BusinessMirror December 17, 2023 by BusinessMirror

ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS

2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion

EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business n

Sunday, December 17, 2023 Vol. 19 No. 67

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

MASINLOC resident Doreen Joy Abadilla breathes in the serene beauty of the Coto Kidz Pool. HENRY EMPEÑO

RISING FROM THE RUBBLE A former mining community ponders its future with newfound tourism fame

By Henry Empeño

Juarez points out that in the first three quarters of this year alone, about 12,500 visitors have crowded into her office to get a pass to Kidz Pool— the high points being April with 3,341 visitors and September with 3,064. This November, more visitors arrived in Coto: a total of 6,847, with the bulk (2,644) arriving during the long All Saints Day break from November 1 to 5.

ASINLOC, Zambales— Search the internet for Coto Kidz Pool and you’d get about 146,000 results in .42 seconds. That’s more than double the “hits” you’d get when you surf the net for Magalawa Island in nearby Palauig town, dubbed the mini-Boracay of Zambales, or, for that matter Isla de Potipot, a smaller yet equally Instagrammable island getaway in Candelaria town.

Good old days

RIVER, forest and mountain all contribute to the stark beauty of the Coto mountain resort. HENRY EMPEÑO

RUSTY mining equipment stand in contrast to the scarred hills left from chromite mining. HENRY EMPEÑO

A TOURIST stands at the diving board over the deep-green waters of the Coto Kidz Pool. HENRY EMPEÑO

Coto Kidz Pool is now a favorite haunt of bikers and 4x4 off-roaders who don’t mind the bumpy, bone-jarring 27-kilometer drive over a narrow dirt road to be rewarded with the serenity of a pine forest and the crystal-clear water of a mountain river. “It’s the newest tourism sensation here in Masinloc, the current rave of visitors,” proclaims Gigi Ejanda-Juarez, who heads Masinloc’s tourism office. “This has kept our staff busy lately, and sometimes exhausted, but we can’t complain. It’s a very welcome development for Masinloc, especially when we’re gunning for a revival of local tourism after the pandemic.”

THE vehicle pass visitors should get in going to Kidz Pool is a throwback to the days when Coto was a thriving and security-conscious mining enclave operated by Benguet Corporation. Coto, which is a sitio of Barangay Taltal, is blessed not only with an ideal resort environment, but also what is considered the biggest chromite deposit in the world. Chromite is used as refractory material because it is stable in high temperatures, thus making it ideal for chrome plating and production of corrosion-resistant superalloys, nichrome, and stainless steel. A report by the United States Geological Service (USGS) in 1989 says the Coto mines that produced refractory-grade chromite products, with lump materials produced in three different sizes or grades, have “at least seven to 10 years’ worth of production in the reported reserve category.” “Since the start of operations in 1937, production has amounted to 15 million metric tons of products, which would indicate mining of at least 30 million metric tons of crude ore,” the USGS report says. Continued on A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.6890 n JAPAN 0.3926 n UK 71.0981 n HK 7.1329 n CHINA 7.8326 n SINGAPORE 41.9471 n AUSTRALIA 37.2949 n EU 61.2301 n KOREA 0.0432 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8456 Source: BSP (December 15, 2023)

NewsSunday RISING FROM THE RUBBLE BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, December 17, 2023

Continued from A1

The USGS study adds: “In 1967, Coto reserves were estimated at 9.35 million metric tons. It is estimated that from 1967 to 1980, about 12 million metric tons of cruder ore would have been extracted, which still leaves reserve as much 5.307 million metric tons as of 1980.” Abundant chromite products also yielded better benefits to residents of the mining community. “We used to have the best of both worlds here,” recounts Sofia Siriquit Somintac-Rubio, a Coto native who now works as the local government unit’s tourism officer at Kidz Pool. “We lived in staff houses, we had a movie house, and children go to school for free. Some even get scholarships to Manila colleges,” Rubio recalls.

Mining relics

THERE were about 3,000 employees at Coto then, with almost half of the workers being Coto natives, says Rubio. Benguet had renewed its 25-year agreement with mineral claim owner Consolidated Mines Inc. (CMI) in 1981, but when this expired in 2006, mining operations passed on to other companies, including a Chinese firm that managed the concession from 2011 to 2013. Then when it was found out that the Chinese operator had Chinese workers who entered the country illegally, mining in Coto was halted and facilities, as well as

local livelihood, deteriorated. Today, the old mining community is just a shadow of its old self: ramshackle staff houses and warehouses painted in the green and maroon colors of Benguet Corporation lay in disrepair. The community market, old movie house, as well as the bleachers where residents used to watch ballgames (softball used to be big here, oldtimers say) are in a shambles. Near the tunnel entrance to Benguet’s underground mine shafts north of the Coto plaza, equipment and machinery are scattered along the way: cement mixer, fuel tanks, trolley cart—all rusted. There is also an abandoned hauler still filled with ores from the mine. Then at night, a large part of Coto suffers in darkness because electric power service was cut off in 2015 after the Chinese firm became indebted to the local power firm by some P30 million.

TV host Drew Arellano interviews Coto tourism officer Sofia Siriquit Rubio during a visit to the former mining community. HENRY EMPEÑO

SARI-SARI store owner Emma Ratonil makes extra income cooking meals for Coto visitors. HENRY EMPEÑO

Tourism star

COTO always had what it takes to be a top-rate tourist attraction with its river and forest and mountain. Even when it was still privately held by Benguet Corporation, Kidz Pool was already a recognized visitors’ draw among locals. Rubio, who also managed a store at the resort area during Benguet’s time, says the company developed Kidz Pool as a recreational area and put up the cottages lining the river bank sometime in 1999 or 2000. Back then, Ben-

www.businessmirror.com.ph

UNEMPLOYED electrician Lerin Inrhe believes the future for Coto is in tourism. HENRY EMPEÑO

MINING relics like the hanging bridge leading to Coto’s underground mines remain a popular photo spot for visitors. HENRY EMPEÑO

guet charged locals P50 per person for entrance, Rubio recalls. Coto also gained attention following the location-filming here of the Pia Wurtzbach-Gerald Anderson starrer My Perfect You, which showcased the Kidz Pool as “Happy Sunshine Camp.” However, the local tourism industry saw its modest but steady growth come to a halt with the departure of Benguet Corp. from Coto, according to Rubio. Consequently, locals faced a double blow—losing both employment income from mining and additional livelihood from goods and services sold to visitors. “It was then that we asked Mayor Senyang Lim for help, especially when we suffered severe economic loss during the pandemic. And she suggested that we revive tourism,” Rubio remembers. The bleak situation in Coto soon changed when Kidz Pool became a social-media phenomenon early this year. Masinloc Tourism’s Gigi Juarez recounts that the enchantment of Kidz Pool started when travel vloggers, thelostboys.ph, shared a TikTok video featuring them diving into the crystal-clear waters of Kidz Pool and providing instructions to their audience on how to visit Coto. This video quickly garnered over 42,000 views, piquing the interest of other vloggers and adventure tourism writers, consequently surging interest in Coto and the town of Masinloc. The arrival of biker groups and 4x4 off-roaders led to an increase in social-media posts about Kidz Pool, attracting visitors initially from Manila, Bataan, Pampanga and Bulacan, and later from other parts of the country such as Laguna and Cebu.

Rising from the rubble

GRADUALLY, hope made its way into Coto with the influx of guests, Rubio says. The increasing arrivals quickly resulted in job opportunities created by the local government unit, as the need arose for a tourism officer, multiple eco aides to maintain cleanliness, additional security staff, and even a lifeguard to oversee the deep part of the river where guests utilize a diving board. Rubio says that with the planned development of Kidz Pool and the expansion of operations,

more staff would be needed to maintain the project. The LGU also gets additional income from the P160 entrance fee charged from visitors, part of which goes to the fund for environmental upkeep. This also boosts the revenue allotment received by Coto, as it gets 25 percent of the proceeds from the municipal fees, Rubio says. In the community, the rise of Kidz Pool as a tourist attraction brings extra income to the likes of Emma Ratonil, a 54-year-old store owner. A cousin of the former mine superintendent, Ratonil still longs for the return of the “happy times” when mining was king, but admits that tourism had somehow revived Coto from the doldrums. Ratonil sells the usual sari-sari items, as well as street food like kikiam and fishballs for the snacks of visitors, mostly riders coming into town. And with her stock of fresh vegetables and meat (thanks to her electricity connection), visitors would sometimes request her to prepare meals and this provides extra income. For a chicken meal, she would charge just P190, which is the basic cost of one kilo of chicken meat plus the necessary condiments, and P320 for pork meal. For her cooking service, she would just charge P50. Still, Ratonil says that business is even better now because her new rider-clientele pay in cash, whereas the neighborhood customers sometimes get goods on credit.

Plans and pushback

THE longing for the heady days of chromite mining is fueled by recent news that Consolidated Mines Inc. (CMI), which owns the mineral claim since 1930 for the 2,677.22-hectare Zambales Mineral Chromite Reservation, wants top revive chromite mining in Coto. CMI said in a a filing with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) that it will mine 87,900 metric tons (MT) of chromite concentrate and 10,000 MT of lumpy ore in Coto annually. For this, the company says it will spend P350 million to repair and restore facilities, purchase equipment, and bankroll the operation. It also plans to utilize the existing mill plant used by Benguet Corp. and widen the roads to be used by trucks hauling ore to the seaside pier (Benguet used to transport ore via a railway, which had since been dismantled). CMI has since applied for a renewal of the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) to cover the Coto project and for an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) required by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. The plan, however, met stiff opposition from Masinloc officials, particularly the Liga ng mga Barangay, which passed a resolution on March 8 to oppose CMI’s appli-

cation to extend its MPSA over Coto. The barangay chiefs said in the resolution that CMI “appears to be not responsible or not worthy to be an operator of [mines], as this company was found to be irresponsible and incompetent when it negligently allowed the flooding of the underground openings critical to the viable exploitation of the remaining chromite deposits in the Zambales Mineral Chromite Reservation.” Moreover, they pointed out that in about 50 years of commercial mining production by CMI, “our respective communities have never experienced significant economic benefits from this mining operation.” “Allowing it to continue for another 25 years would only cause the depletion of our natural resources and degradation of our environment,” the barangay officials added. They also stressed that the water used for domestic and agricultural consumption in Masinloc comes from the same watershed where the MPSA is located. “Mining operation in the Coto area is expected to have an adverse effect on the quality and quantity of the water supply,” they pointed out. The Liga ng mga Barangay likewise said that the host barangay of Taltal, as well as the Sangguniang Bayan of Masinloc, have already expressed opposition to CMI’s application for MPSA. Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has also “personally expressed to us his vehement opposition to the MPSA application during a meeting with barangay officials on March 6,” the Liga resolution also stated.

Prospects

SITTING at one of the deserted bleachers in the basketball court the day the BusinessMirror visited Coto was Lerin Inrhe, 45, a native of Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, who had made Coto his home after being employed by the Benguet firm in 1980. Inrhe used to be an electrician, but he is unemployed now—one of the casualties of the mining pullout. Taking long draws on his menthol cigarette and exhaling smoke as he talked, the former Benguet worker reminisced about the healthy economy under the mining firm. “It used to be that everyone here was happily employed,” Inrhe says. But he hastily adds that the long queues of motorcycles and SUVs that now arrive on a daily basis are the future of Coto. “There is no more hope for mining,” he says wistfully, adding that he doesn’t believe that the reported revival of mining operation in Coto would ever push through. “That Kidz Pool is where we get our living now,” Inrhe says. “Soon the workers here will grow in numbers, and that good will spread out to our community.”

TheWorld

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

Sunday, December 17, 2023

The world’s poorest countries buckle under $3.5 trillion in debt By Ezra Fieser & Yinka Ibukun

T Manhattan’s luxe Pierre hotel on a late September morning, Adebayo Olawale Edun, the finance minister of Nigeria, tried to soothe the jitters of Wall Street bankers. Over croissants and fresh-squeezed orange juice, he pledged that his country would cut spending and collect more in taxes to make the crushing debt payments owed to foreign investors. For Edun, a former investment banker and World Bank economist, it could hardly have been a more important audience: a presentation sponsored by Citigroup Inc., one of the world’s biggest underwriters of international bonds. Tucked inside the materials distributed to the crowd, one item suggested the challenge of his task, according to people who were there but requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting. The document showed that Nigeria’s 2022 debt payments, the equivalent of $7.5 billion, surpassed its revenue by $900 million. In other words, it had been borrowing more just to keep paying what it already owed. A debt crisis is brewing across the developing world as a decade of borrowing catches up with the world’s poorest countries. In 2024 these nations, known to rich-world investors as “frontier markets,” will have to repay about $200 billion in bonds and other loans. The bonds issued by Bolivia, Ethiopia, Tunisia and a dozen other countries are either already in default or are trading at levels that suggest investors are bracing for them to miss payments. The situation is especially grave, because these nations have small domestic markets and must turn to global lenders for cash to spend for hospitals, roads, schools and other vital services. As the Federal Reserve vows to keep US interest rates higher for longer, a once-ebullient market for debt from those countries is drying up, cutting them off from more borrowing and adding to the many rate-related risks of 2024. “The punch bowl has been taken away,” says Sonja Gibbs, a managing director of the Institute of International Finance, which represents private and central banks, invest ment m a nagers, insu rers and others in the industry. “Global rates are considerably higher, and the incentive to invest in these markets is challenging when you can get 4 percent or 5 percent in US Treasuries.” A series of global shocks sparked the crisis. During the Covid-19 pandemic, rich nations printed money to hand out stimulus checks; poor ones had to borrow to keep their economies running. The easy-money policies in the wealthy world meant that investors were happy to lend in search of higher rates. Then, poor countries faced higher food import costs caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, combined with a global spike in inflation. The timing could hardly have been worse. Including government, corporate and household borrowing, the debt of the 42 countries the Institute of International Finance classifies as frontier markets reached $3.5 trillion in 2023, a record and about twice as much as a decade ago. To stay solvent, many of these governments are slashing spending as debt payments consume their budgets. Already, some 3.3 billion people—about half of the world’s p opulation—are living in countries that spend more on debt payments than on education and health care, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. In places such as Gabon, where President Ali Bongo Ondimba was unseated in a coup in August, tight budgets are leading to political upheaval. “If this were the developed world, we’d already be calling it a debt cri-

sis,” says Penelope Hawkins, a senior economist at the UN trade agency. “However many countries end up defaulting in the formal sense of the word is irrelevant: Right now, developing countries are diverting the resources that are needed for development to service their debt.” Investors in frontier nations’ debt and equity are bracing for pain. Some of the biggest holders are funds managed by BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and T. Rowe Price Group. Unlike the US and other countries that issue debt in their own currency, frontier countries can’t ease their burden through inf lation, by printing money. They often issue debt payable in another country’s currency through eurobonds. “This is the worst crisis in the last 30 years for these countries,” says Mattias Martinsson, partner and chief investment officer at Sweden’s Tundra Fonder AB, which manages equity funds dedicated to frontier markets. “These markets are not constructed in a way that can manage these eurobond issuances in cycles like these.” After the Pierre presentation, the Nigerian finance minister had a oneon-one meeting with Citigroup Vice Chairman Jay Collins. Edun dutifully took notes as the American executive spoke. Edun had just informed US investors that Nigeria had access to the World Bank for a loan, which would mean taking on $1.5 billion more in debt but also afford more breathing room. In an interview afterward, Edun suggested that foreign direct investment and remittances from families living abroad could return and stabilize the nation’s currency, the naira. “Very quickly you can get a situation when a lot more comes in from remittances and FDI, including from companies that are already in Nigeria,” he said. Back home, Edun exuded confidence. “There is more to be done, but Nigeria is definitely on the right path,” he told reporters in October. But the country was still struggling. The naira had plunged in a free fall, and inflation surged to an 18year high as the government started to scrap a popular but costly fuel subsidy. Investors that month demanded an extra 7.6 percentage points over similar US Treasuries to hold debt from Nigeria, according to data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said in late November that budget cuts would reduce the government’s deficit and help it keep servicing debt. Nigeria, an Opec member that’s produced oil since the late 1950s, may muddle through and keep Wall Street at bay. Yet its own citizens are growing impatient with the austerity necessary to keep up with interest payments. The country, Africa’s most populous, spends less on health care as a proportion of its budget than it did a decade ago, according to civic organization BudgIT, based in Lagos. The nation’s maternal death rate, 1,047 per 100,000 live births, is one of the world’s worst—more than 30 times higher than in the US. A leading cause of death: late diagnoses of preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure and kidney damage. At a public hospital in Lagos, a pediatric nurse says she cares for as many as 20 newborns at once, about five times as many as recommended. Babies die in the hospital because of the staffing shortages and lack of oxygen, power and fuel for backup generators, says the nurse, who asked for anonymity because she’s not authorized to speak about hospital conditions. In a statement, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health called the infant and maternal mortality rates “a huge concern” for Tinubu’s government, saying they mostly “stem from poor health infrastructure due to limited fiscal capacity and resources.” The government plans to prioritize funding for critical areas, including immunization and maternal

and child health and nutrition, and increase spending on health care in 2024. In Ghana, Jean Adomfeh, a doctor, recalls a mother who arrived at a clinic with a 3-year-old so malnourished the child weighed about as much as a healthy 1-year-old. Still, the woman left empty-handed, with no ready-touse therapeutic foods. “After she left, there were sad whispers around the clinic saying the child would likely not make it to the next shipment,” says Adomfeh, who’s now studying ophthalmology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She sees a correlation between the lack of spending on health care and a financial system that favors established nations and leaves places like Ghana “with unsustainable interest rates and debt burdens.” Similarly, Pakistan spends eight times as much on interest payments, currently about $28 billion a year, as it does on health care. The government can’t afford ambulances, so communities rely on private services. In Badin, a rural farming region in southern Pakistan, the government hasn’t found the money to hire a cardiac surgeon at a hospital it had equipped with state-of-the-art surgical tables and defibrillators, according to Hasnain Mirza, a former elected r epresentative of the area. In Honduras, hospitals, which are 50 to 80 years old on average, have fallen into disrepair, with collapsing ceilings, water leaks, damaged walls and rodent infestations, according to a 2022 study by the National A nti-Corruption Council, a nongovernmental organization. The system suffers from shortages of physicians and equipment, as well as strikes by health-care workers. President Xiomara Castro has blamed high debt payments, which she’s called “thunderous and suffocating.” In the 1990s, economist Farida Khambata came up with the idea of splitting off the poorest countries from the broader category of emerging markets, which include wealthier nations such as India and Mexico. Growing up in Mumbai in the 1960s, she’d witnessed steep inequalities, sometimes even from one street to the next. After studying economics at the University of Cambridge and doing graduate work at London Business School, Khambata took a post at the World Bank. At the bank’s International Finance Corp. (IFC), which promotes private-sector investment in developing markets, Khambata maintained the emerging-markets database. To describe the poorest ones, she landed on the term “frontier.” “It was all gut,” she says. “These were countries that were on the edge of becoming emerging markets but not quite there yet. They were on the frontier.” At the urging of IFC Managing Director David Gill, the bank focused on attracting equity investments to these markets. After a wave of defaults in the 1980s, the idea was that developing markets had borrowed enough already. Equity comes with fewer strings attached—if the investment doesn’t work out, stockholders aren’t owed a ny t h ing. At f irst, Wa l l St reet showed little interest. Khambata recalls pitching the idea of investing in a South Koreaspecific stock index and being told it was a charity case. In 1993, a year after the term “frontier markets” was coined, the Korea index had posted a 29 percent return, according to Bloomberg data. In 2007, Standard & Poor’s launched its Select Frontier Index, made up of 30 stocks of companies in countries such as Pakistan, Panama and the United Arab Emirates. The idea: Give investors access to fast-growing companies and returns that weren’t correlated with other markets. The early returns of the index reflected their markets’ volatility. It gained 18 percent in 2007 only to fall

62 percent the next year, Bloomberg data show. Over the past 10 years, the index has averaged an almost 7 percent annual return, compared with 12 percent for the S&P 500. Still, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon and BlackRock followed with indexes and exchange-traded funds of their own. By the 2010s, investors started showing enthusiasm for frontier bonds, reflecting a thirst for higheryielding securities. The countries might have been poor, but they had low debt-to-GDP ratios, which are a standard measure of a country’s fiscal health. Citigroup’s then-Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon both toured Africa in 2010, talking up the opportunities on the continent. “Africa has a major role to play in this new world,” Pandit told reporters in Johannesburg. Dimon said he was “incredibly impressed” by the opportunities on the continent after visiting South Africa with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an adviser to the bank. Later that year, Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga, then Nigeria’s finance minister, led a multicity roadshow in Europe as well as New York to drum up support for the nation’s $500 mi l lion eurobond. Buyers from Europe, the US, Asia and Africa bid for part of the deal. By the time it was placed in early 2011, bankers had received orders equaling more than twice the amount of

debt sold. The bond yielded 7 percent, about 3.5 percentage points more than similar Treasuries at the time. “There was a lot of optimism at the time, and for good reason: Seven of the 10 fastestgrowing economies were in Africa,” Aganga says. Over the next decade, African countries borrowed heavily. Debt rose 250 percent, to $645 billion, according to One, an antipoverty charity founded by U2 singer Bono that’s pushed for relief from repayment. Frontier countries are also in hock to China. The country loaned tens of billions of dollars to African nations, often through bilateral deals or state banks, which offered credit for infrastructure projects. China is increasingly competing with multilateral lenders, such as the International Monetary Fund, to provide bailouts to distressed countries. As of the end of 2021, China had doled out 128 rescue loans worth $240 billion, according to a study based on statistics from AidData, an institute housed at William & Mary, a public research university in Virginia. That type of lending from China was rare a decade earlier, the study found. Now, rising interest rates and inflation have exposed risks across frontier markets. Bolivia’s notes have lost more than a third of their value in 2023, while debt from Ecuador have also fallen by double digits. This week, Ethiopia said it

would miss an interest payment that was due on Monday because of the nation’s “fragile external position.” Like its peers, the nation had been effectively locked out of markets. In fact, no sub-Saharan African country has issued a eurobond since April 2022, the IMF said in its October outlook. Some investors, seeing opport u n it y, a re scou r i ng t he world for countries where the market is overstating the risk of default. The value of El Salvador’s bonds have more than doubled in 2023. “There is a clear distinction between the ones that find access to markets easier and those that find access to markets harder,” says Philip Fielding, a money manager at MacKay Shields, a unit of New York Life Insurance Co. These days, Aganga, the former finance minister, has a more skeptical view of owing money to foreign countries. “The global financial system is, Africans would say, biased toward the US,” he says. Aganga recalls, wistfully, the days when Wall Street couldn’t get enough of poor countries’ debt. “Now everything is the reverse,” he says. “Inflation and interest rates are high globally, and frontier markets, especially those in Africa, are suffering.” With Emele Onu, Faseeh Mangi and Michael McDonald Fieser covers emerging markets from New York. Ibukun is a senior reporter based in Accra, Ghana/Bloomberg Markets

Journey

»life on the go

Sunday, December 17, 2023

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Island Holiday Hideaway

Seda Lio El Nido

El Nido Small Lagoon

By Bernard L. Supetran

ot too long ago, spending Christmas in an island away from your relatives and the madding crowd can run you the risk of being branded anti-social, or being a grinch. Fortunately, those days are gone and this kind of hideaway has become a fashionable way to celebrate the holidays, whether traveling solo or with the family. One island which takes pride in the merry mix of idyllic atmosphere and modern amenities is El Nido, Palawan’s northernmost resort town which is largely credited for making it a permanent fixture in the World’s Best Islands List of both Conde Nast and Travel and Leisure. Among the best spots to hang around during the holidays is the star-rated Seda Hotel situated in the heart of Lio Tourism Estate of Ten Knots Development Corp., the first and only master-planned leisure community in El Nido. More than just a typical resort, garden-type resort-hotel fuses modern conveniences, an infinite stretch of powdery sand and a breathtaking panorama to the outlying islands in its 4-hectare sprawl.

And just like other Ayala Land properties, Seda Lio offers a closeto-nature lifestyle with its wide range of amenities and experiences that fit diverse interests. In keeping up with its commitment to holistic luxury, it has an array of recreational activities of beachfront water sports, as well as inhouse facilities for families such as a 24-hour gym, a game room, and a children’s play area. The 153-room property boasts of spacious and well-appointed quarters which include the suites and the Seda suites which opens right up in the garden and the tranquil beach view, reminiscent of the silent night of the first Christmas. Gather your loved ones for evenings filled with warmth, joy with Seda Lio’s Yuletide Feast dinner offerings for P2,800 per person for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and P2,000 for Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Seda Suite room

Isla Amara Boutique Resort

A real holiday deal is its suite promo of only P15,500, or 40 percent off the regular rate, with bookings until December 20. Explore Lio’s expansive leisure enclave whose natural features have been largely-preserved despite the developments, following the principles of sustainable tourism. Lending a countryside feel to the complex are the low-density retail shops, specialty restaurants and the Kalye Artisano, a nativemotifed hub of local business owners, artists and travelers who build meaningful and interactive spaces in the community. You can also immerse in naturebased adventure activities such as kayaking at the mangrove forest,

trekking the eco-trail, scuba diving in the coral gardens, or hopping around the enchanting islands and natural formations. But beyond the usual hotel routine, you can make your Christmas hideaway more memorable and meaningful for Mother Earth by paying it forward and taking part in Ten Knots’ Be Green, Be Great environmental advocacy. Among this is Seda Lio’s Pawikan Program, which seeks to conserve and propagate the sea turtle population to maintain the marine ecosystem of northern Palawan. Another cozy staycation place worth exploring is Isla Amara Boutique Resort, an intimate twostory lodging with its own court-

yard, swimming pool and dining outlet. Originally built with the other hotels at Lio Beach under the Ayala Land management, the green-themed resort is now owned by celebrity entrepreneurs and if it’s your lucky day, you might just bump into Piolo Pascual or Kathryn Bernardo. The resort is managed by seasoned hotelier Dean Russell de Jesus, who brings a wealth of expertise in the hospitality industry to ensure impeccable service and guest satisfaction. The artsy property has five room types and its common areas are adorned with paintings depicting the rich biodiversity of the island province. Its tropical homey vibe

has also made it a favorite by social media influencers and business personalities. Young as it is, the hotel was recently awarded the first-ever Tourism Excellence Award of 2023 by the El Nido Municipal Government as a testament to its commitment to green tourism and sustainability practices. For the holidays, Isla Amara is throwing a lavish Christmas Eve Dinner Buffet for only P1,799 per person at Amihan Restaurant, a culinary haven known for its fusion of flavors. With wholeness, communion with nature and family time, a hideaway in world’s best island may yet be your best holiday season.

CPGI bullish on its hospitality joint venture with Accor By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

n anticipation of the rebound in leisure travel, the Antonio-led Century Properties Group Inc. (CPGI) formed a partnership with world-leading hospitality group Accor, to launch the new hotel in the Philippines with the recent opening of Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua. Located in an area bordering Makati on Coronado Street in Mandaluyong City, Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua enables guests a convenient access to business and leisure travelers. With luxury malls accessible to the area, hotel guests are able to enjoy shopping, dining and leisure experiences throughout their stay. “The opening of Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua underlines our long-term commitment to expand our portfolio in the Philippines. Novotel’s relaxed and lively atmosphere resonates with our guests, we are delighted to offer the second Novotel address for travelers, long-staying guests and locals to work, play and relax,” said Garth Simmons, Chief Executive Officer of Accor’s Premium, Midscale and Economy Division

in Asia in press statement. “With the renewed interest in travel globally having Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua to host travelers will further boost the Philippine government’s push to bolster the tourism industry,” said Marco R. Antonio, Century Properties Group Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer. The hotel features 152 rooms and suites with a practical, cosy, and contemporary design. The 31-sqm Standard Rooms, equipped with an ample workspace, are perfect for corporate travellers. For families looking planning a staycation and long-staying guests, Novotel has the Suites ranging from a 45-sq-m Deluxe Suite, and a 75-sqm Superior Suite, to a roomy 91-sq-m Premier Suite, with a stunning 180-degree view of the city through its curved floor-to-ceiling window. All suites come with spacious working, living, and dining areas, as well as a kitchen equipped with a microwave, Nespresso machine, induction cooker, cooking equipment and cutlery. Tempus, an all-day dining restaurant located on the 6th floor, offers a

From left: Raul Aquino, general manager, Novotel Suites, Manila at Acqua; Marco R. Antonio, president and Chief Executive Officer, Century Properties Group and Xavier Cappelut, Vice President, Operations, Vietnam at Accor. breakfast buffet and a la carte options for lunch and dinner. Across the restaurant is a Private Dining Room that can welcome up to 20 guests, making it the ideal venue for intimate functions such as birthday celebrations, reunions, and lunch meetings. For guests who want to exercise,

the infinity swimming pool on the 6th floor is the place. It overlooks the magnificent Makati skyline, a perfect place to cool off or get that perfect tan. One side of the swimming pool is placed against the restaurant, giving swimmers an illusion of an underwater world.

On the 21st floor is the Lobby Lounge, here, guests get to enjoy a panoramic view of the cities with refreshing drinks and snacks by day and breathtaking city lights at night. The perfect time to visit and have a picture of this spot is during the golden hour when the skyscrapers embrace the rich color of gold. Also located on the same level are two meeting rooms which can accommodate up to 30 guests each. Meeting Specialists are on hand to organize personalized meetings complemented with high-speed Wi-Fi and state-ofthe-art facilities. Fitness enthusiasts can further enjoy InBalance Fitness Centre with free weights and modern cardio machines to keep the body in shape. The hotel also provides easy access to Manila’s many leisure attractions. Guests can take a short ferry ride to discover the local marketplace in Divisoria. Culture enthusiasts can explore the famous walled city of Intramuros and learn about the colonial history of the Philippines, or visit Pampanga to learn why the Philippines remains one of the largest Catholic countries

in the world. “Guests will feel the warmth of home at Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua. It will usher in a new concept of ‘home away from home’ experience for long-stay travellers who are in Manila for business and for families who are in search of a weekend leisure,” added Raul Aquino, General Manager of Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua. To celebrate its launch, Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua is offering a special rate to all local residents of the Philippines or foreign guests with ACR (Alien Certificate of Registration) from now until December 30, 2023. Guests can book an overnight stay with breakfast buffet for two at P6,800 nett per night. Guests staying at Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua can also enjoy the opportunity to make the most of Accor's loyalty program, ALL - Accor Live Limitless, which serves as a daily companion for enhancing their lifestyle. ALL —Accor Live Limitless offers limitless experiences and incentives to its most dedicated members, empowering them to work, live, and enjoy themselves well beyond their time at the hotel.

Science Sunday BusinessMirror

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

Sunday, December 17, 2023

UP scientists: Strengths, weaknesses seen in PHL govt pandemic response

SCIENCE Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. (second from left) at a side event hosted by the Philippine delegation during the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on December 1. DOST PHOTO

From victims to victors: PHL eyed as ‘gold standard’ in disaster, climate info services

HE Filipinos are often known as victims of disasters, but they can become victors through numerous science and technology (S&T) interventions. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) made this statement at a side event during the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on December 1. With the title “From Victims to Victors: Accelerating Data Governance for Climate Action in the Philippines,” the DOST shared on the global stage the practical use and applications of two of the most recognized multi-sectoral collaboration projects led by the science department—the Impact-Based Forecasting and Early Warning System, and GeoRiskPhilippines Initiative. “Disaster is a wicked problem. By this, it means that disasters have complex interdependencies so that the root of the problem defies clear-cut definitions. The associated risks cascade and compound unpredictably, and therefore there is no single solution to address the problem,” said Science Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. “My dream today as Secretary of DOST is that the Philippines will be the Gold Standard in Disaster and Climate Information Services. And I hope to share our learnings with the rest of the world,” Solidum pointed out. He shared that the inherent complexity of disasters requires a comprehensive approach involving both the government and society, prompting the Philippines to implement a whole-of-government strategy for building and maintaining a resilient information system. This initiative aims to bolster the country’s Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction and Management policies and programs, he explained. “Disaster is and will remain an intractable problem. But it is and will be a preventable problem if we have the right information at the right time to craft our strategies,” Solidum said.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change R&D agenda

FOR its Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change R&D agenda, the DOST identified eight Key Result Areas, reflecting the Priorities for Action of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), and identified six Dimensions of Resilience, reflecting the concerns in the SDG or Sustainable Development Goals. In the agenda, the Science department encourages prospective research partners to contribute to the global agenda on climate change, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development. “One emerging cross-cutting priority is digital transformation. With the frequent experiences of the Philippines to disasters and the imminent threats of climate change, there is a need for robust scientific data that allows us to prevent, adapt, and mitigate. Through data and governance, we change the Filipino narrative of resilience,”. Solidum said.

GeoRisk Philippines Initiative

MABELLINE T. CAHULOGAN of the DOSTPhilippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said in her presentation that GeoRisk Philippines is a platform to share hazards, exposure and other risk information to help people,

communities, local governments, and national agencies prepare and plan on how to reduce the risks from natural hazards. Cahulogan pointed out that its goal is to be the country’s central source of information for accurate and efficient hazards and risk assessment that will help the government increase the nation’s resilience to natural hazards. She mentioned that the five aspects of GeoRisk Philippines are data, technology, people, policy, and leadership. Cahulogan explained during the event that GeoRisk Philippines can provide summary reports of the tsunami exposure levels from barangays to provinces across the country. It calculates the area’s population that is exposed to tsunami risk, as well as the different heights of possible tsunami with their corresponding number of affected persons in case of the disaster. GeoRisk Philippines consists of an integrated platforms—namely; HazardHunterPH, GeoAnalyticsPH, GeoMapperPH, Map and Feature Services, 3D Earth Risk, and Plan SmartPH.

Multi-Hazard Impact-Based Forecasting in the Philippines

THE DOST-Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) launched on April 26 the five-year Multi-Hazard ImpactBased Forecasting and Early Warning System for the Philippines Project. Meanwhile, Thelma A. Cinco of DOSTPagasa emphasized that the project aims to meet the pressing demand for a proactive and inclusive climate risk management approach in the Philippines. The initiative centers on a peoplefocused, multi-hazard impact-based forecasting, and early warning system, covering flood, landslide, severe wind, and storm surge. Cinco added that this endeavor will usher in a paradigm shift, transitioning from conventional weather forecasts to a comprehensive multi-hazard impactbased forecasting and early warning system. “Through a concentration on impacts, disaster management agencies, local government units, and the general public can enhance their comprehension of risks. This heightened awareness is more likely to prompt appropriate actions. By envisioning the potential disaster risks not just for their community but also for their families and themselves as individuals, people are empowered to make more informed and proactive decisions,” Cinco pointed out. Solidum believes that Filipinnovation—coined from Filipinos’ ingenuity that leads to innovation—drives productivity, and productivity drives economic growth. But it is also an evolution of how Filipinos are not merely surviving disasters but instead creating solutions to face them. “We envision redefining Filipino resilience from merely surviving to living, coping, and adapting to risks. When we recognize the power and influence of science, technology, and innovation, we realize that we are not powerless against hazards and risks. We believe that through STI, resilience is possible, and that Filipinos can come out as ‘disaster victors,’ not disaster victims,” he said. Allan Mauro V. Marfal/S&T News Servce

H E C o v i d -1 9 p a n d e m i c spurred governments worldwide to respond with containment policies, with the Philippines having one of the longest and most stringent Covid-19 policies in the world. How effective were these policies in containing the pandemic and providing social and economic support to citizens? This is the question UP Diliman College of Science’s Science, Technology and Society (UPD-CS STS) researchers ventured to answer. The UP scientists were able to determine that stringent pandemic policies—including lockdowns, quarantines, stay-at-home ordinances and travel restrictions—were effective in containing the pandemic within the first 60 days. These were all dependent on law enforcement and a securitized approach.

Novel, multidisciplinary approach SCIENTISTS and faculty members Prof. Benjamin Vallejo Jr., Dr. Rodrigo Angelo Ong and Asst. Prof. Ranjit Singh Rye found a new interdisciplinary approach to the problem. “We just adopted statistical methods commonly used in marine behavioral ecology. After all, government policy response is a set of behaviors that can be standardized and compared with each other. The most significant behavioral responses can be statistically modeled,” Vallejo said. “Furthermore, a multidisciplinary perspective allows for a better contextualization of how effective the policies are,” he added. Using standardized policy response measures collated by the

A SENIOR citizen in Ilog, Negros Occidental, gets vaccinated against Covid-19 in June 2022. FILE PHOTO Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker project (OxCGRT), they assessed the effectiveness of the Philippine response from 2020 to 2022. The OxCGRT includes daily policy response and implementation data from 180 World Health Organization (WHO)-member states from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022.

Effectivity of lockdowns and vaccinations COMPLETE lockdowns negatively affected the economy, so there was a gradual and phased relaxing of policies beginning in May 2020, the scientists said. They added that it was during the relaxing of lockdowns with limited mobility, starting with essential personnel, that the shortcomings of the government’s response became apparent. With lockdowns being phased out, contact tracing and testing became more necessary to immediately contain clusters of infections. The

government was least effective in these efforts, they noted. The policy analysis also revealed that the government’s vaccination rollout and prioritization, although with logistical difficulties at the start, was effective in reducing infections in the health workers sector and, thus, ensuring the delivery of health services, they pointed out. The health workers received the vaccine in a shorter timeframe than the rest of the population beginning March 2021, they said. Overall, it can be said that vaccination caused a more positive outcome in the pandemic. It was also found that the continuation of travel health checks—such as requiring proof of vaccination, Covid-19 rtPCR tests, and, later, antigen tests—had a low odds ratio to the rate of Covid-19 case increase. This simply means that these requirements lessened the risk of spread of infections across provincial and international borders.

This Goddess funded 11 data science projects

HIS goddess is not among the beautiful women in mythology. It is of the science and technology (S&T) kind. It is the Good Governance through Data Science and Decision Support System (Goddess) prog ra m t hat funded 11 completed data science and analytics projects aimed at helping national and local government units improve their services. The program is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOSTPCIEERD) that presented the projects on December 7. The projects aim to provide appropriate systems and technologies to address specific needs of various national government agencies (NGAs), local government units (LGUs), academic or research institutions, and micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs). “We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the development of our nation and will continue to strive for excellence in promoting good governance through innovative

solutions,” DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Enrico Paringit said. Paringit expressed hope that this will inspire and motivate data science practitioners, learners, students, and graduates of the DOSTfunded SPARTA and other academic or training institutions to join this transformative program. Successful completers of the Goddess program focused on R&D projects on data science and analytics (DSA) on sectors on Social services, NGAs, disaster risk management and environment, and barangay. The presented projects under the Goddess Program were as follows:

Data Analytics Initiatives for Social Services 1. Development of Data Analytics and Information System: Support on Social Welfare Services for Senior Citizens of Butuan City of Father Saturnino Urios University 2. Development of Iloilo Province Employment Portal and Services with Data Analytics of Iloilo Science and Technology University 3. e-4PsMap: A data analyticsdriven Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino

Program outcomes monitoring, visualization, and dashboard system for the City of Digos of University of Mindanao 4. Development of Urdaneta City Bagsakan Market Tariff Information Systems of Urdaneta City University 5. Prescriptive Navigation through Vision-based Traffic Monitoring for City of San Fernando, La Union of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

Data Analytics for NGAs 1. PhilRice Data Analytics Initiative-RiceLytics of Philippine Rice Research Institute 2. Hundred Islands National Park Management System: Implementation of Smart Tourism of Pangasinan State University 3. Development of Data Analytics System for Visualization and Exploratory Analysis of Philippine Rice Genetic Resources of Philippine Rice Research Institute—Genetic Resources Division

Data Analytics for Disaster Risk Management and Environment 1. Optimization of Decision Support

Mask wearing and social distancing HOWEVER, nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, while significantly effective at the local level, were not significantly effective at the national level, they said. The reason is likely related to the differing levels of citizen compliance in communities, they explained. Implementation was with the local governments and reflects on political and governance realities. Politicians who implement restrictions without their constituents being consulted and convinced of the necessity of restrictions are likely to lose votes in the next election. In a democracy, citizen engagement with governments remains essential in responding to a crisis such as a pandemic while protecting civil rights according to law. Citizen participation is a central idea in science, technology and society in government, they added.

The key role of STS in policy analysis THE UP STS scientists’ work demonstrates that science, technology and society approaches to science-informed policy analysis can objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of government policy. The scientists hope that their study will make policy and governance more effective, especially in crises. Vallejo is a marine biologist with the UPD-CS Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology; Ong, a physician, is a professorial lecturer with the Science and Society Program; and Rye is with the Department of Political Science of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman. Vallejo and Ong also trained under the International Network for Governmental Science Advice in Malaysia on science advice and policy analysis.

System for Effective e-Governance on Preemptive Evacuation for Flood Disaster amidst Covid-19 in Cagayan Valley of Isabela State University 2. Dagupan City Garbage Monitoring System of Lyceum Northwestern University

Data Analytics for Barangay 1. Social Service Analytics and Mission Planning System for Barangay Guadalupe Viejo, Makati -Adamson University DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum emphasized that these initiatives underscore that data science and analytics can help the government in making quick and improved decisions. “We need data science to fast track our country’s growth and improve the quality of life of our countrymen. The benefits are manifold: from enhancing the efficiency of public services and resource allocation to fostering transparency and accountability,” Solidum added. DOST-PCIEERD encourages new researchers from the regions to apply and be one of the grantees of the Goddess Program. The program has supported a total of 22 projects amounting to P29.99 million.

Intl STEM students explore role of robotics in agriculture

OURTEEN Grade 12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program students at the Reedley International School visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) on December 7. The field trip aimed at exploring the role of robotics in agriculture, said Searca’s Zara Mae Estareja. Reedley International School is a private, nonsectarian, nontraditional, coeducational school in Pasig City in Metro Manila, that combines progressive and traditional learning approaches. During the visit, the students, accompanied by their teachers and guardians, participated in a robotics learning session at the Sharing Café and toured the Searca Hub for Agricultural and Rural Innovation

STUDENTS experience hands-on learning on agri-robotics using a Lego robotics kit. SEARCA PHOTO

for the Next Generation (Sharing), Estareja said. At the Sharing Café, Richard Angelo Natata, program associate of Searca’s Emerging Innovation for Growth Department (EIGD), presented a Lincoln Learning Solutions video showcasing the applications of robotics in medicine, industry, and agriculture. Following the presentation, the students had the opportunity to build Lego robots with guidance from key EIGD staff. Meanwhile, in their Sharing tour, the students gained insights into Southeast Asia’s agricultural history and landscape, its farm innovation stories, and agripreneurship products, Estareja said. Furthermore, the students delved into artwork installations, interactive technologies, and innovation tools.

Faith

Sunday

A6 Sunday, December 17, 2023

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

King Herod: What history says of the bad guy of the Christmas story K

ING Herod will sound familiar to anyone who’s heard the Christmas story. King of Judea when Jesus of Nazareth was born, the ruler attempts to find and kill the baby after hearing that the “King of the Jews” has just been born. Tricked by the Magi, the wise men whom Herod had sent to determine where the infant was, a raging Herod decreed that all children 2 and under who live near Bethlehem are to be killed. The Gospel of Matthew contains the famous account of this “slaughter of the innocents,” and of Mary, Joseph and Jesus’ flight to Egypt. Interestingly, King Herod’s storyline is not found in any other biblical texts nor in Roman records. Yet it is pivotal in Matthew’s Gospel, which contrasts Herod’s mission, death, to that of the baby Jesus, life. So who was the real King Herod— and why would Matthew’s Gospel include him? I am a scholar who studies the interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel, as well as the Jewish roots of Christianity. Historians in the field know a fair amount about Herod’s life, and the actual facts are somewhat surprising.

‘King of the Jews’ WRITERS, such as the Jewish historian Josephus, who fought against Roman rule in the first century CE (Christian Era or Common Era) before eventually allying himself with Rome, have provided detailed accounts regarding Herod’s deeds. In addition, modern archaeologists have excavated many sites associated with him, including the possible location of Herod’s tomb. According to historical accounts, Herod the Great was the regional king of Judea, which included the cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. He ruled from about 37 BCE (Before the Christian Era or Before the Common Era) until his death in 4 BCE, at a time when Judea was still under Roman influence. Most scholars estimate that Jesus was born between 6 and 4 BCE— during Herod ’s reign, as Matthew’s Gospel indicates. Since Herod was appointed by

In addition, he was reported to have excessively taxed his constituents to help support his economic programs.

Similar stories?

AERIAL photo of Herodium, an ancient Jewish fortress and town, located in what is now the West Bank. Named after Herod the Great, it was built between 23 and 15 BCE. The photo as created by ‫ףסא‬.‫ צ‬on March 15, 2005. WIKIPEDIA Rome to rule over Judea, a mostly Jewish region, he was literally “king of the Jews.” However, Herod may not have actually been Jewish at all, at least by birth. He was likely from the region known as Idumea, to the south. Herod’s father had likely been forced to convert to Judaism, as scholars believe many Idumeans were, while his mother was an Arabian princess. However, as Josephus points out, the two groups intermingled quite extensively, with some Idumeans, perhaps including his father, willingly adopting Jewish customs. Josephus even declares that Herod was basically a Judean, though it is likely that many of the native Jews in Judea would have been skeptical of their king’s claims to be truly Jewish and viewed him as an outsider, especially if he did come from Idumea. However, Josephus does indicate that Herod would ally himself with Roman leadership whenever he deemed it prudent.

‘Great’ but severe HEROD the Great proved himself a skillful builder, responsible for the planning and construction of projects, such as the city of Herodium; the extravagant harbor at Caesarea Maritima, on the Mediterranean Coast; and the mountain fortress of Masada, which was located in the middle of the unforgiving desert near the Dead Sea.

Most famously, perhaps, was Herod’s rebuilding and expansion of the Jewish temple complex in Jerusalem. This project alone took decades to complete. Herod’s remodeled temple was a much more grandiose structure than Solomon’s original temple, built about a thousand years earlier. Josephus noted how it resembled a white, snowcovered mountain—that is, the parts of it that were not covered in gold. Regardless of whether Herod was actually Jewish, he contributed to the preservation of Judaism. He succeeded in exempting Jews from serving in the Roman military and having to engage in emperor worship, preserving their ability to practice Judaism in relative peace. Herod also proved himself a brilliant economic strategist who greatly increased the wealth of Judea by engaging in ventures such as international trade, which included the sale of balsam wood and copper. He contributed funds to national and international endeavors, including the Olympic Games, and it is said that he even averted a regional famine. Yet Herod’s sinister reputation as a tyrant was probably well deserved. Because he constantly feared a rebellion, he would execute anyone he deemed a threat to his reign, including his own first wife and three of his sons.

What’s the point of giving gifts? H

AVE you planned out your holiday gift giving yet? If you’re anything like me, you might be waiting until the last minute. But whether every single present is already wrapped and ready, or you’ll hit the shops on Christmas Eve, giving gifts is a curious but central part of being human. While researching my new book, “So Much Stuff,” on how humanity has come to depend on tools and technology over the last 3 million years, I became fascinated by the purpose of giving things away. Why would people simply hand over something precious or valuable when they could use it themselves? To me as an anthropologist, this is an especially powerful question because giving gifts likely has ancient roots. And gifts can be found in every known culture around the world. So, what explains the power of the present? Undoubtedly, gifts serve lots of purposes. Some psychologists have observed a “warm glow”—an intrinsic delight—that’s associated with giving presents. Theologians have noted how gifting is a way to express moral values, such as love, kindness and gratitude, in Catholicsm, Buddhism and Islam. Philosophers ranging from Seneca to Friedrich Nietzsche regarded gifting as the best demonstration of selflessness. It’s little wonder that gifts are a central part of Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and other winter holidays—and that some people may even be tempted to regard Black

Friday, the opening of the year-end shopping season, as a holiday in itself. But of all the explanations for why people give gifts, the one I find most convincing was offered in 1925 by a French anthropologist named Marcel Mauss.

Giving, receiving, reciprocating

LIKE many anthropologists, Mauss was puzzled by societies in which gifts were extravagantly given away. For example, along the northwest coast of Canada and the United States, Indigenous peoples conduct potlatch ceremonies. In these dayslong feasts, hosts give away immense amounts of property. Consider a famous potlatch in 1921, held by a clan leader of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation in Canada who gave community members 400 sacks of flour, heaps of blankets, sewing machines, furniture, canoes, gas-powered boats and even pool tables. In a now-famous essay titled “The Gift,” originally published almost a century ago, Mauss sees potlaches as an extreme form of gifting. Yet, he suggests this behavior is totally recognizable in most every human society: We give things away even when keeping them for ourselves would seem to make much more economic and evolutionary sense. Mauss observed that gifts create three separate but inextricably related actions. Gifts are given, received and reciprocated. The first act of giving establishes the virtues of the gift giver. They express their

generosity, kindness and honor. The act of receiving the gift, in turn, shows a person’s willingness to be honored. This is a way for the receiver to show their own generosity, that they are willing to accept what was offered to them. The third component of gift giving is reciprocity, returning in kind what was first given. Essentially, the person who received the gift is now expected—implicitly or explicitly—to give a gift back to the original giver. But then, of course, once the first person gets something back, they must return yet another gift to the person who received the original gift. In this way, gifting becomes an endless loop of giving and receiving, giving and receiving. This last step—reciprocity—is what makes gifts unique. Unlike buying something at a store, in which the exchange ends when money is traded for goods, giving gifts builds and sustains relationships. This relationship between the gift giver and receiver is bound up with morality. Gifting is an expression of fairness because each present is generally of equal or greater value than what was last given. And gifting is an expression of respect because it shows a willingness to honor the other person. In these ways, gifting tethers people together. It keeps people connected in an infinite cycle of mutual obligations.

Giving better gifts

ARE modern-day consumers unknowingly

THERE is no historical record of any “massacre of the innocents”—even the tyrannical Herod most likely never condoned such an action. If that was the case, why does Matthew’s Gospel mention King Herod so prominently in Jesus’ birth narrative? Mat t hew ’s version is considered the most Jewish of the Gospels, the four biblical accounts of Jesus’ life in the New Testament—for example, it advocates for upholding Jewish laws. In other words, Matthew’s Gospel was likely written by Jews for a mostly Jewish audience late in the first century CE, when the Christian movement was still in its infancy. Matthew’s audience would have been fami liar w ith the ex isting Hebrew scriptures, including the famous story of Moses’ childhood, when he esc apes t he ph a raoh ’s edict to kill all the newborn sons of his Hebrew slaves. Biblical scholars have made the case that Matthew’s Gospel intentionally compared Jesus with Moses, who saved the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage, to convince the intended audience that Jesus, too, was a longawaited savior. To strengthen the similarities between Jesus and Moses, this argument goes, the authors of Matthew had Herod threaten Jesus in the same manner that the pharaoh threatened the Hebrew children. The Jewish audience of Matthew would have connected the two narratives, in which good ultimately triumphs over evil. The Gospel story further villainizes Herod, whose son, also called King Herod, or Herod Antipas, was ruling at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion around 30 CE. Herod may have been a splendid builder and a savvy economist – and technically the “King of the Jews.” But in the eyes of the Gospel authors, it was Jesus who truly deserved that title.

Aaron Gale, West Virginia University/ The Conversation

embodying Mauss’s theory a little too well? After all, many people today suffer not from the lack of gifts, but from an overabundance. Gallup reports that the average American holiday shopper estimates they’ll spend $975 on presents in 2023, the highest amount since this survey began in 1999. And many gifts are simply thrown out. In the 2019 holiday season, it was estimated that more than $15 billion of gifts purchased by Americans were unwanted, with 4 percent going directly to the landfill. This year, holiday spending is expected to increase in the UK, Canada, Japan and elsewhere. Modern-day gifting practices may be the source of both awe and anger. On the one hand, by giving presents you are engaging in an ancient behavior that makes us human by growing and sustaining our relationships. On the other hand, it seems as if some societies might be using the holiday season as an excuse to simply consume more and more. Mauss’ ideas do not promote runaway consumerism. On the contrary, his explanations of gifts suggest that the more meaningful and personal the present, the greater the respect and honor being shown. A truly thoughtful gift is far less likely to end up in a dump. And vintage, upcycled, handmade goods—or a personalized experience such as a food tour or hot air balloon ride—might even be more valued than an expensive item mass-produced on the other side of the world, shipped across oceans and packaged in plastic. Quality gifts can speak to your values and more meaningfully sustain your relationships. Chip Colwell, University of Colorado Denver/The Conversation (CC) via AP

BISHOP Marcelino Antonio Maralit, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Communications, speaks during the 12th Catholic Social Media Summit at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in Mandaue City on December 3. JAY MANGUSSAD/CBCP NEWS

Bishop seeks to organize ‘online missionaries’

CATHOLIC bishop has announced a plan to organize Catholic online influencers, vloggers and other social media personalities as “a community of faith.” Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Social Communications (ECSC), said the aim is to strengthen collaboration among digital missionaries. “And maybe to encourage and inspire each other, and to help in amplifying the message,” said Maralit, who is also the bishop of Boac. “We are coming into this as a community of faith, a community of God, and a community of charity,” he said. He made the statement during the 12th Catholic Social Media Summit (CSMS) held

at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in the city of Mandaue on December 2 and 3. In a separate press briefing, the bishop also said they aim to establish a kind of code of ethics for Catholic social media content producers. The current practice, according to him, seems to follow a “you do yours, I do mine” mentality. “So what do we bring here? My suggestion is to put up a Catholic social media network,” he added. Maralit was among the speakers of the CSMS that was attended by more than 350 participants. Organized by YouthPinoy, a group of “online missionaries,” in partnership with the Cebu Archdiocesan Digital Communications, this year’s summit theme was “Hybrid: Create, Collab and Commune.” CBCP News

POPE Francis waves from the window of the Apostolic Palace as he gives his Angelus address for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. VATICAN MEDIA

Pope announces Catholic’s 1st World Day of Children

ATICAN—Pope Francis announced that the Catholic Church will celebrate its first World Day of Children in May 2024. Speaking in his Angelus address on December 8 to mark the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pope shared that the Church’s first children’s day will be celebrated in Rome on the weekend of May 25 and 26. “I have the joy of announcing that on May 25 and 26 next year, we will celebrate the first World Day of Children in Rome,” Pope Francis said from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking Saint Peter’s Square. “Like Jesus, we want to put children at the center and care for them,” he added. The pope explained that the day, organized by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, will seek to answer the question: “What kind of world do we wish to pass on to the children who are growing up?” According to Vatican News, the event was inspired by a nine-year-old boy named Alessandro, who proposed the idea to the pope to have an international event like World Youth Day (an international gathering for young people ages 16 to 35), but for younger children. The Vatican is expecting thousands of girls and boys from all over the world to travel to Rome for the event with the pope. Last November, the Vatican hosted an event with 7,500 children from five continents in the Paul VI Hall as a prelude to next year’s World Day of Children.

Pope Francis previously established the Catholic Church’s annual World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021. The pope announced the creation of a children’s day after praying the Angelus prayer with the crowd gathered near the Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square to mark the day’s Marian feast. Pope Francis reflected on the young Virgin Mary’s “daily fidelity in simple things.” “Prior to the Annunciation, the Gospel says nothing about Mary. She is presented as a simple girl, apparently equal to so many others who were living in her village. A young girl who, precisely because of her simplicity, kept pure that Immaculate Heart with which, by God’s grace, she had been conceived. And this too is important, for to welcome God’s great gifts, it is necessary to know how to treasure those that are more everyday and less apparent,” the pope said. “It is precisely with her daily fidelity in goodness that Our Lady allowed God’s gift to grow within her. This is how she trained herself to respond to the Lord, to say ‘yes’ to him with her entire life,” he added. The pope’s appearance in the window of the Apostolic Palace marked the first time that he read his Angelus reflection unassisted in nearly two weeks. Since November 26, the pope has offered his usual Sunday Angelus reflections from inside his residence with the help of an aide to read his speech for him as he recovered from what he has described as “very acute infectious bronchitis.” Courtney Mares/Catholic News Agency

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, December 17, 2023 A7

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Exploring nature-based solutions to climate crisis in Southeast Asia

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

COALITION of globally recognized environmental and conservation not-for-profit organizations recently pitched the call to promote nature-based solutions to the climate crisis. Named the Southeast Asia and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Coalition (SCeNe Coalition), it includes the Conservation International (CI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), IDH-the Sustainable Trade Initiative, Birdlife International, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Mandai Nature, World Resources Institute Indonesia and World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore. Organized on November 20, the group believes that the planet is facing a climate crisis, and to address this unprecedented challenge requires healthy ecosystems. The coalition was formed in recognition of the scale of action required, the tight window for impact and the high risks of inaction.

For biodiversity and people

JAYSON IBANEZ, director of Research and Conservation at the Philippine Eagle Foundation, said SCeNe Coalition is a collaboration among leading nongovernment organizations with an established presence in Southeast Asia. “We aim to accelerate and increase the implementation of, and invest in high-quality, highintegrity, triple benefits across the region,” Ibanez said. He noted that Southeast Asia is facing unprecedented demand for carbon credits, hence, there is an unparalleled opportunity to access and direct climate finance to NbS projects that deliver not only climate outcomes but outcomes for biodiversity and people as well.

Biodiversity-rich Southeast Asia

SOUTHEAST Asia, home to diverse habitats and species—including

15 percent of the world’s tropical forests, 35 percent of the coral reefs and 25 million hectares of peatland—has a huge potential and opportunity to enhance and become a hub of Nature-based Solutions. Home to some 650 million people, many of whom are highly dependent on nature for their livelihood and food securit y, Southeast Asia has much to gain in investing in nature, to help mitigate c limate change and enhance the adaptive capacities of the communities that stand to benefit from their endeavors. SCeNe Coalition said 97 percent of tropical peatland carbon sinks and roughly 25 percent of the planet’s investible forest carbon can be found in Southeast Asia.

Triple benefits, NbS tool

THE group vows to support the delivery of and investment in a high-quality, triple-benefit solution that is based on nature. According to the coalition, nature has the potential to provide 30 percent of the solutions needed to stabilize the climate by 2030. Southeast Asia is facing unprecedented demand for carbon abatement. The SCeNe Coalition is developing a web-based NbS tool that helps identify high-impact NbS opportunities, ensuring a targeted pipeline of NbS supply in areas with the highest conservation, social development, and carbon potential. The tool will also help validate triple benefit quality, giving the project scientific credibility; ensuring the transparent f low of

MOUNTS Iglit-Baco Natural Park—home to Mangyan tribes that have ancestral domain claim over this vast protected area—has a unique and diverse species of plants and animals, including the Philippine tamaraw or the Mindoro dwarf buffalo, that are unique to the island. PHOTOS BY GREGG YAN

finance, and increasing ecosystem benefits. Some of the features of the tool include the ability to analyze baseline and triple-benefit data, generate project documentation, and showcase project portfolios.

Mitigation, forest management

ATTY. Jose Andres Canivel, executive director of Forest Foundation Philippines, said there are opportunities as well as challenges for nature-based solutions, including mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions through restoration, management of forests and curbing deforestation. “NbS can enhance the adaptive capacity of ecosystems by active management, such as reducing threats or by increasing connectivity of ecosystems,” Canivel said. NbS can also support human adaptation by reducing exposure to immediate impacts of climate change, such as protecting and managing natural forests in catchment areas to secure and regulate water, restoring coastal ecosystems to protect communities from coastal flooding and agroforestry to increase production.

Conservation, ecosystem services enhancement

CANIVEL also said that NbS is an opportunity to secure and enhance the delivery of ecosystem services that sustain livelihoods and food systems, and provide diverse sources of income to help communities adapt to climate change.

It can also support socio-economic adaptive capacities, such as propagating food and timber crop varieties that are resilient to climate change, pests and diseases; and foster participatory, integrative, stakeholder-driven natural resource management and community development. NbS can also contribute to job creation and the green and blue economy, and reduce or avoid costs for protecting property, infrastructure, and lives.

Challenges

WHILE there are opportunities in NBS, Canivel said there are also issues and challenges, including the lack of effective research. Also, he said there a short-term time frames for NbS projects. According to Canivel, there is a need for a broad, interconnected lens to understand NbS. Challenges also include the lack of investments in NbS solutions. “Incentives to scale up NbS for greenhouse gas [GHG] mitigation may also compromise tenure and resource use rights and curtail traditional uses,” he added. He noted that incentives to scale up NbS for GHG mitigation may impact biodiversity, ecological services, and ecosystem resilience. Enrique Nuñez, president of Verde Azul Conservation Solutions, said that climate change is fast becoming a major driver of biodiversity loss, with 1-million animal and plant species threat-

ened with extinction by 2030. Worse, he underscored the financing or funding gap at $700 billion per year. “Climate and biodiversity crises are interlinked and must be addressed together,” Nuñez said, adding that ambitious actions are needed to commensurate with the scale of biodiversity crisis. He said NbS is not just a carbon project. However, he said m o s t c o n s e r v at i o n p r o j e c t s have NbS outcomes although not all are feasible for carbon crediting. Carbon projects are designed to reduce or remove GHG emissions from the atmosphere. Carbon offset credits are generated when a carbon project reduces or removes emissions, making it viable for carbon trading. As such, he said “an NbS policy declaration is needed.”

IPs and ancestral lands

DISCUSSING the opportunities in tapping Indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands, Dave Devera of the Philippine Association for Intercultural Development Inc. said the IP sector stands to benefit greatly from NbS projects. The sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors in the country when it comes to land governance. He added that IPs’ and upland dwellers’ activities have the highest incidence of poverty at 68 percent. “Most environmentally critical and vulnerable areas are in ancestral domains,” he said.

IPs and ecosystems

ACCORDING to Devera, ancestral lands and domains are found in all ecosystems, including in substantial marine or coastal areas, and they provide a multitude of environmental services that benefit thousands of downstream communities. He said 5.9 million hectares, or approximately 20 percent of the total land area of the Philippines, is now covered by certificates of ancestral domain titles (CADTs) and certificates of ancestral land titles (CALTs). The current IP population in the Philippines is estimated at 12 million to 15 million.

Ancestral domains and conservation

AS ancestral domains and lands are ideally protected by IPs, Devera said it is no wonder that they are sometimes overlapping with areas set aside for conservation. “A total of 62 Protected Areas overlap with 92 CADTs covering some 1.2 million hectares,” he said. Moreover, 75 percent of Key Biodiversity Areas are also within ancestral domains and lands. He said the number of CADTs and CALTs is expected to increase to cover possibly half of the country’s total land area in the next decade, making these areas ideal for conservation and NbS sites to fight to mitigate climate change and boost the country’s resilience to natural calamities and help combat biodiversity loss.

Don’t applaud COP28 climate summit’s loss-and-damage fund deal just yet

HORTLY after the opening ceremony of the 2023 United Nations climate negotiations in Dubai, delegates of nations around the world rose in a standing ovation to celebrate a long-awaited agreement to launch a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries recover from climate-related disasters. But the applause might not yet be warranted. The deal itself leaves much undecided and has been met with criticism by climate justice advocates and front-line communities. I teach global environmental politics and climate justice, and have been attending and observing these negotiations for over a decade to follow the demands for just climate solutions, including loss and damage compensation for countries that have done the least to cause climate change.

Brief history of loss, damage

“BREAKTHROUGH” was the term often used to describe the decision at 2022’s 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) climate summit to finally construct a loss and damage fund. Many countries rejoiced at this “longdelayed” agreement—it came 31 years after Vanuatu, a small archipelago in the Pacific, first proposed compensation for loss and damage for climate-caused sea level rise in earlier negotiations. The agreement was only a framework, however. Most of the details were left to a transitional committee that met throughout 2023 to forward recommendations on this

new fund to COP28. A United Nations report outlined at the committee’s second meeting found that funding from wealthy nations to help poorer countries adapt to the ravages of climate change grew by 65 percent from 2019 to 2020, to $49 billion. That’s still far below the $160 billion to $340 billion the UN estimates will be needed annually by 2030. As the meetings went on, developing nations, long wary of traditional financial institutions’ use of interest-bearing loans, which have left many low-income countries mired in debt, proposed that the fund be independent. Developed nations, however, insisted the fund be hosted under the World Bank and held up the recommendations until right before COP28.

Devil is in the details

WHILE any deal on funding for climate disaster damages was sure to be portrayed as a historic win, further investigation suggests that it should be welcomed with hesitation and scrutiny. First, the fund contains no specifics on scale, financial targets or how it will be funded. Instead, the decision merely “invites” developed nations to “take the lead” in providing finance and support and encourages commitments from other parties. It also fails to detail which countries will be eligible to receive funding. And it vaguely states it would be for “economic and non-economic loss and damage associated

MEMBERS of Greenpeace gather for a photo around a sign that reads “we will end fossil fuels” at the COP28 UN Climate Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 13. AP/RAFIQ MAQBOOL

with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow onset events.” So far, pledges have been underwhelming. Calculations of early commitments total just over $650 million, with Germany and the United Arab Emirates pledging $100 million and the UK committing $75 million. The United States, one of the largest climate change contributors, pledged only $17.5 million in comparison. It’s a shockingly low starting point. Also, any notion that this fund represents liability or compensation by developed countries—a major concern for countries with long histories of carbon pollution—was removed entirely.

It in fact notes that loss and damage response is based on cooperation instead. In a rare win for the developing world, funds were made available—even at subnational and community levels—to all nations, though with yet-undetermined performance indicators. Additional concern has been raised about the fund’s interim host—the World Bank. In fact, deciding on a host institution was one of the sticking points that nearly derailed earlier talks. On one side, the United States and other developed nations insisted the fund be hosted by the World Bank, which has always been led by an American and has historically spread pro-Western policies.

Developing countries, however, resisted the World Bank’s involvement based on their historical experiences with its lending and structural adjustment programs and noting the bank’s role for years in financing oil and gas exploration as cornerstones of development efforts. Following a stalemate and US attempts to block a consensus, a compromise was reached to host the fund under the World Bank for four years, with guardrails to ensure its independence and impact. After this window, the host structure will be reviewed, leading to either a fully independent fund or continuation under the World Bank. The concern for critics with this route is that the compromise risks ending up as a permanent hosting situation. And there are more issues—such as the fund board’s composition, which only allows for national representatives, not civil society representatives such as from Indigenous groups, as developing countries requested. The scope of funding that will be allowed is also still up in the air. In the fund’s vague state, it opens the door for countries, as part of their loss and damage funding commitments, to count private loans, conditional import credits and even funding from the fossil fuel industry at the same time the industry continues to fuel climate damage.

community does not have a solid track record when it comes to climate finance promises. Each successive fund—from the Green Climate Fund that supports green projects in the developing world, to the Adaptation Fund that builds climate resilience for the most vulnerable nations—has been woefully undersourced from inception. In 2021, the entire climate finance ecosystem, from national commitments to private investment, totaled $850 billion. Experts indicate that this sum needs to be closer to $4.3 trillion. That target represents 20 percent year-over-year growth until the end of this decade—a significant ramp up from recent years. From 2011 to 2020, total climate finance grew at just 7 percent annually. If this trend continues, not only will developing and most vulnerable countries lose faith in this process, but the very need for loss and damage funding will only grow. The new fund board is mandated to hold its first meeting by January 31, 2024. While this early start time is laudable, droughts will continue killing crops, and storms will continue flooding homes while the new fund engages in another series of meetings to determine who will qualify, how they can apply and how and when funds will actually be dispersed.

What happens next, starting in 2024

Shannon Gibson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/The Conversation (CC) via AP

TO date, the international climate

EHRAN, Iran—Female soccer fans in Iran claimed a small win Thursday in their long campaign to be allowed into stadiums to watch men’s games after decades of near total exclusion and harassment. A photograph was posted on social media by the campaign group Open Stadiums of three female fans inside the Azadi Stadium in Tehran for one of the biggest games in Iran, between city rivals Persepolis and Esteghlal. Up to 3,000 tickets were set to be made available for women. “Historical day for women’s rights activists and the fight for equal access to public spaces will continue,” the activist group posted. Women have been mainly prohibited from attending men’s soccer games and other sports events in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Though some women have attended selected games in recent years, Open Stadiums has said that too few fans could buy tickets and they faced harassment from morality police. FIFA president Gianni Infantino later cited his own role in the campaign which including pushing for some women to be allowed to attend the 2018 Asian Champions League in the same Tehran stadium. That breakthrough came months after Iran fans brought the issue to games at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. “Thanks to the ongoing dialogue between FIFA and the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation, progress is being made,” Infantino wrote in a post on his Instagram account. The FIFA leader said he had discussed with Iran state president Ebrahim Raisi Raisi in New York three months ago “the development of women’s football in the country and the progress made regarding the presence of women in football stadiums.” FIFA statutes prohibit discrimination by member federations.

Female Iranian soccer fans score small victory

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, December 17, 2023 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

A COLLECTION of six shirts worn by Lionel Messi at the 2022 FIFA World Cup is on display at Sotheby’s in New York. AP

Set of 6 jerseys Messi wore sells for $7.8M

TURKIST TEAM PRESIDENT GETS BANNED PERMANENTLY

IN Ankara, the former president of a Turkish soccer team who punched a referee on the field moments after a game has been permanently banned by the Turkish Football Federation. The federation late on Thursday said that it banned Faruk Koca, who has resigned as president of MKE Ankaragucu, for punching referee Halil Umut Meler on Monday night. Meler, who was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday with a small fracture near his eye, was attacked shortly after the final whistle of a 1-1 draw between Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor in Turkey’s top league. Koca was arrested for causing injury to a public official, and two other people face charges for kicking the referee. The federation had initially suspended all league games in response to the incident before announcing that matches will resume next Tuesday in Turkey, which has been selected to co-host the 2032 European Championship with Italy. Koca’s resignation was announced on Ankaragucu’s website. The federation also said Ankaragucu has been fined 2 million lira ($69,000) and will have to play five home games without fans. AP

Ohtani reveals dog’s name at Dodgers’ introduction: Decoy

A PHOTOGRAPH is posted on social media by the campaign group Open Stadiums of three female fans inside the Azadi Stadium in Tehran for one of the biggest games in Iran between city rivals Persepolis and Esteghlal.

Boxing card honors Smokin’ Joe on late champion’s 80th birthday

HILADELPHIA—Smokin’ Joe will headline one more boxing card. The family of Joe Frazier is set to honor the former heavyweight champion with a slate of bouts in Atlantic City, New Jersey—site of his parents’ first date, his son noted—to celebrate what would have been his 80th birthday. Joe Frazier Jr. Promotions in association with Danny Swift Garcia Promotions will run the card featuring mostly young fighters on January 13 at Boardwalk Hall, once the premier home of boxing on the East Coast. Frazier, the relentless, undersized heavyweight who ruled the division as champion, would have turned 80 on January 12. He died on November 7, 2011, after a brief battle with liver cancer. In the years after his death, Frazier’s bond with Philadelphia has only grown tighter. Frazier has a statue outside an entertainment complex near the city’s three sports stadiums on the site

OS ANGELES—Nearly all the mystery around Shohei Ohtani’s unprecedented free agency was revealed over the last week, yet baseball fans kept sniffing around on a most fuzzy question. Just who was the pup sitting on Ohtani’s lap when he

SHOHEI OHTANI says his brown and white dog is named Dekopin or Decopin in Japanese, depending on the transliteration. MLB PHOTO

of the now-demolished Spectrum, an arena where he fought. Frazier spent much of his life in his adopted hometown fighting until the end to earn respect as one of the city’s sports greats. “Some people say he hasn’t gotten his just due,” Joe Frazier Jr. said. “My father was never about that. He was all about giving back to the kids. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t have a statue or a mural out anywhere. But it does make me feel good to see the recognition and his name kept alive.” Without a viable venue available in Philly, Frazier’s family decided to roll the dice on Atlantic City, as they hope for a boxing revival on the boardwalk. “My father didn’t box there. But he did a lot of gambling there,” Frazier said, laughing. “But come to find out, my mother and him had their first date there. It’s just the proximity of it, being so close to Jersey and Philly. It’s been the mecca of boxing before. Let’s just bring it back.” Undefeated fighters Dylan

was voted American League (AL) MVP for the second time last month? Fans speculated the dog’s name could have been a hint at his intentions—What if the pooch was named Dodger? Or Giant? Or Blue Jay? All a Decoy, turns out. Introduced by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday after agreeing to a $700 million, 10-year deal, Ohtani revealed that the brown and white dog who joined him on television last month is named Dekopin or Decopin in Japanese, depending on the transliteration—but he suggests Americans call him Decoy. “I figured it would be hard for American people to pronounce it, so he has an American name,” Ohtani said via translator Ippei Mizuhara. Ohtani didn’t speak to reporters after winning his MVP award, and the dog’s name never surfaced while Ohtani stayed silent amid highly secretive free agent talks. He was asked about the dog twice during Thursday’s news conference. By the time Ohtani announced Saturday that he’d picked the Dodgers, even his new teammates were eager to learn more about his furry friend. “I’d like to think it was named Walker but I guess I’ll find out soon,” pitcher Walker Buehler tweeted. The San Francisco Giants, meanwhile, made three offers to Ohtani, including a final proposal that president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi called “very comparable if

Price and Leanna Cruz are part of the fight night, as is Philadelphia heavyweight Joey Dawejko. HBO and Showtime have each discontinued boxing programming, leaving promoters hopeful of finding a streaming service for a card billed as “Hooked on Greatness.” The 35-year-old Garcia, a Philly native and former World Boxing Council light welterweight champion, said it was his mission to build a better path toward title fights for blossoming fighters. Garcia sat out all of 2023 and hasn’t fought since a July 2022 win over José Benavidez Jr. at Barclays Center. He hoped to fight again next year. “I didn’t fight because I didn’t want to,” Garcia said. “I wanted to fight. It’s just politics. It didn’t happen. It’s not that easy. People think you can just call people up and say you want to fight next week. You have to wait your turn. Right now, I’m just waiting it out.” Frazier is forever linked with Muhammad Ali, the heavyweights

involved in perhaps the greatest trilogy of fights. A vicious left hook from Frazier put Muhammad Ali on the canvas in the 15th round in March 1971 when he became the first man to beat him in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden. They went 41 rounds together. Frazier was small for a heavyweight, weighing just 205 pounds when he won the title by stopping Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round of their 1970 fight at Madison Square Garden. “I understand that if we don’t continue to bring his legacy out, he will be forgotten in the minds of the young ones,” said Frazier, the 41-year-old son. “That’s who I really want to educate. Everyone my age and up knows who he is. They’ll always remember.” AP

EW YORK—Six jerseys worn by soccer superstar Lionel Messi during Argentina’s winning run at last year›s World Cup sold Thursday for $7.8 million, the auction house Sotheby’s announced. The final price for the shirts, each worn during the first half of one of Argentina’s games at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, is the highest price for an item of sports memorabilia this year, Sotheby’s said. Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw in the World Cup final, winning its third World Cup. The victory, in which Messi scored two of Argentina’s three goals, represented a crowning moment for one of the sport’s greatest-ever players. “These historic shirts are not only a tangible reminder of one of the most important moments in the history of sports, but are principally connected to the pinnacle moment in the career of the most decorated football player in history,” Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collectibles, said in a statement. The shirts were on display at Sotheby’s New York headquarters during the two-week online auction that ended Thursday. No information on the winning bidder was released. Sotheby’s said a portion of the auction proceeds would be donated to the UNICAS Project, led by Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children’s Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to help children suffering from rare diseases. The 36-year-old Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer, spent 17 years at Barcelona. He has won the Ballon d’Or, which is presented annually to the game’s top player, a record eight times. Sotheby’s had hoped that the Messi shirts might set an auction record for game-worn sports memorabilia, but that did not occur. The record for a game-worn item of sports memorabilia remains Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals jersey, which sold for $10.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York last year. AP

IN the years after his death, Joe Frazier’s bond with Philadelphia has only grown tighter. AP

not identical” to the record $700 million, 10-year contract the Japanese two-way star agreed to with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani spent two hours with the Giants for a ballpark meeting with Zaidi, Greg Johnson, former catcher Buster Posey and new manager Bob Melvin on December 2. Zaidi said San Francisco increased and adjusted its offers to meet Ohtani’s requests. “The proposal that was made was very comparable if not identical to what he wound up agreeing to,” Zaidi said during a conference call Tuesday. “We offered what would have been the biggest contract in major league history. I’m guessing we weren’t the only team that did that. But wanted to show our aggressiveness and interest right out of the gate.” Zaidi said it might have been helpful to be able to take Ohtani around the San Francisco area to check out neighborhoods and real estate, but the meeting was restricted to Oracle Park to prevent Ohtani from being spotted. When the Giants got the sense Ohtani seemed to want to stay in Southern California, Zaidi said there was a realization it might be a hard agreement to make happen despite the proposed financial commitment. “And then we knew that would be a challenge for us,” Zaidi said. San Francisco’s executives hadn’t heard anything back from Ohtani’s representatives by Saturday morning,

a few days after the club’s latest offer. That became concerning to the Giants as the team waited for the player to make his choice. The Giants missed out last offseason on Aaron Judge and then decided not to finalize a $350 million, 13-year agreement with shortstop Carlos Correa after concerns arose from his physical dating to a 2014 surgery on his right leg. When asked to specify whether the Giants’ proposal was nearly equivalent to what Los Angeles offered, Zaidi noted, “Structure and total compensation, yes.” He was given the indication all of Ohtani’s offers were “in the similar range” by the end and the Giants tried to stay in contact to see what they might do to better their position in the pursuit. Zaidi called it “an usual deal,” given the significant deferred money involved. “I think we at certain points felt really good about our chances, at other points as you always do, you have some questions or doubts because you know it’s very competitive,” Zaidi said. “We felt like we pulled a number of levers to try to make things happen and there were ways in which I think we were disadvantaged just in terms of player preference, geography in particular, that the end of the day this is sort of what free agency is,” he added. “It comes down to a choice for a player—and when you’re talking about a generational player—is going to have great choices and probably be able to check just about every box he’s looking for.” AP

BusinessMirror

December 17, 2023

Here are some of the best video games of 2023

BusinessMirror

DECEMBER 17, 2023

YOUR MUSI

PHOTO BY JANA SCHUESSLER

‘DOUBLE HELIX’

Steve Aoki goes beyond music in latest concept album STEVE AOKI and Ernest PHOTO BY ALEXANDER FEDERIC / @ALEXVNDER

By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

Publisher Editor-In-Chief Concept Y2Z Editor SoundStrip Editor Group Creative Director Graphic Designers

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon : Lourdes M. Fernandez : Aldwin M. Tolosa : Jt Nisay : Edwin P. Sallan : Eduardo A. Davad : Niggel Figueroa Anabelle O. Flores

Contributing Writers

: Tony M. Maghirang Rick Olivares Patrick Miguel Jill Tan Radovan Reine Juvierre Alberto John Eiron R. Francisco Pocholo Concepcion Francine Y. Medina

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. Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025 Advertising Sales: 893-2019; 817-1351,817-2807. Circulation: 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. www.businessmirror.com.ph

REALLY love fantasy. I’m a sci-fi kid at heart,” asserted two-time Grammynominated Steve Aoki. In his new album, the 46-yearold Japanese-American DJ and music producer transcends music, storytelling, art, and even card collecting and trading. ‘HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix’ is Steve’s eighth concept album, following ‘HiROQUEST: Genesis,’ released last November 17, and it’s his most exhaustive album yet. The HiROQUEST Collectors Edition includes a HiROQUEST CD, the official HiROQUEST GRAPHIC NOVEL, and four ultra-rare Kolex trading cards from an exclusive 12-card set. Going beyond the music on the album, Steve told SoundStrip in an exclusive interview: “The cards and the book mean so much and required much of my time to develop—countless hours and a lot of my money to really put this world together like this.”

A story-teller, card guy

“I’VE always wanted to create brands that tell a story and this one is a really incredible story that I was able to write,” Steve enthused. In telling the story of Hiro, Steve collaborated with Jim Kreuger, a former creative director for Marvel Comics and recipient of the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Novel. Steve shared that it took him a year to write Hiro’s tale took a year. “It’s relatable. There’s a lot of symbolism to Hiro as a young Steve Aoki in many ways like being able to grow up and wanting all these things and then that’s when the story becomes fantasy,” he narrated. The sequel follows Hiro’s quest in search of 10 Pullet Rings to save the world from a meteor about to destroy the planet. As he embarks on an

JJ Lin, Hayley Kiyoko, Galantis, Timmy Trumpet, and John Martin. He collaborated with country music singer ERNEST in his new single released alongside the new album, creating a musical fusion by bridging country with his electronic dance music sensibilities. “With every album, I’m always trying to expand my collaborations, and country is a genre of mine that I really want to expand into,” he quipped. Talking more about exploring the country genre: “This whole genre of country, especially in the US, it’s a very devoted fanbase and community, and when you can connect with them, it’s actually a great feeling.” In his collaboration with ERNEST, Steve said, “I love working with artists that are right about to burst and I feel like ERNEST is right there. He’s written big country records. I feel like give him some time and he’s going to be selling out his own arena shows.” Steve a lso reca l led his memorable collaborations with Louis Tomlinson, Chester Bennington from Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, Lil Uzi Vert, and Santa Fe Klan, adding that he loves doing remixes and working with all different kinds of artists and in different languages such as Latin, Spanish, and Japanese. Sharing his hack with SoundStrip on how he incorporates his music style to other genres, Steve said it’s because he can travel and whenever he can, he would “jump in studios” wherever he is in the world and work with artists from different places. That way, he would be surrounded by different cultures, sounds, and artists, which would expand his production caliber. “That is my hack to be so multi-faceted, that I’m able to be everywhere—and I love touring, I do 250 shows a year. I’ve been doing that since 2007,” he quipped. Admitting that although he doesn’t know much about Filipino music, Steve said he would love to work with Pinoy artists. “I’m a very open-minded producer,” he said.

‘The good old days’

odyssey, he faces his sinister arch-nemesis, Hyro, and armies from five uncharted mythological realms ruled by powerful factions. “I’m also a big trading card game guy,” Steve also shared. He said he collects Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and other trading card games (TCGs). Building on that interest, he founded his own trading card game, MetaZoo, in 2020, and now, the HiROQUEST TCG, which Steve revealed people are buying 10 to 40 boxes each. “It’s a whole different team and a whole different infrastructure to develop. It’s just been a lot of fun to build this game,” he expressed on the creation process.

Bridging musical differences

STEVE has collaborated with a bunch of artists from varying genres over the years such as will.i.am in hip-hop; Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, and blink-182 in rock; Backstreet Boys and Louis Tomlinson in pop; and BTS and Monsta X in K-pop. In HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix alone, he worked with 11 artists namely Paris Hilton, Akon, Ángela Aguilar, Danna Paola, Greeicy, Galantis,

THE EDM scene in the Philippines, which used to be so alive at night with clubs opening left and right, is now considered “the good old days.” Since many of the bars and clubs have closed due to the pandemic, people who would populate those places to rave have a hard time on where to go now. Budding DJs are also affected and at a loss whether they should continue their craft. Steve advised, “If you love it, it doesn’t matter how many people you play it for.” When he was into punk and hardcore, he would play for 20 people in houses and basements, make 20 dollars a show, and he loved it, he said. “If you’re already in the culture, you just keep going,” he added. But if they stopped loving the culture because their interest changed, they moved on because there’s no place for it, Steve said “There’s nothing wrong with that.” “There are webs and flows in culture and it’s a low right now in the Philippines, but I guarantee you, it’s just the nature of life’s cycle. In five years, it’s gonna grow again,” he said. Steve will be going to Thailand, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia to play this December. Although he won’t be coming to the Philippines for a show, he said he’s “gonna make an effort to come out there to help instigate the EDM world” and hopefully, revive the scene and culture once again.

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | DECEMBER 17, 2023

BUSINESS

TEEN PRODIGY

Offshore Music’s Ligaya Escueta redefines indie rock By John Eiron R. Francisco

“I don’t want to think of how I can be different from others. I just want to be... I just want to be myself,” Ligaya Escueta told Soundstrip.

ENERATION Z—also known as Gen Z, iGen (internet generation) or post millennial are the first generation to grow up with the internet and digital technology, and they have some distinctive personality traits that often reflect their experiences. Some are diverse and inclusive, collaborative and social, self-reliant and pragmatic, flexible and adaptable, curious and creative—these characteristics are often described Gen Z, and these were proven by 16-year old young artist, Ligaya Escueta, who is currently making her name in the industry. Indeed, age is just a number and true fulfillment comes from the determination to chase after the passions that resonate within your heart and transcending the limitations that time may impose. When SoundStrip asked about her choice to use the stage name “Ligaya,” which translates to “joy” in Filipino, she proudly expressed her connection to her Filipino identity. She elaborated, stating, “I take pride in being Filipino, and I want to reflect that pride in my name.” In choosing “Ligaya,” she not only embodies the value of joy but also symbolizes her commitment to showcasing and celebrating her lineage through her artistic identity. Ligaya started her musical journey at the age of 13, it wasn’t until 2019 that the idea took root, and even during the pandemic, she hesitated. However, a realization struck her: music was her true passion, leading her to dive into the world of indie rock. “I was reluctant to really pursue it. But at one point, I was really thinking…this is what I love to do. So, let’s do it,” she underscored.

Navigating Indie Rock

COMMONLY, in the music industry, artists often find their niche - a genre that resonates with their personality and vocal style. For Ligaya, that genre is indie rock, a choice she feels perfectly complements both her individuality and her voice. “It’s just what I like. So, that’s also the type of music that I write,” Ligaya shares. Her musical journey led her to embrace indie rock and the alternative genre, where she discovered a sense of acceptance and belonging as a musician. “No one was shunning me or anything. It’s just that, personally, I lack confidence in my singing voice when it comes to

LIGAYA ESCUETA (right) with Pinoy rock legend and Offshore Music head honcho Ely Buendia

collaborates with her producer, who lends a hand in refining and polishing the lyrics. The timeline of song creation is as diverse as the emotions that fuel her. Ligaya revealed that some compositions materialize within a few short hours, while others linger in the creative for months, or even years, evolving and maturing over time. This dynamic process underscores the depth and complexity that she injects into her musical creations. Ligaya finds immense joy in attending live gigs, immersing herself in the electrifying atmosphere of other musicians’ performances. The raw talent and genuine kindness exhibited by these artists serve as her inspiration, filling her own creative endeavors. Moreover, the experience extends beyond mere admiration for musical journey but Ligaya discovers a profound sense of belonging and connection among those who share her musical taste and style. The camaraderie formed with likeminded individuals enhances the depth of her musical journey, creating a community where the language of music transcends boundaries. Expressing her sentiments, “I think something that keeps music alive is live music,” she asserts, underscoring the transformative impact that the immediacy and authenticity of live performances hold for her. It’s not just about the sounds resonating through the venue; it’s about the unique connection forged between the artist and the audience, an element that connects with Ligaya on a profoundly personal level.

Style and Expression other genres,” while she believes that indie rock, with its unique combination of authenticity and individuality, serves as her canvas for musical expression. Unlike other genres where technical perfection is often emphasized, she appreciates the raw and unfiltered nature of indie rock, “In indie music or rock music, the singers have voices that may not be technically perfect, but they are incredibly good,” she noted. Ligaya shared her musical influences that include Weezer, Blur, Joy Division, Mitski, and The Pixies. All are alternative rock bands from different eras. Ligaya admires the creativity, originality, and authenticity of these bands in using music to channel their emotions and experiences.

Music releases

MEANWHILE, she has released a song on

a compilation album and an album of her own, which she wrote herself. For her latest single, released in October 2023, titled Novelty, an album under Offshore Music, she told Soundstrip that “signing with this label is really a new experience” for her. Ligaya’s music platform sees notable streaming success with additional releases, with “The End” being a standout single dropped on February 14, 2023 - this lively track revolves around the theme of moving forward from one’s history. Other noteworthy tunes gaining traction include “1965,” “She,” and “Living is a Dying Art.” Ligaya’s approach to the creative process is best characterized as both organic and spontaneous, her songwriting coming from a deep well of personal experiences, ideas, and emotions. Once the initial draft takes shape, she

ASIDE from her music, Ligaya also stands out with her personal style, which is classic and rock vibes. She loves fashion and dressing up, and she wants her look to reflect her identity as a musician and as a person. “This is just my personal style - how I am as a person, that’s how I want my look to be as a musician,” she said. Through her music, she hopes to resonate with her fans, audience, and listeners, which she considers as her way of expressing herself and communicating with others. “I think it’s as a musician. Music is a form of communication. So, I hope that they can understand what I’m trying to say. And I hope that they can relate to it. And I hope that they can enjoy it,” she said. In this fast paced industry, one thing that Ligaya has learned so far is to be grounded, “I don’t want to think of how I can be different from others. I just want to be...I just want to be myself.”

Here are some of the best video games of 2023 By Lou Kesten

The Associated Press

t’s been a terrific year for video games. Developers hit their stride on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox X/S consoles, unleashing massive adventures big enough to satisfy gamers for weeks. The Switch is at the end of its lifespan, but Nintendo debuted two spectacular games on its way out. And indie studios held up their end, delivering distinctive takes on classic genres. Here are the top 10 games of 2023, as chosen by Associated Press writer Lou Kesten.

1. “Baldur’s Gate III” Role-playing games were particularly ambitious this year, and none was more rewarding than this epic from Belgium’s Larian Studios. The main plot—you have a deadly parasite in your brain, and you need to get it out—is compelling enough, but your trek through the Forgotten Realms introduces a lively cast of characters and a cornucopia of fascinating side missions. It’s as close to the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game as you can get digitally, and it’s a blast.

2. “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” Nearly 40 years in, Nintendo keeps finding new ways to present the heroic Link and his eternal battle against evil. His most powerful new skill this time is Ultrahand, which allows him to build a seemingly endless variety of outlandish vehicles to traverse the sprawling land of Hyrule. Add in the usual assortment of devilish dungeons and brain-busting puzzles, and you can spend 100-some hours just goofing around before tackling its emotionally moving climax.

3. “Cocoon” Feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world? That’s literally the burden of the beetle at the center of this masterpiece from Annapurna Interactive. Thing is, each of those spheres gives you a special power (which I won’t spoil), and you can jump inside each world and explore. By the time you’re moving worlds within worlds, your mind’s fully blown. Designer Jeppe Carlsen is known for the bleak cult classics Inside and Limbo, and while he’s in a more forgiving mood here, “Cocoon” is just as thoughtprovoking.

Role-playing games were particularly ambitious this year, and none was more rewarding than this epic from Belgium’s Larian Studios with “Baldur’s Gate III,” which won six trophies in The Game Awards 2023, including “Game of the Year.” Larian Studios via AP

4. “Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty” The 2020 release of “Cyberpunk” was, frankly, a mess, but Poland’s CD Projekt Red has devoted an extraordinary amount of effort to turning it into the game fans had hoped for. This year’s expansion makes it all worthwhile. It begins as an “Escape from New York” riff—the president’s plane crashes in an urban hellhole—and evolves into a brutal take on technology, global politics and corporate voracity. Yes, Keanu Reeves is back—and you get to hang out with Idris Elba too!

5. “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” Nintendo’s most iconic character returns to the 2D, side-scrolling, running-and-jumping antics that made him famous. Mario has some new powers: He can drill through the ground, trap enemies in bubbles and even turn into an elephant. But the real highlight of each level is the Wonder Flower, which can transform the whole environment in an entirely different challenge. “SMBW” feels like the designers took every wacky idea they’ve had over the decades and stuffed them all into one game, and it’s hilarious.

6. “Chants of Sennaar” This puzzler from French indie Rundisc is built around a distinctive mechanic: translating foreign languages. Your mission is to explore an edifice inspired by the Tower of Babel, but you’re not going anywhere until you can make sense of the enigmatic signs and cryptic speech of each level’s inhabitants. It’s almost relaxing, but I felt thrilled

4 BusinessMirror

every time I managed to crack a new code. And the overarching goal trying to find common ground with people you don’t understand—is inspiring.

7. “Sea of Stars” The 1990s are regarded as the golden age of role-playing games, and the folks at Canada’s Sabotage Studio are obviously fans. Their latest throwback is the tale of two young warriors who can harness the powers of the moon and sun as they fight monsters summoned by a wicked alchemist. The graphics and gameplay evoke 16-bit classics like “Chrono Trigger” and “Xenogears,” the characters are thoroughly charming, and the story takes some surprising twists. While it works as homage, “SoS” has enough original ideas to make an old formula fresh.

8. “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2”

rales—web-slinging their way between the skyscrapers of Manhattan and beyond. It’s beautifully paced, alternating low-key personal episodes with high-octane brawls against flamboyant supervillains. It’s the ideal antidote to superhero fatigue.

9. “Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew” Afia, the swashbuckler at the center of this pirate caper from Germany’s Mimimi Games, has a problem: She’s dead, with a big old sword sticking right through her torso. But she’s not about to let that stop her from reassembling the crew of the ghost ship Red Marley and wreaking havoc on the high seas. Each of the sailors has a mystical power—Afia can teleport, for example, while the ship’s carpenter can drag people to hell. The result is an addictive series of tactical challenges with a bracing dose of black comedy.

10. “Starfield”

“Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” serves as the ideal antidote to superhero fatigue. Sony Interactive Entertainment via AP

The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be limping, but Sony and Insomniac Games apparently didn’t get the memo. Their latest comic-book romp soars, with two Spideys—Peter Parker and Miles Mo-

December 17, 2023

Bethesda Softworks tries to cram decades of science fiction—from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner to Everything Everywhere All at Once—into its newest RPG. It doesn’t always work: You can’t build an entire galaxy without some stops being a little dull. But “Starfield’s” sheer ambition is arresting, and there’s enough of Bethesda’s well-honed storytelling finesse to make the journey worthwhile. Given the studio’s history with “The Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout,” here’s hoping it becomes the foundation (another classic SF reference!) of another successful franchise. Cover photo by Christopher Farrugia on Unsplash