Filipino has his heart, mind and soul dedicated to playing for the Philippines’ colors.

“When I was considered by my federation [Philippine Football Federation] to join the team, I was very emotional, happy, because it’s really a dream come true when you represent and play for your family’s country,” said Rublico, who’s love for football began to seriously mold when he was six and developed further he became part of Atlético Madrid’s under-19 team.

Rublico’s parents are full-blooded Filipinos—dad Arnold is from Malabon and mom Anna Marie is from Cebu. He has an 11-year-old brother Ryan and eight-year-old sister Ariana.

“That’s my dream since I was six or seven—to play for Philippines,” said

the 18-year-old defender. He’s actually eligible to play for both the Philippines and Spain in any international tournament because he was born in Spain and his parents are both Filipinos, but playing for his native country “has a greater calling.”

“I got interested in representing Spain but for the Philippines, it’s a greater calling,” he said.

Football in Spain, he said, is a religion. Winner of the 2010 World Cup, soccer fields are almost everywhere and leagues as well, even for kids as young as six. “It’s not like in the Philippines where football players come from colleges and universities,” he said.

Playing for the Philippines gives Rublico more inspiration to achieve the biggest goal—help the country qualify for the World Cup—the women’s team made history last year in New Zealand.

“There’s always a possibility, we just have to keep dreaming and keep

working to make the impossible happened,” Rublico said. “For this World Cup, we will try and do our best to qualify.”

The Philippines dropped to fourth place after two losses against Iraq in Group F of the qualifiers but could still bounce back stronger in the next window in June against Vietnam and Indonesia.

Despite the setbacks, he encouraged his teammates to stay on track and be patient.

“Nothing is impossible if we continue working hard, anything can happen,” he said.

He loves the Philippines—the beaches especially—and in the process is encouraging all kids to transform their dreams into reality.

“For the girls and boys, keep dreaming and working. If you stop dreaming that will be the end,” he said. “If you keep dreaming and working, anything positive can happen.”

in the group, felt they are paid fairly.

“It’s for the love of the game,” said the 28-year-old choreographer and decorator.

“I haven’t even thought of what to do when we get paid. But for sure I don’t have to buy anything as a memento. The shirt, the IDs, that’s proof we were part of this.”

Serious business

IT may seem like a bit role in a major production, but being a ball retriever is serious business for young Jhyca San Jose.

An outside hitter for her high school team and in inter-barangay meets, 15-year-old San Jose is glad top international beach volleyball continues to be staged in Santa Rosa as she gets to provide for her family while being part of the game she loves.

“For me, it’s a job,” San Jose said. “I give some of the earnings to my parents and I get to keep some for myself for school expenses.”

A 10th grader at Aplaya National High School, San Jose was encouraged to become a court assistant when she saw her brother work matches in the Batang Pinoy-Philippine National Games last December also in Nuvali.

San Jose admitted being awestruck seeing elite international players smash away, but insisted she goes right into work mode when the whistle pierces the air signaling the start of play.

“The level of play is different, sometimes you find yourself just standing in awe. But we have a job to do so we have to focus when the play begins.”

Unsung heroes

THE paying spectators are usually credited as the lifeblood of sport but “supporters” such as this group deserve equal credit for the success of tournaments.

Technology could take over one day. Hawkeye has been in use in various sports and Bolt6 the reliable video challenge equipment for both volleyball and beach volleyball, while mechanical ball retrievers are being developed to help clean up at other events.

Until that time comes, workers like this jolly bunch will help keep the games running smoothly.

Allowing the young ones to be around athletes is also part of grassroots development. Some of these workers could end up as the stars of their sport—Pep Guardiola was once a ballboy, and so was Roger Federer.

“It’s the best thing in my life,” said 1st Sgt. Omer Glikstal of the team’s twice-weekly practices at a stadium in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.

The 20-year-old soldier from Haifa regularly played soccer until his life was turned upside-down when a rocket-propelled grenade shattered his left foot during a battle in Gaza in November.

“It’s a very different game than I used to play, but in the end, it’s the same,” he said.

Dozens of Israelis lost limbs during the Hamas attacks that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and the war that followed.

Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, home to a major rehabilitation center, says it alone has treated about 60 amputees.

Israel’s Defense Ministry says 1,573 soldiers have been wounded since Israel began its ground offensive in late October, in which troops have engaged in close combat with Hamas militants.

The military did not have specific statistics on amputees but said some 320 soldiers were critically wounded.

The Israeli athletes and others who lost limbs have benefited from a world-class medical system that has decades of experience treating young people injured in wars and conflict.

In Gaza, unknown numbers of Palestinians have also lost limbs in a war that has claimed nearly 34,000 lives, according to Gaza health officials.

Gaza’s health system has been overwhelmed by the war, and doctors and patients say they often need to choose between amputation or death.

Before the war, Gaza also had a fledgling team of amputee soccer players wounded in previous conflicts with Israel.

Shaked Bitton, an Israeli army division commander, lost his right leg when he was shot by a Hamas sniper with a .50-caliber round— the type that can blast through concrete—near the Jabaliya refugee camp in late October. AP F

IP ecozone diamond gets an ‘A’

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THE Philippine coconut production is threatened by the rising dry spells and droughts linked to climate change.

To help the coconut industry adapt to the changing climate conditions and to prevent further damage, a project is underway to identify heat- and drought-tolerant coconut varieties

The project, “Evaluation of Coconut Accessions at Philippine Coconut Authority-Zamboanga Research Center (PCA-ZRC) for Heat and Drought Tolerance Toward Hybridization,” was led by Joel Gerone B. Larupay of PCA-ZRC.

The project is a stepping stone toward developing climate-resilient coconut varieties.

It aims to assess coconut palms’ potential and varietal responses during heat and drought stresses.

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology funds the

four-year project through the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan’s (CFIDP) Coconut Hybridization Program (CHP) Research. The DOST-PCAARRD recently reviewed the project.

During the review, Larupay reported that his team was able to organize and validate the weather and yield data of 16 hybrids and traditional varieties (14 dwarf and 14 tall) as potential heat and drought-tolerant coconuts for its Year 1 implementation.

The activity was part of the prescreening and validation process of the accessions using historical yield and weather data recorded at PCA-ZRC genebank.

Initial findings from the activity indicate that San Isidro Green Dwarf (SNID) showed the highest nut per palm ratio in 2014.

However, both SNID and Malayan Red Dwarf (MRD) recorded the lowest copra per palm ratio in 2019.

Among the tall varieties, Bay-

Heat-, drought-tolerant coconut varieties eyed in research

bay Tall-Advanced Generation (BAYT-AG) and Bago Oshiro Tall exhibited the highest nuts per palm in 2014 and 2018, respectively.

Markham Valley Tall recorded the lowest number of nuts per palm in 2020.

Copra per palm peaked in 2014 for BAYT-AG but hit the lowest in

Balik Scientist: Nematodes have harmful impact on agri production

By Manuel T. Cayon

DAVAO CITY—A Filipino Balik Scientist from a United States university concluded her six-month study of nematodes here, adding another layer of wealth of information on worms and parasites, as government continued tapping into the expertise of Filipino researchers, engineers and scientists trained abroad.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) office here said Dr. Irma Tandingan de Ley completed her stint as a Balik Scientist at the University of Southeastern Philippines and Davao del Sur State College.

The DOST Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) and the two schools held the exit conference last week for the nematologist after concluding her study that “shed light on the significance of gastropod research, particularly emphasizing its relevance to agriculture in the region.”

“She highlighted the prevalence of slugs and their detrimental impact on agricultural productivity, an area that had yet to be thoroughly assessed,” the DOST said in a statement.

Throughout her tenure, de Ley conducted various activities, including training and mentoring sessions for faculty and students, aimed at enhancing local capacity and knowledge in the field of nematology, the DOST said.

De Ley was Associate Project Scientist at the University of

2020 for the same variety.

To improve the project’s implementation, Science and Technology (S&T) Consultant Violeta N. Villegas suggested considering

other indicative traits of other crops correlated to heat and drought stress as additional parameters.

The development of heat and drought-tolerant varieties toward improved farm productivity is expected to benefit millions of coconut farmers, particularly from areas heavily impacted by drought and extreme temperature levels.

DOST Region IX Rep. Thelma E. Diego and representatives from PCA’s Research and Development Branch, Region IX Regional Office, and CFIDP Project Management Office attended the project review held via videoconferencing.

Director Leilani D. Pelegrina led the activity with Crops Research Division staff, including Industry Strategic S&T Program Manager for Coconut Alissa Carol M. Ibarra.

The report of Larupay’s team was validated during a field visit held recently at PCA-ZRC, San Ramon, Zamboanga City. Rosemarie A. de Castro/S&T Media Services

School Foundation Hospital Research Ethics Committee.

Only the San Pedro Hospital Institutional Ethics Review Committee was granted the Level 3 award. The DOST said Level 1 and Level 2 awardees “have been granted provisional accreditation, allowing them to review all types of research except clinical trials required for Food and Drugs Administration registration of new drugs within the provisional oneyear accreditation period”. Level 1 awardees may apply for Level 2 accreditation.

AS the Philippines is set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 on June 27, an international environment group said it is vital to acknowledge both the progress made and the challenges that persist in the work towards cleaner air.

This concern is likewise significant as the world will mark Earth Day on April 22.

BALIK Scientist

California Riverside “specializing in nematology, nematode taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny, and biological control of gastropods,” the DOST said.

The global information provider Britannica said the nematodes “are among the most abundant animals on Earth and they occur as parasites in animals and plants or as free-living forms in soil, fresh water, marine environments, and even such unusual places as vinegar, beer malts, and water-filled cracks deep within Earth’s crust.”

Britannica added that “a great deal of research has been conducted on the parasitic forms because most of them have some medical, veterinary, or economic importance”.

The Balik Scientist Program is a flagship initiative of DOST to fortify the scientific and technological workforce of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the DOST announced that the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) granted accreditation to nine “Research Ethics Committees” in Davao Region “marking a significant milestone in upholding ethical standards in health research within the region”.

Level 1 awardees were the Cor Jesu College Inc. Research Ethics Committee, University of the Philippines Mindanao Research Ethics Committee, Davao del Norte State College Research Ethics Committee, Jose Maria College Foundation, Inc. Research Ethics Committee and Regional Health R&D Consortium XI Research Ethics Committee.

\Level 2 awardees were University of the Immaculate Conception Research Ethics Committee, St. Mary’s College of Tagum, Inc. Research Ethics Committee and Davao Medical

The Level 3 accreditation allows the awardee to review all types of research, including studies required for applications for marketing authorization of food, drugs, and devices by regulatory agencies such as the FDA.

The DOST said an ethical research clearance plays a pivotal role in ensuring the protection of human participants in any health research. It also enhances researchers’ ability to publish in reputable academic journals.

The Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS), in collaboration with the PHREB. and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), awarded accreditation.

With the accreditation of the RECs, the DOST said Davao Region “is poised to make significant strides in health research, fostering a culture of ethical conduct and contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the field of healthcare.”

International nongovernment group Clean Air Asia said that despite strides in technology and environmental awareness over the past decades, the current emission standards for stationary sources, including coal-fired power plants, outlined in the Philippine Clean Air Act remain outdated.

“While a significant piece of legislation, it [Act] fails to fully address the continuing threat posed by coal-fired plants, which jeopardize public health and environmental sustainability,” Clean Air Asia said in a statement. Clean Air Asia is working for better air quality, and healthier, more livable cities.

The group explained that coalfired plants are notorious for emitting harmful pollutants—such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and mercury—contributing significantly to air pollution.

THE Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will fund 207 research projects with P800 million this year to advance isceience, technology and innovation (STI) in the country.

“This year, we are allotting P800 million into these [207] research projects to help in advancing innovation in the Philippines,” said Executive Director Enrico Paringit of DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST- PCIEERD).

The projects focused on DOST’s four pillars, human wellbeing, wealth creation, wealth protection and sustainability.

Among DOST’s nine priority areas, most of the budget will be allotted to STI Governance with P570 million, focusing on maximizing the benefits of innovation in both urban and

rural areas through the Smart Challenge PH, and the development of entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem, DOSTPCIEERD said..

The Science department will also invest more in industrial solutions and competitiveness development, such as Information Communication Technology Innovations and Artificial Intelligence, and in accelerating the manufacturing sectors with P61 million.

“Seeing the potential of our startups, on their innovative ideas, we will further assist them by continuously investing in them and our technology business incubators,” Paringit said.

Moreover, to better navigate areas where the Council can provide support, especially in fostering innovation and adapting to the evolving industries, DOST-PCIEERD extends

support in shaping effective policies.

The Council is also providing funding support of about P65 million to technologies that can address environmental challenges associated with several mining operations and boost mining rehabilitation efforts.

To increase the impact of research and development on the

general public, the Council will also support projects on science communication. About P21 million will be utilized in capacitating researchers, scientists and engineers, and communication practitioners through various science communication programs, including the media, DOST-PCIEERD pointed out.

It will also include strengthening the SciComm Knowledge Management System to address knowledge gaps between the science community and the public.

“This 2024, we are looking forward to how our newly funded projects and endeavors will drive economic growth,” Paringit said as he encouraged researchers to come up with ideas that will provide maximum economic benefit to Filipinos.

Research projects that will be funded for 2024 were products of the Call for Proposals in 2022 and 2023, and have passed rigorous screening by the Council, it noted.

“These pollutants have been linked to various health issues, including respiratory diseases and cardiovascular problems, leading to thousands of premature deaths annually. Air pollution accounts for more than 1 in 9 deaths globally,” the group said, citing a Health Effects Institute 2024 report.

It pointed out that it is alarming that the Philippines currently maintains some of the “most lenient” SOx and NOx emission standards in the region, as highlighted in Clean Air Asia’s “CoalFired Power Plants Emissions Standards” report in 2021. “Urgent measures are needed to tighten these standards in line with international best practices and to protect public health,” it proposed..

It pointed out that in March this year, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a consultation draft of a proposed Department Administrative Order updating the emission standards for stationary sources of air pollution, including coal-fired power plants. “The draft order cuts the current allowable emissions of PM, SOx and NOx for coal-fired power plants by 50 percent, making the standards more stringent. While this is a step in the right direction,

the allowable emissions must be cut further to align with international best practice in Asia to safeguard public health,” the antipollution NGO said.

It added that “lowering the allowable emissions further would result in higher health benefits for communities near the facilities”

The group pointed to its 2021 study in Bataan that showed that implementing 100 mg/NCM (SOx), 100 mg/NCM (NOx), and 30 mg/NCM (PM) emission limits (as per international best practice in Asia) could result to up to an ~83 percent reduction in acute respiratory infections, and consequently can avoid higher health costs

Glynda Bathan-Baterina, deputy executive director of Clean Air Asia, underscores the urgency of action.

“The tightening of emission standards means better safeguards for the health of our citizens. Stringent emission standards means lesser air pollutants released by coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities.” said Bathan-Baterina.

“Clean Air Asia is at the forefront of working for a cleaner, healthier future for all Filipinos, particularly considering the detrimental health impacts associated with coal-fired plants,” she added.

Tighter emission standards means that coal-fired power plants may need to install pollution control devices or adopt processes to keep air emissions within standards.

Intl NGO calls for urgent action to strengthen PHL Clean Air Act DOST

Coal-fired power plants releasing high levels of pollution and unable to meet emission standards and those whose operations would no longer be economically feasible could be prioritized for retirement.

This strategic approach aligns with the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions target of achieving a 75 percent reduction in emissions as well as with the country’s clean air and health goals. Environmental and health considerations must be important pillars of a just energy transition process, promoting a cleaner and more resilient energy sector.

“As we commemorate the anniversary of the Philippine Clean Air Act, let us seize this opportunity to fulfil an important mandate in the Act and its implementing rules that within two years from the effectivity of the Act, the DENR shall revise stationary sources emission standards based on internationally-accepted standards, for the protection of the public’s health and welfare. This is long overdue. It is time to get it done,” Clean Air Asia said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Latter-day Saints new Pangasinan temple to be dedicated on April 28

THE new temple of The Church of Jesus Christ ofaLatter-day Saints in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, is set to be dedicated on April 28.

President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, the Church’s highest governing body, will preside at the dedication of the third Latter-day Saints temple in the Philippines and the first in Northern Luzon.

Two sessions will be held on April 28, at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

The temple is located at MacArthur Highway, Brgy. Nancayasan, Urdaneta City. It is 3,029 square meters and 41.6 meters high.

The temple reflects both the Spanish and Asian influences on the Philippines and contains design references to the mango and the sampaguita flower.

The temple was opened to the public from March 18 to March 30. The open house gave people of all faiths the opportunity to tour the temple’s interior and grounds and learn about the purpose of the sacred structures.

“This city, this locale, this property, this province, and the entire nation of the Philippines will never ever be the same as a result of the construction of this building,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony on January 16, 2019.

At an event for the temple’s construction workers on May 15, 2021, Elder Taniela Wakolo of the

Philippines Area Presidency explained the value of the edifice to Church members:

“The temple is the house of God, and within it, sacred ordinances are performed. We know that families can be together forever because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These wonderful blessings are available to all,” he said.

There are more than 850,000 Latter-day Saints in the Philippines. Currently, Church members in Northern Luzon travel to either Manila or Cebu to worship in a temple.

In addition to the Urdaneta Temple, 10 more temples have been announced or are under construction in Alabang, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Iloilo, Laoag, Naga, Santiago, Tacloban and Tuguegarao.

The Philippines has the fourthlargest population of Latter-day Saints of any country in the world, and members worship in more than 1,200 congregations.

Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differ from meetinghouses or chapels, where members meet for Sunday worship services.

Each temple is considered a “house of the Lord,” where Jesus Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through baptism and other ordinances that unite families for eternity. In the temple, Church members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to follow Jesus Christ and serve others.

World’s major religions take varying views on policies on transgender

THE Vatican has recently issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex—a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church.

Around the world, major religions have diverse approaches to gender identity, and the inclusion or exclusion of transgender people.

Here are some examples:

Christianity

THE Catholic Church’s disapproving stance toward gender transition is shared by some other denominations.

The Southern Baptist Convention—the largest Protestant denomination in the United States—adopted a resolution in 2014 stating that “God’s design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female.”

It asserts that gender identity “is determined by biological sex, not by one’s self-perception” However, numerous mainline Protestant

denominations welcome trans people as members and as clergy. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America elected an openly transgender man as a bishop in 2021.

Islam

IN Islam, there isn’t a single central religious authority and policies can vary in different regions.

Abbas Shouman, secretary-general of Al-Azhar’s Council of Senior Scholars in Cairo, said that “for us...sex conversion is completely rejected.”

“It is God who has determined the...sex of the fetus and intervening to change that is a change of God’s creation, which is completely rejected,” Shouman added.

In Iran, the Shiite theocracy’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a religious decree, or fatwa, decades ago, opening the way for official support for gender transition surgery.

Hinduism

IN Hindu society in South Asia, while traditional

ANORTHERN Philippine diocese has officially opened the process that could lead to sainthood for Niña Ruiz Abad, a 13-year-old girl regarded to have “lived a prayerful life full of reverence.”

The cause of Abad was set in motion by the Diocese of Laoag, where she was buried, in a solemn ceremony held at the Cathedral of St. William on April 7, Divine Mercy Sunday.

“We are starting our investigation on the life of Niña to examine if indeed we can say that God deigned to bless her with sanctity,” said Bishop Renato Mayugba of Laoag during the opening session.

The cause of sainthood is a long and rigorous process that takes many years.

When she will be beatified or canonized “is all in God’s hands,” said Archbishop Marlo Peralta of Nueva Segovia in his homily at the opening of the Cause.

But one thing is certain, he said. Abad “is now being given to us as a model of Christian living.”

“She chose her own path of holiness and she was faithful to it,” Peralta said.

“In the meantime, we continue asking for her intercession. In the

Archbishop: Sainthood candidate a ‘model of Christian living’

meantime, we continue promoting her cause because the day will come, and only God knows, when she will be presented to us as Saint Niña Ruiz-Abad,” he added.

Abad was born in Quezon City but later moved to her mother’s hometown in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.

At 10 years old and in Grade 4, she was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an incurable condition that restricts blood flow from the heart.

Growing up, she displayed

behaviors that were unusual for her age. Her autobiography stated she always wore the rosary around her neck, revered the Holy Trinity, and had strong devotion to the Holy Eucharist, and often visited the Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Laoag before and after going to school.

Abad was also known for her motto “God first,” which “became a byword of everyone in school.”

In church, she was often seen kneeling with raised hands, her

UST opens campus in Mindanao

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Bishop Cerilo

Alan Casicas of Marbel and Dominican Prior Provincial Fr. Filemon de la Cruz

Jr. on Thursday solemnly inaugurated the first major expansion of University of Santo Tomas (UST) outside Manila, at an 82-hectare campus in the bustling Soccsksargen region in Mindanao.

The new campus represents the Catholic university’s bid to make General Santos City an educational center in the region, said UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, OP. Acknowledging UST’s “newcomer” status in Mindanao, Ang told a gathering of alumni at the eve of the inauguration that “UST is not a threat, but a treat,” and vowed to

roles were and are still prescribed for men and women, people of non-binary gender expression have been recognized for millennia and played important roles in holy texts.

Third gender people have been revered throughout South Asian history with many rising to significant positions of power under Hindu and Muslim rulers.

One survey in 2014 estimated that around 3 million third gender people live in India alone.

Sanskrit, the ancient language of Hindu scriptures, has the vocabulary to describe three genders—masculine, feminine and gender-neutral.

The most common group of third gender people in India are known as the “hijras.” While some choose to undergo gender reassignment surgery, others are born intersex. Most consider themselves neither male or female.

Some Hindus believe third gender people have special powers and the ability to bless or curse, which has led to stereotyping causing the community to be feared and marginalized.

Many live in poverty without proper access to healthcare, housing and employment.

In 2014, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, which is a Muslim-majority country, officially

collaborate with other higher education institutions in the city.

UST General Santos will open in Academic Year 2024-2025 as a branch campus, with a projected enrollment of 5,000 students in health sciences, business and accountancy, and engineering and information technology.

The 6-story UST GenSan Main Building is patterned after the nearly century-old UST Main Building in the Manila campus known for its cross tower, with arches inspired by Mindanao architecture.

It has 24 classrooms, 23 laboratories, a chapel, library, clinic, auditorium, cafeteria, organization rooms, and function halls.

“The cross is the greater glory,” Casicas

recognized third gender people as citizens deserving of equal rights.

The Supreme Court of India stated that “it is the right of every human being to choose their gender,” and that recognition of the group “is not a social or medical issue, but a human rights issue.”

Buddhism

BUDDHISM has traditionally adhered to binary gender roles, particularly in its monastic traditions where men and women are segregated and assigned specific roles.

These beliefs remain strong in the Theravada tradition, as seen in the attempt of the Thai Sangha Council, the governing Buddhist body in Thailand, to ban ordinations of transgender people.

More recently, the Theravada tradition has somewhat eased restrictions against gender nonconforming people by ordaining them in their sex recorded at birth.

However, the Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism have allowed more exceptions while the Jodo Shinshu sect has been even more inclusive in ordaining transgender monks both in Japan and North America.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Tashi Choedup, an openly queer monk, was ordained after

eyes closed and “totally engrossed in deep prayer and conversation with God.”

She was also considered as a model of charity, sharing what she had, lending a listening ear to all, and showing kindness to everyone.

“Niña has chosen the path of goodness and holiness and she is our model,” Peralta also said.

Due to her mother’s job, they returned to Quezon City, where she passed away after suffering a heart attack while at school on August 16, 1993.

The diocesan inquiry documentation will be sent to the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes for review. If she’s deemed to have led a heroic life of Christian virtues, the Church bestows upon her the title “venerable.”

The next steps are beatification and canonization. Generally, two miracles attributed to the candidate’s intercession are required for sainthood—one for beatification and another for canonization.

Abad is the second from the Northern Luzon region to be considered a candidate for sainthood, following the Servant of God, Bishop Alfredo Verzosa. CBCP News

BISHOP Cerilo Alan Casicas of Marbel

reminded UST officials in his homily, noting that in both Manila and General Santos, the illuminated cross remains visible from afar even at night.

“Eternal light is no less than the divine light, the light of God. Eternal life beats in this big building. Otherwise, it is empty,” the bishop said.

The UST GenSan main building chapel was blessed on April 9, with the first Mass offered by UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, OP. and facilities chief Fr. Dexter Austria, OP. The campus in Barangay Ligaya, which broke ground in 2018 after getting a hardfought zoning clearance from city officials, was entrusted to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Professor Emeritus Maribel Nonato, assistant to the rector for the Gensan campus.

their teacher refrained from asking about their gender identity as prescribed by Buddhist doctrine.

Many Buddhist denominations, particularly in the West, are intentionally inclusive of transgender people in their sanghas or gatherings.

Judaism

REFORM Judaism is accepting of transgender people and allows for the ordination of trans rabbis.

According to David J. Meyer, who served for many years as a rabbi in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Jewish traditional wisdom allowed possibilities of gender identity and expression that differed from those typically associated with the sex assigned at birth.

“Our mystical texts, the Kabbalah, address the notion of transitioning from one gender to another,” he wrote on a Reformaffiliated website.

It’s different, for the most part, in Orthodox Judaism. “Most transgender people will find Orthodox communities extremely difficult to navigate,” says the Human Rights Campaign, a major US LGBTQ-rights advocacy group.

“Transgender people are further constrained by Orthodox Judaism’s emphasis

The Order of Preachers, which runs UST, earlier opened a filial house that will house the Dominican community on campus. UST officials and alumni held an outreach program at the Muslim community of Barangay Batomelong to mark the end of the month-long Ramadan fast on Wednesday.

On April 25, UST GenSan will break ground on another major campus structure, the Dr. Ricardo S. Po Sr. Integrated Innovation and Research Laboratories, named after the Century Pacific Food Inc. founder and UST alumnus.

Founded in 1611 by the third bishop of Manila, Miguel de Benavides, OP., UST enjoys pontifical status and was declared the Catholic University of the Philippines by Pope Pius XII in 1947.

Felipe Salvosa II/CBCP News2

on binary gender and strict separation between men and women,” the HRC says.

“For example, a transgender person who has not medically transitioned poses a challenge for a rabbi who must decide whether that person will sit with men or women during worship,” it adds.

Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for the Orthodox Jewish organization Agudath Israel of America, wrote a blog post last year after appearing on an Israeli television panel to discuss transgender-related issues.

“There can be no denying that there are people who are deeply conflicted about their gender identities. They deserve to be safe from harm and, facing challenges the rest of us don’t, deserve empathy and compassion,” Shafran wrote.

“But the Torah and its extension, halacha, or Jewish religious law, are unequivocal about the fact that being born in a male body requires living the life of a man, and being born female entails living as a woman,” he added.

“In Judaism, each gender has its particular life-role to play,” he said. “The bodies God gave us are indications of what we are and what we are not, and of how He wants us to live our lives.” Deepa Bharath, David Crary And Mariam Fam/Associated Press

THE new temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. LATTERDAY SAINTS PHOTO

THE UST General Santos Main Building. THE VARSITARIAN/VALERE JANE CALLORENA

leads the blessing and inauguration of the UST General Santos campus on April 11. CBCP NEWS

Report: 2023 a record year for wind power as world ramps up clean energy

THE world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50 percent increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to a new report by the industry’s trade association.

The latest Global Wind Report, published on April 16 by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), explores the state of the global wind industry and the challenges it is facing in its expansion.

The increase in wind installations “shows that the world is moving in the right direction in combating climate change,” the report said.

But the authors warned that the wind industry must increase its annual growth to at least 320 gigawatts by 2030 in order to meet the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) pledge to triple the world’s installed renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, as well as to meet the Paris Agreement’s ambition of capping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“It’s great to see wind industry growth picking up, and we are proud of reaching a new annual record,” said GWEC CEO Ben Backwell, “however much more needs to be done to unlock growth.”

Still, the report shows that wind is becoming “better understood and appreciated across the globe for the value it brings as a renewable energy source,” said George Aluru, CEO of the Electricity Sector Association of Kenya, an industry body for private investors in electricity.

“This increased renewable energy supply supports climate goals in line with ensuring sustainable development,” he said.

With the growing impacts of climate change, wind power and other renewable energy sources are seen as a key to reducing electricity generation from fossil fuels and mitigating climate change. Renewables are the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world and among the cheapest in most others.

The global cumulative wind power capacity now totals 1,021 gigawatts. Christian Andresen, research manager at Sintef Energy Research, a Norway-based independent institute for applied research in the energy sector, said the report shows that the wind industry is “picking up pace” by attracting investments and gaining maturity, and that may lead to a snowball effect leading to future growth.

For the planet, he said, it indicates that it is possible to ramp up to reach climate targets.

“This is an important building block in the transition toward a net-zero emission society,” said Andresen.

As was the case in 2022, China led all other countries for both new onshore and offshore wind power installations in 2023. It had 65 percent of new installations, and was followed by the US, Brazil and Germany, respectively. Together, these four countries accounted for 77 percent of new installations globally last year.

The report notes that growth in wind power installations is highly concentrated in a few big countries and links that to strong market frameworks to scale wind installations in those countries.

The top five markets at the end of last year remained as China, the US, Germany, India and Spain.

Still, some other countries and regions are coming up, having witnessed record levels of growth in 2023.

Africa and the Middle East installed nearly 1 gigawatt of wind power capacity in 2023, almost triple that of the previous year.

With upcoming projects in South Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the report predicts that new onshore wind additions for Africa and the Middle East will grow fivefold by 2028 compared with 2023.

Some of the markets to watch include Kenya, where windpower provides around 17 percent of electricity, the report said.

The country has the largest wind farm in Africa, the 310-megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and the report notes new planned large-scale wind projects in the country, including a 1-gigawatt wind park by local power generator KenGen.

But building wind power installations is expensive and entails high up-front investments. Emerging and developing countries face higher cost of capital and pay higher loan rates to build out their wind.

Wind energy also faces supply chain and grid challenges, and innovation in the electricity system is needed to integrate intermittent wind energy onto the grid while retaining reliability, said Erin Baker, a professor of industrial engineering and operations research at the University of Massachusetts.

Offshore wind, Baker said as an example, has some very specialized equipment and manufacturing, and also requires expertise in finance and business models.

But the accelerating growth of wind energy, as shown in the report, means that countries are developing the supply chains needed to keep this growth up, and it will “almost certainly” lead to reductions in cost and improvements in the technology as more and more is built around the world, she said.

“The recent growth, and nations support for the wind industry, are hopeful signs that the supply chain is being established,” said Baker. Carlos Mureithi/Associated Press

CRUELTY FOR CLICKS

SIEM REAP, Cambodia—A baby monkey struggles and squirms as it tries to escape the man holding it by the neck over a concrete cistern, repeatedly dousing it with water.

In another video clip, a person plays with the genitals of a juvenile male macaque sitting on a limestone block from an ancient temple to get it excited for the camera.

The abuse of monkeys at the Angkor Unesco World Heritage Site in northwestern Cambodia is not always so graphic, but authorities say it is a growing problem as people look for new ways to draw online viewers to generate cash.

“The monkey should be living in the wild, where they are supposed to be living, but the monkey nowadays is being treated like a domestic pet,” said Long Kosal, spokesman for Apsara, the Cambodian office that oversees the Angkor archaeological site.

“They’re making the content to earn money by having the viewers on YouTube, so this is a very big issue for us,” he said.

Apsara has few tools itself to stop the YouTubers from filming in general, but has opened an investigation with the Ministry of Agriculture to collect evidence for legal action against the most serious abusers—who are rarely on camera themselves, Long Kosal said.

“If we can build a case, they will be arrested for sure,” he said. “Any animal abuser will be seriously punished by law in Cambodia.”

YouTube, Facebook and other sites remove the videos with graphic content, but scores of other clips of cute monkeys jumping and playing remain, generating thousands of views and subscribers.

Just making those videos involves very close interaction with the monkeys, however, which authorities and animal-rights activists say creates a host of other problems, both for the macaques and people visiting one of Southeast Asia’s most popular tourist sites.

On a recent day outside Angkor’s famous 12th-century Bayon

Temple, at least a dozen YouTubers, all young men, crowded around a small group of long-tailed macaques, pushing in close to get shots of a mother with a baby on her back and tracking her everywhere she moved.

The wild monkeys feasted on bananas tossed to them by YouTubers and drank from plastic bottles of water.

One young macaque briefly amused itself with half-eaten neon-green popsicle discarded at the side of the path, before dropping it to move on to a banana.

A blue-shirted Apsara warden looked on but those filming were unfazed, illustrating the main problem: Simply taking video of monkeys is OK, even though feeding them is frowned upon.

At the same time, it’s making them dependent upon handouts, and the close interaction with humans means they’re increasingly becoming aggressive toward tourists.

“The tourists carry their food, and they would snatch the food,” Long Kosal said, flipping through multiple photos on his phone of recent injuries caused by the macaques. “If the tourists resist, they bite and this is very dangerous.”

The search for food from tourists also draws the monkeys from the surrounding jungle in to the ancient sites, where they pull away pieces of the temples and cause other damage, he added.

Tourist Cadi Hutchings made sure to keep her distance from the monkeys, after being warned by her tour guide of the increasing risk of being bitten.

“What they want is your food, but you also need to appreciate that there needs to be a boundary between human intervention in nature,” the 23-year-old from Wales said.

“It’s obviously a great thing that so many tourists come because it’s

Cambodia investigating YouTubers’ abuse of monkeys at Unesco site

such a lovely place, but at the same time, you have to be careful that with more and more people…the monkeys don’t get too acclimatized,” Hutchings said.

Many other tourists, however, stopped to take their own photos and videos—some holding out bananas to draw them closer—before heading to the nearby temple site.

YouTuber Ium Daro, who started filming Angkor monkeys about three months ago, followed a mother and a baby along a dirt path with his iPhone held on a selfie stick to get in close.

The 41-year-old said he hadn’t seen any monkeys physically abused, and that he didn’t see a problem with what he and the others were doing to make a living.

“The monkeys here are friendly,” he said. “After we take their pictures we give them food, so it is like we pay them for them giving us the chance to take their picture.”

As he spoke, a young macaque scrambled up the leg of an onlooker, trying—unsuccessfully—to grab a plastic bottle of water out of his pocket.

One YouTuber said he had started filming monkeys during the Covid-19 pandemic after the numbers of tourists plummeted, making it impossible to earn a living as a tuk-tuk driver.

Daro said he was looking for a way to supplement his income as a rice vendor, and that he’s too new at it to have realized many returns.

Many, like Phut Phu, work as salaried employees of YouTube page operators.

The 24-year-old said he started filming monkeys tow-and-a-half years ago when he was looking for a job in the open air to help him deal with a lung problem.

He’s generally at it daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., earning $200 a month—equivalent to a Cambodian minimum-wage job—and said he hoped authorities wouldn’t try and put an end to it.

“I need these monkeys,” he said, holding a Nikon Coolpix camera with an extreme zoom that his employer provided, the same model most of the YouTubers were using.

With the difficulties involved in identifying and catching those responsible for the physical abuse of the monkeys, coupled with the draw of easy money through YouTube videos, Long Kosal said Apsara’s task is a tough one.

“This is the problem for us,” he said. “We need to find solid reasons which we can use against them not to make content by abusing the monkeys.”

For Nick Marx, director of wildlife rescue and care for the Wildlife Alliance—which implements conservation programs across Southeast Asia and is involved in releasing wildlife back into Angkor—the answer is simple, though perhaps equally as elusive.

“The biggest problem is these [videos] are generated to make money,” he said in an interview from Phnom Penh. “If people that don’t like this kind of thing would stop watching them, that would really help solve the problem of abuse.”

THE NEW STAR IN THE SOUTH

ASIDE from the frenzied Sinulog Festival every January, the month of April is arguably the best time to swing again to Cebu, the proverbial Queen City of the South. Not only is it the hottest time to be there, but also the most ideal to plunge into its rich heritage, as well as its beaches, resorts and bodies of water.

It was in April 1521 when fabled navigator Ferdinand Magellan set foot here and rediscovered for the Western world what would be the archipelago’s oldest street, city and province. Later that month, he would be killed in the Battle of Mactan, due to his meddling in the rivalry between tribal chieftains Lapu-Lapu and Humabon.

The excitement for Cebu lingers even after 503 years, with self-styled modern-day Magellans always in the lookout for a new star in their expeditions. The good thing is this award-winning eclectic city never ceases to dazzle even jaded travelers with its ability to whip out new surprises.

A new toast of the town is the NUSTAR Resort & Casino which opened in 2022 and redrew the city’s urban landscape with its state-of-the-art features. Touted as Cebu’s first urban resort, it is an integrated luxury development of Robinsons Hotels and Resorts, which brings signature brands, fine dining outlets, modern recreation, world-class gaming and high-end events under one roof.

Situated at the seaside lifestyle belt of South Road Properties, NUSTAR has become the new star and icon of the southern cosmopolis with its luxe twin towers—the 379-room Fili Hotel and the soonto-open NUSTAR Hotel.

Its proximity to the majestic Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) enables you to easily cross over to the beach resorts, dive sites, the airport, the tell-tale site where Magellan’s checkered career as navigator ended, and the leisure getaways in Mactan

AFTER the staging of the highly successful Travel Madness Expo (2023) last year, as early as this month, TME is embarking and planning on a whole new and more exciting Travel Madness Expo 2024.

The 11th Travel Madness Expo (2024) is set to happen this July 12 to 14, 2024 (Friday to Sunday) at the SMX Convention Center located at Pasay City. The said event will occupy the 1st Floor covering Halls 1-4 of the said Convention Center. This time, TME 2024 boasts of better deals if you are traveling July onwards as more participating lists of sponsors and exhibitors are joining this event of the year. With these developments, TME is very much hopeful for a much bigger foot traffic this year, surpassing that of last year.

According to Maria Paz Alberto, Chairperson of the event, this year’s theme is, “Revolutionizing Travel To Create Magical Experiences,” and discover your

and the adjoining Olango Island. It is also just a short drive to Talisay City, known for its homestyle lechon, and backdoor to the southern coastal municipalities.

“Fili Hotel stands as the country’s first authentic Filipino 5-star hotel, offering guests the opportunity to immerse themselves in the luxury and warmth of Filipino hospitality,” says CEO of NUSTAR Resort and Casino Alan Teo.

He notes that Fili celebrates the Philippines’ heritage and pride, evident in the Filipino creativity and craftsmanship throughout the hotel, from the use of solihiya at the Lobby Lounge to the furniture by Vito Selma and artworks by Jef Albea and Fidel Sarmiento. Its typical smart room features are enhanced by the unique mix of panoramic seascapes, passing sea vessels, mountainscapes, and city skyline. Guests staying in suites can access The Executive Club for more exclusivity and upgraded privileges. As an oasis in the concrete jungle, you can pamper yourself with revitalizing treatments at the Hagod Spa, pump iron at the fitness center, or soak in the infinity pool which looks out into the sea.

There’s also the delectable Sunday family brunch which include lobsters cooked according to your preference.

With its collection of dining haunts NUSTAR is the new star for culinary journeys Cebu has been known for even before the pre-Magellan days. Its flagship resto is Fili Café which takes pride in its vast array of culinary traditions and dishes which embrace international flavors and homegrown favorites such as lechon and sutukil.

The Fili Lobby Lounge serves salad shakers, sandwiches, pastries, desserts, coffee, cocktails, mocktails and house concoctions such as the FILIpiniana and Dulce de Fili.

For a touch of class, there’s the famed Mott 32, the awardwinning Chinese restaurant which has the bragging right of having “the best Peking duck in Hong Kong.”

The first and only branch in the country, it is sought after for specialties like barbecue Iberico

pork with yellow mountain honey, wok-fried lobster with crispy potato, salt and pepper prawn, crispy rice paper and asparagus cheung fun, and sauteed string Beans with diced Australian Wagyu beef.

Its signature cocktails—Forbidden Rose, Jade Road and Hanami—are a must-try as they seem to ransport you to Mott 32’s origins in the Hong Kong. Lovers of European cuisine need not go far with IL Primo, the city’s first Italian steakhouse whose premium steaks are cooked on a Josper grill for superior flavor and succulence. There’s also an extensive selection of authen-

tic Italian standards, signature beverages, and wine list where you can request wine pairings for the full experience.

A new elegant experience NUSTAR recently launched is the Crucero, a twin-hulled party yacht which is perfect for a sunset cruise. With the Magellanlike sailing, you can behold the stunning kaleidoscopic sunset near the CCLEX Bridge, enjoy live onboard music while digging into a special cruise food menu from the Fili Hotel kitchen.

With food, sun and fun, and everything in between, NUSTAR is indeed the new star and “north star” of lifestyle down south.

next adventure at the Travel Madness Expo 2024, where you can look forward to for your value for money deals.

Furthermore, Alberto also said that “TME 2023 witnessed a significant turnout of visitors from diverse demographics, including young travelers, senior citizens, families, business travelers, and professionals. With its’ recorded foot traffic of almost 40,000 for the three-day event, TME 2023 proved to have attracted a diverse audience through strategic marketing efforts, resulting in a successful event.”

Travel Madness Expo (TME) is one of the most anticipated events in the Travel Industry as they offer the best travel deals for the last 10 years now. For 2024, TME will be offering new travel and much more exciting travel destinations both local and international.

Travelers looking for more fun and discovering endless beautiful places and experiences here in

the Philippines and in other countries are in for a lot of surprises.

You might be interested to know:

What are the top destinations at the Travel Madness Expo 2024?

What type of exclusive deals and discounts can visitors expect at the TME? What can attendees look forward to in terms of entertainment, workshops, and special events at the TME?

Travelers are “in” for a big surprise at this year’s TME 2024 as they will make sure that the travel package offered is budget friendly, from airfare to low rates from the domestic hotels and resorts. Not only are they budget friendly, as TME partnered with lots of Sponsors and Exhibitors, to provide clients’ travel experiences is something that they would cherish until the next Travel Madness Expo. Also, several activities are lined up to spice up the event such as cultural performances, food

Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, the public domain, and remix culture

BY REQUEST | Ice Seguerra wants audience to choose songs for upcoming concert

‘Videoke Hits,’ scheduled on May 10 and 11 at the Music Museum, will be an interactive show, like a real videoke session, a get-together with friends

By Pocholo Concepcion

ICE SEGUERRA thrives on spontaneity.

At a recent gig at District One in BGC, the eternally youthfullooking singer-songwriter, backed by his Pogi Boys band mates, guitarist Mike Villegas and violinist Jonathan Urbano, asked the audience for requests — in between covers of The Corrs’ “Runaway,” Up Dharma Down’s “Tadhana,” Leon Russell’s “Superstar,” as well as hits from his own albums.

Ice didn’t need to glance at the requested songs’ lyrics from an iPad, it looked like he knew them by heart.

Moments before going onstage, Ice gladly gave details of his coming concert, Videoke Hits, scheduled on May 10 and 11 at the Music Museum.

Videoke is favorite hobby, Ice said. “It’s when I get to sing songs I don’t do

at gigs, songs which the audience don’t expect me to sing.”

“Videoke Hits,” Ice explained, “will be an interactive show, like a real videoke session, a get-together with friends. The audience get to pick songs I will sing. On concert day, they get to choose a few out of some, say, 50 songs.  Dun lang namin malalaman yung request onstage.”

The idea came from Ice’s wife, Liza Diño, whom he calls “the brains” behind his shows. The objective, Ice said, was to capture the essence of a videoke session, “paano natin magagawa sa  stage  yung ganung klaseng experience, in a concert setting but inclusive and fun.”

The lyrics will be flashed on a screen for the audience to sing along to.

What’s a typical Ice Seguerra videoke playlist?

“Ako kasi, pag nag- videoke, from power ballads to Broadway, to very cheeky songs, to…  kung ano matripan,  whatever comes up…”

To give a hint of what to look forward to at the concert, Ice said there will be some Aegis tunes, and some Broadway, talagang smorgasbord…”

When was the first time he stepped into a videoke club?

“My gosh…  bata pa, I mean,  nung una pa lang nauso yan. And I remember in college at UST, every time there’s a vacant period, nagbi-videoke kami, yung iba nagbibilliards kami videoke.”

In the daytime?

“Yes, hahaha!”

But the original video king in the household was his dad, Dick Seguerra. Ice recalled that in 2020, when his father got ill, underwent radiation, refused chemotherapy, and decided to have palliative care in a condo unit, there was one special request: a videoke machine.

“He sang until the very end of his life,” Ice recounted.

Is Videoke Hits a way of honoring his memory?

“Yes. Siya yun e…”

Ice revealed that among videoke buddies, he’s known to hog the mic. And if there’s one other person who did that, it’s his father.

“ Pag pupunta yan ng  video bar,  dala niya sa  wallet  niya yung mga  number  ng mga kakantahin niya.”

It was also his dad who influenced Ice to pursue singing as a career.

“Multiplex pa, di ba  karaoke pa noon? Bibili ka ng  cassettes. That was my first memory of my dad singing at home.  He loved to sing! ‘Portrait of My Love,’ ‘Misty,’ ‘Moon River’…

Videoke Hits will also feature Ice’s band, the Pogi Boys, including keyboardist Ivan Lee Espinosa, bassist Angelo Villegas, and percussionist Budeths Casinto. The motivation to form a band was borne by Ice’s desire to have musicians who can join his journey as a performing artist.

Ice considers Mike Villegas a mentor: “Ang laki nang in- improve ng  guitar playing ko because of him.”

At the District One gig, Mike was heard hollering to punctuate a key part of a song.

But when Ice gave in to our request, either Carole King or Joni Mitchell, he rendered the latter’s “Both Sides Now” with a sensitivity so delicate, there was hushed silence in the room.

Edwin P. Sallan contributed to this story

MASDAN MO

Pinoy folk group ASIN should be National Artists for Music

THE cultural air is rife again with suggestions and proposals to make this and that personality to be the next National Artist. I believe the folk group Asin deserve to be honored with a National Artist distinction.

At the height of their musical proves and mass popularity, Asin was originally composed of Lolita Carbon, Cesar “Saro” Bañares Jr. and Mike Pillora Jr. with Pendong Aban Jr. joining in a later incarnartion. Signed to a major local label, that ensemble recorded at least three albums that have made an impact on OPM in terms of mirroring the pressing concerns of the greater population even as they played original music that hardly fits in with contemporary standards.

Let’s then tick off the criteria to qualify as a National Artist and how Asin slots easily into these best-ofthe-best standards:

Living artists who are Filipino citizens at the time of nomination and at the awarding.

Lolit, Mike, Pendong and Saro were born in this country. The first three are alive and well and making great strides in their comfort zone, with Ms. Carbon and Pendong having carved their own respective musical identities as individual performers and as central figure in a band set-up but still operating within Asin’s

enduring craftsmanship embedded in their forward-looking direction.

Artists who through the content and form of their works have contributed in building a Filipino sense of nationhood

Lolit, Saro et, al’s enduring legacy to OPM lies in their contributions to the original Asin band they helped organize and propel to wider popularity to a mass audience. Beloved by students, the working class, the common tao and the innumerable poor people in the countryside, they sang about love of country encapsulated in songs about protecting the environment (“Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran”), safeguarding the next generation (“Itanong Mo Sa Mga Bata”) and the unchanging face of politics (“Balita”), themes that resonate with Filipinos across cycles of authoritarian rule and democracy and now at the cusp of climate change impacts.

Artists who have pioneered in a mode of creative expression or style Asin was established at the height of martial law era in the ‘70s and in the folk style and progressive content of their music, the band were aligned with the nascent Pinoy rock movement which essentially was an alternative to mainstream radio-friendly music dubbed as Middle of the Road, this

despite being signed to a local label. Aside from their unconventional themes, the use of traditional instruments like kulintang in studio recordings and in live performances saw Asin drawing arguably from native tools and resources to tell distinctive stories of struggles of the brown man during a troubled period in the country’s history.

Artists who have created a substantial and significant body of works and/or consistently displayed excellence in the practice of their art form thus, enriching artistic expression or style.

In at least three commercially successful albums, Asin’s ‘new’ music and ‘alternative” mindset served as an outlet to reflect on the pressing concerns of students, young professionals and rural folks who felt sidelined by society in general. There’s no better proof of Asin’s excellence in their craft in the fact that their pioneering spirit would eventually be a forerunner to the likes of future musical creatives like Joey Ayala, Cynthia Alexander, Gary Granada and Noel Cabangon, who, if it must be said, enriched Asin’s influence by assimilating pop, rock, world music, even street-smart lyrics, into their new-fangled cocktail now called alternative music.

Three cheers for the best candidate to be the next National Artists for Music.

LOLITA CARBON and the current line-up of Asin band. PHOTO COURTE SY OF LOLIT CARBON

Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, the public domain, and remix culture

By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—The giant stuffed bear, its face a twisted smile, lumbers across the screen. Menacing music swells. Is that a sledgehammer about to pulverize a minor character’s head?

Thus unfolds the trailer for the 2023 movie Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a slasher-film riff on A.A. Milne’s beloved characters, brought to you by...the expiration of copyright and the arrival of the classic children’s novel into the American public domain.

We were already living in an era teeming with remixes and repurposing, fan fictions and mashups. Then began a parade of characters and stories, led by Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse with many more to follow, marching into the public domain, where anyone can do anything with anything and shape it into a new generation of stories and ideas.

After a two-decade drought brought on by congressional extensions of the copyright period in 1998, works again began entering the public domain—becoming available for use without licensing or payment— in 2019. The public began to notice in 2022, when Winnie the Pooh was freed for use as the 95-year copyright period elapsed on the novel that introduced him.

That made possible Blood and Honey not to mention a sequel that dropped last month, a forthcoming third and plans for a “Poohniverse” of twisted public domain characters including Bambi and Pinocchio. Pooh going public was followed this year by a moment many thought would never come: the copyright expiration on the original version of Mickey Mouse, as he appeared in the 1928 Walt Disney short, Steamboat Willie

The mouse and the bear are but the beginning. The heights of 20th century pop culture—Superman among them—lie ahead.

Classic characters, new stories, fresh mashups. Will it be all be a bonanza for makers? Are we entering a heyday of crossgenerational collaboration or a plummet in intellectual property values as audiences get sick of seeing variations of the same old stories?

Does a murderous Pooh bear have something to show the 21st century entertainment world?

Could this make a big difference?

FILMS from Hollywood’s early talkie era have started to become public. King Kong, who has one of his enormous feet in the public domain already because of complica-

tions between companies that own a piece of him, will shed his remaining chains in 2029. Then, in the 2030s, Superman will soar into the public domain, followed in quick succession by Batman, the Joker and Wonder Woman.

The possibility of new stories is vast. So is the possibility of repetition. Classic stories and characters could get, well a bit tiresome.

“I don’t feel like it’s going to make that big a difference,” says Phil Johnston, an Oscar nominee who co-wrote Disney’s 2011 Wreck It-Ralph and co-wrote and codirected its sequel, 2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Many creators were clearly anxious to do something with The Great Gatsby, which has been subject to several reinterpretations in very different flavors since it became public in 2021, says Jennifer Jenkins, a professor of law and director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Public Domain.

“We have our feminist retellings of The Great Gatsby, where Jordan gets to tell the story from her perspective, Daisy gets to tell the story from her perspective,” Jenkins says. “We got prequels, we got sequels, we’ve got musicals, TV shows, we’ve got the zombie version because we always do. These are things that you can do with public domain work. These are things that you can do with Mickey Mouse.”

But the newly available works and characters are arriving after years of parent corporations demanding that every creation be tied to their intellectual property. And with some big, Barbie -sized exceptions, the returns are growing thinner, and artists themselves are a little sick of it.

“The biggest limiting factor right now is that almost everything that anyone wants

is has to be from existing IP,” says Johnston.

And while Shakespeare, Dickens and Austen have been public-domain gold mines at various times, other properties have proven more problematic. The forthcoming Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, will be yet another attempt at using the public-domain work of author Frank Baum’s Oz—filtered through a hit novel and Broadway show—to glom onto the classic status of the 1939 Wizard of Oz film. Previous tries led to little success, and most were outright flops, most recently 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful, from Disney.

(In an odd quirk of the Wizard of Oz rights, the film’s most famous artifact, Dorothy’s ruby slippers, are still the intellectual property of MGM via the 1939 film. In Baum’s book, the shoes were silver.)

In the beginning, Disney led the way with public domain success

SOME of the most effective use ever of public domain properties came from Disney itself in its early decades, turning time-tested folktales and novels into modern classics with Snow White, Pinocchio and Cinderella. It would later become the primary protector of the most valuable rights in entertainment, from the Marvel universe to the Star Wars galaxy to its homegrown content.

That has meant a major flowering through the years of fan art and fan fiction, with which the company has a mixed relationship.

“When you look at how the Disney organization actually engages with fan art, there’s a lot of looking the other way,” says Cory Doctorow, an author and activist who advocates for broader public ownership of

works. “I always thought that there was so much opportunity for collaboration that was being missed there.”

He gives as an example binders full of fan-fiction biographies of the ghosts at Disney World’s Haunted Mansion, maintained by the teens who work there, which he observed when working on a project with the company’s so-called Imagineers.

“Some of it actually is now part of the lore,” Doctorow says. “I think that creatively that is an organization that really embraces that. I think commercially it’s an organization that has really struggled with it.”

When the law extending copyright by 20 years passed in 1998, musicians including Bob Dylan were among the key figures who had implored Congress to act. Younger generations of musicians, who came up awash in sampling and remixing, made no discernible outcry for another extension. In part this could be because in the streaming era, many of them make little off recorded music.

Jimmy Tamborello, who records and performs electronic music under the name Dntel and as part of The Postal Service—a group whose very name caused trademark headaches with the official version at its inception—says artists are generally happy to allow others to turn their work into new things. The problem is companies that come between them, and get most of the financial benefit.

“There’s always a corporation involved,” Tamborello says. “I think no one would care if it was just artists to artists. I feel like it would be nice if it was more open, more free. It seems like it has more to do with respecting the original work.”

He says it was “really exciting” when the rapper Lil Peep used his hook from The Postal Service’s best known song, “Such Great Heights” on a track released on YouTube and Soundcloud even before he made the proper legal arrangements to use it on an album. Johnston says age and experience have made him feel less possessive about his own work.

“Earlier in my career, everything was an affront. Everything made me angry and like, ‘That was that was my idea! I should have had credit for that!’” he says. “I don’t want to say I’m just easy and breezy about it, but I think there are so few truly original ideas..... We all kind of will have similar thoughts at a certain point. So it doesn’t particularly bother me.”

His attitude changes if the re-maker is not an artist but artificial intelligence. That was a key issue in last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strikes—and is yet another facet of remix culture that, alongside copyright expirations, could change the faces of some of history’s most renowned characters in ways no one has ever considered.

“If a writer feels for me, it’s fine,” Johnston says. “If an AI steals from me, that sucks.”

Cover photo by Dan K Joseph on Pexels.com

PARK guests stand outside the world premiere of Disney’s Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in Anaheim, California (clockwise); Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, poses at the Pancoast Hotel, August 13, 1941, in Miami, Florida; Ariana Grande (left) and Cynthia Erivo, cast members in the upcoming film Wicked. AP