BusinessMirror December 12, 2021

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A broader look at today’s business n

Sunday, December 12, 2021 Vol. 17 No. 65

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

A FISHING boat passes in front of the Ruby Princess cruise ship (left) and other ships as they are anchored in the Manila Bay, May 7, 2020. The Ruby Princess, which was being investigated in Australia for sparking coronavirus infections, has sailed into Philippine waters to bring Filipino crewmen home. AP/AARON FAVILA

A PINOY SEAFARER’S ‘EPIPHANY’

Returning OFWs stick their necks out in PHL market, start own biz amid pandemic

IN this April 17, 2020, file photo, cruise-ship performer Erick Arenas, 34, gestures while singing a song he recorded as a tribute to his late father Ernesto, who passed away while Arenas was under quarantine on board the cruise ship he was working on. ERICK ARENAS VIA AP

F

CHRISTOPHER BAGAY, right, a kitchen crew of the Aida Sol cruise ship in Europe, talks on his phone as he heads home together with other overseas Filipino workers on a government-provided bus ride in Manila, May 28, 2020. Tens of thousands of workers have returned by plane and ships as the pandemic, lockdowns and economic downturns decimated jobs worldwide in a major blow to the Philippines, a leading source of global labor. AP/AARON FAVILA

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

OR 37 days that he had to spend inside a “world-class” jail inside a cruise ship in Japan, Lourence Tan de Leon had an epiphany of sorts.

At that time, he was one of the 100 crewmembers who tested positive for Covid-19. The father of three young children, the youngest of them then a newborn, was so scared of dying.

It was April 2020 and science was still groping in the dark on the severity of the novel coronavirus to infected humans. Their cruise ship, MV Costa Atlantica, is also the second cruise ship in the world that experienced a Covid epidemic.

Forced to go back home

DE Leon is just one of the 800,000 Filipinos who came home to the Philippines at the height of the pandemic. Most of the OFWs lost their jobs as businesses worldwide shut down. The cruise line industry, which employs more than 325,000 Filipinos, was one of those badly hit.

“I kept thinking about so many things—my family, my work. Would I still have work after

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.2770

this? Then I thought of the business that I have been dreaming about for so long,” De Leon, a former assistant housekeeping manager of Costa Atlantica, said.

His dream at first was to have his own grocery and piggery. But upon his return to his hometown in Pagbilao, Quezon, in May 2020, he saw that groceries are closed. He thought a piggery farm business is not for him, too, because he could not tolerate the odor from the hogs’ manure.

“I was thinking then—what business can I venture in that could last even when there is a pandemic?” he told the BusinessMirror.

After researching possible business ventures, De Leon said he would like to try the chicken breeder farm since he enjoyed feeding chickens in their own backyard when he was growing up.

Then he looked at his very young children and right there he decided to have this agri-business,

which he said could be his lasting legacy for them.

“I learned that battery-cage chicken, as young as chicks, are already being injected with antibiotics.

But free-range chickens are healthier. No drugs, no antibiotics and since they roam around, they are healthier and stronger. That’s the kind of food I want my children to eat,” the 39-year-old seafarer said.

With zero knowledge and experience on raising free-range chicken, he had to study all the facets of the business. He enrolled in the online class of Dr. Erwin Joseph S. Cruz, a veterinarian and foremost expert on free-range chicken in the country.

After learning the ropes of the trade, he started buying female and male breeders, all imported from the Czech Republic.

Slowly, he started tapping his savings. He built a hut for the caretaker and other huts for breeders.

When his chicks have ma-

FILIPINO seafarers from MV Azura cruise ship are welcomed by Department of Foreign Affairs personnel as they arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in this May 11, 2020, file photo. NONIE REYES

tured enough to become breeders, he would sell each at P50 to P85.

“Small backyard farmers are coming to me to buy the breeders, especially the female,” he recalled.

With approximately P180,000 initial capital outlay, he believes he will have a return on investment in two to three years.

“Right now, I’m averaging P12,000 to P13,000 net income per month with just my first batch of breeders. It is covering already my daily expenses,” he estimated.

He admitted that starting a business during a pandemic is very challenging. But his experience as a supervisor of a billion-dollar business helped him stay focused and resilient during these times.

“I am used to having a relatively higher income,” he intimated.

“Now, when I see my wallet, I ask myself, ‘Am I poor now?’ Then I see my chicks running and my huts.

Then I say to myself, ‘Ahhh, OK

there’s my money.’”

During the fist quarter of 2021, when cruise lines were allowed to return to business in Europe and the Americas, his manning agency started calling him to tell him to join. He would always decline. But he doesn’t know how long he could keep doing it.

“Our job in the ship has so many risks—not just Covid. I saw a number of my colleagues who had a heart attack, became comatose and had nothing left for their families.

So it really got me thinking if the risks are really worth it, not to mention that I am away from my family,” he said.

When asked if his agri-business venture is enough motivation for him to stay for good, De Leon replied, “I don’t want to say things with certainty. I don’t want to burn bridges. Let’s see.

But right now, my focus is still my family and my business.”

n JAPAN 0.4432 n UK 66.4813 n HK 6.4483 n CHINA 7.8831 n SINGAPORE 36.8492 n AUSTRALIA 35.9430 n EU 56.7828 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4025

Source: BSP (December 10, 2021)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, December 12, 2021

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Inflation near 40-year high shocks Americans, spooks Washington T

By Reade Pickert & Matthew Boesler | Bloomberg News

HE US is poised to enter Year Three of the pandemic with both a booming economy and a stillmutating virus. But for Washington and Wall Street, one Covid aftershock is starting to eclipse almost everything else.

Already-hot inflation is forecast to climb even further when November data comes out on Friday, to 6.8 percent. That would be the highest rate since Ronald Reagan was president in the early 1980s—and in the lifetimes of most Americans.

Higher prices helped deliver a banner year for US business, which is posting its fattest profit margins since the 1950s. But for Joe Biden’s administration and the Federal Reserve—who didn’t see it coming—the sudden return of inflation, largely dormant for decades before 2021, is looking increasingly traumatic.

It’s likely to drive some big changes in the coming year, as the Fed pivots toward raising interest rates and the President heads into midterm elections with slumping

approval ratings.

How did it happen? Essentially, the pandemic made it harder for the world to produce stuff and move it around. The government shored up incomes in the crisis like never before, so households remained eager to spend. And a combination of lockdowns and Covid caution meant their purchasing power was focused on consumer goods instead of services.

That’s why there are long lines of cargo ships stretching off the coast of Los Angeles waiting to dock, while used-car dealers keep hiking prices and a global commodities rally leaves Americans paying more at grocery stores and gas pumps.

Hotspots to everywhere

A YEAR ago, economists were

forecasting 2-percent inflation for 2021. The pandemic had depressed prices early on, and everyone expected a rebound. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s prediction that it would be temporary, and not very large, was widely shared.

The first hint that inflation was about to really accelerate came in February, said Omair Sharif, president of research company Inflation Insights Llc. “Something was bubbling under the surface— and more specifically in autos.”

A pandemic-driven shortage of semiconductors was holding back production of new cars, so buyers—including rental firms, who’d sold off their fleets earlier in the crisis—were bidding up the prices of old ones.

Americans had the cash. In contrast to the last recession, when fiscal austerity held back the recovery, Congress kept the stimulus flowing. On top of the $2.2-trillion rescue package in the spring of 2020, when the pandemic arrived, came another $900 billion in December 2020, then $1.9 trillion more in March after Biden took office.

But consumers remained reluctant to spend money in gyms or restaurants, say, where they might catch Covid-19—so they bought more goods instead. Shortages of

variant. Fed officials tend to downplay the idea that any one month’s worth of data—which is all they had since taper plans were laid out in early November—is enough to force a change in monetary policy.

Kitchen tables

materials, and workers, were creating bottlenecks all along the supply chain. Ports got jammed. Imports kept breaking records.

“It was a demand shock,” says Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist at Jefferies. “It’s the US consumer essentially that caused this inflationary impulse, by just buying more stuff than the global economy can produce.”

Commodity stories

WITH other countries recovering too, albeit less exuberantly, globalized commodities like oil were rebounding. US pump prices are about 50 percent higher than a year ago.

The commodity surge wasn’t limited to energy. One of the pandemic inflation’s headline-grabbing episodes came in lumber markets, where prices jumped about 70 percent from early March to early May—adding steam to an incipient housing boom.

When the lumber bubble burst, some—including Powell— cited it as an example of how pandemic inflation could soon fade.

But global food prices, after a lull in June and July, started climbing again. Helped by some bad weather around the planet, they were up 27 percent in the 12 months through November, reflecting jumps in everything from meat and wheat to coffee and cooking oil.

Grocery chain Kroger Co. “saw higher product cost inflation in most categories” in the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said on a December 2 earnings call. “We are passing along higher cost to the customer where it makes sense to do so.”

For American business, those higher costs included wage bills.

Employers were struggling to increase headcount fast enough to meet soaring demand. In June, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. made headlines by hiking prices some 4 percent to offset pay raises. Plenty more companies would join them as the year went on.

At least in the eyes of the market, September’s CPI report was the turning point, when inflation spread well beyond a handful of hotspots. The overall rise in the

index was muted—but food and shelter contributed more than half of it, with rents jumping the most in two decades.

Biden feels heat

BIDEN’S plan had been to follow up Covid stimulus with multi-trillion-dollar investments in childcare and clean energy.

Centrist Democrats in Congress, though, were already pointing to government spending as a driver of rising inflation—and balking at voting for more of it. The programs were scaled back. More cuts may follow in the Senate this month.

The President’s approval ratings were on the slide, with polls suggesting voters don’t like his handling of the economy and are inclined to blame him for inflation. That spells trouble for his party, which must defend thin majorities in mid-term elections next November.

Biden set up a supply-chain task force to ease logjams, released petroleum reserves, and called out gasoline companies for pocketing too much profit. He’s under pressure to do more—but presidents have limited powers to counter price increases.

Powell caves

THROUGHOUT 2021, the White House, when pressed on inflation, has deferred to the Fed—citing experts there who said it would be transitory. But in recent months, as prices surged, Fed officials faced growing resistance to that stance, and began backing away from it.

On November 30, just over a week after he was tapped by Biden to serve a second term, Powell finally caved. “I think the word ‘transitory’ has different meanings to different people,” he said. “It’s probably a good time to retire that word.”

A few minutes later, he made big news: Fed officials, at their next policy meeting on December 14 and 15, would consider accelerating the withdrawal of monetary stimulus—potentially ending their bond purchases as early as March, and opening the door to interest-rate increases by the middle of next year.

Powell’s pivot came as a surprise, with market volatility surging after the arrival of the Omicron

BY that point, the great inflation debate had broken out of policy circles. It was now conducted around kitchen tables, too.

Economists tend to look at socalled “core inflation,” which strips out more volatile food and energy prices. For American workers, paying a dollar more per gallon at the gas pump, or 20 percent more for beef, is a more tangible measure.

In November, one in four respondents to a University of Michigan survey said inflation had lowered their living standards, double the level of six months earlier. The unaccustomed jump in living costs put the spotlight on incomes, and whether they’re keeping up.

With bosses desperate to fill an unprecedented number of vacant jobs, workers are enjoying rare bargaining power.

Some 10,000 workers at Deere & Co. went on strike for the first time since 1986, winning a 10-percent raise plus better retirement benefits.

Across the economy, compensation rose at the fastest pace on record in the third quarter. Those at the bottom of the pay scale have benefited most—although even there, wage hikes mostly are below the current rate of inflation.

What’s next?

WHILE Bloomberg Economics predicts inflation close to 7 percent for another few months, there’s widespread agreement that it will come down at some point next year.

Energy markets are already signaling some relief, with oil down about 15 percent since late October, presaging lower fuel and transportation costs in 2022. Durable goods inflation is projected to slow as the pandemic recedes and households return to more-normal spending patterns.

One offset to that may be housing costs. Bloomberg Economics’ David Wilcox says they could be rising at a 6 percent to 7 percent pace by next summer, about double the rate in the years before the pandemic.

Maybe the biggest unknown in 2022 is wages, already rising faster than at any point in the decade-long expansion that ended with the arrival of Covid-19.

“The question for me isn’t whether inflation will slow,” said Markowska at Jefferies. “The question is, are we going back to 2? Are we going back to 3? What’s the medium-term destination? And that’s, I think, going to be determined by the labor market.”

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

The World

Climate change aggravates conflict and terrorism–UN

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NITED NATIONS—Climate change is “an aggravating factor” for instability, conflict and terrorism, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday.

The UN chief said the regions that are most vulnerable to climate change “also suffer from insecurity, poverty, weak governance and the scourge of terrorism.”

Guterres told a UN Security Council meeting on the link between climate change, conflict and terrorism that when climate disruptions hinder the ability of government institutions to provide public services, “it fuels grievances and mistrust towards authorities.”

And when the impact of climate change leads to people losing livelihoods, “the promises of protection, income and justice—behind which terrorists sometimes hide their truce designs—become more attractive,” he said.

In Africa’s Lake Chad basin region, Guterres said, the extremist group Boko Haram has been able to gain new recruits, “particularly from local communities disillusioned by a lack of economic opportunities and access to essential resources.”

“In central Mali, terrorist groups have exploited the growing tensions between herders and farmers to recruit new members from pastoralist communities, who often feel excluded and stigmatized,” the secretary-general said.

In Iraq and Syria, Islamic State extremists have “exploited water shortages and taken control of water infrastructure to impose its will on communities” he said, while in Somalia charcoal production has been a source of income for the al-Shabab extremist group.

Guterres said that “climate impacts compound conflicts and exacerbate fragility,” adding that UN peacekeeping or political missions are in eight of the 15 countries most exposed to climate risks. He did not name the countries.

The UN chief urged collective action to address the root causes of insecurity, stressing that “conflicts and terrorism do not take place in a vacuum.”

He urged increased investment to help developing countries adapt to the impact of climate change, saying developed countries must keep their promise to provide at least $100 billion a year to developing countries for climate action.

He said these costs are expected to reach up to $300 billion a year by 2030.

Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, whose country holds the Security Council presidency this month and chaired the meeting, said in Africa’s Sahel region, where his country is located, a key challenge is fighting terrorists whose “hateful acts on a daily basis are shaking the foundation of democratic states.”

“Among these challenges we also have climate change which by reducing access to resources is increasing poverty and all the scourges that go with that,” he said.

Bazoum expressed hope the Security Council would adopt a resolution that Niger and Ireland are co-sponsoring. It would recognize a link between ensuring international peace and security, which is the council’s mandate, and the fight against terrorism and the effects of climate change.

He said the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin illustrate the interaction between the effects of climate change and peace and security. “ T he consequences of this phenomenon—and we still don’t know how widespread it is—has led to the disintegration of the social fabric and the well-being of the populations forced into unbridled competition for access to resources” which are becoming rarer, Bazoum said.

The result is often inter-community conflicts and increased migration, and “even more worrying, this situation has contributed to feeding violent extremism and large-scale crime, leading some young people to join organized criminal and terrorist networks who previously enjoyed the riches and biodiversity of their regions.”

Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason said the Security Council has a responsibility “to break this vicious and self-reinforcing cycle.”

She urged support for what she called the “critical resolution,” saying: “This council must recognize and accept its role in the fight against climate change.”

“We need to integrate climaterelated security risks into our conf lict resolution, prevention and mediation efforts,” Byrne Nason said. “Doing so will help maintain international peace and security. Failure to do so is unconscionable.”

But Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, whose country has veto power in the council, said: “For us, the connection between terrorism and climate change is not clear.” AP

Pentagon seeks new ways to deter US adversaries in defense strategy

T

he Pentagon is looking for new ways to deter American adversaries including China as it grapples with “increasingly acute” challenges from Beijing, a top US defense official said.

Defense officials will focus on “integrated deterrence” against national security threats from countries such as China and Russia, Mara Karlin, assistant secretary of defense for strategies, plans, and capabilities, said Thursday at an event previewing the Biden administration’s National Defense Strategy at the Center for a New American Security.

Karlin, who is also performing the duties of deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said the strategy—scheduled for publication in early 2022—would seek to deter adversaries using tools from across the whole of the US government including the State Department and Treasury, as well as US partners and allies.

“If we are just sitting in a defense bubble and not looking at those other tools in the toolkit we

are not going to be as effective,” Karlin said. “We are trying to enhance our thinking on deterrence and our rigor.”

The National Defense Strategy report is a key document helping drive the annual defense budget and military contingency planning for a range of national security scenarios. It’s normally published in the early part of any administration.

Karlin said the strategy would build on a push to focus on “great power competition” with China and Russia outlined in the Trump administration’s 2018 NDS, which signaled a move away from a postSeptember 11 focus on terrorism.

C h i nese Foreig n Mi n i st r y spokesman Wang Wenbin said Friday at a regular press briefing in Beijing that certain people in the US a were “trying to justify the US military buildup.”

“Some in the US have repeatedly tried to make an issue out of the China-threat theory,” he said.

“We urge the US to abandon the obsolete Cold War mentality and ideological bias.” Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Sunday, December 12, 2021

A3

Holiday season threatens Covid crisis as US hospitals overflow

A

fter months of warnings that vaccinations would ward off a Covid-19 disaster, the US is sailing toward a holiday crisis.

Cases and hospital admissions are rising amid a season of family gatherings. Most victims have shunned inoculations. The situation is especially dire in the chilly Northeastern states, but doctors in many places report a grimly repetitive cycle of admission, intensive care and death. There are shortages of beds and staff to care for the suffering.

“We’re in desperate shape,” said Brian Weis, chief medical officer at Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo, the state’s worst hot spot.

In 12 states and the nation’s capital, the seven-day average of admissions with confirmed Covid-19 has climbed at least 50 percent from two weeks earlier, according to US Department of Health and Human Services data.

The areas with the largest percentage upticks were Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Vermont and Rhode Island.

A little more than 60 percent of the US population is considered fully vaccinated, generally meaning two shots, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. That still leaves a large pool of highly susceptible people capable of pressuring hospitals.

In the most recent CDC data, from September, unvaccinated people had about 14 times the risk of dying from Covid-19 after adjusting for age—a major factor in Covid outcomes.

In some states in the Midwest and Northeast, Covid hospitalizations are mirroring last year’s seasonal pattern, said Pinar Karaca-Mandic, one of the leaders of the Covid-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project at the University of Minnesota.

“The winter coming, people are being more indoors,” she said. During last year’s surge, “everyone was unvaccinated,” Karaca-Mandic said. While most Americans are inoculated now, they’re also isolating less than last year.

Shots all around

Officia ls continue to push shots. In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu sent out news of getting her own booster at City Hall on Thursday. The city is adding vaccination clinics, including at schools, and colleges around the region have begun to let students know boosters will be required. New Hampshire held a “Booster Blitz” Friday at sites across the state.

But Karaca-Mandic said the wild card is the new variant: “We just don’t know what will happen with Omicron.”

As the world has turned its focus to the strain, which spreads fast but may be no more deadly, cases caused by the Delta variant have continued to mount in the US. The waves emerged and recede at different times in different regions, and recent hot spots such as Montana and Colorado are now seeing improvement.

Still, Colorado had just 518 acute-care beds available Thursday, said Scott Bookman, the state’s Covid incident commander.

“We have a long way to go before our hospitals empty out,” he said in a news briefing.

Even in places coping well, a sense of foreboding prevails.

California has seen relatively steady infection rates in recent week s, w it h hospita l izations around the levels they were in July, before Delta took hold. But the most populous state had 11 confirmed Omicron cases as of Wednesday, which “presumes we’ll see dozens more in the next days, hundreds more in the next weeks, thousands more” after that, Governor Gavin Newsom said on ABC television.

In Amarillo, elective surgeries have been canceled and emergency rooms are jammed with virus patients who must wait as long as five days for a hospital bed, Weis said in a phone interview. Regional hospital officials have petitioned the state for additional staff “but there’s little hope they can come through,” he said.

In New Jersey, average daily hospital admissions reached a seven-day average of 206, up 78

percent from two weeks earlier.

Even so, at this time a year ago, the pace of admissions was well over twice as fast.

“The overwhelming majority of our new cases, new hospitalizations and new deaths, sadly, are from among the unvaccinated,” Governor Phil Murphy said during a December 8 briefing.

Geisinger Health System, which has nine hospitals in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, is over capacity and turning away patients, said Gerald Maloney, chief medical officer for hospital services.

“People are tired,” Maloney said in an interview. “It’s worse already than it was a year ago, and it may get even worse.”

In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul ordered more than 30 hospitals that were filling up with patients to halt some procedures.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said that was a grim harbinger for New York City.

“Biggest city in America, densely populated, we cannot let that happen here,” he said.

Worn out

In Michigan, hospitals are hitting a critical point. The state’s 22,883 inpatient beds are more than 85 percent occupied, said John

Karasinski, spokesman for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

“The situation is dire and compounded by several factors,” Karasinski said in a phone interview.

“The Covid-19 surge is stressing hospitals, their workforce and capacity. There are ongoing staffing shortages. It existed before the pandemic and has gotten worse during the pandemic.”

The Department of Defense sent three teams of 22 medical professionals to help, each in a different part of the state.

Illinois had 3,178 Covid-hospitalizations as of Wednesday, the highest since January, according to the state health department. Six of the state’s 11 regions had 20 or fewer intensive-care beds available.

Thanksgiving weekend is a likely driver of the rebound, said Arien Herrmann, hospital coordinating-center manager for the state’s southernmost counties.

“People travel ing , v isiting friends and family, having gatherings created an opportunity for community spread,” Herrmann said in a telephone interview.

“It’ll be the same thing going into Christmas and then New Year’s.

This is keeping me up at night.”

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Sunday, December 12, 2021

The World BusinessMirror

Vanishing ships in California underscore supply problems

A

line of more than 80 container ships waiting to dock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, was cut in half in late November—or so it seemed. Turns out the vessels disappearing from the queue were merely hiding from it, loitering in the Pacific out of reach of the official count.

The actual bottleneck at midweek stood at 96 ships. In a recurring theme in economies from Germany to the US, progress repairing this supply snarl proved to be a mirage.

A s the year supply chains went haywire winds down, logistics experts are struggling to distinguish between the rays of real improvement and the false dawns. Even if the optimists are proved correct in detecting a peak in the gridlock, the fragile global trading system faces months of additional pain and remains at risk of collapsing again from even one unforeseen shock.

“I wouldn’t necessary call this a bottom,” said Jennifer Bisceglie, the CEO of Arlington, Virginiabased Interos, a supply-chain risk management company. She sees any return to normal as an 18to 24-month transition, partly because companies are grappling with pandemic challenges alongside efforts to fortify supplier networks with digitization.

Among the signs of a nascent turnaround is an Oxford Economics report released this week that showed an easing of US supplychain stress in November. But the fallout from the new coronavirus variant, which triggered another round of restrictions ahead of the Christmas travel season, “risks slowing the pace at which supply-chain problems are resolved, and could unwind the progress achieved thus far,” it said.

“It’s far too early to say we’ve seen the peak of supply-chain disruptions,” said Oren Klachkin, lead US economist at Oxford Economics. “The situation is very fluid and the Omicron variant could make the situation worse.”

No relief in sight

The monthly US Logistics Managers’ Index released this week hardly showed a lurch toward normal, either. The main gauge climbed for a second month in November, reflecting warehouse costs that jumped to a record, as well as rising inventory and

transportation expenses.

Respondents to the LMI’s survey don’t anticipate any significant relief over the next 12 months.

Zac Rogers, who helps compile the LMI as an assistant professor at Colorado State University’s College of Business, said the worst is probably over in the mismatch between logistics capacity and demand.

Still, he cautions that passing the bottom doesn’t mean supply chains are in the clear or can’t return there. Rogers points to the ongoing semiconductor shortage as the heart of the problems because it means, for instance, a new class-8 truck ordered today won’t be finished until February 2023.

“We still have a long way to go until things are back to normal,” he said. “We aren’t going to wake up on January 1 and suddenly have all of the trucks and storage that we need to get costs to go down in any meaningful way.”

Ocean shipping

Capacity constraints continue to keep ocean shipping rates at high levels.

The price for a 40-foot container to the US West Coast from China inched back up during the past two weeks, to $14,825, according to Freightos data that includes surcharges and premiums.

While that’s down 28 percent from a record of $20,586 reached in September, it’s still more than 10 times higher than it cost in December 2019.

Ma ny obser vers note t hat those headline-grabbing rates reflect the spot market, and most big retailers and manufacturers pay lower rates spelled out in annual contracts typically renewed with the carriers around April each year.

Now long-term contract rates for containers are heating up, with a 16 percent jump in November leading to a 121 percent surge year over year, according to Xeneta, an ocean- and air-freight market-analytics platform.

“It’s difficult to see a change of course ahead, with the fun-

Container ships moored off the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in Long Beach, California, in October. Bloomberg photo

damentals stacked very much in favor of the carrier community,” Patrik Berglund, CEO of Oslobased Xeneta, said in a online post. “In short, they’ve never had it so good, while many shippers, unfortunately, are well and truly on the ropes.”

Air freight

Pressure is also unrelenting in the air-cargo market, where rates are still climbing amid demand fueled partly by the delays and soaring costs for ocean freight.

As the Federal Reserve’s most received Beige Book noted, the cost of transporting goods on ships recently exceeded the cost on airplanes.

So analysts say there’s little reason to expect air freight rates will go down in the short run. Camille Carenton, a senior air cargo manager with Flexport Inc., said on a webinar this week that’s “really strong” and is leading to backlogs at US and European airports, with delays ranging from two to seven days.

“The past few months have seen a rare convergence of limited capacity, higher demand, and a peakier peak season but the elevated prices so far are still likely more seasonal than anything,” said Eytan Buchman, chief marketing officer at Hong Kong-based Freightos, an online cargo marketplace.

“That doesn’t mean the worst isn’t over though.”

Europe’s struggles

In the euro area, a Bloomberg Economics gauge shows supply conditions cooling down from heighten levels. Whether that t r aje c tor y l a st s de p e nd s on whether the virus can be controlled. In Germany, a survey released Tuesday showed investor confidence about the current environment dropped to a six-month low as the country reintroduces restrictions to curb

virus outbreaks.

German manufacturers have been held back for months by global supply problems. Underscoring their challenge, data on factory orders released Monday showed a slump that was far worse than any analyst predicted. On top of that, consumers are being squeezed by the fastest inflation since the early 1990s.

“Persisting supply bottlenecks are weighing on production and retail trade,” ZEW President Achim Wambach said in a statement. “The decline in economic expectations shows that hopes for much stronger growth in the next six months are fading.”

UK trucker shortages

In the UK, the economy is still grappling with strains ranging from crammed ports to truck driver shortages. A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S recently said it’s omitting until March some container services through the congested Port of Felixstowe, Britain’s busiest container gateway, and routing UK cargo on shuttles from mainland Europe.

A lack of lorry drivers is still perhaps the biggest cause of British cargo backlogs. Logistics UK said in a report this week that the number of heavy goods vehicle, or HGV, drivers dropped by 72,000—or 24 percent—between the second quarters of 2019 and 2021.

British logistics companies are taking steps to boost training, recruitment and pay, “yet there remains concern that some supplychain disruption will continue in 2022 until these crucial roles are filled across the industry,” the report warned.

After falling in October and November, the Transport Exchange Group’s index for courier and haulage prices may jump this month if spikes in the past two Decembers are any guide. Bloomberg News

Global media group says journalist imprisonments in 2021 on the rise

B

RUSSELS—Media freedom continued to be under attack across much of the world in 2021, with nine journalists killed in the line of duty in

Afghanistan alone and 102 imprisoned in China, according to a new report released Thursday.

The International Federation of Journalists said in a bleak assessment that imprisonments were especially on the rise, with 365 journalists behind bars compared to 235 last year.

“The world needs to wake up to the growing violations of journalists’ rights and media freedoms across the globe,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.

The report was released on the eve of the United Nations’ Human Rights Day. Apart from China, Turkey had 34 journalists in prison, Belarus

and Eritrea 29, Egypt 27 and Vietnam 21.

The IFJ said that the rise of detentions in China was linked to the coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan, the further arrests of Uyghur journalists reporting on the treatment of the Muslim minority in western China. Many have called it genocide.

It said that coverage of the demonstrations in Hong Kong also led to further arrests.

Bellanger said the attacks on journalists went well beyond the personal losses suffered and affected society as a whole. “They also point to the violation of the people’s fundamental right to ac-

cess accurate, objective and fair information so that they can make properly informed choices about public affairs.’’

With three weeks left in the year, overall deaths in the line of duty were set to go down this year, with 45 so far, compared to 65 overall last year. With Afghanistan topping the list with nine journalists killed, Mexico came close behind with eight, all of them murders. India had four and Pakistan three.

The Brussels-based IFJ represents 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries. AP

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China’s key economic meeting to focus on supporting growth

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hina’s top leaders are set to convene this week to decide the economic agenda for 2022, and analysts are expecting the focus to shift to supporting growth from deleveraging and regulatory crackdowns.

The annual Central Economic Work Conference, attended by members of the Politburo Standing Committee including President Xi Jinping, will be keenly watched for signs that reinforce the move to looser economic policy signaled by a Politburo meeting last week.

“This year China has done more work on preventing risks focusing on the longer term, and next year policy will no doubt be leaning toward supporting growth,” according to He Wei, an analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics.

The meeting comes as the economy is slowing due to a worsening property market slump, weak consumption growth, and repeated outbreaks of Covid-19 which are damaging businesses and confidence.

Economists forecast growth to slow to 3.1 percent in the current quarter, a sharp deceleration from 7.9 percent in the April-June period and 4.9 percent in the last quarter.

Traders are searching for clues on how far China will go to loosen monetary and fiscal policies to boost the economy, after the central bank acted to inject 1.2 trillion yuan ($188 billion) of liquidity into financial markets and local governments accelerated borrowing toward the end of this year.

China’s financial markets are already rallying on expectations of more supportive policies, with everything from stocks to the nation’s sovereign and dollar bonds climbing in recent days. There are strong signs investors are returning to Chinese assets after being deterred by regulatory crackdowns and an economic slowdown, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index capping its biggest three-day gain since midMay on Thursday.

2022 is also a year of profound political significance, as the Communist Party is set to convene the 20th National Congress to decide the nation’s leaders for the next five years.

“Past experiences suggest that Beijing would strive to beat the growth target in a year of political reshuffle,” Morgan Stanley economists led by Robin Xing said in a note Monday.

While the official target for gross domestic product growth next year will only be revealed at the annual parliament meeting in March 2022, economists are expecting the conference to send signals that authorities will do more to ensure growth will reach around 5 percent.

That would be a step down from the 8 percent forecast for this year, but still robust enough for China to achieve its goal of doubling the size of the economy by 2035.

The dates of the meeting haven’t been officially announced, but officials from the Communist Party, government and central bank are scheduled to explain the meetings’ decisions Saturday morning, indicating it should have finished by then.

Here are the things analysts are watching for from the meeting:

Macro policy

A growing number of economists now project the PBOC will move to cut policy interest rates next year, and some say the reduction in the reserve requirement ratio will drive the benchmark lending rate lower as soon as this month. There is also a rising consensus that the PBOC will be much more accommodative to fuel credit growth, after credit expansion slowed markedly this year.

Any mention of a push for more government spending or infrastructure investment will also be critical, as fiscal policy has been tight this year and local governments have been slow to borrow and spend. UBS Group AG expects a “clear push for faster public spending, front-loading and more efficient use of special local government bonds, and more tax and fee cuts,” economists led by Wang Tao said in a note.

However, the Politburo meeting’s focus on the “sustainability” of public finances could mean that authorities will still be cautious with fiscal stimulus, as revenue from land sales is projected to contract next year, according to Gavekal’s He.

Deleveraging campaign

China’s effort to rein in a surge of debt over the pandemic has led to the economy’s macro-leverage ratio, or the debt-to-GDP ratio, dropping to 264.8 percent at the end of September, down from a peak of 271.2 percent a year earlier, according to data from the National Institution for Finance & Development.

Credit growth is widely expected to accelerate sharply in the first half of next year, with analysts debating how much authorities will loosen requirements for mortgage applications and lending to property developers. Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said authorities are likely to allow the debt-to-GDP ratio to rise by 4 percentage points.

“Overall new credit could reach the level in 2020, which would be huge,” said Xing. “Mortgage lending will be loosened on the premise of not triggering skyrocketing housing prices.”

Property easing

The property sector, which helped prop up China’s economy in previous downturns, will be key to the growth outlook next year.

While Beijing is unlikely to return to its old playbook, authorities are expected to dial back some property curbs in order to prevent a hard landing of the sector.

At the Politburo’s preparatory meeting last week, top leaders pledged to “support the commercial housing market to better meet buyer’s reasonable housing needs,” while deleting the phrase “houses are for living in, not for speculation” from the statement. With economists anticipating some loosening in areas including mortgages and developers’ financing, the conference should provide investors more clarity on the extent of the potential easing.

Regulatory crackdown

Whether China will continue with its crackdown on industries ranging from steel to education to the Internet remains a subject of debate, especially as downward pressure on growth increases. Any clarity will be welcomed by investors, who have seen markets roiled and billions of dollars lost after China launched a series of campaigns this year.

Some economists are expecting a shift of focus away from regulatory crackdowns to stabilizing growth, while others argue regulatory tightening will continue amid China’s pursuit of a more sustainable development model with “common prosperity” as the core.

Bloomberg News

Science Sunday

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

BusinessMirror

Sunday, December 12, 2021

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Filipino Faces of Biotechnology Awards

8 PHL biotech experts recognized F

By Lyn B. Resurreccion

ilipinos who have exemplary work and have contributed to the advancement of biotechnology in the Philippines were once again recognized with the Filipino Faces of Biotechnology Awards by the Department of Agriculture Biotechnology Program Office (DA-BPO).

The ceremonies for the fifth and sixth Faces of Biotechnology awards were held in person at a hotel in Manila on December 2.

In his video message, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar pointed out that the DA continues to employ realistic approaches in communicating the beneficial applications and impacts of biotechnology on food security, food safety, and agricultural resiliency and sustainability.

Dar pointed out that the Filipino Faces of Biotechnology Awards bring biotech closer to people by sharing real-life and powerful stories that inspire others to continuously propel in bringing the benefits of biotechnology to most people.

He added that the awards celebrate the country’s journey to farther miles in the advancement of genuine public acceptance and support to the use of biotech in agriculture, health, environment, information, education and policy.

“The awardees’ experiences, the challenges and hardships they have embraced, the obstacles they have overcome, and their contributions to the advancement of biotech to the country are truly inspiring and motivational,” he said.

“Biotech needs champions who could reach more farmers and fisherfolk and harness the potential of biotech in solving our current agri issues,” Dar said.

For his part, Agriculture Undersecretary Fermin D. Adriano under-

scored that the essence of recognizing Filipinos who made a dent in the field of Philippine agribiotechnology.

“I treat the awardees today as the vanguards of biotechnology. We recognize your contribution for all the things you can do for the good of this country. DA recognizes the discoveries of what Filipino scientists can produce that can alter the force of history,” he said.

Owing to the strict pandemic protocol last year, the awardees for the fifth edition of the awards for 2020 were recognized online but the formal awarding was held this year, together with the 2021 sixth edition awardees.

DA-BPO Director- Coordinator Annalyn L. Lopez led the awarding ceremonies together with Adriano.

The 2020/fifth Faces of Biotechnology awardees:

The Department of Agriculture Biotech Program Office (DA-BPO) recognizes Filipino biotechnology experts with the Filipino Faces of Biotechnology Awards during special ceremonies held at a hotel in Manila on December 2. (From left) DA-BPO Director-Coordinator Annalyn L. Lopez; awardees Dr. Mary Beth B. Maningas, 2020; Dr. Ma. Carmen A. Lagman, 2020; Alicia G. Ilaga, 2021; Dr. Teresita M. Espino, 2020; and Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, 2021; and DA Undersecretary Fermin D. Adriano. Not in photo are Arthur R. Baria, 2020 awardee; Dr. Ramon C. Barba, 2021 awardee (posthumous); and Juanito T. Rama, 2021 awardee (posthumous).

Bernard Testa

n Arthur R. Baria for his achieve-

ments in biotechnology R&D and regulations in the country.

His strong leadership led to the development of Robusta coffee upstream value chain to ensure a stream of sustainable source of green coffee supply.

He was behind the commercialization of the first biotech corn in the country and Asia-Pacific.

This translated the genetically modified corn research initiative of the private sector into a viable commercial product that changed the landscape of the corn and livestock industries as exemplified by thousands of Filipino farmers benefitting from it to-date. n Dr. Teresita M. Espino for her leadership and remarkable R&D initiatives in biotechnology. One of the country’s noted biotechnologists, she went back as a Balik Scientist despite a stable and promising career abroad.

Her expertise in the field of enzyme and monoclonal antibody

technology has resulted in the development of technologies which are now used by several sectors.

Her work on banana and abaca bunchy top control and rehabilitation programs are one of the most successful programs that contributes to agricultural productivity for small farmers. The production of disease-free planting materials through tissue culture has benefited the agriculture sector. n Dr. Ma. Carmen A. Lagman for her contribution in science teaching and R&D in marine biotechnology.

She is a researcher and scientist with over 30 years of research experience providing expertise in population genetics and molecular ecology of marine organisms.

Her efforts led to the establishment of the Practica l Genomics Laboratory at De La Salle University to meet the need for RNA and DNA marker-based technologies for

practical problems in aquaculture, fisheries, and agriculture along with the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Worldfish Center. n Dr. Mary Beth B. Maningas for pioneering and excelling in international and local research studies in aquatic biotechnology. Her most innovations benefited shrimp farmers through the cost-effective, onsite, and rapid diagnostics kit for white spot syndrome virus.

To help and encourage students pursue research in aquatic biotechnology, she pioneered the acquisition of multi-million grants from international and local funding agencies to establish the laboratory for aquatic molecular biology and biotechnology in the University of Sto. Tomas.

2021/sixth Faces of Biotechnology awardees

n Dr. Ramon C. Barba (posthumous) for being an outstanding inventor and scientist for pioneering

remarkable research on tropical crops through biotechnology. He developed a process that brought the flowering and fruiting of mango trees three times a year.

He advanced the research on various tropical crops. His many research breakthroughs include banana micropropagation and tissue culture of sugarcane and calamansi that gave lasting impact on the respective agribusiness potentials.

With his research team, he devised micro propagation protocols for more than 40 important species of fruit crops, ornamental plants, plantation crops, aquarium plants, and forest trees. n Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio for being a distinguished plant breeder, educator, and advocate for agricultural biotechnology. He pioneered in the use of participatory plant breeding methods to develop varieties for the coastal saline areas of Bangladesh.

His studies on genetics and molecular mapping led to the production of salt-tolerant rice varieties in t he Ph i l ippines, Ba ngl adesh, and India. Through his leadership, his team later developed superior germplasm that combined tolerance for salinity w ith high y ields; and for irrigated and rainfed lowland w ith good tolerance to iron toxicity and drought.

Gregorio is the director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) and a professor at the Institute of Crops Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños. n Alicia G. Ilaga for pushing frontiers of research, capacity enhancement and advocacy for agricultural biotechnology.

She provided full support from the development of laboratories to regulatory compliance of local GM

organisms (GMOs), worked toward the institutionalization of the National Biotech Week, and pushed for the establishment of the DA Agricultural Biotechnology Centers.

She mobilized the different DA institutions to develop a unified campaign to promote biotechnolog y—its application, supporting policies and investments. She took on the campaign in support of biotechnology and GMO by widening the supportive alliance with outside partners beyond the strong DA position. n Juanito T. Rama (posthumous) for his advocacies as a distinguished biotech farmer-leader and as a champion of agricultural biotechnology.

He began using Bt corn in 2006 that was then a humble undertaking which he described as a time when he and his group received little belief from others regarding their potential for success.

But he saw the positive effects of their endeavor, which reached a high point in 2012 when he was able to accomplish what was hailed as a “recordbreaking harvest” of almost 200,000 kilograms of yellow corn per hectare.

Acceptance

In his acceptance message, Gregorio expressed his gratitude to DA-BPO and acknowledged the “body” and the “spirit” of his success—”none other than our teams and our loved ones who are with us in the process to make biotech a reality.”

He said biotechnology is the gamechanger for the country’s agri-food system.

“Due attention must be given to our resource-poor farmers by providing them unbiased access to information, best practices, and new technologies that empower them,” the Searca web site quoted him as saying.

NVSU and UM teams bag top Innovation Olympics 2.0 prize

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he Automated Irrigation and Nutrient Management (Airin) system of the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) students, and the Project Angat of Team Alipugpug Tech Solutions of the University of Mindanao students bagged the top prize in the Innovation Olympics 2.0 (IO 2.0), a nationwide agri-hackathon for young Filipinos, a news release said.

The competition provided an avenue and opportunity for the students to develop and showcase innovative solutions that can help smallholder vegetable farmers.

With the theme, “Precision agriculture for small-scale vegetable farming,” IO 2.0 focused on finding new solutions that can help increase the profitability of smallholder farmers through efficient technologies in crop production.

After months of rigorous work, the winning teams’ distinctive innovative solutions bested the other four finalists for the IO 2.0 top spot.

Their technology solutions can enable smallholder vegetable farmers to automate their nutrient management process, minimize labor cost, and connect directly with consumers to improve their margins, yield, and livelihood.

The six finalists were selected from 21 participating teams composed of undergraduate and graduate students from universities across the country.

Each finalist received P100,000 as seed money for actual testing and implementation of their technology solutions over the course of several months.

The Airin system of the NVSU students helps farmers minimize labor cost by only applying the right amount of fertilizer at the right time and in the right place.

The technology allows farmers get a solar-powered synergistic system with fully automated irrigation and fertigation systems that monitor farm status and send updates via text messaging.

This allows vegetable farmers to better understand their farm conditions and respond with correct amendment solutions.

Community Cellular Networks established in San Luis, Aurora Province under the Village Base Station project. VBTS, CHED-PCARI photo “Our effort comes from the love of the Filipino farmer community. Being sons and daughters of farmers, we know the challenges that they face and this is where our inspiration comes from. It is our passion and purpose to help improve the lives of farmers so they will never have to worry about putting food to the table,” said Myka Fragata in her victory speech.

With her on Team Airin are Jaime Hapicio and Maricel Farro.

Project Angat created a farming system with three components, namely, Malakas, Maganda and Dumangan.

Malakas is an automated solarpowered vertical farming system made of bamboo. Maganda is a water-soluble capsule with formulated organic waste materials that stimulate plant growth and protect against diseases. Dumangan is an online platform that connects the farmers directly to consumers.

With this system, vegetable farming will become more convenient and profitable by allowing farmers to access farming inputs and markets for their produce.

“Even if we faced a lot of problems and difficulties during the Innovation Olympics, this is now our victory for Project Angat of Team Alipugpug Tech Solution... Let us all continue in our journey in uplifting the lives of small-scale farmers and never stop planting the seeds of change,” said

Elpidio Corbeta Jr. when his team was announced as one of the grand prize winners.

With him in Project Angat are Daniel Navarro, Stephen Ponteras, John Taylaran, Kim Tomaro, and Dale Viñalon.

Each of tthe winning teams took home P250,000 grand prize that will help them further develop their technology solutions and pursue their passion in helping smallholder vegetable farmers.

IO 2.0 was made possible by the collaboration of East-West Seed; the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca); Sensient Colors LLC; and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) through the UPLB-Technology Transfer and Business Development Office, UPLB Startup Innovation and Business Opportunity Linkaging Labs, and Apex: The UPLB Business Network.

“To our six grand finalists, congratulations. You all deserved recognition for making it this far. We sincerely admire your passion for innovation and your drive to make things happen,” said Henk Herman, general manager of East-West Seed Philippines.

“As your Innovation Olympic journey ends, a new journey in real world will begin. We encourage you to keep your great perseverance and continue to further develop your projects. It’s been a great pleasure and honor at

East-West Seed to support talented young innovators like you who share the same goal of empowering our farmers and transforming the agriculture industry,” Herman added.

Despite the pandemic, the IO 2.0 projects provided an optimistic future for the Philippines’ agriculture sector.

They demonstrated that leveraging technology and combining it with farming skills can provide greater results and improvement in the farming industry.

Two teams from the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) in Cagayan de Oro were among the six finalists.

One USTP team developed BalZip, a cable-suspended drone for farm monitoring and efficient fertilizer and pesticide distribution.

The other USTP team created Chlomet, a low-cost and automated chlorophyll meter device that can provide the exact data on chlorophyll and nitrogen content of the leaves of a plant to help farmers create and apply datadriven decisions with minimal costs.

One of the other finalists developed Archie, a ground robot for precision and judicious pest control developed by a team of students from Saint Louis University, University of Baguio, and University of the Cordilleras.

Meanwhile, a team of Asian Institute of Management students created the FarmJuan Management System, a set of technologies to help monitor, analyze, and prescribe appropriate actions to increase the quality and quantity of farm yield while optimizing operational and input costs.

“To our crazy finalists who have crazy youthful ideas, you all hold the future of agriculture,” said Searca Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, a member of the panel of judges.

“May you continue to step up by taking on this challenge in helping our farmers despite the pandemic. May we never forget to put the human and social aspect in our innovations to help improve our agriculture industry,” Gregorio said.

The winning Team Airin of NVSU and Project Angat of Team Alipugpug Tech Solutions of UM in the recent Innovation Olympics 2.0 (IO 2.0) agri-hackathon. Searca photo

DOST engineers bridge digital divide for Filipinos in rural areas

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ilipinos in rural areas may soon be equipped in facing the challenges of digital connectivity in the new normal.

Researchers from the Department of Science and Technology’s Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) are bridging the digital divide for Filipinos in rural areas by connecting them to the online world, a news release said.

Through Project Resilient Education Information Infrastructure for the New Normal (Project REIINN) rural areas will be connected to the online world through community cellular networks (CCNs).

CCNs are community-operated, small-scale network infrastructure which provide local connectivity needs.

It is gaining traction as an emerging alternative strategy in addressing the connectivity gap, by using a “ bottom-up” approach in providing connectivity to unserved, underserved and geographically disadvantaged areas.

Project REIINN builds upon the gains of the Village Base Station project (VBTS), which pioneered the deployment of CCNs in the Philippines.

The VBTS project provided voice and SMS communication services using 2G GSM cellular technology in seven rural areas in the province of Aurora.

To provide an appropriate technology in response to the need for data and internet access, The LokaLTE (Local LTE) team of Project REINN will be conducting trial deployments

of locally developed LTE cell sites in two rural areas in the Philippines.

The deployment will be the first LTE community network in the country. It will allow researchers to study how the introduction of Internet services through LTE impact service provision and subscriber behavior, among others.

A not her team f rom Project REIINN, the RuralCasting team, is focused on exploring the datacasting feature of ISDB-T, the Digital TV standard adopted by the Philippines, to enrich the remote learning experience of students.

Through datacasting-capable Digital TV receivers, educational materials could be delivered to students residing in areas with weak internet infrastructure.

LokaLTE and RuralCasting complement each other to provide a way for Filipinos to be better equipped in facing the challenges of the new normal.

Executive Director Enrico Paringit of DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development sees REIINN as a significant step toward achieving connectivity within hardto-reach areas such as in the provinces.

He called on other agencies to support this initiative that intends to enhance these areas’ internet connectivity and bridging the digital divide.

“Project REIINN is a prime example of what innovation can do for the people and we will continue in supporting science-based solutions,” Paringit said, the DOST-PCIEERD news release said.

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Faith

Sunday

Sunday, December 12, 2021

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

PHL Catholics launch ‘Men of St. Joseph’ group

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he Philippine Catholic Church on Wednesday declared the institutionalization of the Men of St. Joseph (MOSJ), a lay Catholic association of men committed to Jesus and consecrated to His foster father.

The launching followed the national consecration of the Filipino families to St. Joseph led by Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), at the San Roque Cathedral in Caloocan City.

The new movement is a collaborative initiative of the CBCP, the Council of the Laity in the Philippines, and the Oblates of St. Joseph (OSJ).

The MOSJ is the bishops’ response to the call of Pope Francis in his apostolic letter, Patris Corde, urging the Church “to reflect upon the role of St. Joseph in caring and loving our Savior…with the

Father’s heart.”

During the event, the OSJ through its provincial superior, Fr. Jason Andaya, accepted the task of being the propagator and spiritual guide of the new movement.

Fr. Erwin Mendoza, priestin-charge of the MOSJ, said the organization aims “to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.”

Among its envisioned objectives, he said, are “to sanctify work and promote the dignity of labor in society and to serve the needs of the Church and society through corporal and spiritual works of mercy.”

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, CBCP president, leads the national consecration of Filipino families to St. Joseph, at the San Roque Cathedral in Caloocan City on December 8. SCREENSHOT/DIOCESE OF KALOOKAN FACEBOOK PAGE

Any Catholic man of at least 18 years of age, who is willing to learn and commit himself to imitate the virtues of St. Joseph, may become a member of the organization.

“We call all Catholic men, at least 18 years of age, who are willing to learn and commit themselves to practice the virtues St. Joseph,” Mendoza said.

The MOSJ is also one of the CBCP’s legacies for the Year of

St. Joseph, which concluded on December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The year began last December 8, 2020, according to a decree authorized by Pope Francis in honor of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church.

The pope had also granted special indulgences to mark the year.

CBCP News

Reconstructed Maribojoc church turnover to diocese set on Dec. 12

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he National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) will culminate its restoration and reconstruction of quakedestroyed centuries-old heritage structures in Bohol with the turnover of the reconstructed Holy Cross Parish Church in Maribojoc town to its legal owner, the Diocese of Tagbilaran, on December 12, the National Museum Bohol said in a news release.

The Holy Cross Parish Church, Diocesan Shrine of St. Vincent Ferrer, is one of two Spanish colonial period churches destroyed by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Bohol and its neighboring islands on October 15, 2013.

The other church, the Our Lady of Light Parish in Loon, a town adjacent to Maribojoc, had already been turned over to the same diocese last September 7.

Reconstruction of both churches had been implemented by the NMP, a government agency responsible for various culturally significant properties, sites and reservations throughout the country.

Before its destruction, the church complex of Maribojoc which includes the stone masonry church and convent, its side pla-

The ceiling paintings of the reconstructed Holy Cross Parish Church in Maribojoc town in Bohol was executed by Cebuano master painter, Raymundo Francia. Nathaniel Luperte, National Museum Bohol

zas and the stone stairway at the back of the church, was declared National Cultural Treasure by the NMP on May 5, 2010.

The declaration recognizes Maribojoc Church as a unique cultural property, possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic and scientific value highly significant and important to the country and nation.

The site, due to its colonial architecture representative of the Spanish colonial period, had also

been listed by the National Historical Institute (now National Historical Commission of the Philippines or NHCP) as a historic center/heritage zone.

A new historical marker by the NHCP will be unveiled during the ceremonial turnover.

Unique to the church are its neo-Gothic and Mudejar styled retablos incorporated with local motifs.

Its ceiling paintings executed

by Cebuano master painter, Ray-

mundo Francia, is a fine example of early 20th century ecclesiastical art in the Visayas. Both elements of the church have been meticulously restored by local artists, guided by expert art restorers and conservators.

The massive feat of reconstructing and restoring the damaged heritage structures of Bohol was the result of the collective and collaborative efforts of the national government, local government units, contractors and stakeholders.

Eight years since the Bohol earthquake, the NMP has restored the heritage church complexes of Loboc, Dimiao, Alburquerque, Cortes and Panglao; besides the churches of Loon and Maribojoc, also reconstructed were the watchtowers in Loay, Panglao and Balilihan.

The Escuela Niña, a Spanish school building, and the Plaza Rizal in Bohol’s capital, Tagbilaran City, have also been restored by the NMP and turned over in June of this year.

In 2018, the National Museum Bohol relocated to its new home, the former provincial capitol, which was also damaged during the quake and restored by the NMP.

HK’s new Catholic bishop hopes to foster healing

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ONG KONG—The new head of Hong Kong‘s Catholic diocese ex pressed hope on December 4 that he could foster healing in a congregation and a city divided by the continuing fallout from massive antigovernment protests in 2019.

Bishop Stephen Chow spoke to the gathered faithful after his ordination in the 19th-centur y Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Participants wore surgical masks to protect against Covid-19.

“I’m quite aware that it is not easy given the painful damages that different parties have experienced in their own ways in the past two years,” he said.

He asked whether the pandemic, while destructive, has also been a blessing in disguise, as some

Hong Kong people reached out to help each other, regardless of political or religious persuasion.

“As the bishop of the Catholic diocese in Hong Kong and as a local church, [I] would very much like to take up a meaningful role to foster healing and connections in our church and for our hometown, this beloved hometown,” he said.

T he protest s, wh ic h were quashed by arrests and a tough new national security law, have split both the city and its 400,000 Catholics, who make up about 5.3 percent of the population.

Some support the restoration of order by the gover nment, while others say it has unduly curtailed free speech and the right to protest in the semiautonomous Chinese city.

Both Hong Kong leader Carrie

Lam, who was a central target of the protests, and former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was jailed for his role in the protests, are Catholic.

Pope Francis named Chow as the new bishop in May to replace Bishop Michael Yeong, who died in January 2019.

Chow, viewed as a moderate choice, has called for respect for different views, saying “unity is not the same as uniformity” at a news conference after he was named.

A native of Hong Kong, Chow was educated in the US and Ireland. He was named head of the Jesuit order for the China region in 2018, the year of a landmark agreement that allows the Chinese government a say in naming bishops in the mainland.

Hong Kong and nearby Macao are special administrative regions that have their own laws and are not part of the mainland.

Catholics in mainland China are legally allowed to worship only in churches approved by the Chinese government, but many attend underground churches led by bishops loyal to Rome.

Critics have said the Vatican sold out the underground Chinese church by signing the 2018 agreement.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday that leader Xi Jinping, in an address to a two-day conference on religious affairs, stressed the principle of developing religions in the Chinese context and providing active guidance to adapt them to a socialist society. AP

Pope: EU’s discouraging word ‘Christmas’ an anachronism

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OME—Pope Francis said that a withdrawn document discouraging European Commission staff from using the word “Christmas” was an “anachronism.”

The pope was asked to comment on the 32-page internal document, called “#UnionOfEquality. European Commission Guidelines for Inclusive Communication,” during his in-flight press conference en route from Greece to Italy on December 6.

He noted that a series of ideologies had attempted to pull up Europe’s Christian roots.

“You refer to the European Union document on Christmas…this is an anachronism,” he said.

“In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do it. Think of Napoleon: from there…Think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one…it is a fashion of a watered-down secularism, distilled water…But this is something that throughout hasn’t worked.”

The European Commission guide urged officials to “avoid assuming that everyone is Christian.” The commission is the executive branch of the European Union, a political and economic bloc of 27 member states.

“Not everyone celebrates the Christian holidays, and not all Christians celebrate them on the same dates,” the document said.

The guide encouraged staff based in the Belgian capital, Brussels, and Luxembourg to avoid a phrase such as “Christmas time can be stressful” and instead say “Holiday times can be stressful.”

Helena Dalli, the EU Commissioner for Equality, launched the guidelines on October 26 but announced on November 30 that she had recalled them.

She said: “It is not a mature document and does not meet all Commission quality standards. The guidelines clearly need more work. I therefore withdraw the guidelines and will work further on this document.”

Speaking to journalists on Monday, the pope stressed that the EU should uphold the ideals of its founding fathers, who included committed Catholics, such as Robert Schuman and Alcide De Gasperi, who the pope quoted during a major speech on democracy in Athens on December 4.

“The European Union must take in hand the ideals of the founding fathers, which were ideals of unity, of greatness, and be careful not to take the path of ideological colonization,” the pope told reporters at the end of his five-day visit to Cyprus and Greece.

“This could end up dividing the countries and [causing] the European Union to fail. The European Union must respect each country as it is structured within, the variety of countries, and not want to make them uniform,” the pope said.

He added: “I don’t think it will do that, it wasn’t its intention, but be careful, because sometimes they come, and they throw projects like this one out there and they don’t know what to do, I don’t know what comes to mind…”

“No, each country has its own peculiarity, but each country is open to the others. The European Union: its sovereignty, the sovereignty of brothers in a unity that respects the individuality of each country.

And be careful not to be vehicles of ideological colonization. That is why [the issue] of Christmas is an anachronism,” Pope Francis pointed out.

Shortly before the guide was withdrawn, the Vatican’s Secretary of State sharply criticized the document.

In an interview published by Vatican News on Novmber 30, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the text was going “against reality” by downplaying Europe’s Christian roots.

Europe’s Catholic bishops welcomed the document’s withdrawal.

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) said that it “cannot help being concerned about the impression that an anti-religious bias characterized some passages of the draft document.”

The pope was also asked during the press conference, later posted on the Vatican’s YouTube channel, about whether he was referring to specific countries when he spoke of a “retreat from democracy” in a speech at the Presidential Palace in Athens on Saturday.

He replied that he believed there were two main threats to democracy: “populism” and a drift toward “a kind of supranational government.”

He said: “I am thinking of a great populism of the last century, Nazism, which was a populism that, defending national values, as it said, ended up annihilating democratic life, indeed life itself with the death of the people, in becoming a bloody dictatorship.”

“Today I will say, because you asked about right-wing governments, let’s be careful that governments—I’m not saying right-wing or left-wing, I’m saying something else—let’s be careful that governments don’t slip down this road of populism, of so-called political ‘populisms,’ which have nothing to do with popularism, which is the free expression of peoples, who express themselves with their identity, their folklore, their values, their art,” he said.

He went on: “On the other hand, democracy is weakened, [it] enters a path where it slowly [weakens] when national values are sacrificed, are watered down toward, let’s say—an ugly word, but I can’t find another one—toward an ’empire,’ a kind of supranational government, and this is something that should make us think.”

The pope cited the 1907 novel “Lord of the World,” by the English Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, joking that he would be criticized for his “old-fashioned” taste in literature.

He recalled that the novel “imagines a future in which an international government through economic and political measures governs all the other countries.”

“And when you have this kind of government, he explains, you lose freedom and you try to achieve equality among all; this happens when there is a superpower that dictates economic, cultural and social behaviour to the other countries,” the pope said.

“The weakening of democracy is caused by the danger of populism, which is not popularism, and the danger of these references to international economic and cultural powers. That’s what comes to mind, but I’m not a political scientist, I’m just saying what I think,” he explained. Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A7

As ecosystem indicators, bats’ presence means the area is healthy.

The vulnerable bats of Biak-na-Bato

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

he Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Central Luzon (DENR-CL) announced in October the arrest of four alleged wildlife poachers, who were caught with 6,200 wrinkle-lipped bats (Chaerephon plicatus) they took from Bahay Paniki Cave inside the Biakna-Bato National Park (BNBNP) in San Miguel, Bulacan, one of the oldest protected areas (PAs) in the country.

Most of the confiscated bats were already dead, although the around live 100 bats were immediately released back into the wild after the confiscation.

Vulnerable species The wrink le-lipped bat is classified as a v ulnerable species under DENR Administrative Order 201909, or the Updated List of T hreatened Philippine Fauna and their Categories.

Bats are considered keystone species because of the important ecosystem services they provide, including seed dispersal for fruit bats and pest control for insect-feeding bats.

Bats are ecosystem indicators.

Their presence in an area means the ecosystem is healthy as they are part of the food chain, and are prey to wild animals, whether they are tree-dwelling or cave-dwelling bats.

The existence of a healthy population of fruit bats ensures the expansion of natural forest, while the presence of insect bats helps protect the human population from threats of pests like dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Bats’ populations, however, are threatened by habitat loss and hunting for their meat.

In the Philippines, they are being consumed as “exotic” food oras bar chow in rural areas, such as in Biakna-Bato.

Ecological importance

Like its bats, the BNBNP is a park of great importance.

According to DENR-CL, the more than 2,000-hectare historic BNBNP was established by then-President Manuel Quezon through Proclamation 223 in November 1937.

In the same year, it became a Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary as mandated by Proclamation 3915.

A DENR study states that the park is home to 177 animal species, including the endemic kalaw, or Philippine hornbill, the spotted wild boar, Philippine deer, giant cloud rat, Philippine macaque, monitor lizards and swiftlets.

Unique plants, insects and caves Biak-na-Bato National Park is one of the remaining areas in the country, representing one of the three types of habitat originally occupying only a small portion, of karst limestone forest.

Trees and plants in the area are highly restricted. They are unique species that provide habitat for a set of butterflies and insects.

As said in the DENR study, the forest at Biak-na-Bato provides shelter to endangered wildlife, such as Philippine deer and wild pigs, assorted birds, and of course, the all-important bats.

The BNBNP is studded with numerous cave formations that are home to tens of thousands of bats.

The Madlum River and Bahay Paniki Cave are both potential tourist magnets in the Biak-na-Bato National Park. DENR PAO 3 Chief Don Guevarra’s photo Some of its identified caves are: the Aguinaldo, Cuarto-cuarto, Bahay Paniki, Palanguyan, Tanapan, Sinuluan, Santaol, Suklib kabayo, Victoria, Kwebang Dapo, Punta Soro-soro and the Kwebang mata.

Of these, only a few caves have been classified and assessed, while the rest have yet to be explored by experts for scientific studies.

Ecotourism potential The management of the BNBNP sees these caves as tourist attractions.

The Bahay Paniki, for one, is where thousands of bats can be seen continuously flying in a circle formation at the upper level of the cave.

Meanwhile, the Cuarto-cuarto is known for its stalagmites and stalactites that form a compartment or small rooms.

On the other hand, the Madlum Cave, Aguinaldo Cave and the other caves can offer visitors an experience and feel of historical events led by Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of the Philippine republic.

Besides the caves, the streams and the Balaong River’s crystal clear water is very ideal for swimming and fishing.

The BNBNP is suited for mountain hiking, picnicking and even for scientific study and research.

A well-known ecotourism site in Bulacan, it has facilities that can accommodate visitors who used to frequent the park before it was closed to the public due to the pandemic.

It has a pavilion, which is popular for wedding and prenuptial photo and video sessions.

National shrine Biak-na-Bato is a national shrine, having played a significant role in the country’s history.

It is the place where Aguinaldo and other revolutionaries established headquarters from June 1897 to November 1897 in their fight against the Spaniards.

The “Constitution Provincial de la Republic de Filipinas” was adopted and signed in the cave by the revolutionary leaders, leading to the establishment of the first constitutional republic in the Philippines, known as the Biakna-Bato Republic.

The place was also the last stand before a truce agreement between Aguinaldo’s revolutionary committee and the Spanish colonial government was signed, marking the end of active hostilities, and the exile to Hong Kong of Aguinaldo and the other revolutionary leaders.

Mineral reservation While the BNBNP is an area set aside for conservation, Proclamation 401, signed by then-President Corazon C. Aquino in April 11, 1989, excluded certain areas from the operation of Proclamation 223. It included a 952-hectare portion that was declared as a mineral reservation.

Several portions of the park were also set aside from the operation of the BNBNP because of their historical significance.

It included two lots (Lot A-1 and Lot A-2), which were both designated as a national park, a 938-hectare portion (Lot C) and 480-hectare (Lot D),

Farmer involvement is key to environment protection, innovative agricultural finance

I

mproved information management and market systems, as well as involving farmers are essential to protecting the environment and crafting innovative and equitable financial instruments tailored to farming communities.

These are the main messages from a regional forum jointly convened by the Philippine government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca), Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (CoSAI), and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asia, a news release said.

Titled, “Paying for Nature and Society: Dialogue on Innovative Financial Mechanisms to Promote Equity and Sustainability in AgricultureAsia,” the online event was second in a series of regional discussions to understand how to incentivize farmers to protect and restore nature.

It drew attention to agriculture as a force for good in environmental conservation.

Dr. Dindo Campilan, regional director of IUCN Asia and Oceania Hub, pointed out the importance of innovation in financial instruments to promote environmental sustainability.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ximena Rueda of CoSAI and the Universidad de los Andes discussed the financial in-

struments developed for conservation that offer enormous opportunities for expansion into agricultural landscapes.

She pointed out that to be more effective, innovations must factor in political, technological and institutional factors affecting farmers and other target stakeholders.

Different perspectives and experiences with design or implementation of innovative financial incentives in agriculture were shared by a panel composed of leaders from the national government, Asian organizations, and private sector.

They tackled ways in which financial incentives are designed as well as aspects of replicability, scalability, and temporality of financial incentives in agriculture to support sustainable and equitable development.

Sri Lanka Agriculture Technology Secretary Gamini Samarasinghe shared that farmers in his country receive incentives from the Ministry of Agriculture through locally funded projects to help sustain production.

He added that to provide an enabling environment for the farmers, the Sri Lankan government also establish effective and inclusive market systems and strengthen information management systems of lands, production, subsidies and value chains.

The need to provide farmers with

incentives was affirmed by Irish Baguilat of the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), citing how farmers’ organizations can play a key role in promoting innovative new green financial instruments.

A case in point she discussed was AFA’s joint project with UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Bangladesh, which promoted financial instruments in a larger scale.

Dr. Prasun Kumar Das, secretary general of the Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (Apraca), one of the largest agricultural development banks in Asia, shared his experience in advocating for financial instruments through Apraca.

He noted that the challenges for farmers included insufficient income to prove credit worthiness, fear of getting deep in debt, lack of insurance coverage, volatility of borrowers’ businesses, and lack of technical know-how.

He affirmed Rueda’s observation that financial instruments must be able to contextualize environmental, social and governance factors in the target farming communities.

Erin Sweeney, lead for Sustainable Investment and Inclusion of Grow Asia, pointed out the need for greater collaboration across value chains to promoting known solutions and best practices.

She emphasized the need for better policies to bridge the gap between farmers‘ needs and requirements of sustainability standards Eelko Bronkhorst, managing director of Financial Access, said one of the main challenges is in the disconnect between investment opportunities and requirements for investment in sustainable agriculture.

He noted that it is important to bring together the different models and pilots from across the globe and identify how they can be contextualized per target stakeholder to maximize the potentials of these financial instruments.

Searca Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio said the pandemic has highlighted the need for effective and innovative financial mechanisms that are accessible to food producers and farming families.

He expressed hope that the dialogue will help convince financial service providers to invest and offer products that are more supportive of sustainable agriculture.

He also reiterated that strengthening academe-industry-government linkages can provide the tools needed to promote equity and sustainability in agriculture, an advocacy in line with Searca’s focus on Accelerating Transformation through Agricultural Innovation, the Searca news release said.

DENR personnel count the dead bats that were recently seized by authorities from illegal wildlife hunters in San Miguel, Bulacan. DENR PAO 3 Chief Don Guevarra’s photo which have been declared as watershed reservations.

Ongoing programs Emelita Lingat, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer of Bulacan who is also the concurrent Protected Area Superintendent of the BNBNP, said the park is currently a subject of various biodiversity programs, including the ongoing assessment and monitoring.

“We also have ongoing programs for protected area suitability assessment as required under the Nipas [National Integrated Protected Areas System], and biodiversity monitoring system to guide the PAMB [Protected Area Management Board] and LGU [local government unit],” Lingat told the BusinessMirror via Zoom on December 7.

At the same time, she said they are also implementing the Landscape and Wildlife Indicator Forest and Biodiversity Protection System in the area, which is important in protecting the BNBNP’s threatened biodiversity.

Wildlife, treasure hunting Speaking mostly in Filipino, Lingat said the BNBNP is threatened by destructive human activities, such as wildlife hunting—particularly bats— and treasure hunting.

“Especially during these time of the pandemic, wherein the people lost their livelihood, the community resorts to wildlife hunting [and] treasure hunting,” she lamented.

According to Lingat, the BNBNP’s protection remains wanting, with

only 18 personnel working to protect the more than 2,000-hectare PA. Don Guevarra, DENR Regional Public Affairs Office 3 chief, said as part of the DENR’s continuing information, education and communication campaign, environment and education lectures targeted barangays in Biak-Na-Bato to highlight wildlife protection.

Information campaign “We conducted a lecture after the arrest of the four [wildlife poacher] suspects. We immediately intensified our campaign and went to barangays, talked to officials and their health workers and tanod [village guards], and discussed the importance of protecting our wildlife,” Guevarra said.

He said while some people are well aware of the importance of protecting the BNBNP’s wildlife, some are still unaware that hunting is prohibited by law, or are simply taking their chances.

Guevarra said they believe that bat hunters were engaged in wildlife trading as manifested in the huge volume of bats confiscated by authorities recently.

“After our awareness campaign, we will continue with behavioral-change campaign. We expect communities around the BNBNP to be our partners in protecting our biodiversity,” he said.

Lingat and Guevarra said the DENR is partnering with communities to become their partners in various environmental programs like the National Greening Program and ecotourism in order to help fight wildlife hunting, such as of the all-important bats in Biak-na-Bato.

US, Europe scientists to map fungal networks, determine climate role

B

ERLIN—Scientists from the United States and Europe announced plans recently to create the biggest map of underground fungal networks, arguing they are an important but overlooked piece in the puzzle of how to tackle climate change.

By working with local communities around the world the researchers said they will collect 10,000 DNA samples to determine how the vast networks that fungi create in the soil are changing as a result of human activity—including global warming.

“Fungi are invisible ecosystem engineers, and their loss has gone largely unnoticed by the public,” said Toby Kiers, a professor of evolutionary biology at Amsterdam’s Free University and co-founder of the non-profit Society for the Protection of Underground Networks that‘s spearheading the effort.

“New research and climate models are providing irrefutable evidence that the Earth’s survival is linked to the underground,” she said.

Experts agree that tracking how fungal networks, also known as mycelia, are affected by climate change is important for protecting them— and ensure they can contribute to nature‘s own mechanisms for removing carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, from the air.

Fungi can do this by providing nutrients that allow plants to grow faster,

for example, or by storing carbon in the trillions of miles of root-like mass they themselves weave underground.

But Karina Engelbrecht Clemmensen, a fungal expert at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences not involved in the project, caution that while having better fungi maps would be useful for future conservation efforts, it was unclear how the researchers planned to go about that vast challenge.

“This is not trivial on a global scale,” she said.

Clemmensen and others also noted that many fungi don’t provide any benefits to plants or grow as underground networks, yet their role in climate change also merits investigation.

Some fungi actually produce carbon dioxide as they break down organic matter for food—potentially contributing to global warming if they release more CO2 into the atmosphere than they capture.

“When you talk about carbon cycles you really want to start thinking carefully about decomposers,” said Anne Pringle, a professor of botany and bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “A massive and coordinated effort to collect biodiversity data on a global scale is badly needed and will be very welcome,” she added, saying “there are good reasons to include all kinds of fungi in that effort.” AP

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, December 12, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ALI GRANDSON BRINGS ACT TO NEW YORK

N

EW YORK—Nico Ali Walsh studied everything from a ticket stub to a scale, loving all the memorabilia from some of boxing’s biggest names and nights.

Well, except for a picture of his grandfather getting cracked in the head by Joe Frazier’s thunderous left hand.

Muhammad Ali’s grandson has followed him into boxing and on Saturday follows him into the ring at Madison Square Garden, where The Greatest did everything from box in the “Fight of the Century” to guest referee the main event in the first Wrestlemania.

“This place holds a sentimental value,” Ali Walsh said. “If I wasn’t related to my grandfather then it would be super special just for the history. But because he fought here and I haven’t really gone anywhere where he fought like that, it’s just special and I think my family’s going to think the same thing when they come here.”

Ali Walsh (2-0, 2 KOs) fights during the first big boxing card back at Madison Square Garden in two years. It is headlined by Vasiliy Lomachenko’s lightweight bout against Richard Commey.

Ali Walsh, who grew up in Las Vegas, had never been to New York until this week. He looked like any other tourist checking out the inside of the famed arena Wednesday— except his name hung high above in lights, just as the Ali name had when Muhammad Ali and later Laila Ali fought there.

“I never imagined that this would happen. It’s amazing, it’s really special,” Ali Walsh said. “Like I said, it’s not just special because I’m a boxer, this is my career. It’s special for sentimental reasons. This is where my family was. Even my aunt fought here.

So, I’m just continuing history and this is just a real, real special time.”

The smaller Theater inside Madison Square Garden has staged three cards, but this is the first inside the big room since the coronavirus pandemic prevented and then limited the amount of fans who could attend events. But the New York Knicks and Rangers have long been back,

NICO ALI WALSH poses for a photo next to a display of Ali’s Fight of the Century against Joe Frazier during a tour of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. AP concerts have returned and now it’s boxing’s turn.

“It’s fantastic, just to have fans in the building for all of our events,” said Joel Fisher, MSG’s executive vice president of marquee events and operations.

Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine, has been the headliner for big crowds at Madison Square Garden before.

But the biggest bouts are now in Las Vegas, unlike when Ali was the star of the sport.

He fought eight times at the Garden, winning all of them except his first fight with Frazier on March 8, 1971. Frazier knocked Ali down in the 15th round and won a unanimous decision to retain his heavyweight title and hand Ali his first loss.

Wearing a “Fight of the Century” shirt during a tour of the venue,

California mom knows ‘worst’ in hoops action

L

OS ANGELES—A California woman was criminally charged Thursday after authorities said she told her basketball athlete daughter to “hit her” before the girl punched an opposing player in the head during a game.

The punch was allegedly thrown last month as two club teams played during a tournament in the city of Garden Grove near Los Angeles.

Latira Shonty Hunt was caught on cell phone video yelling “you better hit her for that” after her daughter fell to the ground on a previous play involving the victim, said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

The blow crumpled the 15-yearold victim “to the floor like a rag doll,” Spitzer said. The girl suffered a concussion, according to her family’s lawyer.

Hunt, 44, is charged with two misdemeanors: contributing to the delinquency of a minor and battery. She faces up to a year in jail if convicted, Spitzer said. Contact information for Hunt could not be found and it wasn’t immediately known if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

“In my opinion it would have not happened, but for mom’s words,” Spitzer said of the attack. He said Hunt’s words “were the catalyst” that caused her daughter “to even think

about” punching the other girl.

Youth sports in America are replete with examples of parents acting badly at games. Usually it involves taunts or other harsh language, often directed at officials.

Viral videos periodically emerge of fathers or mothers charging onto playing fields or courts and assaulting referees, coaches or players. While those cases can bring charges, legal experts said it is very rare for a parent’s comment from the stands to produce a criminal case.

Richard Kaplan, a Los Angeles defense attorney not involved with this case, called the charges against Hunt “a stretch.”

Kaplan predicted that it will be difficult for prosecutors to prove that Hunt’s outburst was a command and not just “an emotional response in a heated moment.”

The girl who threw the punch is the daughter of former National Basketball Association player Corey Benjamin, who issued an apology shortly after he saw the video of the game. His pro career included stints with the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks and overseas teams. AP

Ali Walsh said it was tough to see the picture of Frazier’s powerful punch that dropped his grandfather. But he noted that some good came from the defeat, which Ali avenged at the Garden in 1974 before winning their epic rubber match in the Philippines.

“If he didn’t lose that fight, if he won that fight, then we wouldn’t have gotten ‘The Thrilla in Manila,’ we wouldn’t have gotten the second fight even with Joe Frazier,” Ali Walsh said.

“So everything happened for a reason and those were some of the

greatest fights in all of boxing, one of the best trilogies in all of boxing.”

Ali Walsh, 21, is a long way from anything like that. He only turned pro in August and his middleweight fight Saturday against Reyes Sanchez (6-0) is scheduled for only four rounds.

He used to show videos of his training and sparring to his grandfather, who died in 2016. Ali stressed to him the importance of moving and dancing, part of an arsenal that made him stand out from so many fighters before or since.

“I remember he used to say he won’t miss boxing, boxing will miss him, and I really feel like that makes sense now that he’s gone,” Ali Walsh said. “His shadow looms over the sport of boxing, so it’s not just me getting compared to him because of

me being the grandson. Everyone gets compared to him because he is boxing and it’s just, he left such an impact on the sport.”

Ali Walsh didn’t realize how big that impact was as a child, though it’s clear now that the son of Ali’s daughter, Rasheda, has launched his own career.

While fans in the arena chanted “Ali! Ali!”, others watching at home told him they cried because of what that name meant to their own families.

“Some people said they watched my first fight or my second fight with their parents who used to watch my grandfather’s fights with their parents, and they would get emotional because it brings back a nostalgia that people miss,” Ali Walsh said. “It brings back my grandfather in a sense and just repeating history, like being here, when he fought here, is really special.”

DOMINANT GABI Corinthians’ Gabi

Zanotti celebrates after scoring against Sao Paulo during a Sao Paulo championship women’s soccer final match at Neo Quimica Arena in Brazil, Wednesday recently. Zanotti scores twice before 30,000 raucous fans in the highest attendance ever for women’s club soccer in Brazil to give Corinthians a 3-1 win in the second leg of the state championship final. The aggregate result was 2-2 until the 91st minute, when Adriana nets the winner to complete the team’s regional dominance in the year—state, national and continental champions. AP

Shaq’s shortcut: Buy Bill Russell’s rings in auction

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OSTON—Basketball fans hoping to buy something from Bill Russell’s memorabilia collection should expect some bigname competition.

Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley say they’re interested in bidding on items that Russell—a civil rights icon and the most decorated champion in team sports history—is selling off. An online auction with 429 lots began last week and culminated in a live event at the TD Garden before the weekend.

“I’d like to take some of that stuff off their hands,” O’Neal said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” on Tuesday night. “To be able to have all 11 of those rings, nobody’s outbidding me on that one.”

In fact, Russell is only selling two NBA championship rings—his first and his last—along with his Hall of Fame ring, one commemorating his two NCAA titles, another for making the NBA’s 50th anniversary team and one the league gave him for winning the most titles in professional team sports history.

Also on the block are his Olympic gold medal, his final Celtics jersey, his honorary law degree from Harvard— along with the cap and gown he wore for the ceremony—and a scrapbook page with a signed letter from Jackie Robinson thanking Russell and four Black teammates for refusing to play in a 1961 exhibition in segregated Kentucky.

“What he’s done for civil rights in this country is unmatched,” Barkley said on the broadcast. “Him and [Muhammad] Ali will always be my heroes as far as that goes. It’s easy to be a social justice guy now when you’ve got $100 million, you’re making $30-40 million a year, but those guys did all the heavy lifting back in the day. I think I might look at that auction and bid on something.”

The items, which have a combined estimated value running into the millions, include signed shoes, shorts and shirts Russell accumulated during a career in which he won 11 NBA titles—the last two as a playercoach and the first Black head coach in any US major pro sport.

The most valuable item—already over $400,000 in online bidding through Thursday afternoon—is expected to be the jersey Russell wore in his last game, in the 1969 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

But there are also quirkier items like an autographed Wheaties box, dozens of canceled checks, and seats and slices of the parquet floor from the original Boston Garden.

“There’s no question this is one of the most significant athlete collections ever to come up for auction,” said Hunt Auctions President David Hunt, who has also worked on collections from Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Roberto Clemente. “We’ve been very fortunate to work with some of the icons in sports. There’s no question Bill is in that group.”

Russell, who has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach, won two NCAA titles with San Francisco and the 1956 Olympic gold medal as well as the 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons.

But he also leaves a legacy as a civil rights pioneer, marching with Martin Luther King Jr., and backing Ali when he refused induction into the Vietnam War. Russell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011; it’s not in the auction, nor is an autographed photo of him with President Barack Obama.

“You can obviously understand what that piece is worth to him,” Hunt said. “When you’ve won every conceivable thing there is, you’re able to keep things and still sell a lot of things. That’s a blessing to be as accomplished as he was.”

Hunt said he went through the collection with Russell and was taken aback by the sight of Robinson’s letter.

“To be able to sit there with Bill and have him tell the history of these pieces—to not only participate in sports history, but some of the most significant moments in American history—that’s what’s special, for me,” Hunt said.

“You think about Jackie at that point in the country’s history, and Bill taking that stand, at a really volatile point in the country’s history,” Hunt said. “When you come across a page like that, you sort of take a minute and process what you’re looking at.

If that doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what does.” AP THE 1969 game worn jersey of Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell is displayed along with other memorabilia set to go up for auction in Boston. AP

BusinessMirror

December 12, 2021

How Cup Noodles became one of the biggest transpacific business success stories of all time

2

BusinessMirror DECEMBER 12, 2021 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

KNOWING THE PAST

The musical odyssey of Indonesian sensation, Mezzaluna

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By Stephanie Joy Ching

XPLORING one’s past can be a difficult journey. But for Indonesian singer-songwriter Mezzaluna, to know the past is to know the present.

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

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

Being the daughter of Indonesian rockstar, BimBim — drummer of the legendary Indonesian rock band Slank, Mezzaluna started picking up the piano and guitar at an early age.

However, she admitted that she didn’t consider music as a serious career until the pandemic hit.

“I’ve always been surrounded by music, to the point that it felt like a normal thing. I only started taking it seriously recently, in the beginning of the pandemic because I didn’t realize that it was something I loved. I wanted to be more productive in the pandemic,” After reaching that epiphany, she soon rediscovered a project she was working on five years ago, an experience she recounted as “like looking at another person.”

“At first, I really wanted to change it because it’s so not me

Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez : Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

Y2Z & SOUNDSTRIP are published and distributed free every Sunday by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing Inc. as a project of the

The Philippine Business Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd Floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

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MEZZALUNA

anymore, but I decided not to because it will lose its authenticity.

I made that, so it was me at some point. It feels weird at first, but at the same time, to connect with your past is to know you,” she stated.

Like most successful artists, Mezzaluna drew inspiration from personal experiences in creating her art. This, combined with her deep, sultry vocals, give us a brooding, melancholic yet empowering take on pop music.

However, she quickly realized personal experience alone was not enough to get her feelings across.

“You can literally be inspired by anything,” she said, “So I’ve learned to romanticize everything that happens to me, and other than that I also get inspired by watching strangers and making up stories about them,” From this came Mezzaluna’s

debut single “In Situ,” which she wrote at the start of her music journey.

“It was one of the quickest writing processes I’ve done as I was being honest with my feelings.

Since it was based on my own personal experience, I was just speaking from my heart. I was going through a period of time where I was feeling completely hopeless to the point that I couldn’t fight for anything anymore, so I was just writing down my feelings on a notebook, ” A soulful and mature depiction of hopelessness and reaching out, the song’s darkwave and trip-hop, soul and jazz fusion is brought to life by renowned Indonesian producer Gio Wibowo and Deby Sucha, who directed the music video. Together, they create an “In Situ” that perfectly captures the raw and anxious wistfulness and vulnerability of youth. “’In Situ’ is a song about reaching out to someone that isn’t responding, so what’s left is a feeling of hopelessness to the point where you just accept anything without expecting or fighting for it anymore,” Mezzaluna explains. “The music video truly captures the essence of the song. I couldn’t be prouder.”

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | DECEMBER 12, 2021

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BUSINESS

AND IN THE END A fan’s notes on Peter Jackson’s Beatles doc

upended once John’s passions turned elsewhere.)

MCCARTNEY’S TIME

THE Beatles (Photo by Disney+ via AP)

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By Hillel Italie/Associated Press

EW YORK (AP) — Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary “Get Back” runs for nearly eight hours and the only real criticism you can make is that it doesn’t last longer. For dabblers and other newcomers, it’s a prime introduction. For the Beatles fanatic, and we are a vast and obsessive community, every moment offers some kind of revelation or random pleasure, along with glimpses of what was to come and what might have been.

A few notes from one fanatic: A MOMENT’S NOTICE

“GET Back” closely follows the band in January 1969 as it hurries to record an album and plan a concert for an intended television special, what became the 1970 album and documentary “Let it Be.” It’s the most in-depth look we’ve ever had of the Beatles at a given moment, but should not be mistaken for more than a given moment. The Beatles were in transition in January 1969 as they had been all along. A documentary set six months earlier or six months later likely would have told a very different story. A documentary set two years earlier might have seemed like distant history. A documentary set two years later, when they were

no longer together, would have been a retrospective.

THE YOKO FACTOR

JACKSON’S film sets a far brighter mood than “Let in Be,” which for the Beatles and the public alike has served as a grim finale. But the Beatles were undeniably in the early stages of breaking up. Their founder, John Lennon, had left his wife for Yoko Ono midway in 1968 and was openly losing interest in the group (Did Yoko, who sits silently through much of the recording sessions, break up the Beatles? Directly, no. But indirectly, yes. Beyond their talent, the magic of the Beatles was in their chemistry, in their total commitment to the music and to each other, a rich and intricate balance fatally

FOR partisans who like to choose between Lennon and Paul McCartney, this is a prime argument for McCartney, the maturing of “The Cute Beatle” and a master craftsman’s surrender to deeper, even unwanted feelings.

Shaken he may lose the band, and the songwriting partner, he loved above all else, McCartney responded with the bittersweet 1968 epic “Hey Jude” and with the somber “Let it Be,” “The Long and Winding Road” and other works he brought to the January sessions. While Lennon turns up with little new material, McCartney is so inspired he conjures the riff and title for “Get Back” in a matter of seconds. A song which he sketched out on film and ended up on the “Abbey Road” album may have best defined his thinking: “Carry That Weight.”

GRUMPY GEORGE

IF George (“The Quiet Beatle”) seems uncommonly grumpy at times, it isn’t just out of frustration with getting his songs accepted, or with Paul’s controlling manner. He had spent part of 1968 with Bob Dylan and the Band in Woodstock, New York, thriving on the kind of easy camaraderie that George rarely finds anymore with the Beatles. He will summon it during “Get Back” when he steps in to help Ringo Starr write “Octopus’s Garden,” adding guitar parts and suggesting lyrics in a casual and understated manner, as if just one of countless favors exchanged over the years.

OUT OF THE PAST

TIME is the film’s unspoken theme. The Beatles were all 28 and under, but they seem unrecognizable from the fresh, cheerful “Mop Tops” of five years earlier.

The whole project was a self-conscious effort to “get back,” and free themselves from their own legend. They chase an unreachable past, telling war stories, jamming on oldies such as “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and “Rip it Up.” They resurrect an early, obscure LennonMcCartney song, “One After 909,” and shout out an old Liverpool folk number, “Maggie Mae.” (Not to be confused with the Rod Stewart hit). But they are still “The Beatles.” John’s wry closing words as they finished their fabled rooftop concert: “I hope we’ve passed the audition.”

INTO THE FUTURE

PART of the tension in watching “Get Back” is knowing what will come next.

“Get Back” was filmed soon after John had met the notorious music manager, Allen Klein, whose other clients included the Rolling Stones. The Beatles have been leaderless since Brian Epstein died suddenly in 1967, and Lennon is smitten with the profane (and unscrupulous) American, heartened that he seems to know his music better than Lennon himself does. By the spring of 1969, Klein will have signed up the Beatles, over McCartney’s well-founded objections, and help turn what might have been an amicable parting into a legal and verbal war that will blow the band apart in 1970. Watching Lennon rhapsodize over Klein, even as recording engineer Glyn Johns warns him that he found Klein to be strange and selfinvolved, is like watching a horror movie in which the hero prepares to open a creaky door. “Don’t do it, John!”

The presence of keyboardist Billy Preston, who joins the Beatles on “Get Back” and other songs, and a conversation in the Abbey Road studio between John and George suggest another path. George wonders if he shouldn’t release a solo record, and John, who already has made an album of experimental music with Yoko, sounds supportive. Neither suggest that the Beatles themselves should stop. For those who wanted the Beatles to stay together forever — or on the far side of ever — this may have been the way, with the Beatles no longer an all-consuming unit of four, but an open-ended community for group and side projects, joined by wives and friends and session players.

IN THE END

ONE of the film’s final scenes finds the Beatles crowded together in the control room at Abbey Road, listening to their new music. They’re not alone.

Yoko is there, but so is Ringo’s first wife, Maureen, head shaking happily in time to the beat, and Linda Eastman, two months away from marrying McCartney and joined by her young daughter from a previous relationship, Heather, whom McCartney banters and plays with as if he had been raising her all along. The Beatles and their lovers smile and laugh and clasp hands. It’s a moment of joy before darker times, our heroes caught up in the music — a force stronger than all their differences, as it remains so now.

How Cup Noodles became one of the biggest transpacific business success stories of all time

By Alisa Freedman

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University of Oregon

ee a container of Cup Noodles at a convenience store and you might think of dorm rooms and cheap calories.

But there was a time when eating from the product’s iconic packaging exuded cosmopolitanism, when the on-the-go meal symbolized possibility—a Japanese industrial food with an American flair.

Cup Noodles—first marketed in Japan 50 years ago, on September 18, 1971, with an English name, the “s” left off because of a translation mistake—are portable instant ramen eaten with a fork straight from their white, red and gold cups.

I research how products move between America and Japan, creating new practices in the process. To me, Cup Noodles tell a story of crossing cultures, and their transpacific journey reveals how Japan has viewed America since World War II.

A flash of inspiration It is a story widely told in Japan: Cup Noodles were created by the same person who invented instant ramen, Ando Momofuku, who, in 1948, founded Nissin Foods.

Ando was born in Japan-occupied Taiwan and moved to Osaka in 1933. In wartorn Japan, Ando watched people line up to purchase cheap bowls of noodles from stands in black markets. The noodles were made from wheat flour donated by the United States to make bread, a food more filling but less common in the Japanese diet.

Ando wanted to make noodles people could easily eat at home, so he built a laboratory shed in his backyard. After several failed attempts, inspiration struck in 1958. While observing his wife, Masako, frying tempura, he noticed that oil removed the moisture.

He then realized that fried and dried noodles could be remoisturized when boiled. Seasoning powder and dehydrated toppings could be added, making countless flavor combinations possible. Ando chose chicken for the first flavor as chicken soup seemed rich, nutritious and American.

Because Ando’s “Chikin Ramen” cost six times the price of a bowl of fresh noodles, he had trouble attracting investors. His solution was to take his product directly to the public through tasting events. Chikin Ramen caught on and later became one of the most prevalent foods in postwar Japan.

In the mid-1960s, Japanese sales of his Chikin Ramen—and spinoff products like “Spagheny,” an instant spaghetti created in 1964—declined, in part, because of market saturation. Ando then sought a new market for instant ramen: the United States.

In the US at that time, Japanese foods like sukiyaki beef and vegetables cooked

Media coverage of the Asama-Sansō Incident depicted police officers eating from Cup Noodle containers. Shotaaa/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA fan collaborations to help sell the product.

Nissin also adopted the popular Japanese advertising practice of hiring American celebrities to pitch their products, with James Brown singing about miso-flavored Cup Noodle to the tune of “Get On Up” in a memorable 1992 television ad.

in a hotpot—were in vogue because they seemed exotic yet fit the general American palate. Ando believed instant ramen could do the same.

So in 1966 he traveled to the United States to promote Chikin Ramen. He was surprised to see Americans break packs of dried noodles into pieces, put them into cups and pour boiling water over them, rather than prepare Chikin Ramen in a pot and then serve it in a bowl.

When Ando returned to Japan, he set out to craft a new product inspired by this American preparation technique to sell in Japan.

On the go becomes all the rage After much trial and error, the Nissin team devised a way to wrap a plastic foam cup around dried noodles placed in the center for easy expansion. Different flavors were placed atop the noodles to help them cook better and make them look like a fuller meal. The cup had a pull-back lid inspired by a container of macadamia nuts Ando had eaten on his transpacific flight.

Otaka Takeshi, who created the logo for the Osaka 1970 world’s fair, designed the cup to look cosmopolitan and cutting edge, with large English words in a red psychedelic font above small Japanese words and with gold bands inspired by expensive dinner plates. Cup Noodle included around the same amount of ramen as the dried packs but cost four times as much because it was more expensive to make. The price made Cup Noodle seem luxurious.

But in Japan, eating while walking is considered rude. It’s also difficult to do with chopsticks. So Nissin decided to change how people eat. Each Cup Noodle came with a small plastic fork.

Nissin held tasting events in Japan to promote Cup Noodle and teach people how to eat it. The most successful was held on November 21, 1971, in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district. It targeted young adults strolling the “Pedestrian Paradise,” Japan’s most fashionable street.

More than 20,000 Cup Noodle units sold in four hours.

Nissin also pitched the product to work-

4 BusinessMirror

Cup Noodles hides its Japanese roots

Momofuku Ando Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images ers on the move, like the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Cup Noodle received an unintended media boost when coverage of a hostage crisis called the Asama-Sansō Incident showed police officers eating Cup Noodle to stay warm.

More than a fashionable food Cup Noodle epitomized the dominant belief in postwar Japan that a better life could be achieved through convenience and comfort, whether it was through appliances like refrigerators and televisions or takeout food.

Japan’s first convenience stores opened in 1969 and became primary marketers of Cup Noodle. It was one of the first foods sold in vending machines in Japan, with the first Cup Noodle vending machine installed near the Tokyo offices of the Nihon Keizai financial newspaper in November 1971.

Over time, the manufacturing process improved and prices dropped, and instant ramen became a go-to food for economically precarious populations.

Cup Noodle has deployed several successful Japanese marketing strategies.

They include releasing a steady stream of new flavors—from Japanese comfort foods like chicken teriyaki to exotic fare like curries—along with attention-grabbing limited-edition flavors like “Cheechili Curmato” (chili, tomato and European cheese curry, anyone?).

Marketers tapped into nostalgia and

December 12, 2021

None of these strategies was used to sell Cup Noodle in the United States, however.

The product took a different path in the US by downplaying foreignness and fashion and by becoming an ordinary American food.

Cup Noodle was first sold in the United States in November 1973 at a time when Japanese products like Toyota cars were designed to be different from those made in America yet easy for Americans to understand, pronounce and accept.

Americanized as “Cup O’Noodles”—and later renamed “Cup Noodles,” with an “s,” in 1993—it had shorter noodles that could be eaten with a spoon and fewer flavors than those offered in Japan.

Nissin’s first overseas factory opened in 1973 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Now, in 2021, Cup Noodles is made in 80 countries and territories, each with its own local variants. For example, you can eat masala Cup Noodles in India and mushroom Cup Noodles in Germany. By May 2021, 50 billion units of Nissin’s Cup Noodles had sold worldwide.

In Japan, Cup Noodles now represents a mix of trendiness and nostalgia. Visitors to Japan’s Cup Noodles Museums can make their own personalized Cup Noodles. Popular characters like Yoda and Hello Kitty have hawked Cup Noodles in Japan.

In the US, a neon 60-foot Cup Noodles ad hung in New York’s Times Square from 1996 to 2006—symbol of Nissin’s global reach. It represented the idea—common in Japan—that making it big in America is the key to business success.

In America, however, Cup Noodles has succeeded by hiding its Japanese roots. The Conversation ON THE COVER: Girl with Red Hat on Unsplash