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VACCINE FOR GRINCH

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By Cai U. Ordinario

HE longest Christmas season in the world is set to begin in less than two weeks in the Philippines, but doctors and local economists agree that this year’s observance of the holidays will be somber.

In the view of Dr. Antonio Dans of the Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine and the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against Covid-19 (HPAAC), the pandemic will certainly cast a shadow over this Christmas season.

Dans said in an online briefing on Tuesday that this year’s festivities will not be as noisy and chaotic. He does not even expect any Christmas rush to happen this year because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“I think the pandemic may continue until Christmas,” Dans later told the BusinessMirror via SMS. “Lots of prayers are needed.”

This will have an impact on the economy in the fourth quarter, which has traditionally been the strongest in terms of GDP growth. Data showed that household consumption increased by no less than 5.5 percent in the past five years.

In the past five years, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed fourth-quarter household consumption grow-

ing as high as 6.7 percent but not lower than 5.5 percent.

De La Salle University economist Maria Ella C. Oplas sees the holidays as being rather quiet, with some traditions such as reunions being done differently, if at all.

As Covid-19 is almost certain to steal Christmas from everyone, doctors and economists trying to make things better while a vaccine pends are pitching ways to banish the shadow of the pandemic.

Online reunions

IF there will be some growth in spending, she said this may come mostly from people who are spending for others who are in need.

However, Oplas said Filipino families will continue to spend since it’s part of the holiday traditions but it will not be much.

“It’s going to be a different Christmas. Reunions might still be done online,” Oplas said. “I guess the rest of the Filipinos are tweaking their expenses a little, but definitely they will spend.”

Unionbank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said fourth-quarter household spending will continue to contract but not as much as the contraction of 15.5 percent recorded in the second quarter of the year.

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Mystery grows over virus spread via food packaging

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VIDENCE shows that food is an unlikely route of transmitting the coronavirus across borders but contaminated items continue to grab the spotlight, deepening the uncertainty over whether the $220-billion cold chain industry could be implicated in the spread of Covid-19.

The virus would need to survive freezing and then defrosting.

It would need to get onto someone’s hands and then into their nose or mouth, and still survive. “I don’t think it would be a frequent mode of transmission but it is possible,” he said.

China’s top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan, who advises Beijing on its Covid-19 response, downplayed the role frozen food can play in transmission.

“It is relatively rare to detect the virus from imported frozen food,” he said. “Let’s not exaggerate it.”

Guangzhou ban

AMID a lack of conclusive proof, China is taking precautionary steps, creating major disruptions with its trading partners. The Cold Chain Association of China’s southern coastal city of Guangzhou ordered all member companies to suspend imports of frozen meat and seafood from coronavirus-hit areas.

The order was issued after the local government in the nearby city of Shenzhen found the virus

SKYPIXEL | DREAMSTIME.COM

China has repeatedly found traces of the pathogen on packaging and food, raising fears that imported items are linked to recent virus resurgences in Beijing and the port city of Dalian.

In the nation’s strongest action since it began testing food items in June, a major Chinese city on Sunday banned imports of frozen meat from coronavirus hot spots.

Cold-storage facilities and meat processing plants are ideal environments for the virus to spread, as the pathogen thrives in cold and dry environments. But there has been no concrete evidence the virus can be transmitted through food, and experts remain doubtful that it’s a major threat.

“We know that viruses usually can survive being frozen. So that means in theory it’s possible that infection could spread that way,” said Benjamin Cowling, head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong. “But in reality, it’s a very low risk that that would happen because so many steps would need to be involved.”

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PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.5610

n JAPAN 0.4580 n UK 63.6878 n HK 6.2659 n CHINA 7.0182 n SINGAPORE 35.4356 n AUSTRALIA 34.8765 n EU 57.5205 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9482

Source: BSP (August 20, 2020)

NewsSaturday BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, August 22, 2020

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VACCINE FOR GRINCH Continued from A1

Asuncion said they expect full-­ year growth to contract 8 percent this year, with the fourth quarter contracting 3.9 percent.

At that rate, the contraction of household consumption will be in single digits.

He said household consumption may continue to be driven by remittance inflows from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who still have jobs abroad.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently reported that personal remittances from OFWs grew 7.6 percent to $2.737 billion in June 2020 from $2.545 billion in June 2019.

“Support may still come from ‘home’ consumption and, hopefully, the fiscal stimulus factor. We may also see more positive growth from remittance inflows improving purchasing power. Note that in the fourth quarter higher inflows are expected due to Christmas,” Asuncion said.

Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) Director Alvin P. Ang said the muted household spending is expected to continue until a vaccine is made available to all.

However, Ang said spending could still be driven by online spending. There could be a spike in online orders since it’s the holidays and it will offer Filipinos the opportunity to remain in their homes while doing their Christmas shopping.

Signs of recovery

NONETHELESS, he agreed that household spending will still show signs of recovery in the fourth quarter. Ang said the growth of spending will still contract but will not be as deep as the second and third quarters.

“Our plan on ReCharge PH is about restarting social and economic activities while engaging all of society in the fight against Covid-19. It think it’s quite clear that government cannot do it alone; everyone needs to do his/ her part,” National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon told the BusinessMirror. “We think that with everyone doing his/her part, we can have a quicker bounce back.”

Seven problems, solutions

DANS explained in the briefing that the HPAAC has identified seven problems and their causes as well as provided solutions for each one.

These problems, Dans said, were the symptoms of diseases.

The symptoms are hospital overloading; inefficient case-finding and isolation; inefficient contact tracing and quarantine; and workplace outbreaks.

The symptoms also include inadequate and unsafe transport options; difficult public compliance; and worsening inequities.

Hospital overloading, he said, is caused by weak hospital coordination and this aims to be resolved

by the creation of the One-hospital command.

The One-hospital command will help patients determine which hospitals can still accommodate them, whether for Covid-19 cases or non-Covid-19 diseases.

In terms of inefficient casefinding and isolation as well as inefficient contact tracing and quarantine, Dans said these are caused by weak primary care.

This can be resolved by the One Covid-Referral Network (LGU), which will not only refer local patients to hospitals but also pharmacies, clinics, laboratories and other services.

Overwhelming science is also one reason for hospital overloading; inefficient case-finding and isolation; inefficient contact tracing and quarantine; workplace outbreaks; inadequate and unsafe transport options; and difficult public compliance.

Numerous studies

DANS said that in the past eight months alone, a total of 58,672 studies or researches have been released relating to Covid-19. This means that every five minutes, a new research about Covid-19 is released.

“Ang lunas po, nandiyan na dati pa, hindi lang nagagamit nang husto—ang HTAC [Health Technology Assessment Council]. Nasa UHC [Universal Healthcare] law ’yan. Tungkulin nila ang suriin ’yang 58,672 studies [The cure for that is the HTAC. That is part of the UHC law. They are tasked to peruse the

DANS: “Makitulong at sumoporta sa mga community projects para sa mahihirap.

Mahirap pong mamatay ng Covid, pero napakahirap pong mamatay sa gutom, lalo na kung apektado ang inyong mga anak.”

58,672 studies],” Dans said.

“Sila ang dapat konsultahin kung ano ang tamang gamot, bakuna, test, at iba pa. ’Wag po ’yung manufacturer ang tatanungin natin kasi siempre, baka piliin lang ang datos na binibigay sa atin. Lalo namang ’wag hanapin lang sa FB o Google [They should be the ones consulted on the right medicine, vaccine, test, etc. We cannot consult the manufacturer because they might just choose which data they will provide to the public. This information should also not be obtained through Facebook or Google],” he added.

Meanwhile, in terms of inefficient case-finding isolation; inefficient contact tracing and quarantine; workplace outbreaks and worsening inequities, the problem is inadequate occupational safety and health (OSH) implementation.

Dans said the solution for this is to enforce workplace safety guidelines. He said he hoped companies will shoulder the cost of

testing because the cost may become a heavy burden, especially for the rank and file.

Further, he said inadequate and unsafe transport options; difficult public compliance; and worsening inequities are caused by transport inequities.

Dans lamented that while only 20 percent of those living in Metro Manila have their own vehicles, 90 percent of the roads are devoted to them.

He said HPAAC was hopeful that the safety guidelines released by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will be followed to the letter.

These guidelines are accompanied by lanes for active transport along Edsa, including in local government units (LGUs) such as San Juan, Pasig and Quezon City.

Dans said poor Internet connection is also a reason for all the seven symptoms or problems related to Covid-19. He lamented the inadequate broadband infrastructure in the country.

He said unserved and underserved areas are all located in less affluent places nationwide. This is affecting not only the flow of information about Covid-19 but also the ability of schools to adapt to remote learning.

Lastly, Dans said the lack of social support is one of the reasons for the seven problems that the country is encountering at this time.

He cited the need to emphasize the importance of a wholeof-society approach in responding

to the Covid-19 challenges. Dans said with the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) already spent, those who have something to spare should start helping others.

“Para sa mga kaya tumulong— tangkilikin ang mga negosyong sinisimulan ng ating mga kababa­ yan.

Huwag na kayo tumawad. Keep the change. Tip generously. Magpadala ng ayuda sa mga suki niyo dati na matagal niyo nang hindi nakikita.

Kung kaya, habaan ang sick leave ng mga employees at tulungan sila kung may nagkasakit [For those who have the means to help, patronize local businesses. Do not ask for discounts. Keep the change. Tip generously. Send help to your suki whom you haven’t seen in a while.

And if you can, lengthen the sick leaves of employees and help them if they are sick],” Dans said.

“Makitulong at sumoporta sa mga community projects para sa mahihirap. Mahirap pong mamatay ng Covid, pero napakahirap pong mamatay sa gutom, lalo na kung apektado ang inyong mga anak [Help and support community projects for the poor. It’s difficult to die of Covid-19, but it is very difficult to die of hunger, especially if your children are affected],” he added.

Indeed, the scenario of millions of children being added to the ranks of the hungry as a result of the pandemic’s impact would be the most jarring introduction to what should be the season of love and giving. The counsel of Dans and his group merits urgent action, as the ’ber months are about to come upon us.

Mystery grows over virus spread via food packaging

A CDC worker performs a novel coronavirus nucleic acid test at a meat stand in Shandong Province, August 7, 2020. COSTFOTO/BARCROFT MEDIA VIA GETTY IMAGES Continued from A1

on a surface sample of chicken wings imported from Brazil. Hong Kong has also suspended imports from that plant.

China has otherwise refrained from wider nationwide moves against imported meat due to the reliance of its population on the food source.

New Zealand originally considered the possibility that a new cluster, which suddenly emerged last week after 102 days without a local virus case, could have been linked to a cold-storage plant, as the first person to test positive worked at an Auckland Americold facility.

Ruled out

BUT preliminary findings from environmental testing at the plant have debunked the theory that the route of transmission was through chilled surfaces on materials arriving from overseas, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said Tuesday.

“The full report will have the

details but it seems clear now that the possibility is being ruled out from that investigation,” he said.

A key unanswered question is whether the traces that China has detected on the packaging and surface of frozen foods are still viable and infectious, or whether they’re just dead and harmless vestiges of the pathogen.

“What we know publicly and what we’ve seen so far is that yes this virus can survive outside people for up to a few days, depending on the environment,” said Sarah Cahill, senior food standards officer at Codex Alimentarius Commission, the body responsible for developing food standards under the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

“But what are we actually detecting when we do these tests?” she said. “Are we just detecting RNA, which just means maybe this virus is no longer viable, or is that virus still an infectious agent?”

It is not uncommon for a wide ar-

ray of viruses, bacteria and parasites to be transmitted through contaminated food. The WHO estimates that almost one in 10 people in the world falls ill after eating contaminated food, leading to 420,000 deaths every year. Salmonella and the norovirus on produce or uncooked meat and seafood can cause symptoms like diarrhea and inflammation in the stomach and intestines.

While diarrhea can be one of the symptoms of Covid-19 as well, experts are more focused on the possibility of the virus jumping from surfaces to human respiratory systems when people touch their faces after coming into contact with a contaminated item. Even then, some consider that scenario far-fetched.

“Theoretically, it’s possible,” said Takeshi Kasai, WHO’s regional director for the Western Pacific region, during an online briefing on Tuesday. “But so far our observations or the evidence coming from the past seven months of epidemiology: it is unlikely.”

Bloomberg News

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‘Standardized’ compensation for local coronavirus 2019 clinical trial participants eyed

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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articipants of local clinical trials for potential drugs and vaccines for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) should get a “standardized” rate of compensation.

On Thursday, the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the recommendation of its SubTechnical Working Group on Vaccine Development (TWGVD) to provide compensation for the participants.

“The Philippine Health Research Ethics Board [PHREB] should review the Ethical Guidelines for the Covid-19 clinical trials and standardized compensation of trial participation both for WHO [World Health Organization] Solidarity Trial and independent clinical trials,” IATF said in its Resolution 65.

Currently, the WHO Solidarity Trial is ongoing, which involves the following drugs: remdesivir, ritonavir-lopinavir, and

ritonavir-lopinavir with interferon beta.

As of July, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 450 Covid-19 patients are already enrolled in the said trials.

The clinical trial of the Japanese anti-flu drug, Avigan, also started this month. The Covid-19 vaccine being developed in China and Russia is also expected to undergo clinical trial in the country in the coming months.

To ensure all of these clinical trials will be held systematically, the IATF required all applications for clinical trials to be first submitted to the Vaccine Expert Panel, PHREB and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Zoning guidelines on vaccine clinical trials must be issued by the subTechnical Working Group in Vaccine Development to avoid competitions for sites,” IATF said.

The IATF instructed all local government units (LGU) to prioritize the clinical trials being conducted by WHO over “independent trials.”

Saturday, August 22, 2020

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PHL protests China actions against fishermen, aircraft

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he Philippine government filed a diplomatic protest after Chinese forces seized fishing equipment set up by Filipinos in a disputed shoal in their latest territorial spat in the South China Sea (SCS).

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila said in a news statement issued on Thursday night that the Philippines “also resolutely objected” to China continuing to issue radio challenges to Philippine aircraft patrolling over the disputed waters.

There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials.

The Philippine government

has protested China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the contested sea despite a dramatic improvement in relations under President Duterte, who has nurtured friendly ties with Beijing while often criticizing the United States, which has raised alarm over his deadly anti-drugs crackdown.

The Philippine foreign affairs department did not immediately provide other details on what it said was the Chinese coast guard’s illegal confiscation of the fishing equipment. The devices, loca l ly ca l led “payaos,” were seized in May after they had been set up by Filipino fishermen in

the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippine province of Zambales.

China seized the shoal after a tense sea standoff in 2012, and the Philippines brought its disputes to international arbitration the following year. The tr ibuna l in 2016 inva lidated China’s claims to virtually the entire SCS but Beijing continues to ignore and def y the decision.

Radio warnings by Chinese forces against Philippine air force patrol aircraft have increased around missile-protected Chinese artificial islands, Philippine officials said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused China of taking advantage of the intense preoccupation of governments over the pandemic to advance its territorial claims.

Last month, the US government rejected nearly all of Beijing’s South China Sea claims and in effect sided w ith the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei in each of their territorial spats with Beijing. China responded by saying the US was trying to sow discord and was meddling in an Asian dispute to flex its muscle and incite a confrontation. AP

Palace: Biz groups free to join IATF meetings

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epresentative from the business sector are welcome to participate in the regular meetings of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said “any group, organization, or individual” can join the IATF discussions.

He issued the statement on

Friday in response to the appeal of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) to have representation in the said meetings, especially on issues have anything to do with Covid-19 policies that could affect business operations.

PCCI said this will “make it easier for businesses to resume operation and for workers to return to work ” during lockdowns.

“Officials of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry can therefore serve as resource persons on matters related to trade, business and the economy in the same way that IATF has invited health experts from different medical associations to give their inputs related to their field of expertise,” Roque said in a news statement issued on Friday.

Among the health experts, who regularly join IATF meetings are the medical experts of the University of the Philippines (UP).

Roque said the concerns of the business sector were raised by the government’s economic team, namely, the Departments of Trade and Industr y, Finance, Budget and Management and National Economic and Development.

Samuel P. Medenilla

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Saturday, August 22, 2020

New IATF resolution outlines LGUs’ responsibilities in management of LSIs

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

ocal government units (LGU) are now mandated to accept their constituents, who were stranded in other parts of the country due to lockdowns amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“All governors, city, and municipal mayors and head of barangays should accept their returning residents during pandemic,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in an interview aired on PTV on Friday.

He said this was contained in Resolution 65, Series of 2020 of the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which was issued on August 20, 2020.

IATF issued the policy pronouncement after some LGUs deferred accepting their stranded residents due to concerns they may be infected with the virus.

It also ordered concerned LGUs to “manage” their returning residents to make sure they will still be taken care of if they will undergo quarantine measures.

In a related development, Roque said the new IATF issuance also declared the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), or the “Listahan,” of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as “critical government service” during the pandemic.

To ensure the registration for the said initiative will continue even amid the health crisis, the IATF classified DSWD’s surveyors, enumerators, and/ or supervisors of the DSWD regional office as authorized persons outside of residence.

T his w ill allow them unhampered “ inter-zonal travel ” during the pandemic.

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Rise in jobless claims reflects still-struggling US economy V

Groups back House proposal to spare OFWs from PhilHealth collections under UHC Act

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ASHINGTON—The coronavirus recession struck swiftly and violently. Now, with the US economy still in the grip of the outbreak five months later, the recovery looks fitful and uneven—and painfully slow.

The latest evidence came Thursday, when the government reported that the number of workers applying for unemployment climbed back over 1 million last week after two weeks of declines.

The figures suggest that employers are still slashing jobs even as some businesses reopen and some sectors like housing and manufacturing have rebounded.

“Getting the virus in check dictates when there’ll be relief from this economic nightmare, and it doesn’t look like it will be soon,” said AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at Indeed, a job listings web site.

The scourge in the US has killed more than 170,000 people and caused over 5.5 million confirmed infections, with deaths rising by more than 1,000 a day on average. Worldwide, the death toll stands at about 790,000, with over 22 million cases.

The overall number of laid-off American workers collecting unemployment benefits declined last week from 15.5 million to 14.8 million.

Many of them probably found jobs.

But some may have used up all their benefits, which in most states run out after about six months.

I n Eu rope, mea nwh i le, fea rs mounted over rising infections, many of them attributed to vacationers and

young people lowering their guard.

Italy added nearly 850 cases to its count, with Sardinia becoming a hot spot because of people partying at nightclubs and other spots without masks. Greece reported 269 new infections, matching a record high set two days earlier. Amid a surge in Spain, emergency coordinator Fernando Simón said younger people should take into account the risk of infecting older relatives.

“Nobody should be fooled. Things are not going well,” he said.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron insisted the country will send millions of students back to school starting September 1, despite the biggest weekly spike in cases since the height of the outbreak in March and April—over 18,000.

“The return to school will happen” in the coming days, Macron said. “We will not bring our countries to a halt, but we will have to learn to live with the virus.”

Elsewhere around the world, India logged a record 69,652 confirmed infections in a single day.

In the US, the previous weekly report from the Labor Department showed new jobless c l a i ms h ad dipped below 1 million for the first time since March, to 971,000. But that trend reversed itself this time.

Many businesses and consumers remain paralyzed by uncertainty and restricted by lockdowns, and job gains appear to be slowing from the rapid bounce-backs of May and June, when millions of restaurant and store employees were rehired. The number

of job openings posted on Indeed fell last week for the first time since April.

Twenty-two million jobs were lost to the outbreak in March and April. In the past three months, only 9.3 million have been regained, and unemployment remains high at 10.2 percent.

Until the virus can be brought under control, economists agree, any recovery is destined to remain weak.

Kronos, a company that makes time-tracking software for small businesses, said the number of shifts worked by its clients is barely growing after rising steadily in the previous three months. Shifts worked are stuck at about 10 percent below their pre-pandemic level.

“It’s increasingly clear that the last 10 percent of the recovery will be the most challenging,” said Dave Gilbertson, a vice president at Kronos.

At the same time, those who are drawing unemployment are now getting far less aid because a $600-aweek federal benefit has expired, which means they must get by solely on the much smaller benefits from their states. That has deepened the struggle for many and put some in danger of eviction.

President Donald J. Trump has signed an executive order to provide $300 a week in federal unemployment aid. Twenty-eight states so far have said they will dispense it, though they would need to revamp their computer systems, and it could take a few weeks for the money to start flowing to some recipients. Arizona said Monday it has started paying out the extra $300 this week, the first state to do so. AP

arious overseas Filipino workers’ groups and private recruitment industry associations backed the proposed amendment of the House committees on public accounts and good government and public accountability that would remove migrant workers as direct contributors to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

OFW advocate and former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, said the joint panel under the guidance of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano appreciated the “horrific impact of the Covid-19 virus on OFWs, hence the urgent need to amend the Universal Healthcare Act [UHC].”

Rather than collecting higher premiums from migrant workers based on their income abroad as stipulated in the UHC Act, the House joint panel recommended that PhilHealth, along with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant agencies, in consultation with stakeholders, “shall issue a separate circular regarding the premium contributions for both land-based and sea-based Filipino migrant workers” and that said draft circular will be presented to the joint oversight Senate and House committee prior to implementation.

“We support this move of scrapping the entire provision in the UHC Act that imposes higher premiums from migrant workers pegged at 3 percent of annual salary to be increased by .5 percent every year until it reaches 5 percent. Unlike domestic workers, our OFWs will be shouldering both the employers’ and workers’ share and this will eat up a huge chunk of their monthly remittances to their families. This provision has caused so much resentment, anger, and anxiety on the part of our OFWs, many of who face an uncertain future due to the global pandemic,” Ople said.

The House joint panel’s amendment also received support from the Integrated Seafarers

BayaNihan 2 crucial to reviving agri, tourism, transportation–Poe, Garin

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lawyers’ group has warned against what it called the “weaponization” of the law against telecommunications companies and the media as they stressed that the Filipino public and consumers may be the real victims of President Duterte’s threat to close down Globe Telecom and Smar t Communications in the same month that broadcast network ABS-CBN was shut down after Congress voted to deny renewal of its franchise.

As the representative of small and marginalized farmers in Congress, Garin, also Subcommittee on Economic Stimulus Response Package co-chairman echoed the agriculture sector’s call for support, especially after the adverse economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has left supply chains in agricultural production, transportation and marketing disrupted.

The P24-billion earmarked funds shall be used to provide direct cash or loan interest rate subsidies under the programs of the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC), as well as other forms of assistance to qualified agri-fishery enterprises, farmers and fisherfolk registered under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), and cooperatives. “ Fa r m e r s, f i s h e r f o l k , a n d a g r i c u l t u re cooperatives are expected to benefit from this measure since the bill also enables national and local government agencies to purchase from them as a form of direct assistance,” Garin added.

This developed even as Sen. Grace Poe confirmed Thursday that displaced public-utility vehicle (PUV) drivers “rendered hungr y and

homeless” by the Covid-19 lockdown will be among those given priority for assistance with a P5.58-billion funding under the Bayanihan 2 bill, which also assured that there will be no jeepney phaseout during the pandemic.

The bill incorporated provisions for loan facility, fuel vouchers, facilitation of contracting of PUVs as government service vehicles, among others.

“We agreed to provide the much-needed support to displaced workers in the transport sector, particularly when it comes to contracting vehicles by the government. So, that will be a big por tion of the funding,” Poe said.

The P5.58-billion fund will be used to provide temporary livelihood to displaced workers in the industry through service contracting, regardless of quarantine levels, of PUVs. Of the amount, P3 billion has been set aside for jeepney drivers and P2.58 billion for other PUV drivers.

A separate P1.31 billion will be used to develop accessible sidewalks and protected bicycle lanes, procure bicycles and safety-related equipment for bicycle distribution, sharing and lending program.

The Bayanihan bill has also allocated P17.97 billion to the Land Bank of the Philippines and P5.5 billion to the Development Bank of the Philippines that the transport sector may tap as loan facilities through the Department of Transportation.

An d a m id th e g overn m e nt’s p u s h f o r modernization, Poe reiterated that traditional jeepneys will not be scrapped during the pandemic.

Butch Fernandez

Lawyers group says Pinoys are real victims of ‘weaponization’ of law vs. telcos, media

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lawyers’ group yesterday warned against what it called “weaponization” of the law against telecommunications companies and the media even as it stressed that the Filipino public and consumers will be the real victims of President Duterte’s threat to close down Globe Telecom and Smart Communications in the same month that broadcast network ABS-CBN shut down after Congress voted to deny renewal of its franchise.

Tagapagtanggol ng Watawat, a lawyers’ group advocating adherence to the constitution and the rule of law, joined other concerned stakeholders in both the private sector and the government in expressing “alarm” over the economic uncertainty and rise in unemployment that a shutdown of these telcos could bring about during this pandemic.

“Even in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, we do not think it is in the interest of the public to jeopardize telecommunications services and cause unnecessary uncertainty to the people who are now forced to rely on online commerce, work-from-home setups, and distance learning,” said Arnel Valeña, convener and spokesman of the group.

The group was reacting to President Duterte’s statement in his fifth State of the Nation Address, in which he decried the “less-than-ideal” services of the two telcos and warned that he would expropriate them unless their services improved by December.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has said that “government expropriation is not the solution” to improve telecommunication services in the country

as this may cause harm. Instead, he believed that encouraging competition is the way forward.

Valeña said Duterte even acknowledged that shutting down the telecommunications operations of Smart and Globe would mean that “we revert back to the line telephone.”

“This would reverse decades of technological advancement that has become an unavoidable necessity for people nowadays,” Valeña said.

“This injury to public interest may already be seen in the non-renewal of the broadcasting franchise of ABS-CBN Corp., which deprived far-flung areas of much-needed information and diversion amid the pandemic,” he added.

Speaking at a recent webinar organized by the Philippine Bar Association, Dean Mel Sta. Maria Jr. of the Far Eastern University Institute of Law said that the ABS-CBN situation is a “microcosm” of the government’s attacks on Philippine media.

Referring to the government’s maneuvering of the legal system to “weaponize” it against its critics, Sta. Maria said that “the facade may be technically legal but the underpinning motivations and the consequent result are unconstitutional and against public policy, morals, or good custom.”

Commenting on Duterte’s impromptu statements threatening companies with closure, Sta. Maria said that it is an abuse of the President’s immunity from suit and is a form of weaponizing the law, “a legal right abused to the maximum to cause fear, using legal immunity pursuant to the law, and in effect weaponizing that law,” he said.

of the Philippines ( ISP), as well as landbased industr y associations, namely, Japan Employment Providers of the Philippines and Consultants’ Association, Australia & New Zealand Association of Employment Providers of the Philippines and Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI). Civil-society g ro u p s s u c h a s K a b a l i k at n g M i g ra nte n g Pilipino and Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino Inc. also backed the proposed amendment.

In the recent public hearing, Ople pointed out that the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) issued by PhilHealth went over and beyond the law, to the extent of including dual citizens as direct contributors. The IRR also specified the use of the Overseas Employment Certificate issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as proof of collections of OFW premiums, thus ensuring that every OFW pays in advance even prior to his or her departure from the country.

The UHC Act never mentioned the use of the overseas employment certificate as a collecting tool for PhilHealth.

“We call on the S enate and House of Representatives: remove this sword of Damocles over the heads of our embattled OFWs by amending the onerous provisions of the UHC Act that adversely affects them,” the OFW groups said.

They said that it would be best to start from scratch, and for the government to hold meaningful and direc t consultations with the OFWs through diplomatic posts and in partnership with OWWA. “Overseas employment as an industry and government program is down and will remain down as long as the virus is around. To expect our OFWs to give up a substantial amount of their income for PhilHealth, especially at this difficult time, is short of delusional,” the Ople Center said.

SSS says it has released P391.28-M unemployment benefits in 5 months

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he S o c i a l S e c u ri t y Sy s te m ( SSS ) o n Wednesday said that P391.28 million worth of unemployment benefits were released during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The highest amount of disbursement was recorded in Luzon with P143.60 million, followed

by National Capital Region (NCR), Mindanao, and Visayas with P102.71 million, P86.43 million, and P58.54 million, respectively.

SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio, in news statement, said that 29,413 unemployment benefit applications were approved from March 17 to August 11, 2020, and released an average amount of cash benefit equivalent to P13,303.

“In suppor t of our members who became j o b l e s s i n t h e s e d i f f i c u l t t i m e s, SSS w i l l continue to accept online applications so that we can immediately respond to their needs in times of contingencies such as during this pandemic. We also encourage them to create their own My.SSS account through registration at the SSS web site to proceed with their applications,” Ignacio said.

Members are also required to register their bank accounts in their My.SSS accounts through the Bank Enrollment Module (BEM) and proceed to the E-services tab and click Bank Enrollment.

From there, members can select their preferred PESONet participating bank, e-wallet, or RTC/CPO and enter their correct bank account number, or mobile number.

To submit their unemployment benefit application, members should log in to My.SSS account and click “apply for the unemployment benefit claim” under the E-Services tab. Members must provide all the information such as their active savings account enrolled in the BEM, employment categor y, date and reason of involuntary separation, as well as the employer’s name where they were separated.

Online applicants should read the certification carefully before clicking the “Submit” box to agree and proceed with the application. SSS will send a notification through e-mail while members must reply to it by attaching the scanned copies of the certification issued by the Department of Labor and Employment or by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and the Notice of Termination from the Employer or Affidavit of Termination from Employment, whichever is applicable. Members will receive a confirmation e-mail from SSS regarding their successful application.

“Repor ts indicated that nearly 40,000 applications were rejected due to discrepancies and incomplete information found in submitted documentary requirements, unreadable/blurred/ altered scanned documents, while some applicants failed to attach any supporting documents. It is why members should be careful in encoding their information to avoid delays in the processing and approval of their applications and provide clear copies of their supporting documents as much as possible,” Ignacio explained.

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Angel R. Calso

DELTA AIRLINES BANS PURPORTED OSAMA BIN LADEN KILLER FOR NOT WEARING A FACE MASK

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TLANTA—A former Navy SEAL who has said he killed Osama bin Laden has been banned by Delta Air Lines after removing his face mask during a flight.

Robert O’Neill tweeted about his ban on Thursday, and the airline confirmed the action.

“Part of every customer’s commitment prior to traveling on Delta is the requirement to acknowledge our updated travel policies, which includes wearing a mask,” the airline said in a statement. “Failure to comply with our mask-wearing mandate can result in losing the ability to fly Delta in the future.”

All major US airlines require passengers to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Delta says it has banned more than 100 passengers for violating the rule.

O’Neill posted a selfie showing himself, with no mask, on a Delta Connection flight Wednesday from Minneapolis to Newark, New Jersey. Other passengers in the photo, including a man across the aisle who was wearing a Marine Corps hat, were wearing masks. The tweet was later deleted.

In another tweet Thursday, O’Neill said, “Thank God it wasn’t @Delta flying us in when we killed bin Laden...we weren’t wearing masks.”

O’Neill first said in 2014 that he fired the shots that killed bin Laden during a 2011 raid on the terrorist’s compound in Pakistan. The US government has neither confirmed nor denied the account. O’Neill later wrote a book about his time in the SEALs. He has 375,000 followers on Twitter. AP

The World BusinessMirror

Saturday, August 22, 2020

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Russian doctors say Navalny wasn’t poisoned, refuse transfer

By Daria Litvinova

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The Associated Press

OSCOW—Russian doctors treating opposition leader Alexei Navalny don’t believe he was poisoned and refused to transfer him to a German hospital on Friday.

Navalny, a 44-year-old politician who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, was admitted to an intensive care unit in a coma at a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday, following what his supporters are calling a suspected poisoning that they believe was engineered by the Kremlin.

But Russian doctors treating opposition politician Navalny say they haven’t found any indication that the Kremlin critic was poisoned.

Omsk hospital deputy chief doctor, Anatoly Kalinichenko, said that no traces of poison were found in Navalny’s body. Navalny spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, posted a video on Twitter of Kalinichenko speaking.

“Poisoning as a diagnosis re-

mains on the back burner, but we don’t believe that the patient suffered from poisoning,” Kalinichenko told reporters Friday.

K alinichenko added that the diagnosis have been determined and relayed to Navalny’s family members. He refused to reveal it to reporters, citing a law preventing medical workers from disclosing confidential patient information.

Earlier Friday, Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov said police found traces of a dangerous poisonous substance in the politician’s system, but didn’t say which one. Police officials didn’t confirm that.

Russian medical officials also haven’t approved Navalny’s transfer to Germany.

“The chief doctor said that Navalny is non-transportable. [His]

In this file photo taken on July 20, Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking to a crowd during a political protest in Moscow, Russia. Russian doctors treating opposition politician Navalny say they haven’t found any indication that the Kremlin critic was poisoned. Deputy chief doctor Anatoly Kalinichenko at Omsk hospital says that as of Friday, no traces of poison were found in Navalny’s body. Navalny spokesman Kira Yarmysh posted a video on Twitter of Kalinichenko speaking. AP

condition is unstable. Family’s decision to transfer him is not enough,” Yarmysh tweeted. Omsk is about 4,200 kilometers east of Berlin, roughly a six-hour flight.

Navalny fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk on Thursday and was taken to the hospital after the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. His team says a plane with all the necessary equipment is waiting at Omsk airport to take Navalny to a German clinic.

Alexander Murakhovsky, chief doctor of the Omsk Ambulance Hospital No. 1 where the politician is being treated, told report-

ers on Friday that Navalny’s condition “somewhat improved,” but he wasn’t stable enough for a transfer.

Murakhovsky said doctors were still working on determining a diagnosis.

Yarmysh said that “the ban on transferring Navalny is needed to stall and wait until the poison in his body can no longer be traced.

Yet every hour of stalling creates a threat to his life.”

Like many other opposition politicians in Russia, Navalny has been frequently detained by law enforcement and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups. In 2017, he was attacked by several men

who threw antiseptic in his face, damaging an eye.

Last year, Navalny was rushed to a hospital from prison, where he was serving a sentence following an administrative arrest, with what his team said was suspected poisoning. Doctors said he had a severe allergic attack and discharged him back to prison the following day.

Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption has been exposing graft among government officials, including some at the highest level. Last month, he had to shut the foundation after a financially devastating lawsuit from Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close ties to the Kremlin.

The most prominent member of Russia’s opposition, Navalny campaigned to challenge Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but was barred from running.

He set up campaign offices across Russia and has been promoting opposition candidates in regional elections, challenging members of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia. One of his associates in Khabarovsk, a city in Russia’s Far East that has been engulfed in mass protests against the arrest of the region’s governor, was detained last week after calling for a strike at a rally.

Report: Chinese mining company used Covid-19 vaccine in PNG The blackout trade: How a power market went dark in California

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ANBERRA, Australia—A Chinese mining company in Papua New Guinea (PNG) claims to have immunized employees against Covid-19 in an apparent vaccination trial, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The South Pacific island nation’s Health Minister Papua Jelta Wong said his department was investigating the claim by Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd., The Australian reported.

National Pandemic Response Cont rol ler Dav id Ma nn ing banned Covid-19 vaccine testing or trials in PNG on Thursday and later noted the National Department of Health had not approved any trials.

“Any vaccines imported into PNG must be approved by NDoH [PNG Department of Health] and must go through vigorous vaccine trials, protocols and procedures” and must be pre-qualified by the World Health Organization, Manning said in a statement on Friday.

Wong did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Ramu’s office in the PNG city of Madang could not be contacted.

A document on company letterhead entitled “Vaccination Statement” said 48 Chinese employees “have been vaccinated with SARSCOV-2 vaccine” on August 10.

A lab technician uses a multichannel pipette dropper during the immune response analysis process of the coronavirus vaccine research at the Valneva SE laboratories in Vienna, Austria, on August 6. The UK has signed agreements to buy 90 million doses of vaccines in development by drugmakers including Pfizer Inc., BioNTech SE and Valneva SE, joining countries around the world racing to secure supplies of protection against Covid-19.Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

The statement was sent to the Papua New Guinea Health Department and advised that the vaccine could cause false-positive test results in those who received it, the newspaper said.

Manning has written to Chinese Ambassador Xue Bing seeking “immediate clarification of the Chinese government’s position regarding the vaccination statement.”

Ramu is a subsidiary of one of China’s largest state-owned enterprises, Metallurgical Corp. of China.

Australia, which is Papua New Guinea’s nearest neighbor and largest provider of foreign aid, had learned that China may have begun trialing a coronavirus vac-

cine in the region using employees of state-owned enterprises, the newspaper reported.

Australian government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Papua New Guinea is a poor country of 9 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers. It has recorded only 361 Covid-19 cases and four deaths. But infections have surged in the past month, particularly in the capital Port Moresby where a curfew is being enforced as a pandemic measure.

Pfizer, BioNTech SE vaccine on track

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said the Covid-19 vaccine they

are jointly developing is on track to be submitted for regulatory review as early as October, as they released additional data from an early-stage study.

The companies said the vaccine was well tolerated with mild to moderate fever in fewer than 20 percent of the participants. The companies are continuing to analyze data from the Phase 1 trials in the US and Germany, they said in a statement.

The confirmation of their October goal, first announced last month, helped lift S&P 500 futures early on Friday as part of a drumbeat of positive news on inoculation efforts that have the potential to end the threat of damaging lockdowns.

The timeline would make the vaccine one of the fastest-moving in the world. Some analysts expect a vaccine to be approved for use by November in the US, a move which may give President Donald Trump a new foothold in the election.

Pfizer and BioNTech last month clinched a $2-billion deal to supply an initial 100 million doses of the vaccine to the US governments around the world are looking to lock up supplies of still-experimental candidates in hope of stabilizing local economies and stopping spread of the v ir us t hat ’s ta ken a lmost 800,000 lives globally. AP and Bloomberg News

Hangover cure successfully tested on drunk subjects

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group of Finnish researchers believe they’ve discovered what people have spent centuries searching for: a cure for hangovers.

A dose of 1,200 milligrams of amino acid L-cysteine was found to reduce alcohol-related nausea and headache, while a dose of 600 milligrams helped alleviate stress and anxiety, according to a study published in the journal Alcohol

and Alcoholism by researchers at the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland.

The randomized, double-blind study had 19 healthy male volunteers consuming alcohol doses of 1.5 grams per kilogram over three hours in a controlled setting. The subjects were then asked to swallow placebo, or L-cysteine tablets, containing vitamin supplements.

Researchers say that, as well

as reducing or even eliminating hangovers entirely, L-cysteine also helps “reduce the need of drinking the next day,” thereby cutting the risk of alcohol addiction.

Binge drinking is common in Finland, with more than half a million Finns considered at risk from excessive drinking.

The researchers received funding from Catapult Cat Oy, which sells the L-cysteine supplements.

The study ran into certain difficulties. Some participants weren’t able to consume all the alcohol required and had to be excluded, some had such high tolerance levels that they experienced no hangover symptoms; and some were sidelined because they insisted on topping up the dose by heading for the bar, researcher Markus Metsala told local media.

Bloomberg News

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y August 16, heat was smothering California, and alarms were going off in the city of Folsom.

There, the operators of the state’s vast electrical grid were facing a troubling question: Were traders making the burgeoning power crisis worse?

What the grid operator did amid the chaos on that sweltering Sunday stunned the world of power trading. In an unprecedented move, it pulled the plug on an obscure corner of the electricity market where speculators can tip the balance of supply and demand.

No one is alleging yet that market manipulation akin to what Enron and others famously pulled off two decades ago is to blame for the recent blackouts.

Instead, as one executive at the grid operator put it, officials didn’t want speculators offering phantom supplies to the grid as they faced record demand.

Cutting off trades would give grid operators a clearer view of what’s happening in the physical market, Mark Rothleder, the grid operator’s vice president of market policy and performance said at an emergency board meeting Monday.

Now, as fingers are being pointed up and down the state, the California Independent System Operator is still struggling to get a handle on exactly what went down. And power traders and analysts are asking why the market remains padlocked five days later.

“It’s completely unprecedented to see a response like this,” said Sonya Gustafson, director of data products for the analytics firm Yes Energy Llc. and who analyzes the California power market.

California’s power market is actually a tangle of many markets. There are physical power markets where firms trade power for actual delivery anywhere from every five minutes to a full day ahead. And then there are financial markets designed to allow utilities to hedge their costs and protect the homes and businesses they serve from volatile price swings.

The transactions halted by the grid operator, called convergence bidding, involve traders betting on the difference—or the spread—between the day-ahead price for power and the price of the power when it’s actually delivered. These financial bids also help signal to the grid operator when there are extreme supply and demand imbalances.

On the day the trades were shut down, California ISO, as the grid operator is known, said the bids were “detrimentally”affecting its ability to maintain reliable grid operations.

Typically, there are more than 100 trading houses eligible to wager on whether demand will be higher or lower than the grid operator’s estimates by 10 a.m. each day. Participants in the market range from giants, such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Vitol Inc. to local power companies, such as PG&E Corp., Sempra Energy and Edison International. It’s a rather small market that can have a big impact on the physical

one. Last year, revenues from convergence bids was $44.4 million, or just 0.5 percent of the $8.8-billion value of wholesale power costs on the grid.

The shutdown caught traders by surprise—and potentially cost them a substantial payout. The reason they got into the market was to profit from the volatility caused by high-demand days. Instead, they were locked out of it, raising questions over whether speculators would be blamed for the outages.

“There was no obvious reason for them to shut the market,” said Carrie Bentley, cofounder of Gridwell Consulting and a member of the California committee of the Western Power Trading Forum, which represents traders. It has asked the grid operator for a more detailed explanation on why it remains closed.

The state’s power market has been gamed by traders before, most famously in 2000 and 2001 when Enron traders exploited loopholes in the market to reap extravagant profits in transactions that led to a series of rolling blackouts.

Convergence bids themselves have long been controversial with some saying they’re especially vulnerable to manipulation. In 2016, Etracom Llc. faced $2.4 million in fines after being accused by federal regulators of rigging virtual transactions in a case that was later settled. Another firm that traded in virtual power markets run by a grid operator in the eastern US was accused in 2015 of making $1.3 million in unjust profits after engaging in fraudulent trades.

Inaccurate picture

The California ISO said that, given the day’s unusually high temperatures and rising electricity demand, the trades were creating an inaccurate picture of supply and demand—making it more difficult for operators to ensure it had the requisite supplies on hand. Suspending convergence bidding for Tuesday enabled the ISO to prevent the export of 1.5 gigawatts of power necessary to meet demand on August 18, according to spokeswoman Anne Gonzales. The grid operator on Thursday said it expects to reinstate convergence bidding on August 22, nearly a week after it was halted.

Bentley said the market was designed to be as transparent as possible to avoid the manipulation that happened in 2001.

“Any market can be manipulated but that kind of behavior would immediately get busted,” Bentley said in an interview. “People would notice anomalies.

Nobody could do it and not get caught.”

Stanford University professor Frank Wolak, who studies electricity markets, said the move to close the market won’t prevent blackouts.

“It just makes it easier for the engineers in the control room to operate the system because they don’t have to worry about the impact of virtual bids,” he said. Bloomberg News

A6 Saturday, August 22, 2020

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

food firm extends tie-up DTI-Sydney holds Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan Pinoy with regional coconut player webinar for OFs on real-estate investments C

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YDNEY, AUSTRALIA—The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Sydney, DTI’s overseas office in Australia, held a webinar on real-estate investment opportunities last August 13 as part of its Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan (TNK) webinar series to help overseas Filipino investors (OFIs).

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, we have organized five webinars covering topics such as franchising, trademark registration, stock market investing, budgeting techniques, saving and other investment opportunities,” PTIC Sydney Commercial Consul Alma Argayoso said.

Speakers from Arthaland Corp., Ayala Land International, Megaworld International and COL Investment Management Inc. shared how the Philippine real-estate industry coped amid the pandemic and discussed its challenges and prospects.

Manuel Arbues II, Ayala Land’s regional head for Asia Pacific, Eu-

rope, Middle East and Africa, shared that the Covid-19 restrictions initially affected their sales but the business recovered by June to July when community quarantine restrictions were eased.

This was a positive development despite widespread unemployment, drop in overseas remittances and the repatriation of over 100,000 overseas Filipinos.

Arbues also noted that the unprecedented remote working situation highlighted the advantages of large scale, integrated, mixed-use and sustainable communities. He also pointed out that information technology, infrastructure, communication and e-commerce are essential to thrive in the new normal.

The webinar also discussed the Philippines’s first Real Estate Investment Trust, the Ayala Land Real Estate Investment Trust (AREIT), from the basics of REITs to the benefits and risks of buying REIT shares.

COL Financia l Investment

Management Inc.’s president and chief information officer, Marvin Fausto, discussed how a REIT, or a company that owns and manages income-generating assets, or real-estate property such as apartments, offices, malls, warehouses and hotels, is often considered a more affordable and attractive form of investment.

He explained that this is because a REIT typically offers higher yields and stable income, despite coming with some risks.

Even though Ayala’s REIT share price fell on its debut listing, Fausto shared that REIT is a positive development in the country and believes that there are more realestate companies interested to list their own REITs. “This is a good opportunity for investors, particularly the retail investors who cannot afford a large amount to invest in a real property, but can generate the comparative yield and return by just buying REIT shares,” Fausto said.

ENTURY Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF), one of the country’s leading food companies, has recently signed a long-term contract as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the Linaco Group, a leading regional coconut producer headquartered in Malaysia.

The partnership commenced in 2018, with CNPF signing on as OEM of Linaco’s leading coconut milk brands. After more than two years of working together, both companies agreed to increase volume commitments and expand the range of products that CNPF will produce to serve Linaco’s growing requirements.

This multiyear contract, valued at more than $50 million, strengthens CNPF’s position as a leading and fast-growing player in the Philippine coconut industry.

The company is currently augmenting its coconut manufacturing capacity, with an additional investment of P300 million, to address the growing demand for high-value coconut products internationally.

This comes at a time when product health and safety continues to be top of mind among

consumers amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

In a news statement issued on Monday, Christopher Po, CNPF’s executive chairman said, “Our growing presence in the global coconut market—both as an OEM export manufacturer and domestic branded player—is in line with our long-term vision of building a healthier and more diversified suite of shelf-stable food and beverage products.”

Po said the company will continue leveraging its manufacturing expertise, as well as marketing and research and development capabilities, to capitalize on emerging global trends and invest in a robust new product pipeline.

Linaco Managing Director Joe Ling said “This new agreement will further strengthen our partnership with CNPF. We thank the team for their continuing understanding and support, which led to the achievement of this new milestone.”

Linaco’s high-value coconut products are available in 40 countries, located across Europe, Middle East, China, Hong Kong and Australia. PNA

India pharma firms told: Take closer China considers imposing tariffs on Australian wine look on growing PHL, Asean market C

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HE government is urging pharmaceutical companies from India to establish manufacturing operations in the Philippines to serve the growing demand not just of the local market but also the entire Asean market and other parts of the world.

Senen Perlada, director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau, said Indian pharmaceuticals have been able to develop a market in the country, thus, it is now time for India to consider locating in the Philippines.

“The pharmaceutical industry is of course growing in the Philippines but again may I reiterate that perhaps our Indian counterparts might have some hesitation because of the scale if you look only at the Philippines as a market,” he said during an international webinar. “But please remember, I think we should take a look really at the bigger Asean market for this and I may say that the Philippines would be a good, if not the best hub for Indian companies to manufacture in the Philippines. We have a lot of natural ingredients that have already found their way to some of the pharmaceuticals,” he added.

Perlada identified some of these natural ingredients as malunggay

(horseradish), luyang dilaw (yellow ginger), virgin coconut oil, lagundi (five-leaved chaste tree), sambong (sage), ampalaya (bitter gourd), mangosteen, banaba (giant crepemyrtle), and Tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta) herbal plant.

Evariste Cagatan, director for Manufacturing Industries Service at Board of Investments (BOI), said the Philippines currently does not have manufacturers of biologics and vaccines, and “very few” in the manufacture of essential medicines.

“Our existing plants only manufacture finished products, 98 percent of APIs [active pharmaceutical ingredients] used by our pharmaceutical companies are imported from India and China.

Thus, there is a big opportunity for the manufacture of the APIs in the country,” she said in the same webinar. Cagatan said the country is also looking into increasing its research and development activities capabilities.

“We would like to participate in clinical trials in the absence of facilities to manufacture vaccines or medicines for the treatment of Covid-19. It would be beneficial for the Philippines to participate in clinical trials in order to have

greater chances to be benefited early with newly developed medicines for Covid-19,” she said.

Cagatan further said regulators adapted more relaxed and reasonable regulatory processes and procedures during the enhanced community quarantine implemented due to coronavirus.

“As such, we see opportunities for greater ease of doing business especially in pharmaceutical activities that will greatly facilitate entry of investments into the country,” she added.

Philippine Ambassador to India Ramon Bagatsing Jr. underscored the strong presence of Indian pharmaceutical companies in the Philippines. With much opportunities for Indian investments and implementation of the Philippine universal health program, we appeal to our friends in India to take the next step in setting up your research and development and manufacturing facilities in the Philippines.

A simple matter of doing the packaging in the Philippines will go a long way. Ultimately, telehealth, telemedicine, telecare, online delivery of medicine and quality healthcare technology is the way forward, he said.

ANBERRA, Australia—China on Tuesday launched an investigation into whether Australia is exporting wine at improperly low prices in a new dispute between major trading partners that could reduce access to the biggest market for Australian vintners.

The anti-dumping investigation focuses on wine in containers 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) or smaller, which accounts for most Australian exports, the Chinese Ministry for Commerce said. It said the probe was prompted by a complaint from Chinese wine producers in July, but gave no details.

The Australian government denied subsidizing exporters.

“We do find this deeply troubling, concerning and perplexing given Australia’s wine industry is not subsidized to export and it’s certainly not dumping product on the world market,” Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said.

“Now it’s for China and Beijing to explain the rationale behind these actions and why they have moved to that stage of an investigation,” he added.

A separate anti-dumping investigation closed the Chinese market to Australian barley in May through crippling tariffs after Australia supported calls for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing also blocked imports of beef from Australia’s four biggest abattoirs.

IN this February 29, 2012, file photo a shopper looks over the wine at King & Godfree, one of Australia’s oldest licensed grocery stores in, Melbourne, Australia. China on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, began investigating whether Australia is dumping wine in a trade dispute that further strains relations between the countries and could shut the biggest export market for Australian wine. AP

Asked whether the latest probe was politically motivated, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it was a “normal antidumping investigation” and told reporters not to “make unnecessary associations.”

“A sound and stable China-Australia relationship is in the common interests of the two countries, but it requires the joint efforts of both sides,” Zhao said.

Australia exported wine valued at A$1.1 billion, or $795 million, to China last year. Australia is the biggest supplier to the burgeoning Chinese wine market after France.

China drinks 39 percent of Aus-

tralia’s wine exports. The United States is the second-biggest customer, accounting for 15 percent, followed by Britain at 13 percent.

Chinese Ambassador Cheng Jingye warned in a newspaper interview in April that China might boycott Australian wine if Australia persisted with its call for a Covid-19 inquiry.

Asked if the wine investigation was a political tactic, Birmingham told reporters, “That’s really a question for China.”

Graeme Shaw, owner of Shaw Wines outside Canberra, said Chinese tariffs would have a considerable effect on large Australian wine producers. AP

OurTime BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Pandemic seen increasing health expenditures for senior citizens

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By Cai U. Ordinario

LDERLY Filipinos could account for more than 20 percent of the country’s total health expenditures this year due to Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on the 2018 Philippine National Health Accounts (PNHA), health expenditures for individuals aged 60 and above already accounted for 22 percent of the total current health expenditures.

PSA Assistant National Statistician Vivian R. Ilarina told the BusinessMirror that the amount could be higher this year given the ongoing pandemic and the elderly’s susceptibility to Covid-19.

“We can assume that those vulnerable in 2018 above 60 years old

and over are the same set of old people in 2020. Those with hypertension, diabetes, etc., in 2018 will have the same diseases,” Ilarina said via SMS. “Some of them may have died but there could also be additional people who joined the age group. Now that we have Covid-19, the spending will be higher,” she added.

Based on the 2018 PNHA, a total of P171.5 billion were spent by the total population aged 60 years old and over, of which P44.4 billion are

spent by the population segment with comorbidities or those with more than one illness or disease.

Total health expenditures of P101.2 billion by the vulnerable population of 60 years old and over were paid through out-of-pocket by households, consisting nearly 60 percent of the total health spending.

The remaining 40 percent were financed by social health insurance scheme (or the PhilHealth) at P32.5 billion; domestic revenue-based or central government scheme at P16.3 billion; and other financing, e.g., HMOs, etc., at P21.5 billion.

Data also showed that Filipino senior citizens spent a third or 33 percent worth P56.6 billion on medicines.

The other primary expenses of seniors were spent on hospitals.

About 25.4 percent or P43.5 billion were spent on private general hospitals while 22.2 percent or P38.1 billion were spent in public general hospitals.

Based on the PNHA, PSA estimated that the per capita health spend-

ing of Filipinos in 2018 grew by 6.6 percent to P7,496. In real terms, per capita health expenditure of Filipinos amounted to P6,391.

More than half or 50.1 percent of out of pocket expenses worth P206.7 billion were spent on pharmacies. Hospitals received the second-largest amount of OOP, at P148.8 billion.

The bulk of hospital expenditures went to private general hospitals, at P108 billion, followed by providers of ambulatory health care at P55.7 billion or 13.5 percent, and providers of ancillary services at P1.7 billion or less than 1 percent.

With this, households still accounted for the bulk of the health expenses made in the country.

Of the P766.86 billion health spending made in 2018, more than half or 58.6 percent or P449.17 billion was spent by households.

The national government only spent 29.8 percent or P228.86 billion of the total, while health spending of corporations was 2.6 percent or P20.11 billion in 2018.

84-YEAR-OLD MAN, 18 OTHERS BEAT CORONAVIRUS IN BATAAN

By Ernie Esconde

Philippine News Agency

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ALANGACITY,Bataan—Gov. Albert Garcia on Wednesday announced that 19 patients including an octogenarian were added to the list of those who have beaten the coronavirus disease in

this province, increasing the total number of recoveries to 392.

He said that based on the report of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) on Tuesday night, the recovered 84-yearold man is from Dinalupihan town.

The other recoveries: five more from Dinalupihan, three each from this city and Abucay; two each from

Mariveles, Pilar, and Orion; and one from Limay.

However, the PHO said eight new confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded, bringing the total number of those infected to 597.

Among the new cases is 10-yearold boy from this city.

The others: three more from this

city, one from Dinalupihan and three from Abucay.

As a result, the number of active cases in Bataan is now 190. The number of deaths remained at 15.

From 10,546 who have undertaken Covid-19 tests, 597 were found positive, 9,806 were negative while 143 are still waiting for the results.

Report: Nursing home cases upnearly 80% in Covid-19 rebound

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar The Associated Press

W

A SHINGTON— Covid-19 cases in US nursing homes jumped nearly 80 percent earlier this summer, driven by rampant spread across the South and much of the West, according to an industry report released on Monday.

“The case numbers suggest the problem is far from solved,” said Tamara Konetzka, a research professor at the University of Chicago, who specializes in long-term care. She was not involved with the study.

Long-term care facilities account for less than 1 percent of the US population, but more than 40 percent of Covid-19 deaths, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

The situation is a politically sensitive issue for President Donald Trump, who is scrambling to hold on to support from older voters as polls show disapproval of his administration’s response to the pandemic.

The White House announced in late July the release of $5 billion for nursing homes, while launching a program to equip each of some 15,000 facilities with a fast-test machine to screen residents and staff for the coronavirus.

Mond ay ’s st udy f rom t he American Health Care Association found there were 9,715 coronavirus cases in nursing homes the week starting July 26, a 77-percent increase from a low point the week of June 21. The group is the industry’s main trade association.

Weekly deaths, rose to 1,706 the week of July 26, an increase of nearly 25 percent from a low point the week starting July 5.

Nursing homes in Sunbelt states had more time to prepare than facilities in the Northeast that were hit in late winter and early spring, with grim results. But Konetzka and other researchers have been warning that once a community anywhere experiences an outbreak, it’s only a matter

IN this June 25, 2020, file photo, residents at the Southern Pines nursing home are separated and wear face coverings during their daily bingo game in Warner Robins, Ga. A new report says Covid-19 cases in US nursing homes jumped nearly 80 percent earlier this summer, driven by rampant spread across the South and much of the West. AP PHOTO/JOHN BAZEMORE

of time before the coronavirus enters its nursing homes. A leading theory is that staffers who don’t yet know they’re infected unwittingly bring the virus in. Inside, the coronavirus encounters an ideal environment in which to spread among frail older people living in close quarters.

“As the virus surges in Sunbelt states, there’s no reason to think it won’t affect nursing homes in the same way it did in states that surged earlier,” said Konetzka. “We have learned some things about how to minimize the effect in nursing homes, but providers need the tools to implement those best practices. This is the critical role of federal policy that has not been fulfilled—securing supply chains for [personal protective equipment] and rapid testing.”

The industry analysis illustrates the march of the virus across the US. As of the week of May 31, fewer than one-third of the weekly coronavirus cases were from nursing

homes in Sunbelt states. But by the week starting July 26, that share was 78 percent.

Deaths followed a similar pattern. Nursing homes in states across the South and parts of the West accounted for 28 percent of deaths the week of May 31. That share was 69 percent by the week starting July 26.

The Trump administration says it’s executing on its plan to provide fast-test machines to nursing homes and make sure that all facilities have the protective equipment they need. But Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said states and nursing homes also have responsibility to safeguard residents. She called on nursing homes to step up their game.

“The reality is that [a] facility’s infection control practices is the number one factor leading to the spread of Covid within these facilities,” Verma said in a state-

ment. Inspectors “have seen staff forgetting to wash their hands, congregating in break rooms, and wearing [protective equipment] improperly. All the testing in the world is for naught if staff don’t adhere to the basic, long-standing infection control practices that the federal government has had in place for years.”

Mark Parkinson, head of the nursing home trade group that produced the study, said the problem is bigger.

“The data indicate that this virus is spread by asymptomatic carriers and that even perfect infection control wouldn’t have stopped it,” he said. “The challenge with this virus is that because it is spread by asymptomatic carriers the prior infection control procedures didn’t work.”

Parkinson said that about 10 percent of facilities still report lacking an adequate supply of N95 masks, considered standard for hospital personnel.

He said the administration’s effort to distribute fast-test machines could be a “game changer,” but added, “there’s still a long way to go.” Distribution is expected to be completed by the end of September.

In the meantime, Parkinson said it can still take three days, and sometimes more, to get results. “We continue to be plagued with a testing problem,” he said.

Guidelines call for nursing homes to test all residents at least once, and staffers on a regular basis.

Health and Human Services spokeswoman Mia Heck said, “We are prepared to exert our full authority to make sure the most vulnerable are being tested.”

The nursing home association is urging states struggling with the latest coronavirus surge to enact mandates for people to wear masks, saying it would indirectly benefit residents cloistered in such facilities. “There’s a direct link between Covid in the community and Covid in the building,” Parkinson said. AP

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, August 22, 2020 A7

In the palm of our hand

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

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IVEN the present predicament that people around the world find themselves in, it is only right to ask: Will the Filipino survive this epidemic? Will he come out OK? The answer could be in the palm of our hand.

Palad is our native word for the palm of the hand, which palmistry claims to be connected to one’s future. It is a mother lode rich with meanings, from which many popular terms have been derived.

It is in fact a root-concept, which has given rise to a way of thinking and a whole set of beliefs that are distinctively Filipino.

Guhit ng palad is a good phrase to start. Literally, it means the lines etched in the palm of your hand. Like natives of other superstitious cultures, Filipinos put serious consideration on what the lines in one’s palm signify. Based on the lines that intersect in your palm, a seasoned reader will tell you what will happen to you in the years to come, whom you will marry, whether you will succeed in life or not, and whether you will live long or your life will be cut short.

The Filipino believes that there is the Supreme Creator who charts the individual’s fate or destiny.

The lines in one’s palm may give clue to one’s life line, health line and love line. Even the urban Filipino takes palm reading seriously.

However, when one experiences a setback or achieves success it is attributed to guhit ng palad.

Kapalaran is a twin term of guhit ng palad. It is derived also from palad and refers to one’s fate, destiny or fortune. Filipinos believe that everyone is assigned a role to play in life. This is your destiny or fate.

You can be born poor or rich. You can be physically deformed from birth. You can be dark-skinned or blessed with fair complexion.

Whatever, this is your kapalaran.

This, however, is not predestination. The Filipino is no less a fatalist than other people, for he is also very conscious of his own freedom, he can do something to rise above his lot or reverse his fortune, if he wants to. But he also believes that God’s will is supreme and that abiding by His will, accepting His will, is often the wisest course.

Gulong ng Palad. Literally it means “the wheel of fate.” You may be down now but there will come a time when you will be up. It is a way to summon up hope in the hearts of people who are undergoing trials or extreme suffering at the moment; at the same time, it also serves as a warning to those who are experiencing success or good fortune at the moment. There will come a time when these prosperous times will be no more. So one should not be cruel, indifferent, cold, unkind or ungenerous to one’s relatives or neighbors. They may be the ones who will help you later on.

The Filipino accepts the reality that one’s destiny can either go north or south. And there are two terms that refer to these situations.

Kabutihang palad literally means good fortune. It is often employed as an adverb as in sa kabutihang palad. It is an expression used to describe an acquaintance that is enjoying success or has abundance of possessions. Fortune is shining on him. The opposite of kabutihang palad is kasamaang palad. Kasamaan means evil or bad situation. Hence, kasamaang palad means misfortune

or luck gone in the opposite direction. These terms imply that situations are never permanent; they will change with the inexorable rolling of life’s gulong ng palad.

Mapalad. This means you are blessed. It is a contraction of two words May Palad. You possess good fortune or you are blessed with good things and happiness. It can also mean that you experience lesser misfortune because someone up there smiles on you.

Kapuspalad describes a person who is deficient, short of, or deprived of blessings. This is a contraction of kinapos sa palad. This is the opposite of mapalad. Note that there is no ancient term for luckless or the complete absence of luck or blessings. Probably because the ancient Filipino believes that no one is totally damned by Bathala. He just withholds some of his blessings, that’s why you don’t have abundant success.

May Kapal. Contraction of the word May Kapalaran. The term refers to that almighty force that holds your destiny in the palm of his hand. He has control and power over your fate. He is the powerful being that charts your destiny. He can shower or withhold blessings.

Usually it goes with the honorific term Poon as in Poong Maykapal.

Sumpa. Contraction of the phrase Sumama ang Palad. It means to curse, or to wish someone bad luck. An elder or a witch can bring the powers that be to rain misfortune on you for being tampalasan or for going against his wishes, or for being ungrateful. A variation is manumpa—to take an oath under the pain of being cursed or under the threat of inviting misfortune or bad destiny if you do not stay true to your promise.

Ganti ng palad. Retribution, reward or punishment. This is fate’s reward for being good or for doing something good to others. Filipinos believe that being good is rewarded by the gods. This is also true of the opposite. It is similar to the concept of karma. You reap what you sow.

God does the avenging for you. The Lord is my vengeance, for He is just.

Pagpalain. When a Filipino says, Pagpalain ka sana ng Poong Maykapal, this is wishing someone, a loved one, relative or friend good fortune. He means nothing but the best for you.

Literally, this valediction is translated as “May God shower you with good fortune.” It is like praying to God to grant blessings or good luck to someone who is going away.

All these native words and phrases derived from palad have become part of the Filipino’s everyday lingo, folk terms that convey a fatalistic perspective toward life and the world. But mind you, it is not the fatalism of the hopeless or the despairing. On the contrary, it is a willful or even hopeful resignation to or acceptance of the vicissitudes of fate.

The Filipino can accept his fate precisely because Bathala knows what is best for him. He knows in his heart that Bathala will pull him up in the end. It is the kind of forward-looking acceptance that enables the Filipino to believe he can outlast whatever kind of blow that life or fate can deal him.

Understanding the rich meanings of palad will help explain our native resilience in the face of this long unabating epidemic. Our folk faith in gulong ng palad is the key to our ultimate survival.

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BusinessMirror

Saturday, August 22, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

How owning a refrigerator can really make you feel like an adult

BEKO refrigerators have EverFresh+ technology that can keep fruits and vegetables fresh for up to three times longer, thanks to its crisper drawer innovation.

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OU know you are an adult when you’re worrying about refrigerators and similar things like washing machines and cookers.

These days, that’s not all we’re worrying about. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we look at things that enter our homes, refrigerators and other appliances included.

We’re looking at appliances with extras. For instance, if we’re eyeing a new refrigerator, the appearance is important but we want more. Our household, for instance, buys food only every 14 days (to minimize our trips outside) and that includes meat, chicken, fruits and vegetables. The seafood is sourced from a delivery service. So we need a refrigerator that can help us do that, meaning keep fresh food fresher longer.

We first heard of Beko Pilipinas in April when it made donations of refrigerators, washing machines and cookers for frontliners and local government units. Beko Pilipinas is the Philippine subsidiary of the European home appliances brand.

Beko’s world-class refrigerators are the perfect fit for our new requirements. With its EverFresh+ technology, Beko refrigerators can keep fruits and vegetables fresh for up to three times longer, thanks to its crisper drawer innovation. This means consumers are saving money, time and reducing food waste with Beko refrigerators.

“We believe in making products and technologies that help improve the well-being of today’s consumers. As an appliance brand, we are committed to doing all we can to make consumers’ lives more convenient and healthier,” said Gürhan Günal, country manager of Beko Pilipinas Corp.

Beko’s GN163123P side-by-side has innovative features, including the NeoFrost Dual Cooling technology that maintains ideal airflow and optimal temperatures with a high level of humidity. This helps food stay fresher longer with no frost building up and no odor transferring.

It also has the Active Fresh Blue Light technology that allows continuous photosynthesis in the crisper, therefore retaining the natural flavors of fruits and vegetables.

Beko’s GN163123P also has the long-lasting IonGuard that neutralizes bacteria, viruses and particles in the refrigerator using negative ions, allowing air inside to circulate and stay clean. This means that contamination will not occur and food can be stored twice longer. It also has a LED illumination

that provides full lighting all throughout the fridge.

With the Beko ProSmart Inverter Compressor, the refrigerator is four times quieter, more durable and energy-efficient.

Beko is available at select SM Appliance Centers, Robinsons Appliances, and Asian Home Appliance Center in Cebu. The brand is looking forward to be available in more stores nationwide. Their products are also available at the Beko Facebook page (www. facebook.com/bekoph).

Also, part of being an adult is knowing how to take care of your refrigerators. Here are some tips on proper care: ■ Our mothers would always admonish us whenever we’d stand in front of the ref with the doors open. When you leave the door open too long, the fridge has to kick in to cool down because of the warm air. Opening the door is believed to generate a loss of up to 7 percent of the cold temperature and which will result in a higher power bill.

■ Allow leftovers to cool before putting them in the refrigerator. This will cut down on the amount of warm air inside the refrigerator.

■ If your refrigerator is more than 10 years old, it is probably time to look for a replacement. A new refrigerator is more energy efficient and could result in substantial savings annually.

■ Defrosting the refrigerator once a month will help keep bacteria away.

■ Clean your refrigerator with a sponge and a solution of two tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in two cups of water.

Meanwhile, Levi’s launched several charitable initiatives such as “Employees Giving Back” earlier in this challenging year. This campaign has raised donations to support Unicef Philippines’ Covid-19 relief efforts. In April, Levi’s did a 5:01 live series that helped people stay connected with their favorite local artists Clara Benin, Reese Lansangan and Quest through an online live performance.

Donations were welcomed from viewers in support of nongovernment organizations that helped communities affected by the pandemic. Levi’s is now providing more ways for people to help and donate through the Levi’s VIP Club Membership which has over 170,000 members.

Every member of the Levi’s VIP Club can earn rivets/points for every apparel purchased. These can now be converted into e-donation vouchers in support of Unicef Philippines and help fund the emergency programming for children in the Philippines.

E-voucher donations can be redeemed these easy steps: ■ Log on to bit.ly/LevisVIPClubPH ■ Select REWARDS on the header bar and enter the quantity for your chosen donation e-voucher. The amounts come in three denominations—P100, P300 and P500.

■ Select ADD TO CART then select PROCEED TO REDEEM. You may now convert your Levi’s VIP Club rivets to contribute to Unicef Philippines until September

STUDENT-ARTISTS OPEN YOUTUBE CHANNEL, ENCOURAGES PUBLIC ACCESS

30. Levi’s is doing their part in finding ways to help during the crisis, and by activating the Levi’s VIP club program. Remember, your next pair of denim jeans can support other people and their families.

Helping others in this pandemic can be as simple as always tipping the people who deliver to your house. Imagine if every person they delivered to gave them a P10 tip. For every 10 people, they’d have an extra P100 and that could buy two kilos of rice. ■

TURNITIN OFFERS NEW SOLUTION TO UPHOLD ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AMID SHIFT TO ONLINE TEACHING

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor WEB-BASED originality checking service provider Turnitin has launched a comprehensive academic integrity solution that helps educators to uphold and assess the students’ work amid the rise of remote education and blended learning brought about by the new normal.

Called Turnitin Originality, this digital tool combines the text similarity checking functionality that Turnitin is known for with new features that aid instructors address trends such as contract cheating.

It also utilizes the most extensive technology to help combat copied work and teach students the value of original thinking skills and how to properly attribute ideas and concepts to others.

Turnitin Originality analyzes whether the work is akin to other known text, or if it has

signs that it was not penned by the student. It facilitates conversations between instructors and students about how to discover and express their authentic voice.

This solution is highly needed as schools and universities move to online instruction that calls for their further thoughtful and holistic approach to academic integrity.

Conventional text comparison tools—which Turnitin pioneered a couple of decades ago— can determine copy/paste plagiarism or student collusion, but do not equip institutions with the right technologies required to address new forms of cheating.

Now, each institution can set new standards for academic integrity and provide its students and instructors a unified solution to support those standards. Educators can use Turnitin Originality as a teaching tool, showing their students how to identify unoriginal content before submitting their papers.

“Supporting academic integrity is a multi-

layered process of setting expectations, providing tools to students so they can selfcheck and -correct, and then helping faculty to identify potential misconduct so that they can intervene,” said Valerie Schreiner, chief product officer and chief marketing officer of Turnitin. She noted that Turnitin Originality enables instructors and administrators to identify the full range of potential misconduct in one tool so that instances of plagiarism are “teachable moments, not punitive ones.”

For Jack Brazel, head of business partnerships, Southeast Asia, for Turnitin, this offering aids educators train students to develop original thinking.

“As they do so, we are contributing to shaping citizens of integrity in the society,” he explained. “In the Philippines, where remote education is now strongly encouraged, the launch of Turnitin Originality will give educators a better solution for upholding the culture of academic integrity.”

YOUNG artists from internationally-lauded student-artist groups have launched their own YouTube channel, which features documented award-winning live performances during national and international competitions, for free and accessible to the general public. The channel is available at www.youtube.com/artishere_oca.

Named Art Is Here, the homegrown talents of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and Karilyo Shadowplay Team, Dulaang Filipino, Coro San Benildo and Saint Benilde Romancon Dance Co. (SBRDC), will be showcased especially during these trying times.

The platform will likewise offer a series of annual recruitment workshops and online tutorials, ideal for students who wish to explore various performance arts, as well as the fundamentals of stage design and makeup. It will likewise host short films taken from their very own repertoire.

The Office of Culture and Arts, together with the rest of the student-artists, will continue to transform pieces and performances to be adapted to the new stage.

Karilyo Shadowplay Team is a group dedicated to popularizing and developing the art of shadowplay. Dulaang Filipino is the college’s resident theater company empowered to educate its audience on various social issues afflicting today’s society. Coro San Benildo has participated in choral competitions local and internationally, where they garnered global distinctions.

The SBRDC was third runner-up at the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Las Vegas, USA; Silver Medalist at the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in San Diego, USA; and first runner-up at the Hip Hop International Philippines in Manila. They were the three-peat National Champion of Hip Hop International Philippines in Manila, and also the threepeat Gold Medal Award winner for the Philippines in the Hong Kong Challenge Cup Dance Competition.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

OVER 8-IN-10 ONLINE USERS IN SEA BELIEVE THEY ARE ‘SAFE’ ONLINE AMID PANDEMIC WITH more parts of human lives playing online as self-isolation measures remain or return across countries in Southeast Asia (SEA), a fresh survey by global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has unmasked users’ shift of behavior and views online during this pandemic.

The Kaspersky report, titled “More connected than ever before: How we build our digital comfort zones,” found out that majority (82 percent) of the respondents from the region think their digital lifestyle is safe for their data’s privacy. This is 7 percent higher than the global average at 75 percent.

Conducted last May 2020 among 760 respondents from the region, the research also showed that only 1 percent of the users in SEA admitted that living virtually feels very unsafe for them, 2 notches lower than the world view at 3 percent. The remaining answered they feel unsafe (11 percent), still lower than global percentage at 16 percent, while some 5 percent were unsure. Despite the high confidence in the region, survey respondents also admitted to being hacked online. Users acknowledged that their socialmedia accounts (21 percent), their e-mail accounts (20 percent), their mobile devices (13 percent), their Wi-Fi networks (12 percent), and their banking accounts (12 percent) have been hacked.

“Technology is a very useful tool, especially when secured effectively. Based on this study, SEA online users are spending 5 to 10 hours per day online, and admitted that the lockdown measures have increased their time spent virtually by 2 to 5 hours per day. With our devices becoming an extension of offices, banks, shopping malls, schools and more, now more than ever do we need to look into how we keep our accounts and devices locked safely to keep our digital lives and assets away from the hands of cybercriminals,” says Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

As more users utilize the Internet to keep their sense of normalcy during this time, Kaspersky advises the following to keep them safe online: ■ Take your online privacy seriously and don’t share or permit access to your information with third parties unless absolutely necessary, to minimize exposure of it falling into the wrong hands.

■ Start using a “Privacy Checker” that helps consider setting your social media profiles to private.

It will make it harder for third parties to find highly personal information.

■ Use a reliable security solution like Kaspersky Password Manager to generate and secure unique passwords for every account, and resist the temptation to re-use the same one over and over again.

■ To find out if any of the passwords you use to access your online accounts have been compromised, use a tool, such as Kaspersky Security Cloud. Its Account Check feature allows users to check their accounts for potential data leaks. If a leak is detected, the tool provides information about the categories of data that may be publicly accessible so that the individual affected can take appropriate action.

With work-from-home being a policy still employed in countries across the region, experts suggest enterprises the following: ■ For businesses, teach employees about the basics of cybersecurity. For example, not opening or storing files from unknown emails or websites as they could be harmful to the whole company, or to not use any personal details in their passwords.

■ In order to ensure passwords are strong, staff shouldn’t use their name, birthday, street address and other personal information.

■ Regularly remind staff of how to deal with sensitive data—for example, to only store it in trusted cloud services that need to be authenticated for access and that it should not be shared with untrusted third parties.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Saturday, August 22, 2020

Trump administration imposes new Huawei restrictions

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BY MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press

HE Trump administration is further tightening restrictions on China’s Huawei, seeking to starve it of crucial components by cutting off all access to US technology.

“We don’t want their equipment in the United States because they spy on us,” Trump told Fox News on Monday. “And any country that uses it, we’re not going to do anything in terms of sharing intelligence.”

The Commerce Department’s new rules, rolled out Monday, will further block Huawei from accessing chip technology.

Washington cut off Huawei’s access to US components and technology, including Google’s music and other smartphone services, last year. Those penalties were tightened in May when the White House barred vendors worldwide from using US technology to produce components for Huawei.

A Huawei executive said this month that the company has started running out of processor chips to make smartphones as a result of those sanctions, and may have to stop production of its own advanced chips. But the Commerce Department said on Monday that more restrictions were needed because Huawei has “continuously tried to evade” the earlier sanctions by using technology supplied by third parties.

The new rule is designed to block Huawei’s access to commercially available chips made with tools acquired from the US. “The new rule makes it clear than any use of American software or American fabrication equipment to produce things through Huawei is banned, and requires a license,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business on Monday. “It’s really a question of closing loopholes to prevent a bad actor from access to US technology, even if they try to do it in a very indirect, very tricky manner.”

Huawei has been at the center of rising US-Chinese tensions over technology and security. The standoff has now enveloped the popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok and China-based messaging service WeChat, both of which are under the threat of a ban in the US starting in September.

Huawei declined comment Monday but has repeatedly denied accusations it might facilitate Chinese spying. Chinese officials have accused Washington of using national security as an excuse to stop a competitor to US tech industries.

Ross said on Monday that the new action is enforcement-focused and not “directly related to the

AP

trade talks” between the US and China.

Elsa Kania, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security who focuses on technology and US-China relations, said while there are valid security concerns about Huawei, the Trump administration’s increasingly drastic measures against it and other Chinese companies don’t have a clear rationale.

“If the objective is to kill Huawei irregardless of the collateral damage to American companies, then this measure is one step closer to that,” she said. “A lot of companies caught in the crossfire of this will see real damage.” The Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group representing American chipmakers, said in a statement on Monday that the rule will cause “significant disruption” to the industry.

The action targets Huawei but could have sweeping reach, said Kevin Wolf, who was assistant secretary of commerce for export administration under President Barack Obama.

“Every foreign-made semiconductor of any type anywhere in the world is now subject to US license requirements if a Huawei company is in any way

BY MAE ANDERSON The Associated Press

involved, directly or indirectly, in the transaction,” said Wolf, a partner at the Washington law firm Akin Gump.

The US also on Monday added 38 Huawei affiliates to an existing list of companies banned from receiving some sensitive technologies. And it ended an exemption that had allowed some Huawei customers in the US to keep using its equipment and software.

Washington has combined its economic sanctions on Huawei with a lobbying campaign pushing allies in Europe and elsewhere to exclude the company from planned next-generation wireless networks.

Trump referred to Huawei as “the spy way” as he spoke with Fox & Friends hosts on Monday. He took credit for Britain’s recent move to backtrack on plans to give the company a role in the UK’s new high-speed mobile phone network.

“We said we love Scotland Yard very much but we’re not going to do business with you because if you use the Huawei system that means they’re spying on you,” Trump said. “That would mean they’re spying on us.” ■

APPLE CEO Tim Cook speaking during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, in June 2018. Apple has dropped the hugely popular “Fortnite” game from its App Store after the game’s developer introduced a direct payment plan that bypasses Apple’s platform. AP

guidelines.

“Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services,” Apple said in statement.

Google said Fortnite will remain available on Android, just not through its app store. Android users can download the app from other app stores, although that’s generally not an option for iPhone users.

Epic Games did not immediately return a request for comment. Epic’s Fortnite Twitter account said the company would debut a new short film, called “Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite,” a seeming parody of Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial that introduced the Macintosh computer. It has also filed a complaint against Apple in the US District Court in Northern California for dropping Fortnite.

LPG brand gets a chatbot AN increasing number of companies are leveraging available technologies to fuel their bottomline, and now consumers can order Solane LPG (www.solane.com.ph) via its new Facebook Messenger chatbot.

Named “Sunny,” Solane’s new online chatbot makes ordering LPG gas a lot easier especially amid the pandemic. This new and convenient chat service from the country’s

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VISITORS wearing masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus look at the latest products at a Huawei store in Beijing. The United States government is imposing another round of restrictions on tech giant Huawei.

Apple, Google drop Fortnite from app stores over payments NEW YORK—Apple and Google dropped the popular game Fortnite from their app stores after the game’s developer introduced a direct payment plan that bypasses their platforms.

Apple and Google both take a 30 percent cut from in-app revenue purchases in games, which has long been a sore spot with developers.

Fortnite is free, but users can pay for in game accoutrements like weapons and skins. Its developer, Epic Games, said in a blog post Thursday that it was introducing Epic Direct payments, a direct payment plan for Apple’s iOS and Google Play. Epic said the system is the same payment system it already uses to process payments on PC and Mac computers and Android phones.

Apple and Google said the service violates their

A9

leading LPG brand is accessible via a few taps on Messenger.

To get started, consumers can visit the Solane LPG’s official Facebook page and send a private message. If it is their first time to send a message to Solane, they will be asked permission to collect personal information with the commitment that the company abides by data privacy guidelines.

Click “Yes” to proceed, then click

“Place Order” and the consumer will be asked to provide the necessary information so that the order can be processed. In addition to assisting with LPG orders, Sunny can also help with inquiries and feedback.

The chatbot is also ready to offer safety facts, free recipes, and many more. On top of that, if the consumer is interested in Solane business opportunities and earning extra

income during the public health crisis, such as becoming an official Solane distributor, Sunny can also walk them through it.

Aside from the chatbot, consumers can also conveniently order a Solane LPG through the Hatid Bahay or via Solane’s mobile app, which can be downloaded for free on the Google Play Store or the App Store.

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, August 22, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Twitter, not Microso�t, should buy TikTok

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BY TIM CULPAN Bloomberg News

ET’S be blunt. It makes no sense for Microsoft Corp. to buy TikTok. Sure, a cohort of bankers and lawyers can make the case for how it would help the US software giant “get back in the game” of social media and advertising. But the 45-year-old company pivoted away from pitching to consumers a long time ago, a move accelerated by chief executive officer Satya Nadella, who ran server, cloud and enterprise-focused businesses before taking the top job.

Even founder Bill Gates, who no longer has an active role, sees TikTok as a “poisoned chalice.”

Microsoft now generates just a third of its revenue from “more personal computing” compared with 46 percent five years ago.

Twitter Inc. as a buyer makes much more sense.

(It has had preliminary talks, according to the Wall Street Journal.) The obvious riposte is that the socialmedia company already had its shot with Vine, and blew it, and shouldn’t waste its money trying again.

That’s a reasonable assessment. Yet history shows many examples of companies that failed with its own products only to buy a similar service later at an inflated price.

The most famous is Google. Before the company was called Alphabet Inc. it had a service called Google Video, which struggled to gain traction. Had it stuck with the “we tried and failed” argument, it would have never bought YouTube—the year after Google Video launched—for $1.65 billion. That business has become one its most important beyond plain search ads. In fact, the “if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em” approach is a legitimate business strategy, and Twitter definitely needs some new strategies. The accounts with the top followers are Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Rihanna. Only one of those is younger than 30, and none are particularly hip for the younger than 25 crowd.

TikTok would be the perfect product to extend Twitter’s reach toward younger audiences, broadening not only its viewer base but the advertisers that want to reach them. It would also offer agencies and ad buyers a stronger alternative to Facebook Inc. and Alphabet, which do a better job of delivering ads to a wider demographic set.

My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Tae Kim noted

Facial recognition lobby urges caution on US zeal to regulate

BY NAOMI NIX & REBECCA KERN Bloomberg News

PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

recently that a surge in Twitter usage is unlikely to result in long-term solutions to its key problem: monetization. An integration with TikTok could create a cross-selling powerhouse of the likes enjoyed

by Facebook and Alphabet.

It would be easy to dismiss the idea because Twitter is too small, with a market cap of just $29 billion, compared with valuations for TikTok that extend as high as $50 billion. I’ve already written that TikTok, especially the slice of it Microsoft is bidding for, is worth nowhere near that.

More important, Twitter doesn’t need to be that big, it merely needs to be able to find the money to buy it. It has $7.8 billion in cash and short-term investments and brought in $762 million in free cash flow last year. Right now, cash is sloshing around the financial system, and it would be pretty easy to

assemble a consortium of financiers willing to front the rest of the money. In addition, a purchase of TikTok would be such a positive driver for the stock that it could get away with selling equity, too.

Perhaps the biggest benefit in acquiring TikTok’s US business, if not the whole thing, would be the chance to finally get a full-time CEO. A lot of purchases are just acquihires anyway. Kevin Mayer, the former Walt Disney Co. executive who was brought on to run TikTok, could act as co-CEO (or perhaps chief operating officer) alongside current part-time chief Jack Dorsey, who splits time with Square Inc. That would allow for an easy, face-saving exit for Dorsey sometime down the road.

And let’s face it, for Twitter investors, that management change alone would be worth whatever price tag is attached. ■

com/ph), a trailblazing healthcare device that allows a user to detect a wide range of sounds. Think of it like a stethoscope, but a more compact and handy version.

The device, which is no bigger than a stethoscope’s head (38 mm in diameter, 11 mm thick), can be used by doctors for distance auscultations. It transmits the sounds to a smartphone, which then processes, amplifies and sends the sounds to the doctor’s Bluetooth earphones or wired earphones in real time.

While doctors still prefer to use the classic stethoscope, a Stemoscope can be a good supplement, most especially during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic that has claimed the lives of many.

“As doctors, we felt the urgent need to innovate. So many of our healthcare workers have lost their lives to the pandemic,” laments Dr. Jastisse “Jast” Arnaldo T. Tejada III, a cardiologist and the general manager of SGMC Medical Equipment Importer Marketing and Services, the company that brought the Stemoscope technology into the country.

“We needed to keep our doctors safe by improving the doctor’s primary weapon, the stethoscope, but without compromising the quality of care that we give our patients. Stemoscope was the solution.”

The best thing about Stemoscope is that it’s designed for distance auscultation, which ultimately minimizes a doctor’s risk of exposure to a possible Covid-19 positive patient.

“Healthcare workers can now assess a patient from a safe distance of two meters,” says Jast.

“Imagine the smallest stethoscope in the world with very huge features. It’s so compact you can put it inside your purse or pocket, like a Dr.

James Bond.”

The nifty part is that the sounds the app detects can be recorded and saved on your smartphone.

This is especially useful for immunocompromised individuals who need to go to the hospital for regular checkups.

“Patients can send their recorded auscultations to their doctors via e-mail, Viber or Messenger app from anywhere in the Philippines. This way, they’re also helping stop the spread of Covid-19 because they’re staying right at home.”

Ultimately, Stemoscope is meant for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education. A professor, for instance, may use it as an educational tool in subjects where auscultatory sounds are relevant.

Durable and lightweight, Stemoscope, which is now available on Lazada, can also be used to record important moments for posterity: the sound of your baby’s heartbeat while you’re pregnant, your awesome heart rate after an hour of an intense workout, or your pet’s heartbeat. You can even use Stemoscope to listen to the sound of a tree “drinking” water—if you’re curious like that.

Numerous local physicians have given Stemoscope their seal of approval, including doctors who have been directly dealing with Covid-19 positive patients at the Philippine General Hospital.

But the best, most heartwarming feedback, according to Jast, came from one of his patients.

“He told me, ‘Hi Doc Jast. Thank you. Natanggap na po namin ’yung Stemoscope. Big for us, kasi lahat po kami dito may hika. We can now easily update our doctors without going out of the house specially at this time of pandemic.’

“I’m glad that this gadget is making a huge difference in people’s lives.”

Wireless wonder SOUNDS can tell stories and bring back memories.

Remember how Adele singing on full volume through your headphones eased your broken heart?

And anyone who has ever been on a soul-searching solo vacation at a beach knows how the sound of waves can calm the mind.

But sound has a more practical use on the side of science. Scientists can use it to measure distance, for instance. Doctors use their stethoscope to listen to the sounds inside your body, so that they can make valid, medical diagnoses.

Sound is a tool.

This is the idea behind the Stemoscope (www. stemoscope.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE trade group representing many of the largest technological security companies is urging regulators not to overreach on facial recognition restrictions even as US lawmakers push to rein in police use of the software. The Security Industry Association, which represents NEC Corp., France’s Idemia Group, Japan’s Ayonix Corp. and others, will release on Tuesday day a 10-point framework urging policy-makers, companies and governments to embrace the benefits of the technology, while upholding certain ethical principles.

SIA is defending government use of facial recognition at a time when some civil rights advocates, companies, and lawmakers are calling for police departments to stop using the technology.

Critics want better guardrails to ensure facial recognition doesn’t promote racial biases in the criminal justice system.

Calls to curb law enforcement’s use of the technology grew louder during widespread public outrage over racial inequities following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in Minneapolis police custody in May. SIA’s policy principles, obtained by Bloomberg News, caution lawmakers not to adopt a “one-sizefits-all legislative framework.”

‘CASE-SPECIFIC’

SIA’S proposal urges governments to only buy facial recognition software that’s accurate for all demographic groups, while refraining from deploying the technology in a discriminatory manner. Police departments should only use facial recognition when there’s a “legitimate law enforcement purpose,” the group said.

Jake Parker, SIA’s head of government affairs, said that the group wants legislation to be narrowly focused on case-specific uses of the technology. “If there’s concern of a potential use that is negative, you need to structure restrictions or regulations around that particular concern,” he said in an interview.

Police use of facial recognition software has grown rapidly in recent years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation allows state and local police forces to search a database of more than 30 million photos.

At least 25 percent of all state and local police departments have access to a facial recognition system, according to a 2016 study by Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology.

One of the largest companies, Clearview AI, which is also an SIA member, claims it supplies at least 2,400 of the more than 18,000 U.S. police departments.

Through that program, officers can easily upload a suspect’s photo and the database returns other photos scraped from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. Some civil-rights advocates have called for a complete moratorium on police use of the technology. A 2018 study by researchers from MIT Media Lab and Microsoft Corp. showed software from International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft and Face++, a Chinese-developed product, performed worse on darker-skinned people, especially women.

Last year, researchers found similar issues with Amazon.com Inc.’s Rekognition software, a finding the company rejects. Amazon, Microsoft and IBM all announced recently they’d stop, at least temporarily, selling facial recognition technology to police forces.

US lawmakers have introduced at least a dozen bills in the last year and continue to draft measures to curtail the use of facial recognition by government agencies. Members on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have been negotiating a broad bill to limit all government use of the technology.

In the Senate, Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, and Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, are proposing that federal law-enforcement agencies obtain a warrant before using face-recognition technology to track an individual for more than three days.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Saturday, August 22, 2020 A11

Zoom opens new data center in Singapore, plans to add more jobs

BY YOOLIM LEE Bloomberg News ZOOM Video Communications Inc., the popular conferencing app facing scrutiny over whether it transmits data to China, has opened a data center in Singapore, diversifying its network and expanding into Southeast Asia for the first time.

Zoom has seen global usage of its services surge during coronavirus shutdowns, but the increasing popularity of the app has also shone a spotlight on the

vulnerabilities in its software encryption.

In April, Singapore briefly halted the use of the app for home-based education following reports of hackers breaching some of the sessions and posting obscene images.

The San Jose, California-based company worked with Singapore’s Economic Development Board in setting up the new data center, bringing the total to 18 sites globally.

More than 400 schools now use the platform in the city-state where free user sign-ups increased 65-fold

from January to April, according to a statement.

Zoom plans to hire an unspecified number of engineers and sales staff and offer new services such as Zoom Phone to scale the business in the region, Abe Smith, Zoom’s head of international, said during a virtual briefing on Tuesday.

The company had come under fire earlier this year after researchers discovered instances when Zoom meetings and their related encryption keys were routed through China, even though no one on the call was based there. It has since put an end to the practice.

/

REAL-ESTATE experts and sisters Race and Rhonda Wong, cofounders of successful proptech platform Ohmyhome, plans to introduce fast, efficient, and seamless housing transactions to the Philippine market as it brings the web site and mobile application to the country.

Singaporean property tech start-up vows fast property transactions

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

A little-known technology change will make video streaming cheaper and pave the way for higher quality

A

BY JASON SCHMITT Clarkson University

NEW format for compressing video, called Versatile Video Coding (H.266/ VVC), at first glance might not seem to be the most exciting or profound change to influence humanity.

But in a world where 4.57 billion people identify as active Internet users, 3.5 billion regularly use a smartphone, 80 percent of global Internet traffic is compressed video data and 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, data is more than binary numbers. Data—and video specifically—is now part of humanity’s collective nervous system.

Covid-19 has greatly increased Internet usage around the world. It now has the dual purpose of keeping parents and kids connected for both work and school through video conferencing. Further, families are now regular users of a growing array of streaming providers like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, Peacock and HBOMax. A 50 percent reduction in video file size is a big deal for humanity’s collective knowledge in our new digital economy. And size reduction of video files is just one win associated with switching.

The new H.266/VVC codec—the program that prepares video for streaming over Internet—presents a massive change that will result in video load times becoming shorter, video resolution becoming greater and Internet providers having more bandwidth available.

Most important, cost for data usage will decrease, which will help to reduce disparities of access to digital content for a global consumer. The creator

of this new codec, Fraunhofer Heinrich Institute in Berlin, Germany, claims that the first software to support H.266/VVC will be published in fall 2020.

WHAT IS A CODEC?

CODEC stands for compressor/decompressor. Codecs are what allow streaming media to be universally readable by computers. They have two specific components: One is the encoder that compresses the files and makes the lights and sound turn into a digital format a computer can read, and the other is a decoder that then decompresses or reads the file and plays back as originally captured.

The new H.266/VVC codec stands on the shoulders of two earlier predecessors with equally attractive names: H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC).

H.264 (AVC) compression, which was created in 2003, has been the gold standard for video compression and still plays a dominant role in online video. However, it works best for the older highdefinition HD (1920x1080) video formats. Eventually, H.264 was even employed to create things never initially intended, like newer 4k (2160x3840) video files, but many websites blocked them because they were difficult to process.

A new codec that efficiently manages large file sizes was needed. H.265 (HEVC) launched in 2013 and was tooled toward 4k video compression, but never caught on like its predecessor. From early on, the H.265 codec created massive turbulence for technology company legal departments due to licensing issues, and the wrinkles were never clearly ironed out for mass use. Because of this, many might feel in some ways we are leaping from a H.264 (AVC) world directly into the future with H.266/VVC.

WHAT DOES H.266/VVC DO DIFFERENTLY?

H.266/VVC has its focus on extremely highresolution video, which is imperative in a world that is continually evolving toward bigger, better and more detail. This codec is beneficial now with the widespread proliferation of 4k video and TVs. It will be even more imperative as resolution increases to 8k and beyond. Recently, a new 12k video camera was released that, again, puts more focus and importance on strong compression that H.266/VVC provides.

Perhaps learning from the more turbulent licensing of its predecessor H.265 (HEVC), the Fraunhofer Institute, which is licensing the technology, now takes a uniform and transparent licensing model based on the FRAND principle (fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory). This FRAND directive has front and center the idea that to build up a new widely adopted codec for universal adoption around the globe, equitable access for all is key.

How well H.266/VVC will be adopted by technology leaders is still to be seen. However, as of now, over 30 companies have joined the Media Coding Industry Forum that was created for equitable access to the technology.

As a media and communication scholar who wants to reduce global disparities, I see the arrival of the H.266/VVC technology as an important step toward our media-saturated world becoming more inclusive. I am hopeful that something as unassuming as adopting a new video codec will actually make significant changes to creating more equitable access to digital content globally.

After all, the more perspectives we add to any conversation, the more informed we all become.

THE CONVERSATION

MAJOR Singaporean property tech start-up Ohmyhome expressed excitement in its forthcoming entry in the Philippine property sector pointing out this will give the local market an opportunity to do fast, streamlined property transactions with just a few clicks.

Rhonda Wong, chief executive officer and cofounder, said that Ohmyhome’s high quality service combines a seamless do-it-yourself (DIY) platform and professional agent services.

“We are very different from property classified platforms. Our focus is not on advertising but on helping customers transact. We take care of the entire transaction process—from search and deal-closing all the way to legal documentation and mortgage advisory—making it simple for both first-time property buyers and seasoned investors to transact real estate,” Wong explained in a press statement.

“Customers who don’t DIY can also opt for our full agent services, which include market research on estimated valuation, powerful database matching of potential buyers, hosting property viewings, documentation and more,” Wong added. Wong said Ohmyhome is designed to serve customers in the entire buying and selling process by providing a unique hybrid model of a DIY platform and fullfledged agency services that help ease pain points for buying, selling and renting.

Moreover, she said the DIY platform connects homeowners and searchers directly at no cost. Thousands of property listings are genuine, unique and simple to browse.

Innovative features such as “ShoutOut” and “Open House” enhance the overall user experience. For those who prefer comprehensive and professional assistance, competitively priced house and condominium agent services are available.

Just as it did in Singapore and Malaysia, Wong said Ohmyhome will enable Filipino homeowners and searchers to buy, sell and rent properties in a simple, fast and efficient manner.

In Singapore and Malaysia, Ohmyhome continues to provide an estimate of 2,000 housing transactions per month.

The platform also garnered 300,000 application downloads, over 175,000 active users and 15,000 unique listings of real estate properties to date.

Wong said the entry of OhmyHome in the Philippines real estate industry will bring change as it has been blighted by unreliable agents, complicated government processes and disorganized websites, and the need to coordinate with multiple agencies.

With Ohmyhome, property buyers can avoid stress, unnecessary delays and botched deals.

Wong is confident that these issues will be a thing of the past. “Our team of highly professional and experienced agents will assist Filipino buyers and sellers in whatever service they need, at prices that maximize quality and sustainability.”

Since its launch in Singapore in 2016, Wong said Ohmyhome has proven its reliability as a platform, anchored on three primary advantages—it is simple, it is fast, and it provides value for money.

The option to DIY, however, comes free as Ohmyhome wants a quality, reliable platform to be accessible to all customers. Home buyers and sellers will be able to manage their transactions on their own and connect directly with interested sellers and buyers.

“And because of our simple transaction process and our competent agents, we have attained a satisfaction rate of over 99 percent in our Singapore and Malaysian markets,” said Ohmyhome chief product officer and cofounder Race Wong.

Sports BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, August 22, 2020

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

LITERALLY A HOT START FOR TIGER

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

N

ORTON, Massachusetts—Tiger Woods got off to a hot start Thursday before even hitting his first shot.

The images of Woods on the practice range rubbing his upper back with a towel and placing a cold bottle of water on the back of his neck was alarming for someone who has endured four back surgeries. He said last month at the Memorial that he has days when his back doesn’t feel right.

This wasn’t one of them.

Woods had some heating oils applied to his upper back before teeing off in The Northern Trust, and they were a little spicy. He was rubbing off the excess and trying to cool it down with the water.

Once he got on the TPC Boston, it took him a little more time to heat up.

Woods didn’t make a birdie until a two-putt on the par-five 18th hole as he made the turn, and then he ran off four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the front nine for a three-under 68. That left him four shots out of the lead.

“My lower back is used to it,” Woods said about the hot oils. “We do it all the time just so I can get loose. I decided to put some up on my neck, and it’s not as tolerant as my lower back, so it gets awfully hot. It’s common in pretty much every other sport, and especially hockey.

Those guys put some pretty hot stuff on their legs, but you become accustomed to it,” he said.

“My lower back is pretty immune to it,” he said. “But my neck is not.”

His 68 was his lowest start since his last victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan, though it’s a small sample size. Woods has played only five times since then. Having played only twice since the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour resumed in June, he has slipped to No. 49 in the FedEx Cup with a goal of being among the top 30 after two weeks so he can reach the Tour Championship.

Woods went back to his old putter—slightly shorter than the one he used at Harding Park in the PGA Championship two weeks ago—and didn’t have any good looks at birdie until he reached the par-five 18th in two.

On the front nine, which played about a half-stroke easier, he had more chances and converted most of them. He made birdie on

both par 3s, from 15 feet on No. 3 and from 6 feet below the cup on No. 8.

“Whenever I gave myself a look, I made them,” he said.

Both bogeys were set up by poor tee shots, one that hit a tree right of the 13th fairway and left him no shot at the green, and the other on his final hole at No. 9 when he went from the right rough to the shaggy collar of a bunker some 25 yards short of the green.

Still, he made enough birdies over his last 10 holes to get going in the right direction.

“Coming to a golf course I know helps,” said Woods, who has one victory and two runner-up finishes at the TPC Boston.

ENGLISH SETS PACE HARRIS ENGLISH made the difficult look easy Thursday in The Northern Trust, just like he has done all year to even reach this position in the PGA Tour’s postseason.

Facing the tough stretch at TPC Boston in the middle of his round, English hit 5-iron on the 11th and 12th holes, both of them to about 8 feet for birdies. He followed with two long birdie putts to run his streak to four, and finished at seven-under 64.

Editor’s note: BusinessMirror Sports is publishing articles from your not-so-regular contributors who, because of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, are trying their hands at sportswriting.

From Red Robins to Red Warriors

By Ian Dunross Racela

F

DOTTIE IN TROON Dottie Ardina shoots a 78 on opening day of the AIG Women’s Open of the Ladies European Tour to find herself trailing leader Amy Olson of the US by 11 strokes entering the second round on Friday in Troon, Scotland.

By the end of the opening round, English shared the lead with Kevin Streelman, Cameron Davis of Australia and Russell Henley, who finished with a tap-in eagle.

Good starts were important to so many in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which are as much about advancing as avoiding elimination. The top 70 from the 122-man field (three players have withdrawn) move on to next week for another $9.5-million event. The goal then is to reach the top 30 for the Tour Championship and its $15-million prize to the winner.

Of the top 11 players who were separated

by one shot after the first round, five of them began the week outside the top 70, with Bubba Watson on the bubble at No. 66.

Among those at 65 were Louis Oosthuizen, Charley Hoffman and Scott Piercy, all well outside the top 70. Sebastian Munoz began his round with seven straight birdies to quickly tie for the lead, only to make double bogey on No. 9 and record only one birdie the rest of the way.

Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, was in danger of missing the BMW Championship for the first time since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. He came in at No. 67 and opened with a 74.

Heat, Rockets stay on fire; Lakers, Bucks level series

T

TIGER WOODS rubs his neck while on the driving range before the first round on Thursday. AP

No more podium girls in Tour

T

HE Tour de France will no longer use two podium girls to assist—and kiss—stage winners and jersey winners after each stage of the race.

Instead, the Tour will use just one female and one male host to participate in the podium protocols, while the number of other guests on stage will also be reduced.

“We’ve been used to having the riders on the

podium assisted by two hostesses,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. “Now, things are going to be different, using only one élu [local dignitary] and one jersey partner, as well as one hostess and one host, for the first time.”

For some years, the practice of two women presenting flowers and sponsors’ soft toys to the riders at races like the Tour de France, and then both women simultaneously kissing the riders

on both cheeks, has been denounced as sexist and old-fashioned.

Europe 1, a French radio station, reported that a petition in 2019 saying women “are not objects or rewards” raised 38,000 signatures The practice of using “grid girls” in Formula 1 was also stopped in 2018.

The numbers of local dignitaries and sponsor representatives will also be reduced from five each to just one élu and one partner, with Prudhomme saying “this would help reduce the number of people on the podium while there is a continued coronavirus risk.” Cyclingnews

East Asia hoops gets 10-year Fiba sanction

T

HE International Basketball Federation (Fiba) agreed to a 10-year agreement granting the East Asia Super League (EASL) Fiba Asia’s recognition and support to run an annual competition for the top professional clubs in East Asia and the Philippines.

EASL will launch its new premium competition in October, a month after the Fiba Asia Champions Cup, the continent’s premier club competition set annually in September.

The EASL’s first two editions—2021-22 and 2022-2023—will match up the region’s top 8 teams in a home-and-away group stage, culminating with a Final Four in February to determine the champion, runner-up and thirdplace finishers.

The EASL plans to expand the competition

to 16 teams by 2023. Matches are slated to be integrated into schedules of the participating professional leagues.

“The recognition of the East Asia Super League is based on a shown commitment to developing basketball in the region, and is in line with Fiba’s club competition strategy that is to shape international club competitions,” Fiba Secretary-General Andreas Zagklis said.

“The EASL has demonstrated a great operational capability to organize a highlevel competition for top clubs, and a strong commitment to elevate the sport of basketball in East Asia within the Fiba regulatory framework for leagues,” Fiba Executive Director Asia Hagop Khajirian said.

“The EASL is thrilled to receive Fiba’s support

for the launch of our league. With top teams from the Greater China region, Japan, Korea and the Philippines, we are confident it will become one of the top professional basketball competitions in the world by 2025,” EASL CEO Matt Beyer said.

The agreement follows EASL’s staging of four successful pre-season tournaments over the past three years featuring elite club teams from the top leagues in Asia—Philippine Basketball Association, Chinese Basketball Association, Korean Basketball League, Super Basketball League Taiwan, B. League Japan and Asean Basketball League.

The EASL’s weeklong The Terrific 12 tournament held in Macao in September 2019 attracted both sellout live audiences and more than 117 million viewers worldwide.

HE Miami Heat and Houston Rockets kept their momentum going in the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff series on Thursday, the same day the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks got their winning days back at the Disney World bubble in Lake Buenavista, Florida.

James Harden had 21 points and nine assists and the Rockets made 19 of an NBA-record 56 three-point attempts to beat the Thunder, 111-98, also for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference series.

Anthony Davis, on the other hand, scored 31 points and 11 rebounds and the top-seeded Lakers bounced back from an opening loss to beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 11188, in the Western Conference series.

LeBron James had 10 points, six rebounds, seven assists and six turnovers. He had 23 points, 17 rebounds and a playoff careerhigh 16 rebounds in Game One. And Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds and Milwaukee rode a fast start to beat the Magic, 111-96. The victory came two days after the team that boasted the NBA’s best regularseason record opened the playoffs by losing 122-110 to Orlando.

Duncan Robinson hit his first six shots—all from three-point range—and finished with 24 points as the Heat beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-100, for a 2-0 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

“I don’t care if he miss 18 shots, 18 threes,” Robinson’s teammate Goran Dragic said. “‘I want you to shoot every time. Don’t pump fake. We need you, and you can see it.’ He didn’t hesitate today, and that’s how we want him.”

Robinson opened the game by making the Heat’s first three buckets, all threes.

He didn’t miss until midway through the third quarter, and Robinson tied the Heat record for threes in a playoff game with seven. He finished 7-of-8 shooting, all beyond the arc, in a big improvement from Tuesday when he was 2 of 8.

“Just felt a better rhythm in this one for whatever reason,” Robinson said. “But that can’t be the case for me. I got to kind of assert myself and not just have the game necessarily come to me, but be more aggressive. So I thought that was big and then obviously you see some go early, the hoop starts to look a little bigger.”

Dragic scored 20 points, Jimmy Butler had 18 points and six assists, rookie Tyler Herro added 15 points off the bench, and Jae Crowder scored 10.

Victor Oladipo, who had been questionable with an injured left eye, led Indiana with 22 points. Myles Turner and Malcolm Brogdon each had 17 points. T.J. Warren had 14 and Aaron Holiday had 12. AP DUNCAN ROBINSON hits his first six shots— all from three-point range—and finishes with 24 points for the Heat. AP

ORMER Mapua Red Robins star Clint Escamis is ready to make his mark with the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

Escamis, who played key roles in the Red Robins’ two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) juniors crown in the last three seasons, is considered a blue-chip recruit.

The 19-year-old from Malate, Manila, gets his chance to fulfill a dream to play in the UAAP, hopping to take the same path Kiefer Ravena and the Ateneo Blue Eagles took in the league.

After sitting out more than a year because of a knee injury he suffered during Game One of the NCAA Season 94 Finals, Escamis is said he has become better than ever.

Escamis showcased his all-around talent in a tune-up game between the Mapua Cardinals and Red Warriors at the Mapua gym in Intramuros in January.

The swingman was his killer self and made plays, set up teammates and hit huge shots.

First-year UE Head Coach Jack Santiago lauded the impact of Escamis and said his prized rookie will help the Red Warriors’ campaign after losing hotshot Rey Suerte to graduation.

UE ranked seventh with a 4-10 won-lost record in UAAP Season 82, highlighting the campaign with a first round win over De La Salle.

Escamis is taking up Business Management at UE and is making the most of the pandemic by working out regularly with teammates even if remotely.

“I am using this time wisely to further strengthen myself and get ready for school,” Escamis said. “Some of the team’s players like Jojo Antiporda and Harvey Pangilinan have been helpful in my transition to the college game.”

UE recently acquired Orin Catacutan and Filipino-American Brian Enriquez to go along with veterans Neil Tolentino and Chris Conner. n (Ian Dunross Racela, 33, is the head coach of Bloomfield Academy in Makati City and was a former assistant coach at the Mapua University and Far Eastern University juniors basketball programs. He is an Industrial Engineering graduate at Mapua and brother to Olsen and Nash Racela.)

CLINT ESCAMIS is bringing his act to University of the East in the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines.

Green to Filipino cagers: Stay in gym, study game

T

HE 2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs kicked off with Filipino fans getting a taste of what they have been missing via the recent NBA Republika Playoffs Party on Facebook Live.

The event was the latest result of the long and fruitful partnership between Gatorade and NBA Philippines. It featured a combination of authentic NBA entertainment, interviews with international basketball stars and other interactive elements.

Gatorade hosted two segments in the party, including the “Path to Pro” interview where NBA G League star and potential No. 1 draft pick Jalen Green shared his journey to becoming an NBA player.

“The best advice I can give to aspiring Filipino basketball players is to stay in the gym,” said Green, with whom local Gatorade athletes also had the chance to talk and ask for inspiration.

“Stay in the gym, really work, and really study the game of basketball,” Green said.

Thirdy Ravena, also a Gatorade ambassador, shared some of his insights from his own journey to being a professional player.

“I definitely have a million things to improve on, as I know I’m going to be playing a smaller position than I was used to in college,” Ravena said. “And you know I’m always trying to stay hydrated—shout out to the Gatorade family for making sure we have the fuel to perform at a high level.”

“Getting the chance to represent the country is something that we should take as a privilege and not just an opportunity,” said Ricci Rivero, another Gatorade ambassador playing for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons.

Another segment was the “Dunk Off,” where local collegiate stars competed in a virtual dunk contest for the fans. The winner received a year’s supply of Gatorade for themselves and an organization of their choice.

“We’re definitely happy to fuel Filipino fans’ excitement for the return of NBA action through the Republika Playoffs Party,” said Mikey Rosales, PepsiCo Philippines’s Marketing director. “Great sports action is something we all need during these times.”

Gatorade has been a partner of the NBA since 1984, NBA Philippines since 2005 and of numerous local leagues and teams.