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Sunday, February 2, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 115

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

An active volcano with a near-legendary history of eruptions suddenly jolts Filipinos on a recent Sunday, and in moments, life is never the same again for thousands who have lived in its shadow, benefiting from its bounty, inspired by a loveliness that only nature can carve out from so much violence. Here are some of these people.

DEAD fish, damaged fish traps and boats weighed down by volcanic ash litter the shores of Buso-Buso in Laurel, Batangas.

P

Text and photos by Bernard Testa

HIVOLCS announced earlier this week it had downgraded the alert level from 4 (“imminent hazardous eruption”) to 3, to the delight of residents who had been forced to flee their communities in haste after Taal Volcano’s January 12 phreatic eruption.

Many heeded the government advice to stay out of the 7-kilometer danger zone.

They stayed in different evacuation centers within Batangas and Cavite; others, with relatives in nearby provinces.

During their stay in evacuation centers, some brave souls made use of precious window hours to check out their homes, belongings, pets and livestock.

Defying the 14-km danger zone lockdown just to see whatever was left in their possession by the eruption, they harvested tilapia, fed their feathered friends and four-legged animals, mounting rescues for near-starved dogs, cows and horses which had been their indispensable tourist cash cow for those fabled volcano trails before Taal’s tantrum.

Jockey Robert #1

JOCKEY Robert Sentiles with his family (from left) Alysa, wife Aileen, Harold, Robert Piolo and Rafael.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.9040

RESIDENTS of San Isidro, Talisay, who escaped the January 12 phreatic eruption by boat were the first ones to react to an unmistakable restiveness and erratic behavior from Taal’s magma activity.

They were living on Volcano Island, known as the horse guide community.

Roberto Sentiles resides at the foot of the crater. He is originally

RESCUED horses from San Isidro, Talisay

from Lemery but was mesmerized by the volcano island’s beauty.

Soon enough, he found his love and started a family. He decided to become a horse guide to showcase what attracted him to the volcano island, “makikita niyo ang kagandahan ng bulkan [you’ll see the beauty of the volcano].”

He has been ferrying tourists from San Isidro to the crater lake for the last 20 years. “Ay kaganda [Oh, how lovely!],” he sighed, both with sadness and affection for the loveliness created by such violence of nature.

“I own one horse, and I ride three other horses owned by my

boss,” he says in Filipino.

Tourists register at the local tourism office for P100; then pay a horse guide P500 to see the Taal island volcano crater. If the horse guide happens to be the horse owner, he gets P350 and gives P150 to the horse guide associaContinued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4672 n UK 66.6690 n HK 6.5546 n CHINA 7.3682 n SINGAPORE 37.3882 n AUSTRALIA 34.2024 n EU 56.1675 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5686

Source: BSP (January 31, 2020)

NewsSunday

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A2 Sunday, February 2, 2020

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MARITEL SALAZAR’S house looked like it had been attacked by an amok.

Continued from A1

tion. If he is just a jockey, he gets P100 per trip.

The tour takes 40 minutes uphill and 20 minutes descending.

This is their daily grind.

But now, the Sentiles family joins thousands of residents from San Isidro, Talisay, scattered inside the PUP campus in Santo Tomas, Batangas. They are better there because there is food and electricity.

He still can’t believe how one Sunday afternoon took away their life in the blink of the eye.

Last week, the lockdown was lifted by Task Force Taal after Phivolcs lowered the alert level to 3, but told local officials to exercise caution and discretion in sending back their constituents. Many were allowed to go home and clean their houses except those barangays in the permanent danger zone.

In that dark first week, San Isidro residents left behind 1,500 animals and livestock, which several residents tried to rescue on risky, daily excursions until the lockdown for the 14-km danger zone was strictly enforced. Under alert level 4, no one slips away. If spotted, they will be forcibly dragged out from the 14-kilometer radius by soldiers.

‘Baka’ in Malinis. ‘Bala’ in Agoncillo.

OUR BusinessMirror team checked the latest news bulletin about road cracks and fissures in Lemery, Batangas.

Colleague Roy Domingo looked it up via Google Maps—61.7 kilometers or an hour and 24 minutes’ drive from PUP Santo Tomas campus, the

evacuation center.

Before reaching Lemery, one travels through Lipa, Cuenca, Alitagtag, Santa Teresita and the heritage town of Taal. It was surreal. For the town of Alitagtag and parts of Santa Teresita, it was business as usual. Stores are open as if there was no eruption, except that thick ash and dust collect on one’s windshield.

Taal was a ghost town. DPWH crews were cleaning up the main road to make it passable, but zero visibility occasionally sets in.

Just after Sinisian bridge in Lemery, a dislocated road looks like a square pizza pulled by a hungry mob, with slabs of concrete piled over each other like domino pieces, slowing down vehicles. Traffic enforcers manage the four-lane main road into a one-way only.

Road cracks are everywhere; people show their houses and cracks from a finger thick to as wide as 5 inches.

For Eduardo Delgrano, 65, it is no longer safe to sleep in his house in Sinisian East.

“When it first erupted, there was a slight fissure, but at dawn today, it widened like this,” Delgrano says, using his hands to show how every tremor, which comes frequently, widens the cracks.

“Because the aftershocks are strong, and nonstop, see here, the foundation has given way. So I’m going to Malayag, where the evacuation center is.”

Tessie Martinez and her family visited their house further up in Sinisian East, on the way to Balayan Bay. She was surprised by what she saw. “In the morning, the crack

BANJO CAROLINO, 50, emerges from the rubble that was once his home in Buso-Buso.

A DOG left by its owners in their haste to flee the volcano island.

was as fine as a line. But then, with the earthquakes, the cracks multiply and widen.”

Maritel Salazar concedes it is unsafe to stay in their house, which looks like it had been attacked by an amok with wild swings of a bolo left and right. The cracks are big and small, deep and wide.

One resident recalls his grandmother used to tell him that there is a body of water from Pansipit River to Balayan Sea, a strait that allows boats to navigate Balayan Sea (saltwater) to Taal lake (freshwater) and back and forth.

Bulalo.

EDUARDO DELGRANO, 65, inspects his damaged house in Sinisian East.

FISHERMAN Raymart Rodriguez, 26, carries a religious statue in his ash-filled house in Buso-Buso.

To date, their group has rescued more than 300 animals, mostly horses, including his three island-bred workhorses.

They are doing it for free, risking their lives to save lives.

At this writing, they had just accompanied PETA in rescuing 10 dogs.

When Phivolcs lowered the alert signal, they were allowed to ferry PETA volunteers in a 5 am-5 pm rescue mission.

WE chanced on eight men in Barangay Malinis, Lemery, pulling and pushing cows to a truck.

The cows seem stressed, hungry and thirsty. The men were in bayanihan mode, helping each other push the cows to safety.

Antonio Sarmiento, 50, a resident of Bilibinwang, Agoncillo, harvests tilapia at Taal Lake despite the eruption. When we met him he had a mission to rescue six cows. “I

Atomic bomb, Scarlet Red.

RESIDENTS drag cows to safety in Barangay Malinis, Lemery.

started coaxing them to walk starting at 5 am. We’ve been walking for four hours. I asked for help already because I was worried they might die. They have grown weak.”

Thanks to the bayanihan spirit and Filipino resiliency at its best, this beast will hopefully not end up as bulalo, that steaming beef broth that is the Batangueños’ staple food.

But if it does have to be slaughtered, he says with obvious mixed emotions, “Then I’d be relieved that with God’s mercy I can earn something from it.”

The town was the first to enforce the lockdown. But because of the 4-hour window, residents came back for their animals.

Most Agoncillo residents have fled to Lumbangan in Tuy town, 30 kilometers from Lemery.

At the boundary of Lemery and Agoncillo, we saw a checkpoint.

We greeted the tropa, a respectful moniker for members of the Armed Forces, the PNP and the Bureau of Fire Protection. They are the best first responders in every calamity.

Long lines of residents press them for permission to get in. They spot early birds who managed to get in from other passages or roads, and one policeman says, “You hard-headed people, where did you pass?”

Then, a resident with three obviously restless cows came from nowhere, saying he needs to rescue eight cattle in all. He is from Coral na Munti, Agoncillo. He has rescued the first four, but the problem is there is one cow on the loose.

In Talisay and Laurel, Batangas, a teary-eyed Kapitana Leah Sangalang, from Buso-Buso area, makes a damage assessment with her barangay councilmen.

She asked everyone who cared to hear to help her constituents.

She can’t believe what she saw. “On bended knees we beg kind hearts for help. Our place is so devastated, it’s heartbreaking. We’ll have

a hard time recovering. We had barely survived the fishkill in June, and now this. We don’t even know where to begin.”

Bala ng kanyon #2

ANTONIO GARCIA, 63, is a backyard hog raiser. When the January 12 eruption happened they were in Subic Ibaba, monitoring the volcano. “We thought it had vented its steam and that was it. The smoke and steam was a kilometer high.

We thought none would follow,” he says in Filipino.

“The nonstop tremors, however, scared us. For two straight days it would shake, pounding like cannons.

I don’t know why Phivolcs failed to detect it, it was nonstop.” (Ed’s note: Phivolcs did include the nonstop tremors in its report, and used it as basis for raising the alert level.)

Besides the small tremors, their huts would occasionally be jolted by much bigger shaking, and (raising his hands in animation), would seemingly lift, then bring down their huts, “akala mo e itlog na pinisak. Taas-baba [like eggs being crushed. Up and down].”

He is waiting to be allowed to feed his 12 pigs. Because they are staying with relatives in San Pascual, it is hard for him to stake out and wait for his chance to feed his hogs. “If they can just even once, that would be good for 2-3 days.”

Horse guide turned rescuer.

HERNAN MENDOZA, 38, was born in San Isidro, Talisay. He, his wife and their three children and his inlaws stayed at the PUP campus evacuation center in Santo Tomas.

We joined his team of residents in rescuing three horses at the foot of the crater. He was also a horse guide.

Every day, they would leave PUP at dawn and mount rescue missions for animals left on Volcano Island.

A WOMAN worker, requesting anonymity, explains why they take calculated risks—“true, the volcano gives no warning but we’ve been taught to always be ready with our backpacks because it’s active. Once the mussels and shrimps start to surface, people must evacuate. That’s what the old folks taught us.”

As the first ray of sunlight streamed in hours after the January 12 eruption, she and her family fled for safety. “The earthquakes were so strong, shaking us up and down, like an atomic bomb, and the earth cracked. But we waited till dawn, and fled that Monday.”

Ronnel Peñaflor, 35, a horse guide, seems lost for words to describe what he experienced. He lost his house in San Isidro. He always joins the rescue missions so that he can visit their house burnt by the eruption.

Raymart Rodriguez, 26, from Buso-Buso, Laurel, is a fisherman.

He earns P500 a day selling tilapia at P50/kilo. And the middlemen sell it for 100/kilo. “With some patience, industry and some luck, we get by. One just needs to draw up the patanga,” he says, referring to a square cage made from chicken wire with a small opening that can trap tilapia, goby (biya) and the freshwater sardines or tawilis, now in danger from overfishing.

Traces of a fishkill and a bloated dog litter the shores of BusoBuso. The air stinks.

Some adults swim nearby, or repair their bamboo shaft, patanga and other fish traps.

Farmer Banjo Carolino, 50, also from Buso-Buso, says, “I revisit what is left and it’s like a ghost town. All my plants are dead.”

His family stays with relatives in Mendez, Cavite, for the meantime.

“There are too many people at the evacuation center, I’m afraid the children might get sick.”

He is cleaning his house, then pauses to go to a cabinet to get the red dress of his granddaughter. She is nearly 2 years old, and her name is Scarlet Red.

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A4Sunday, February 2, 2020 A3

Tourism businesses worldwide brace for hit worse than SARS H

otels, luxury shops and attractions around the world that came to rely on a flood of Chinese tourists are facing an even bigger crisis than during the SARS outbreak as the new viral outbreak infects more people than the 2003 pandemic.

From Tokyo to London, hotels, casinos, airlines and retailers are already recording a downturn and are bracing for weeks, if not months, of plummeting spending after China curbed outbound travel and governments tightened border controls.

About 163 million Chinese tourists made overseas trips in 2018—more people than Russia’s population—accounting for more than 30 percent of travel retail sales worldwide. In 2003 when SARS broke out, only 20 million Chinese travelers went abroad.

China’s increased affluence and consumption since SARS have made many international cities, luxury brands and retail industry groups more reliant than ever on Chinese travelers.

“It’s a triple whammy—Chinese travel more, they spend more and they spend more on beauty products,” said Stephanie Wissink, a Jefferies LLC consumer analyst who recently issued a report on the virus’ impact on travel spending. “Chinese travelers are the most significant and most important customers for growth in the travel retail industry.”

The virus adds a new level of uncertainty to a global industry that was already suffering the effects of China’s economic slowdown.

“The benchmark everyone is comparing this is to SARS in 2003,” said Luya You, a Hong Kong-based transportation analyst at Bocom International. “The actual cost and negative impact of this virus could be greater because more Chinese are traveling than before. The cost of preventing travel, grounding flights is magnitudes higher than what it was in 2003.”

Chinese tourists spent $150 billion on purchases during last year’s Lunar New Year holiday, according to Jefferies. The travel retail industry, a segment that includes duty-free shopping and retail at airports and other transportation hubs, was a $79-billion business in 2018 and saw the biggest growth in Asia, according to research firm Generation Research.

Just before this year’s Lunar

New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people in China visit family or take vacations, authorities locked down Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the virus originated. Travel has been restricted from much of the surrounding Hubei province, home to about 50 million inhabitants.

Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia have tightened borders to restrict inbound travel from China as the number of infected people surpasses 9,800. Russia closed its border with China to most passenger travel, while the US and Japan advised their citizens against traveling to the country. In China, at least 213 people have died from the coronavirus and cases of infection have been reported in more than a dozen other countries.

Casinos like ‘operating room’

C arriers including British Airways Plc., Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. have suspended or reduced flights to and from destinations in China.

Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. have suspended cruises departing from China. “ When airlines are cutting flights, that has impact on ports of entry that affects not just airports and shops, but surrounding nodes too,” said Jefferies’s Wissink. “It’s an entire ecosystem that’s being disrupted, with lots of spillover effects.”

Two of the hardest-hit cities are Hong Kong and Macau.

Hong Kong’s shops and hotels were already being clobbered by months of civil unrest that deterred mainland visitors and pushed the economy into recession. The virus is a further blow to the allimportant retail sales and tourism from mainland visitors who come to the territory with empty suitcases to fill up with luxury and consumer goods.

In Macau, China’s gambling enclave, new travel restrictions and the growing fear of crowds, have slashed visitor numbers from the mainland by 82 percent so far during

this year’s Lunar New Year holiday.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson said on Wednesday that employees of the casino operator are wearing protective masks and are checking the temperatures of guests.

“When I walk in there I think I’m going into an operating room,” Adelson told investors on a call.

“Everybody’s got masks.”

Even if the virus outbreak is contained, the knock to China’s GDP may be significant, with repercussions felt across the world, according to analysis from Bloomberg Economics.

In a containment scenario, with a severe but short-lived impact, the virus could take China’s firstquarter GDP growth down to 4.5 percent year-on-year, a drop from 6 percent in the final period of 2019 and the lowest since the quarterly data begins in 1992, according to Bloomberg’s economists.

Looking outside mainland China, Hong Kong faces the biggest blow, with 1.7 ppts shaved off first-quarter GDP growth. Asian neighbors Korea and Japan would also take a hit.

In Japan, the Wuhan virus may dent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s goal of attracting 40 million visitors

this year as his country hosts the summer Olympic Games.

“Japan’s tourism industry, like many in the region, looks set to be clobbered by China’s suspension of package tour sales as it battles to curb the spread of the new coronavirus,” said Bloomberg economist Yuki Masujima. If Japan’s tourism industry is affected to the extent it was during SARS, it could cost the nation’s economy about ¥611 billion ($5.6 billion), he said.

Last year, almost 9.6 million Chinese tourists visited Japan and spent about $16.2 billion, according to the Japan Tourism Agency, which said hotels are reporting cancellations by Chinese tourists.

In South Korea, another hot spot for Chinese tourists, businesses such as duty-free sales and casinos are being affected, said Jun Younghyun, an analyst at SK Securities Co. in Seoul. “Korea’s dependence on China has increased,” said Jun. L otte Group, which r uns shopping malls and hotels, has seen some hotel reservations canceled, but a representative said it’s too early to gauge the full impact of the virus.

Chinese tourists accounted for 35 percent of total foreign travelers

to South Korea in November 2019, according to NH Investment & Securities. The economic impact could be much broader given that China is the nation’s largest trading partner.

Southeast Asia setback

Many analysts are warning that the toll on the tourism and hospitality industry could be worse than during the SARS epidemic, when Chinese travelers were a smaller group than they are today. “Global hotel giants are now more exposed to Asia, meaning any downfall in revenue could hurt deeper,” wrote Natixis SA economists Alicia Garcia Herrero and Gary Ng in a report on Thursday. “Even without being certain about the extent and duration of the new virus, the impact of the novel coronavirus on Asian and global hospitality will be worse than in the past.”

Hotels across Southeast Asia have recorded cancellations after China banned outbound group tours. Tourism accounts for more than a fifth of gross domestic product in countries like Thailand and the Philippines, twice the global average.

Thailand, the most popular destination in the region for

Chinese visitors, has been hardest hit in Southeast Asia, with at least 2 million fewer visitors expected from China this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The nation is bracing for tourism revenue losses of as much as 50 billion baht ($1.6 billion) if China’s curbs remain in place for three months, and the government lowered its 2020 GDP forecast on Wednesday, in part because of the outbreak.

Last year, 11 million Chinese visitors spent almost $18 billion, more than a quarter of all foreign tourism receipts, according to government data. The Southeast Asian nation has 13 confirmed cases of Chinese nationals infected with the virus and one Thai who returned from Wuhan with the disease.

At Bangkok’s Suvarnabumhi Airport most travelers were wearing surgical masks during the Lunar New Year holiday and anyone coughing was given a wide berth.

Hotels in the city offered masks to guests, but many of the local pharmacies had sold out.

In the Philippines, the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association said about 30 hotels have reported cancellations involving 600 hotel rooms in the Manila area. The government said it would stop issuing visas-on-arrival to Chinese groups and this week forced 634 Chinese tourists who had come for a beach holiday to return to Wuhan.

Singapore, where 13 cases of the virus have been confirmed, said that from Wednesday it would stop allowing entry or transit of Chinese travelers with passports issued in Hubei. The government has designated three hostels to serve as quarantine facilities if necessary.

China’s ban on tour groups will have a “direct impact on tourism arrivals and revenue,” said Terrence Voon, director of communications at the Singapore Tourism Board. “The situation is expected to persist.”

Normally, about a fifth of tourists to the city-state are from China, said Voon.

Shanghai-based Trip.com, which runs the popular Ctrip flight and hotel booking platform, said it has established a 200-million yuan ($29 million) fund to cover customers who booked trips but can’t travel. It extended waivers to about 30,000 hotels outside of China for voluntary cancellations of reservations booked on Ctrip before January 24 with a check-in date through February 8.

Trip.com Group Ltd. CEO Jane Sun said she’s confident of a rebound once the virus is contained.

“When SARS came under control, we saw double, triple demand,” said Sun. As long as “we can control this virus, the demand and buying power will be there.” Bloomberg News

Facebook sets out coronavirus misinformation battle plan

F

acebook Inc. will begin removing fake claims and conspirac y theories about the coronavirus, stepping up efforts to fight the spread of misinformation about a viral outbreak that’s killed more than 200.

The spread of the virus, which has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, is the latest test of social networks’ ability to rein in false and dangerous claims.

Facebook cited the drinking of bleach as one spurious cure claim that’s been circulating, saying it will “start to remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believe them.”

The company has an existing policy of removing content deemed a threat to users’ physical harm, and has used that policy in the past to remove

vacc i ne - re l ate d m i s i n fo r m at i o n , though in rare cases.

The novel coronavirus is taking on a life of its own on the Internet, once again putting US-based social-media companies on the defensive about their efforts to curb the spread of false information. Researchers and journalists have documented a growing number of cases of misinformation about the virus, ranging from racist explanations for the disease’s origin to false claims about miracle cures.

Aside from expanding its removal policy, Facebook is doing its usual fact-checking with independent thirdparty partners, notifying users who may have shared inaccurate prevention tips and disseminating verified advice.

The company is “conducting proactive sweeps to find and remove as much of ” the misleading content as it can, wrote Kang-Xing Jin, its head of health, and

it will block or restrict hashtags on Instagram that may be used to spread falsehoods.

Facebook is putting prompts and modules in its News Feed, designed to steer users to accurate information, and it is also taking guidance from the WHO. “When people search for information related to the virus on Facebook or tap a related hashtag on Instagram, we will return a dedicated information module with credible information,” Jin wrote.

Free advertising credits have been provided to health organizations looking to run coronavirus education campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.

The third prong to Facebook’s response is a partnership with Harvard University’s School of Public Health and Taiwan’s National Tsing Hua University, which the company is providing with “aggregated and anonymized mobility data and high resolution population

density maps to help inform their forecasting models.” The company may expand its academic partners, according to Jin, though he warned that “not all of these steps are fully in place” and the rollout of all of Facebook’s measures will take time.

It’s notable that Facebook has acknowledged misinformation relating to the virus outbreak as a real threat to users and not merely a nuisance. The step of actually removing misleading content and not just labeling it as such is a significant one for a company that’s said it won’t fact-check political advertising. Still, information shared in private groups lies outside the reach of Facebook’s fact-checking apparatus, and they have been known to incubate conspiracies on many different topics.

Twitter Inc.’s efforts in tackling the issue include directing users to reliable sources, prompting those who search

for “coronavirus” to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site. The company has not seen an uptick in disinformation since the coronavirus became a worldwide problem, a spokesman said. Twitter has a policy against people trying to mislead others with “deceptive activity.”

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has launched one of its so-called SOS Alerts for the coronavirus crisis, partnering with the WHO to issue news updates and resources to anyone searching about it.

The alert will be the top thing anyone sees, offering safety tips and the latest updates from the WHO. On YouTube, the company isn’t yet taking any measures particular to the coronavirus, but it’s battling the rush to hurried misinformation by showing short previews of text-based news articles about the outbreak in search results. Bloomberg News

A4 Sunday, February 2, 2020 A4

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel Calso

Seven market gurus answer 7 big post-Brexit questions A

nd just like that, the era in which traders grappled with late-night British parliamentary proceedings, epic volatility in the pound and capital flows on every twist and turn of the Brexit saga comes to a close.

At midnight Brussels time on Friday, a new reality kicks in for UK assets as years of acute political uncertainty end.

Now comes the hard part. The country’s future in global trade is up for grabs, raising existential questions about sovereign risk, corporate earnings, market valuations and more.

Bloomberg reporters solicited views from seven market gurus on some of the biggest questions facing UK Inc. right now. And just like the British public they’re far from united in their views.

What will the UK look like after Brexit?

Stephen Jen, CEO of Eurizon Slj Capital: Britain will probably face a “J Curve” effect after Brexit, with challenges ahead before taking off.

The world is experiencing disruptive shocks that require countries to re-invent themselves and stay competitive. There is a big scope for the UK to achieve that outside the EU given that it will have a greater degree of freedom. It’s already No. 3 next to the US and China in terms of technology innovations such as AI, biomedicine and robotics. There is a good opportunity that it could leapfrog its competitors. I don’t think it’s a stretch of the imagination that it’s a very exciting future that the UK is facing.

As an investor, I would not focus on the negotiation status of various parties or quarter-by-quarter developments, but on the long-term vision of the UK government. We are now talking about a different set of considerations—structural, strategic, forward-looking, institutional. Think Abenomics. Think Singapore-type vision. The government will have to put the country on a very different path than before.

How would you describe Brexit’s impact on foreign-investor confidence?

Oliver Harvey, macro strategist at Deutsche Bank AG: Evidence for Brexit hurting the UK’s attractiveness as an investment destination isn’t hard to find. In the 10 quarters before the UK triggered Article 50 in March 2017 the country attracted over £300 billion of foreign-direct investment inflows.

In the 10 quarters since, it has seen outflows of 40 billion. Demand for UK equities has similarly been anemic with the FTSE 100 underperforming the S&P 500, Eurostoxx and Nikkei since June 2016.

Nor is the structural decline in foreign appetite for UK assets likely to be reversed any time soon. Even if an FTA is agreed with the EU by the end of this year, government plans to leave the EU customs union and single market will result in the largest increase in trade-related transaction costs for an industrialized economy in modern economic history.

Some argue that such a shock has already been priced by the currency but the pound is actually expensive when using models that take into account productivity. Remarkably, output per hour has failed to grow at all in the UK in the last two years.

Should the UK press on with present Brexit plans, both a fiscal and monetary response will be needed to smooth the adjustment. For gilts, this means that increased issuance could partially offset the effect of rate cuts on yields. For the currency, a combination of a larger budget deficit and looser monetary-policy points to further weakness.

How much could the pound recover over the next five years in a relatively benign Brexit path with continued growth?

Kit Juckes, chief currency strategist at Societe Generale SA: Sterling is currently 11 percent below its 25-year average level in real tradeweighted terms, and 25 percent below the highs it saw in 2000, when the economy was growing at 4 percent per annum and Cool Britannia was a thing. Sterling is unlikely to return to the best post-financial-crisis levels we saw in 2015, before the referendum, let alone the pre-GFC highs. However, the current valuation is pretty extreme, biased by the current trade uncertainty and economic weakness.

Over the next five years, a rebound of 5 percent or so in real terms seems likely.

In practical terms, that means that on this fairly optimistic view of the post-Brexit outlook, EUR/ GBP may trade in a 0.750.85 range, averaging 0.80.

Against the US dollar, after averaging just under 1.60 over the last 25 years and trading in a 1.18-2.11 range, the pound will probably return to a 1.40-1.60 range, centered on 1.50.

All of this assumes that EUR/USD will recover to an

Union flags hang outside Parliament near the statue of Winston Churchill in London on January 30, 2020. Although Britain formally leaves the European Union on January 31, little will change until the end of the year. Britain will still adhere to the four freedoms of the tariff-free single market—free movement of goods, services, capital and people. AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

average level around 1.20. On valuation grounds, that makes sense but it requires European economic recovery and a degree of stability in the Chinese yuan’s real trade-weighted value.

Will this year’s trade negotiations prompt the pound volatility that we saw last year?

Jane Foley, head of currency strategy at Rabobank: Boris Johnson has refused to countenance an extension to the transition phase beyond December 2020, so it is possible that fears of a hard Brexit at the end of this year could return. This means that political influence could re-establish itself as the main driver for GBP this year with volatility returning as investors react to the good and bad news stemming from the negotiations.

Under what scenario could the pound return to pre-referendum levels?

Jordan Rochester, foreignexchange strategist at Nomura International Plc.: The UK would have to prove the doubters wrong. If it’s leaving the EU in a way that boosts UK output and productivity, that raises the real rate of return on UK assets partly by lowering its inflation premium.

It would also tilt the scales away from import dependency in favor of exports to improve the balanceof-payments deficit.

The second part is that for the pound to strengthen it depends on the success of the euro area, its main trading partner.

The third point: As a currentaccount deficit economy the pound is a risk-on currency, underperforming when investor risk appetite is low and outperforming peers when risk appetite is high. If the early signs of an economic recovery we are currently witnessing were to be derailed by the unexpected then the pound will suffer along with the rest of what we call high-beta economies.

Equally important is what to buy the pound against? In the second half of this year it will become clearer in our view that the dollar will underperform with the upcoming presidential election to add a risk premium to dollar assets—while we expect the macroeconomic picture to have improved benefiting the likes of the euro and pound. But Brexit talks and the FTA details will be a drag.

What could take the pound up and above the levels we expect (1.41 by year end) is if the FTA were to be agreed to swiftly but to be brought in slowly.

Do you agree with the consensus view to overweight UK domestic stocks over international counterparts?

Silvia Ardagna, managing director, investment strategy group, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.: We currently advise our clients

to hold a neutral stance on UK equities, both domestic and international.

In our view, the UK economy will continue to underperform its developed market peers in 2020 and to grow in a range of 0.9 percent-1.3 percent.

Even if the risk of a hard Brexit has significantly diminished, the future trade relationship between the UK and the EU remains uncertain and it will

take time to negotiate a trade deal. This will leave uncertainty elevated and, as a consequence, we do not expect a sizable rebound in business investment.

Similarly,privateconsumptionhasalso shown signs of weakness as of late. Hence, our 2020 growth forecast is not particularly positive for UK domestic equities. On the positive side, fiscal policy has turned less contractionary in current law.

Only when more clarity on future EU-UK trade relations emerges and policy uncertainty is lower would we see the potential for currency appreciation and a more bullish environment for UK domestic equities versus international counterparts.

Do you expect the de-equitization of the UK stock market to continue?

Beata Manthey, a global equity strategist at Citigroup Inc.: The UK looks very attractive because of the M&A-driven de-equitization. Over the past 18 months the market has shrunk even more than the US market which has been the leader in the de-equitization theme. The risks surrounding Brexit have devalued the UK market so much that it looks like a very attractive de-equitization candidate, M&A target. Valuations remain low and this will not change overnight.

About 70 pecent of FTSE 100 revenues come from abroad and overall compared to their global peers they look undervalued. If you’re a shareholder in a company that’s bought or taken private, then you end up winning and take advantage. Bloomberg News

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Sunday

Sunday, February 2, 2020 A5

Newton Prize goes to PHL research on fertilizer from wastewater

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By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

FILIPINO-initiated study that seeks to help in achieving food security and creating a positive impact on the environment won the coveted United Kingdom-initiated Newton Prize last week in Makati City.

A satellite image of the Taal Volcano Island generated from the DREAM and Phil-LiDAR 1 programs. This was taken before the volcano erupted on January 12. UP TCAGP

U.P. opens map data for Taal eruption-affected areas

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n a bid to help hasten rehabilitation of affected areas devastated by the eruption of Taal Volcano, the University of the Philippines (UP) opens its map data to the public for free.

Through the UP Training Center for Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry (TCAGP), the premier state university is opening to the public its map data of the Taal Volcano, and its surrounding areas, generated during the Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation (DREAM), and the Philippine Light Detection and Ranging 1 (Phil-LiDAR 1) programs.

Using LiDAR technology, the group was able to generate maps with resolution of up to 1 meter by 1 meter, which can be used for planning and reconstruction of areas damaged by the Taal Volcano eruption.

UP TCAGP Assistant Professor Mark Edwin A. Tupas stressed the importance of using data in conducting planning and reconstruction activities in the areas affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.

“With the Philippines being at constant risk from natural disasters, adequate data is

needed for disaster-risk reduction planning and operations, we are opening up our LiDAR map database to help in the rehabilitation of those affected by the Taal volcano eruption,” he said.

The DREAM and Phil-LiDAR 1 Programs are both projects funded by the Department of Science and Technology, and monitored by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development, which mapped river basins all over the country.

Tupas said users of the map data would need to properly cite UP TCAGP and the PHil-LiDAR Program as the source of the information.

“Please note that while stringent quality assurance/control protocols were in place during the program operation, we cannot guarantee that the data is free of discrepancies, bugs or defects,” he said.

He said the datasets can be accessed through https://phillidar-dad.github.io/taal-openlidar.html

When will there be a coronavirus vaccine?

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he coronavirus that started in Wuhan has the coronavirus has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by the sever acute respiratory syndrome outbreak between 2002 and 2003.

The number of confirmed cases jumped to several thousands surpassing the 5,327 in mainland China from SARS. People are hoping for a vaccine to slow the spread of the disease.

vaccine that would be broadly protective against these viruses.

What does this work involve, and when might we actually have a vaccine?

WORK has begun at multiple organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, to develop a vaccine for this new strain of coronavirus, known among scientists as 2019-nCoV. Scientists are just getting started working, but their vaccine development strategy will benefit both from work that has been done on closely related viruses, such as SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), as well as advances that have been made in vaccine technologies, such as nucleic acid vaccines, which are DNA- and RNA-based vaccines that produce the vaccine antigen in your own body.

This work involves designing the vaccine constructs—for example, producing the right target antigens, viral proteins that are targeted by the immune system, followed by testing in animal models to show that they are protective and safe.

Once safety and efficacy are established, vaccines can advance into clinical trials in humans. If the vaccines induce the expected immune response and protection, and are found safe, they can be mass produced for vaccination of the population.

Currently, we lack virus isolates—or samples of the virus—to test the vaccines against. We also lack antibodies to make sure the vaccine is in good shape.

We need the virus in order to test if the immune response induced by the vaccine works.

Also, we need to establish what animals to test the vaccine on. That potentially could include mice and nonhuman primates.

Vaccine development will likely take months.

Was work under way on this particular strain?

Can humans ever be safe from these types of outbreaks?

Is there a vaccine under development for the coronavirus?

No, but work was ongoing for other closely related coronaviruses that have caused severe disease in humans, namely MERS and SARS. Scientists had not been concerned about this particular strain, as we did not know that it existed and could cause disease in humans until it started causing this outbreak.

How do scientists know when to work on a vaccine for a coronavirus?

Work on vaccines for severe coronaviruses has historically begun once the viruses start infecting humans.

Given that this is the third-major outbreak of a new coronavirus that we have had in the past two decades and also given the severity of disease caused by these viruses, we should consider investing in the development of a

We expect that these types of outbreaks will occur for the foreseeable future in irregular intervals.

To try to prevent large outbreaks and pandemics, we need to improve surveillance in both humans and animals worldwide, as well as invest in risk assessment, allowing scientists to evaluate the potential threat to human health from the virus, for detected viruses.

We believe that global action is needed to invest in novel vaccine approaches that can be employed quickly whenever a new virus, like the current coronavirus—and also viruses similar to Zika, Ebola or influenza—emerges.

Currently, responses to emerging pathogens are mostly reactive, meaning they start after the outbreak happens. We need a more proactive approach supported by continuous funding.

Aubree Gordon and Florian Krammer/The Conversation (CC)

Dubbed “Water-Energ y-Nutrient Nexus in the Cities of the Future,” the winning research on how to convert wastewater into a nutrient-rich fertilizer was led

by Prof. Michael Angelo Promentilla from De La Salle University and Dr. Devendra Saroj from University of Surrey.

“It’s actually about phosphorus recovery from these wastewaters, such as septage and sewage. So we’re trying to recover this phosphorus because if it’s not recovered properly it will just be dumped into the water bodies and it will cause eutrophication, algal blooms, and so on,” Promentilla told the BusinessMirror in an interview after he received the award.

According to Promentilla, the study aims to protect the environment, address food security and improve water quality.

“I’m happy for winning the award,” he said. “But, at the same time, I’m a bit worried and anxious because there are still things that we need to do to really achieve our goal.”

The researchers’ team, including Prof. Aileen Huelgas-Orbecido, Dr. Arnel Beltran, Engr. Carla Mae Pausta and Prof. Luis Razon, has just come up with a proposal to test the idea of recovering the phosphorus from a septage system.

They will try to process the wastewater from a septic tank and recover phosphorus to convert into fertilizer that will be used by a farm within an agricultural school they are now partnered with.

“We are looking to produce a solid granular fertilizer to help the farm grow crops,” Promentilla said of the project funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD); and its counterpart in the United Kingdom, the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Using the grant of up to about £200,000, or roughly P13 million, their prize money for winning the Newton Prize Philippines 2019 award, Promentilla is hopeful this will enable them to scale up the project and apply it to their farm beneficiary.

The team bested the entries

of three other finalists: “Ensure: Enhanced surveillance for control and elimination of malaria in the Philippines,” led by Dr. Fe Espino from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and Prof. Chris Drakely from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and “Low-cost Portable Molecular Diagnostic Platform for Rapid Detection of Poultry Infectious Pathogens” by Dr. Dennis Umali from the University of the Philippines (UP)-Los Baños and Prof.

Wamadeva Balachandran from Brunel University London.

The other finalist was the research, “Using genomics to trace sa lmonel la transmission and antimicrobial resistance in the poultry, and swine food chains in Metropolitan Manila,” by Prof.

Windell Rivera from the Natural Sciences Research Institute of the UP-Manila and Prof. Taane Clark from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Meanwhile, Jopeth Ramis from the Technological Institute of the Philippines and Prof. Felicity Rose from the University of Nottingham, with their project, “Tissue engineering of bronchi in health and sickness: Assessing the effect of matrix stiffening on cellular changes in the airways,” were nominated for the Newton Chair’s Prize.

They are vying with other nominees from Indonesia and China to bag the award for the proposal that demonstrates knowledge, and working partnership with up to £500,000 as cash grant.

The winner will be announced in the Newton Prize London, on February 12.

The Philippines, together with its two Asian neighbors, was selected out of the 17 Newton nations for the Newton Prize 2019.

This was the first time for the Philippines to win the award.

British A mbassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce lauded the enormous contribution made by each of the chosen Filipino researchers and scientists in their preferred areas to address global challenges in sectors, including health, food security and waste management.

“Our five individuals represent the very best examples of the com-

British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce (sixth from left) congratulates the winner of the Newton Prize, the Philippine team led Prof. Michael Angelo Promentilla (fifth from left) for their research, “Water-Energy-Nutrient Nexus in the Cities of the Future.” With them are Department of Science and Technology officials led by Undersecretary Rowena Guevara, PCIEERD Deputy Director Raul Sabularse, Science Assistant Secretary Leah Buendia, PCIEERD Executive Director Enrico Paringit, DLSU Vice Chancelor for Research and Innovation Raymond Tan, and Newton Prize executives British Embassy Manila

bination of quality of research, and innovation with outcomes and impacts. Outcomes and impacts, which are relevant not only in the Philippines but also globally. And, it’s also a great demonstration of exchange in knowledge and expertise between the United Kingdom and the Philippines,” Pruce said.

A celebration of PHL-UK partnership

Launched in 2014, the Newton Prize is a £1-milion fund that recognizes excellent research and innovations the Newton Fund has invested in.

Its local counterpart, the Newton Prize Philippines, celebrates the partnership between the UK and the Philippines, as well as the successes of the Newton Agham Programme, which has backed up British and Filipino researchers, and institutions to work together to develop science and innovation solutions that promote the economic development and social welfare of the Philippines.

Over the last five years, the governments of both countries have jointly supported large-scale research grants, workshops, PhD scholarships, innovation fellowships, and many other activities.

“Together, we have built mutual capacity, we have strengthened those science partnerships, and most important, we’ve fostered lasting friendships among research and innovation communities in both countries,” Pruce said.

T he Ne w ton A g h a m P ro gramme’s partners include the DOST, the Department of Agriculture, and the Commission on Higher Education.

“We, at the DOST, feel very fortunate to be in partnership with the UK government in implementing programs that create solutions to the development problems in the Philippines,” said DOST Undersecretary Rowena Guevara.

She noted that the agency is similarly committed to this

partnership as evident in the f u nd ing g iven f rom 2014 to 2018, by providing an allocation amounting to P344 million.

For the 2019 Calls, Guevara cited that DOST recently signed the Operational Alliance Agreement with the British Council for several activities, such as Institutional Links, Researcher Links Workshop, and PhD scholarships for a total budget of P41 million, as well as the memorandum of agreement for LIF 6 with a total appropriation of P7 million.

Since 2016, she said that there are already 10 PhD scholars, with one withdrawal, and another six scholars who will start this year.

“It is every scientist’s dream to live in a supportive society—to be given importance and the opportunity to change the world through research and the discovery of the new,” Guevara said.

She added: “The Newton Fund answers this dream as it provides ample funding and the type of network that f lourishes only through collaborations with experts from universities, research and development institutes, and benefit from the amalgamation of insights from different fields of study.”

Given the milestones achieved so far by such government-togover nment cooperation, the British envoy is confident of their more fruitful collaborations in the coming years. “ I t h in k t he New ton Pro g ramme a lso demonstrates our commitment to the Philippines, and the enhanced partnership that lies ahead of us in the months, years and decades ahead,” Pruce said. “ We look forward to continue to reinforce science partnership between the United Kingdom and the Philippines, and to supporting science and innovation to its translation into practical and real-world solutions that deliver benefits to all of humanity.”

Experts: Med Sea altered by Suez Canal’s invasive species

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EL AVIV, Israel—As Egypt marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Suez Canal, marine biologists are bemoaning one of the famed waterway’s lesser known legacies—the invasion of hundreds of non-native species, including toxic jellyfish and aggressive lionfish.

The canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, revolutionized maritime travel by creating a direct shipping route between the East and the West.

But over the years, the invasive species have driven native marine life toward extinction and altered the delicate Mediterranean ecosystem with potentially devastating consequences, scientists say.

The influx has increased significantly since Egypt doubled its capacity in 2015 with the opening of the “The New Suez Canal,” raising alarm in Europe and sparking criticism from various countries along the Mediterranean basin.

The sharpest criticism comes from neighboring Israel, which once battled Egypt in war alongside the 193-kilometer (120-mile)-long canal.

Bella Galil, an Israeli marine biologist who has studied the Mediterranean for over three decades, said much of the ecological damage is irreversible.

But with the invasive fish and crustaceans buoyed by warming water temperatures and rapidly spreading toward European shores, she argued that urgent action is needed to minimize its long-term impact.

Galil, of Tel Aviv University’s Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, said the continued widening and deepening of the canal had created a “moving aquarium” of species that, if unchecked, could make coastal waters inhospitable for humans.

Galil said the number of invasive species, currently about 400, has more than doubled over the past 30 years, a phenomenon she called a “historic example of the dangers of unintended consequences.”

Already, Israel is coping with an unprecedented wave of toxic jellyfish that has damaged coastal power plants and scared off beach-goers and tourists.

Several other venomous species, including the aggressive lionfish, have established permanent colonies, creating a potential health hazard when they end up on plates of beach-side restaurants. Most worrisome has been the arrival of the Lagocephalus Sceleratus, an extremely

poisonous bony fish commonly known as the silver-cheeked toadfish. Galil said half of all the Israeli fish intake—and all the crustaceans—are now of the invasive variety.

With the “rolling invasion” now reaching as far as Spain, European countries are increasingly taking note. The issue is set to feature prominently at a United Nations ocean sustainability workshop this month in Venice.

“These non-indigenous organisms present serious threats to the local biodiversity, at the very least comparable to those exerted by climate change, pollution and over-fishing,” Galil said.

She said the new species have caused “a dramatic restructuring” of the ecosystem, endangering various local species and wiping out native mussels, prawns and red mullet.

Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry said it was monitoring the process with concern since its coasts were the new species’ “first stop” in the Mediterranean.

It stressed that Israel could not stop the phenomenon alone but is promoting regulation to protect the most vulnerable marine habitats. With Israel increasingly reliant on the Mediterranean

Sea for drinking water, the ministry said protecting the country’s marine environment was “now more important than ever.”

Lebanese scientists at the American University of Beirut recently wrote that failing to mitigate the ecological risks associated with the expansion of the Suez Canal would place a large part of the Mediterranean ecosystem in jeopardy, an opinion shared by marine scientists across the eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey to Tunisia.

A relatively simple option for damage control seems to be available in the form of the Qatarifunded desalination plants the Egyptians are building along the canal, the first of which is expected to be opened later this year.

If carried out properly, Galil said the brine output of the plants could be funneled into the canal to recreate a “salinity barrier” that could stem the flow of species from south to north.

The Great Bitter Lakes, about 45 kilometers (30 miles) north of Suez, once created such an obstacle.

But as the canal widened and Egyptian cities and farms flushed agricultural wastewater into the lakes, that bulwark disappeared. AP

Faith A6 Sunday, February 2, 2020

Sunday

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

Our Lady of Caysasay listens to faithful’s pleas

By Edwin P. Galvez

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Special to the BusinessMirror

he eruption of Taal Volcano last month, and the numerous number of earthquakes it caused has damaged the canopy of the façade of centuries-old Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal, Batangas, said its rector, Fr. Raul Martinez, last week.

A photo of the 380-year-old Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal, Batangas, taken in 2014. Green Faith Travels

be their little protector who grants healing and other miracles.

The image was crowned 200 years after the most violent eruption of Taal Volcano in 1754. The faithful who sought refuge then at the shrine believed it was the Virgin who saved them and their town from destruction.

The damaged canopy of the façade of centuries-old Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal, Batangas. CBCPNew

Though the interior of the shrine remains intact despite the fissure that passed through its patio, he said Lipa Archbishop Gilbert Garcera has instructed the priest in charge and some engineers to look into the whole edifice, and assess the damage.

The miraculous 417-year-old image of Our Lady is now enshrined at the altar of San Sebastian Cathedral in Lipa City, where she is venerated by the faithful.

Miraculous image

In 2014, when we visited the heritage town of Taal in Batangas for our annual Lenten pilgrimage,

I discovered the wooden image (which people say is no longer than 10 inches) of Nuestra Señora de Caysasay que se Venera en el Pueblo de Taal (Our Lady of Caysasay Venerated in the Town of Taal).

She is now known as the Queen of the Archdiocese of Lipa.

That year was also the 60th anniversary of the canonical coronation of her image, which came with the granting of perpetual plenary indulgence an opportune time to renew one’s faith.

It is a privilege her shrine in Barangay Labac shares with the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Manaoag, Pangasinan.

CBCP: Tagle is PHL’s ‘gift’ to the world

Serene antiquity

The 417-year-old miraculous image of Our Lady of Caysasay.

From the the shrine’s social media account

Those of us who are not natives of Batangas would never have heard of Our Lady, or the sanctuary built for her in 1639 after miraculous accounts, including her resplendent apparitions, were documented starting in 1611.

For generations of local devotees, however, she would always

L

uis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is the Philippine’s “gift” to the universal Church, the head of the Catholic hierarchy said recently as they bid goodbye to the outgoing Manila archbishop.

CBCP President Archbishop Romulo Valles, while addressing the farewell ceremony, said that there are more reasons to be joyful than to be sad on Tagle’s new mission.

“We would like to tell the world that he is the gift of the Filipinos to the universal Church and to Rome,” he said, drawing applause from other bishops.

“We are sad, but I think that you will agree with me that one of the wonderful gifts that the Church in the Philippines is in the person of Cardinal Chito,” Valles said.

The Davao archbishop also regarded the cardinal as the country’s “national flag carrier” who carries the faith of Filipinos to the world.

“It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to bless you, and keep you joyful in your difficult task,” he said.

The farewell dinner was held as more than 90 bishops from all over the country gathered for their plenary assembly in Manila over the weekend.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, CBCP vice president, was also all praises to the cardinal.

The two were together in San Jose Seminary, although Tagle was one year ahead of David.

The bishop recalled that one of the things they always look forward to as students of philosophy was the review classes facilitated by Tagle “because he could simplify complicated thoughts.”

“That was the rare gift of Cardinal Chito,” David said, calling Tagle by his nickname. “His brightness seemed to brighten other people.”

For his part, the cardinal admitted that his mind and heart was still having confusion now that he will leave the country for a new mission.

One time, Tagle shared that he was in a chapel

to “present this dilemma” but, in the end, “the clincher is where can you follow Jesus—the poor, the crucified.”

“It pointed me to that path,” he said. “So I really cried and cried there in the chapel, but there was peace that the cross was the main criteria in the end.”

At one part of the gathering, the bishops surrounded the cardinal and sung “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

On Monday, several bishops, priests, nuns and laypeople prayed over Tagle as he prepares to leave for his new Vatican post.

During the Thanksgiving Mass at the Manila Cathedral, the cardinal knelt before the congregation as they raised their hands toward him while praying.

In December 2019, Pope Francis appointed Tagle as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a powerful department at the Roman Curia.

The Congregation’s task is the transmission and dissemination of the faith throughout the whole world, according to Vatican.va Web page.

“It was given the specific responsibility of coordinating and guiding all the Church’s diverse missionary efforts and initiatives. These include: the promotion and the formation of the clergy and of local hierarchies, encouraging new missionar y institutes and providing material assistance for the missionary activity of the Church,” it added.

Thus, the CEP became the ordinary, and exclusive, instrument of the Holy Father and of the Holy See, in its exercise of jurisdiction over all of the Church’s missions and over missionary cooperation, it said.

The CEP was established by Pope Gregory XV with the publication of the Papal Bull Inscrutabili Divinae Providnetiae on June 22, 1622. Roy

Lagarde/CBCPNews and Lyn Resurreccion

Our Lady listens

This prayer from the shrine may also be said by one who visits the shrine: “O Virgin of Caysasay, our refuge in times of our needs, our

A longtime public relations and communications consultant, Edwin P. Galvez is a lay servant at Greenbelt Chapel and facilitator of Green Faith Travels, an eight-year-old nonprofit Catholic pilgrimage apostolate.

Old debate over religion in US schools opening up again

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Church leaders and the lay faithful pray over Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle at the Manila Cathedral on January 27. ROY LAGARDE

After about two hours of travel from Makati, a quiet and serene sanctuar y, simple and small, welcomed us, two busloads of Marian pilgrims from different parishes in Metro Manila. It was the first of seven churches we visited that day in Taal and several nearby towns.

I felt l i ke being embraced when I entered t he shr ine; a feel ing one gets f rom reaching home, or f ind ing comfor t in a pl ace steeped w it h her it age a nd hol iness.

The air inside was filled with solemn devotion to the Virgin

with its antiquity showing on coral-hewn walls and columns, a legacy of Chinese laborers who built the shrine and simple furnishings and decorations.

T he shr ine is an idea l refuge for wear y sou ls long ing to see and spend time w ith the Blessed Mother.

It is a perfect desert place to pour out and unload one’s heavy burdens while seated quietly at a corner, or praying before her image at the altar. Spending a day there would be enough to spiritually recharge oneself.

We went up t he pahalik an ( k issing of her image or ma ntle) area at the back of the altar a f ter celebrat ing a Mass a nd prayed for ou r persona l pleas a nd intent ions.

protection and shield against our foes, you are given to us by your Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Mother, and you took us to be loved and cared for as your own children.

“We ask you to give us understanding to know the will of God, and faith that we may fully submit ourselves to your only begotten Son as His brothers and sisters, and as your righteous and obedient children.

“In times of our weaknesses and inadequacy, we ask you to help us in our needs and hear all our petitions. [Silently state your petition].

“All these we ask and entrust in you for we know that you will intercede unfailingly for us to your dear Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Our Lady, who entrusted herself totally to the will of God and was always the “handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38), is the perfect model of humility and deep faith when one is searching for the will of God in his life, especially during the most difficult times. Visiting her in Caysasay was already a miracle in itself for me.

While it may take some time before the shrine reopens its doors to devotees, Martinez offers this message: “God is a loving God, and cares for all of us.

The one great manifestation [of this] is when His Son on the cross said, ‘Woman, this is your Son; Son, this is your mother.’ Dear faithful, Our Lady is doing her part. Let’s meet her these coming days in her and our home.”

s the 2020 election approaches in the United States, President Donald J. Trump is adding school prayer to the list of contentious issues up for debate.

After Trump promised in early January to “safeguard students’ and teachers’ First Amendment rights to pray in our schools,” his administration announced new guidance on January 16.

T he US Department of Education w ill now require schools to document that they do nothing to impede student prayer.

The Trump administration will also mandate that schools report student grievances related to prayer.

T his announcement comes after a year in which of f icia ls in si x states, inc lud ing t he popu lous sw ing state of Flor id a, considered bi l ls permitting t he study of t he Bible in c lassrooms. L ast Januar y, Tr ump t weeted his suppor t for t hese laws.

The evangelical proponents of the legislation insist that the Bible would be treated as a historical and literary source, not as a means of religious guidance. Critics oppose them for fear that their real intent is to teach Christianity.

Efforts to return religion to public schools threaten to reignite one of the oldest debates about the separation of church and state.

Educating moral citizens

As a historian who has studied how American Protestants have engaged with the culture at large, I know that the question of religion in education was among the first social issues to split American Protestants into competing liberal and conservative camps.

In the early 19th century, as many states created public-school systems, children’s moral development was viewed as a crucial component of education.

Advocates for public schools came from some of the established Protestant denominations, such as Congregationalism, and growing liberal traditions, like Unitarianism.

Since these public-school proponents had diverse religious beliefs, they agreed that educational institutions should not teach particular doctrines. But they believed schools should cultivate morals based in what they thought were generally held Christian principles.

Opposition came from Roman Catholics, a growing segment of the population due to immigration, who took particular issue with Bible reading.

Many schools used the Protestant King James version of the Bible, which differed from the translation familiar to Catholics.

Moreover, Bible reading, apart from the study of Church teaching, was, by nature, a distinctly Protestant practice.

Yet, even Protestant agreement on Bible reading in public schools did not survive for long.

Split among Protestants

A major catalyst for division was the decision of the Cincinnati School Board in 1869 to end Scripture reading in classrooms.

Having long objected to Bible study in the city’s schools, Catholics had established their own system of parochia l schools.

By 1869, over 12,000 children, free from Protestant religious inf luence, were taught in these parochial schools.

By changing the policy, Cin-

cinnati officials hoped the large Catholic population would return to public schools.

The board ’s decision sparked out rage a mong con ser v at ive Protestants. As scholar Steven K . Green has detailed in his study of church-state debates, many churchgoers organized opposition to the policy. They believed it “threatened the moral and intellectual development of youth.”

Not all Protestants agreed, however. Reflecting a larger split within Protestantism, which I have chronicled, liberal Protestants throughout the nation endorsed the Cincinnati policy.

The secretar y of Connecticut’s Board of Education, Birdsey Northrop, supported this change. A graduate of Yale Divinity School and a clergyman, Nor t h rop c a me to denou nce “narrowness and bigotr y, under the guise of devotion to Bible reading.” In his view, Bible study in schools only fostered religious division.

Major Protestant periodicals echoed these views. The widely read periodical Christian Union ran and reprinted many articles which supported ending religious instruction in public schools.

The view took hold among liberal Protestants that religious study should be voluntary, and Bible reading should not be a compulsory part of public education.

For these liberal Protestants, there was value in public schools.

They were willing to tolerate an end to religious instruction in the hope that education would not become a sectarian endeavor. This liberal Protestant support helped ensure that the Cincinnati school board’s policy remained in effect over conservatives’ objections.

The liberal-conservative split

In the aftermath of what became known as the “Cincinnati Bible War,” liberal Protestants grew ever more wary of Bible study in public schools.

Still, the Bible continued to be read in some US schools until the Supreme Court stepped in.

In 1963, the court declared the practice unconstitutional.

The response to this decision and to a case on school prayer highlighted how religious expression in schools had divided Protestants.

In 1964, a constitutional amendment was introduced to restore such practices. Liberal Protestant groups, like the National Council of Churches, helped lead opposition to the amendment.

A s t h e h i s t o r i a n N e i l J. Young has show n, conser vative Protestants d isag reed on a me nd i ng t he Con st it ut ion .

Never t heless, prominent conser vative voices urged t he retur n of “Bible read ing to t he public schools.”

New legislation, old division

The “biblical literacy laws” have been enacted in more than a half-dozen states since 2000.

The campaign to pass them elsewhere shows little sign of stopping, especially as it appears to be an organized effort of Christian conservatives.

Now, the president appears poised to add the equally controversial issue of school prayer into the mix.

Given t hat t his issue was among the first to divide religious liberals and conservatives, it is hardly surprising that it is gaining steam at this moment of heightened cultural tension.

The Conversation/CC

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Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, February 2, 2020

A7

Savor Clarin’s feast of ‘suman’ flavors

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Story & photos by Gelyka Ruth R. Dumaraos

n the town of Clarin, south of Misamis Occidental, locals found a thriving livelihood by making thousands of rice cakes, or suman per day, living up to its name as the Suman Capital of the province.

The House of Suman is located in Clarin, Misamis Occidental.

Suman with various flavors are best with a cup of hot chocolate drink.

Ruby Cortel (right), one of the pioneers of House of Suman, says suman-making helps her family make ends meet.

The House of Suman in Clarin has gained a reputation as a mustvisit food destination for having 18 varieties of the beloved Filipino delicacy, paving the way for unemployed locals to find a sustainable source of income.

Started as an initiative by the local government and, eventually, a part of the Department of Trade and Industry’s One Town, One Product program, independent suman makers of Clarin were gathered in 1992

to develop a production hub that can meet the demand of a growing number of customers.

The Department of Agriculture then joined to build the House of Suman, housing thousands of suman in varieties and other local products for pasalubong, such as peanut, jams and many others.

Each day, 17 suman makers produce 3,000 to 5,000 pieces, all of which are quickly sold out before the day ends. The current daily pro-

Up to 5,000 pieces of suman are produced each day at the House of Suman.

duction is far from the 400 pieces a day at the start. During peak season, like Christmas, the production would even double up to meet the high demand.

Hundreds of visitors would drop

by the store along Ozamiz-Oroquietta National Highway, engaging tourists coming from various parts of Misamis Occidental and those coming from Dakak Beach Resort in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte, for last-minute pasalubong shopping.

For starters, visitors can try the suman with manga, suman with buko, suman with peanut, suman with cheese and many other additional flavors, like ube, latik and yema. For the more adventurous palate, they can savor on flavors, such as suman with durian, suman with carrot, suman with kalabasa, suman with nangka (langka), and suman with gabi.

According to Clifford John Baylon, municipal economic enterprise and development officer, living up to Clarin’s name as the Suman Capi-

tal of Misamis Occidental is quite a challenge to maintain. “Clarin’s economic development is rising,” he says. “And while it does, the agriculture is being affected.” However, the town’s biggest income-generating tourism livelihood remains to be suman production thanks to the people behind it.

Baylon gives the credit to their suman makers who are always seeking innovative ways to produce the quintessential delicacy, which are distinctly theirs.

Taking note from their customer’s constant search for something new to taste, the House of Clarin has evolved from producing plain suman to developing 18 varieties.

He says the suman makers are the ones who suggest new flavors to offer, with support from the Department of Science and Technology.

Suman making has opened opportunities for the makers in up-

lifting their lives, making it a fine example of sustainable tourism, Baylon adds.

Ruby Cortel, one of the pioneer suman makers, says that if not for the opportunity given by the local government, she wouldn’t be able to save up and buy resources she has today. She says, “We were able to support our family with suman production. With this opportunity, I was able to send my kids to school and have extra money on the side to save for our future.” Other makers take pride in being able to buy properties, such as their own houses and vehicles.

Baylon reveals that putting Clarin’s suman on the national level, and, eventually, bidding to be the Suman Capital of the Philippines are plans in the offing. But for now, Clarin’s suman makers continue to innovate and bring in new varieties of suman to be introduced into the world.

A8

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Sowers blazes path in NFL

ALL ABOUT MOMENTS

By Barry Wilner The Associated Press

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IAMI—Regardless of your musical tastes, it seems the Super Bowl halftime show has gone there.

From marching bands to New Orleans jazz, from Latin and Caribbean vibes to Motown. From classic rock to country, pop to hip hop and rap.

From the sublime (Tony Bennett) to the ridiculous (Janet Jackson’s “uncovering”), and from Michael Jackson’s moonwalks to U2’s majestic remembrance of the 9/11 victims, the halftime presentations have drawn nearly as much attention as the National Football League (NFL) championship game itself.

It’s certain to do so again on Sunday when Jennifer Lopez and Shakira headline.

“You kind of tune in to the Super Bowl to be surprised,” says Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice president of events, “in terms of what can happen, whether it’s the renditions of the national anthem and ‘America The Beautiful,’ the pregame, halftime....

Ultimately game day is about moments, creating moments that pull people together and that they talk about forever.”

Those moments range from Bono opening his jacket in New Orleans as the names of the 9/11 victims were displayed in the Superdome to Lady Gaga coming down from the roof of the stadium in Houston. From the Stones and The Boss rocking ballparks to Bruno Mars making not one, but two star turns.

“They are kind of creating those signature moments people remember,” O’Reilly said, “that kind of add and build on what is the power of the Super Bowl as an unofficial national holiday.”

Entertainers don’t necessarily have to be football fans to strive to get the gig. Mick and Keith prefer the English kind of football to the NFL’s version. Justin Timberlake sponsors a PGA Tour event and fundraiser.

What these acts unquestionably recognize is the massive audience—and spotlight—at their command for about 12 minutes. Maroon 5, which headlined last year’s halftime show, tuned up for it by appearing at the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s induction concert the previous August.

So artists are eager to perform, even though they don’t get paid; the NFL does handle all production costs and expenses for the acts, with Jay Z’s Roc Nation now involved. Adam Levine certainly isn’t the first singer to campaign for the job he and his band got last February in Atlanta.

“Ever since I saw Diana Ross fly off into the sky at the halftime show, I dreamed of performing at the Super Bowl,” Lopez said when introduced as the co-headliner this year. “And now it’s made even more special not only because it’s the NFL’s 100th season, but also because I am performing with a fellow Latina. I can’t wait to show what us girls can do on the world’s biggest stage.”

At one time, the halftime show seemed to have a local flavor. There was the “Tribute to Mardi Gras” in 1970; “A Salute to the ’60s and Motown” in 1982; “Salute to Hollywood’s 100th Anniversary” in 1987; and “Rockin’ Country Sunday” in 1994 in Atlanta.

Now, the emphasis is on, well, megastars regardless of genre.

“At its core, the Super Bowl draws such a broad audience,” says Mark Quenzel, the league’s senior vice president of programming and productions. “It really is that opportunity for the intersection of sports and entertainment to bring these two together in a

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way interesting to a lot of fans. That also makes it a challenge. Who is going to do the show that is the most interesting to 200 million people?

“The Super Bowl is the biggest single-day sporting event and it deserves that kind of entertainment.”

So while there are such musical giants as Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Kendrick Lamar and Metallica who have not done the show—yet—the NFL hasn’t exactly been missing the mark in the last decade with the likes of Timberlake, Beyonce, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“I love my job,” Bruce Springsteen said in 2019 when he brought the E Street Band to Tampa. “We come out and inspire; that’s part of what we do. If they throw the money at us, then we keep that, too. But we do come out to inspire. And it was just like, ‘Well, this is the year.’”

Perhaps, the most difficult part of putting together the concert is not booking a big name. The NFL usually has determined who it will approach months before the regular season begins; league planners have been looking at the 2021 Tampa Super Bowl for several months.

Rather, it’s the logistics of staging the show without slowing down the teams heading into the second half; not damaging the field; keeping the massive audience entertained; and satisfying the entertainers’ needs.

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira headline the entertainment at the Super Bowl 54 where the Vince Lombardi trophy is at stake. AP

SHAQ: THIS IS HARD FOR ME

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haquille O’Neal tearfully said Tuesday he never could have imagined anything like Kobe Bryant’s death, remembering his former teammate as a great player whose kids called him “Uncle Shaq.”

“The fact that we lost probably the world’s greatest Laker, the world’s greatest basketball player is just—listen, people are going to say take your time and get better, but this is going to be hard for me,” O’Neal said. “I already don’t sleep anyway, but I’ll figure it out.”

O’Neal’s comments came at the start of TNT’s pregame show, as he sat on the court at Staples Center along with the rest of the network’s studio team. TNT was supposed to televise a doubleheader, but the National Basketball Association (NBA) canceled the Lakers-Clippers game that was scheduled to be the nightcap because the Lakers organization is still too devastated after the death of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a helicopter crash Sunday.

O’Neal was working out with family members when he got the news and hoped it wasn’t true.

“I never could have imagined nothing like this,” he said. “I was thinking the other day I’ve never seen anything like this. All the basketball idols that I grew up [watching], I see them.

They’re old.”

O’Neal and Bryant teamed to help the

Lakers win three straight championships from 2000-02, but they occasionally feuded and O’Neal was traded to Miami in 2004. He would win another title there, while Bryant would win two more with the Lakers.

They eventually patched up their relationship and O’Neal said they texted frequently, though he said he hadn’t actually seen Bryant since the final day of his career in 2016. O’Neal said he told Bryant to score 50 points and Bryant instead scored 60.

“The fact that we’re not going to be able to joke at his Hall of Fame ceremony, we’re not going to be able to say, ‘Hi, I’ve got five [rings], you’ve got four,’ the fact that we’re not going to say if we’d stayed together we could have got 10, those are the things you can’t get back,” O’Neal said.

O’Neal’s comments were his first that were televised since Bryant’s death. He had previously only posted on social media and spoken on a podcast.

He has been recovering from the death of his sister, and said he hadn’t felt pain like Bryant’s death in some time. He said he always said the same things to Bryant’s children.

“Hi, my name is Uncle Shaq,” he said. “I don’t know if they know me as a basketball player. Doesn’t matter. Just ‘Hi, I’m Uncle Shaq.’

Try to make them laugh and he would do the same thing.” AP

IAMI—Katie Sowers answered questions on topics ranging from whether it hurt getting her ears pierced (no) to if she wants to be a National Football League (NFL) head coach one day (yes).

For the full 60 minutes of the San Francisco 49ers’ portion of media night, Sowers talked with reporters from around the world on making history as the first woman and first openly gay coach to work the Super Bowl.

“I’m waiting for someone to tell me that this is all a joke, and they’re going to be like ‘Psych! You’re not really there. You’re not really a football coach,’” Sowers said. “It’s one of those things that you really start to look around you and take advantage of every single day, especially with things happening in the news. You really appreciate the moment.”

Being the first woman to coach in the Super Bowl may be surreal.

Sowers makes very clear she hopes she’s blazing a path for many more to follow.

“I feel like a broken record, but what I want to continue to say is that even though I’m the first, the most important thing is I’m not the last and we continue to grow it,” Sowers said.

Simply attending a Super Bowl was Sowers’s dream growing up in Hesston, Kansas, and playing football in the yard with her twin sister, Liz. She might’ve become a basketball coach after wrapping up her college basketball career at Goshen College in Indiana. But being gay kept her from becoming a volunteer assistant there in 2009. Current Goshen President Rebecca Stoltzfus apologized to Sowers for that last week and noted those sexual orientation policies were ended in 2015.

Sowers played in the Women’s Football Alliance and for USA Football’s national team, including her best game ever where she intercepted five passes at safety against Germany. Injuries, such as a separated shoulder and a torn labrum ended her playing career, leading her to Kansas City where she earned a master’s degree at Central Missouri. AP

KATIE SOWERS is also the first openly gay coach to work the Super Bowl. AP Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant share a laugh on the bench while their Lakers teammates take on the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center in April 15, 2003. AP

Bad timing? Irresponsible journalism?

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EW YORK—A Washington Post reporter who had been placed on administrative leave after she tweeted a link to a story about a 2003 rape allegation against Kobe Bryant has been cleared to return to work, the paper said.

In a statement, the Post said that an internal review had determined that political reporter Felicia Sonmez was “not in clear and direct violation of our social-media policy,” but that the tweets were “ill-timed.”

Sonmez’s tweet came in the hours after Bryant, 41, died in a helicopter crash Sunday.

“We consistently urge restraint, which is particularly important when there are tragic deaths. We regret having spoken publicly about a personnel matter,” the statement signed by Managing Editor Tracy Grant said.

The paper had come under some intense internal criticism for having taken action against Sonmez. Hundreds of Post staffers had signed a letter from the Washington Post Newspaper Guild on Monday expressing “alarm and dismay” over the move and urging Executive Editor Marty Baron and Grant to ensure Sonmez’s safety.

The reporter’s tweet had come amid widespread public mourning over the shocking deaths of Bryant and eight others, and drew considerable backlash on social media. The Post reported that Sonmez received threats of death and rape, and had to move to a hotel after her home address was published online.

Sonmez, who deleted the original tweet at the request of editors, received an e-mail from Baron on Sunday saying: “A real lack of judgment to tweet this. Please stop. You’re hurting this institution by doing this.” Sonmez shared the e-mail with an Associated Press reporter. AP

‘Legends are forever’ The generation-defining legacy of Kobe Bryant is here to stay

‘Legends are forever’ The generation-defining legacy of Kobe Bryant is here to stay

By Jt Nisay

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Y2Z Editor

asketball legend Kobe Bryant was just getting started on the second act of his life.

After stepping out of the game in 2016 the only way he knew how—dropping 60 points that included clutch baskets—Kobe’s patented pursuit of on-court excellence has translated so far in the fields of business, entertainment and family.

He was arguably well on his way to G.O.A.T.-status in terms of an athlete’s post-retirement life. One, however, that was unfortunately cut short in the wee hours of January 27, Manila time.

Nevertheless, the tragedy felt across the globe for the past week and for the foreseeable future could never take away the legacy of the Black Mamba. He defined basketball to an entire generation of fans, exemplifying the value of pushing one’s self beyond his or her limits to achieve what was previously thought as impossible.

That said, I was never a fan of Kobe during his playing career.

But on January 31, 2018, I wrote a column on the Image section of BusinessMirror Lifestyle about how my perspective of Kobe changed when he converted on what was the hardest shot of his life: Gunning for, and eventually winning an Oscar.

Here’s the full column titled “The insatiable ‘Mamba mentality.’” May you rest in power, Kobe. nnn “If basketball is the greatest thing I’ve done in my life, then I’ve failed.”–Kobe Bryant Almost two years have passed since Kobe Bryant retired from professional basketball. It was only last week that I learned to truly appreciate him.

Despite carving an illustrious 20-year playing career scoring 33,643 total points and winning five NBA championships to go with two Olympic gold medals, I found it hard to like the guy.

The blame goes to my brother.

You see, I never developed deep affinity with any one team or player in all my years following the NBA.

On the same day the NBA announced the reserves for the 2018 All-Star game, future basketball hall of famer Kobe Bryant received an Oscar nomination for Dear Basketball, an animated short film he narrated and produced. Bryant, 41, and his daughter, Gianna, 13, died in a helicopter crash on Monday, January 27, 2020.

Whenever I get asked which are my favorites, I always say that I’m a fan of no one in particular, just of the game itself.

My Kobe-natic sibling, who you could probably guess the nickname he has given to his son, has always perceived my reasoning as a slight on his beloved idol.

He could not fathom how I could not give even a tenth of his adoration to the player he considers the G.O.A.T. He even accuses me of “hating” just because I fail to care.

In repetitive but futile attempts to convert me to his religion, he would recite to me Kobe’s narrative, success, anything: Kobe did this, Kobe did that, he was once this, now he’s reached that, yada yada yada. And he wasn’t alone in delivering the same advertisement. I have about three other friends who talk the same Kobe language.

Amid the noise, however, were curiosities that left me intrigued. They said Kobe is wired differently not only from most players, but from most people. He’s obsessed with winning, at perfecting his craft.

In an interview with Good Morning America on April 24, 2017, just days after the one-year anniversary of his historic swan song where he scored 60 points at age 37, Kobe explained the origins of his madness.

“I couldn’t put the basketball down,” he said.

“When my parents brought me a brand-new basketball, I found myself laying in bed and shooting with it.

I was kind of laying there and shooting it. Then I’d fall asleep with it. Then I’d get up in the morning and play

again. I just could not stop.”

Stories of this nature followed Kobe throughout his career. Phrases such as “legendary work ethic” and “first one in the gym, last one out” have been attached to his name. One report in 2013 even claimed that Kobe once came seven hours early for an off-season scrimmage and started working out at 4 a.m.

He has adapted that call-time for his basketball camps with Nike in an exercise of the “Mamba Mentality.” In 2016, during the Manila stop of his Nike tour, Kobe discussed that frame of mind at length.

“It means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself,” he said. “It’s a constant quest to try to be better today than you were yesterday.”

Just last week, I have come around to believe that those words from Kobe were not mere lip service or empty marketing ploy.

Kobe Bryant, the future basketball hall of famer, has also become an Oscar nominee.

On the same day the NBA announced the reserves for the 2018 All-Star Game, the Academy has also released the nominees for this year’s Oscars race. Kobe received his first Academy Awards nomination for Dear Basketball, an animated short film he produced.

The film chronicles Kobe’s love for the game that started when he was six years old. It features the narration of the poem he wrote for The Players’ Tribune that was published in 2015 as part of his retirement announcement.

TV anchor’s meeting with Kobe Bryant sent #GirlDads trending

By Leanne Italie The Associated Press

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EW YORK—Dads with daughters inspired by Kobe Bryant’s special bond with his 13-year-old Gianna took to social media to celebrate their own in words and photos using the hashtag #GirlDads.

The outpouring on Twitter and Instagram came in part after ESPN anchor Elle Duncan offered a tearful, personal remembrance of a chance meeting with Bryant two years ago while she was pregnant with a girl, and how proud he was of his daughters. Her story spread quickly this week in the aftermath of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball legend, his ball-playing teen and seven others in Calabasas, California. “When I reflect on this tragedy, and that half an hour I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved the most,” Duncan said on air. “Being a dad. Being a girl dad.”

Her retelling Monday was watched by millions by

This April 10, 2014, file photo shows Gianna MariaOnore Bryant on the shoulders of her father, Kobe, as they attend the women’s soccer match between the United States and China in San Diego. AP

2 BusinessMirror

Wednesday, when the hashtags #GirlDads and #GirlDad trended on Twitter. Bryant had three daughters at the time of their backstage, hallway chat in New York. He and his wife, Vanessa, had a fourth daughter last year.

After Duncan’s story spread quickly, dads, daughters and girl moms celebrating their guys offered up their appreciation of their own, along with their love for Bryant as tributes to the sports great continued after Sunday’s crash.

Alex Rodriguez, the father of two girls, was among the sports figures and other celebrities who posted: “I’m so proud and lucky to be a #GirlDad.” Minnesota Viking Kyle Rudolph was also among the posters to share. He put out a photo of his two young girls, writing that he’s “raising 2 #Mambacita’s #GirlDad,” referring to the trademark Bryant filed for Gianna as a play on his own nickname, “The Black Mamba.”

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2018, Bryant said Gianna bristled when she heard fans tell him he needed to have a boy to carry on his legacy. “She’s like, ‘Oi, I got this,’” he said.

February 2, 2020

Getting recognized with an Oscars nomination comes off the heels of Kobe’s interview with rapper Kendrick Lamar two months ago with Complex News, where he made a bold statement. He said that “fast forward 20 years from now, if basketball is the best thing I’ve done in my life, then I’ve failed.”

“It’s a very simple mission, very simple quest, very simple goal. These next 20 years need to be better than the previous 20,” he said. “It’s as simple as that and that is what drives me.”

The statement earned him my respect that none of his game-winners or prodding from die-hard fans ever did or could. Here’s a guy who has earned a triple lifetime’s worth of achievement on the hardwood, yet he’s still hungry for more. Imagine Picasso leaving the art scene to make a name for himself in the field of science and winning the Nobel Prize.

“My challenge is letting go of what was and focus on building what is to come, and that is very, very hard,” Bryant continued in the Complex News interview. He said he’s focus was building a studio and creating a content company that produces books, films “and everything else in between.”

“It is always easier to go with what is. But that ain’t what we do,” Bryant said. “We push forward and that is the biggest challenge ahead.”

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YOUR MUSIC OUR BUSINESS

BTS TO THE WORLD

Cover art by Jimbo Docena Albano | BTS (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

THE K-POP SENSATIONS ARE SET TO TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM…AGAIN.

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By Rachel Anne Macarandang

ONE are the days when “behind the scenes” would be the first thing people would think about when they see the acronym “BTS.”

Nowadays, people in social media tend to jokingly add a disclaimer of “not the boyband” after this notorious combination of letters if their posts are not related to the global phenomenon Bangtan Sonyeondan or BTS. Also known as “Bulletproof Boyscouts”, this seven-member boyband from South Korea has been steadily making waves in music and popular culture, experiencing a meteoric rise following their nomination and subsequent win as Billboard’s Top Social Artist in 2017.

From there, their flight shows no signs of slowing down, receiving numerous music awards and achievements including three number 1 albums on the Billboard 200 in less than a year, and even a number one album at the UK charts.

For the Western world at large they

seemingly came out of nowhere, and many are curious why RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook have such a huge and loyal following in the form of their ever-growing fanbase: the Adorable Representative MC for Youth, more commonly known as the ARMY. In all their speeches, BTS has never failed to thank their ARMY for their shared success. BTS’ incredible talents and brilliant work aside, the fandom has a great hand in propelling the group to stratospheric heights. Working together on their constant promotion of BTS, studying how music charts work, figuring out how to get spins for radioplay, creating strategies to achieve preset goals, and consistently enjoying their music from every available platform, the ARMY has tirelessly

done all this, while fighting haters and trolls within an unfortunately xenophobic music industry. This leads to the question: why does BTS inspire such loyalty and hard work from its fanbase?

Debuting in 2013 and coming from a small and financially struggling company called BigHit Entertainment, BTS had been looked down on as an underdog in the K-Pop industry for years, being cut from broadcasts and suffering from constant judgement and preconceived notions that they will never make it in the highly competitive industry. They had to endure untruthful accusations of sajaegi (the practice of companies buying albums in bulk to increase the sales and help them perform well on the charts) and plagiarism.

Despite all these struggles, BTS worked tirelessly to improve their craft and and get their music to be heard. Slowly and organically, they climbed their way up with only ARMY as their sole support. It is no wonder then that ARMY is so protective of these boys.

In return, BTS gives their all for their fans: the sheer amount of content the ARMY is being fed with ranging from quality music, funny videos, explosive stages, intense performances, and the elaborate universe that they have created that connects all their concepts together is staggering. The Bangtan Universe (or the BU) encourages ARMYs to scrutinize and theorize, and the ARMY pounces on each easter egg BTS sneakily provides them: clues about the next comeback hidden in plain sight on their award show stages. The ARMY valiantly attempts to piece together all the puzzles and the meanings behind them until theories are either validated or proven wrong during the comeback itself. In the process, the ARMY reads various literature to learn about Jungian psychology, Greek mythology, and a slew of other relevant concepts that contribute to the BU. This intellectual investment keeps the fandom alive and highly engaged, but this in itself is not the Continued on page 4

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Sound BusinessMirror

FEBRUARY 2 , 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

SOUND GARDEN

YOUR MUS

A MATCH MADE IN SOUND ENTERTAINMENT HEAVEN

audio products like LD Systems, the company is currently one of the ringleaders in the market when it comes to providing quality entertainment systems.

Powering the success of AVSC in the local market, of course, are

strategic partnerships with other world-leaders in entertainment technology. This is exactly the dynamic that the company shares with Adam Hall, a leading business in Germany that provides premium sound technology products. After forging a partnership in 2014, the pair has continuously provided for consumers who love entertainment— and know how to enjoy it—with premium products.

“Adam Hall has always been focused on innovation and the R&D of their line-up. Following AVSC’s vision to give only the best to its market, we have decided to have them as our reliable partner for our business.

It’s a perfect match,” shares Roberto Balderas, LD Systems Product Manager of AVSC. Since working together, AVSC has bundled their products like the Grand Videoke with Adam Hall’s LD Systems Dave 8 Roadie. The former is currently the exclusive distributor of the latter’s line up in the local market.

While AVSC offers Grand Videoke and its contents, Adam Hall provides the speakers to complete the perfect home entertainment system.

But why Adam Hall? “We believe that Pinoys are worldclass entertainers. It makes perfect business sense that we only provide them with world-class products as well,” explains Roberto Balderas.

“Adam Hall has proven that it is

a trusted provider of innovative and high-quality products, so we believe that they are well-equipped to innovate and integrate new technology into new and upcoming products to respond to market demands.”

The pair has recently extended their contracts and will continue working together in the future. In addition to LD Systems Dave 8 Roadie, AVSC carries other Adam Hall products like the Road Jack 10 (Battery Portable Speakers), the Curv 500 ES Plus, and Gravity Stands in the local market. For 2020, the company is planning to bring the new and upgraded versions of these models to the market including the new LD Systems ICOA Speakers with Bluetooth, a newer version of the LD Dave 8 Roadie, and the LDMIX6 Portable PA System set.

As for its plans for the new decade, AVSC remains focused on its goal, which is to provide the best quality sound equipment at reasonable prices that are acceptable to the local market.

“We want to continue being the top provider in what we call the Professional-Consumer (Prosumer) market by giving Pinoys the entertainment that they want and deserve. Music and sound are and should always be a perfect match, similar to how AVSC and Adam Hall is,” Balderas closes.

In line with this, the boys have also accepted the invitation to speak at the launch of Generation Unlimited, a new commitment by the United Nations to work with and for the youth. RM delivered the speech with eloquence and a sense of genuineness that caught the attention of even non-fans who are now happily a part of the ARMY. It is no different here in the Philippines where K-Pop is very popular as evidenced by the fact that BTS has already performed here three times. First for their “BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet” tour in 2014, then in “BTS LIVE The Most Beautiful Moment in Life on Stage: Epilogue” in 2016, and in “BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour” in 2017 which also explains why there are so

many Filipino ARMYs. 2020 promises to be eventful for BTS as they opened the year with the release of their latest single, “Black Swan” last January 17. To date, the official “audio only video” has generated over 4.9 million views, indicative of the ARMY’s strong support. Following a brief hiatus, the group announced its comeback scheduled for February 21 which also coincided with the release of their new album, Map of the Soul: 7.

The album then quickly generated a reported first week pre-order sales of a whopping 3.42 million copies.

BTS also recently announced their “Map of the Soul” world tour which will kick off in Seoul on April 11 and will include stops in the US, Canada, Japan, England, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain. As

of this writing, the Philippines is not included in the tour but Filipino ARMYs are hoping the group will eventually perform in Manila for a fourth time.

With their enormous reach, BTS has been globally affecting change in multiple areas: nudging the music industry to abandon chart manipulation in their award acceptance speeches, encouraging interest in the world of fine arts through their current global art project BTS Connect, and bringing aid and awareness to the struggles of young people through their philanthropic campaigns.

Experiencing such growth and reception, BTS is now more than an international pop sensation—they have become a movement for hope in the world.

L-R: Roberto Balderas (LD Systems Product Manager, AVSC), Vilma Arcillas (Asst. to the President for Business Development, AVSC), Markus Jahnel (CEO, Adam Hall GMbh), Ma. Cristina Llamo (President, AVSC), Chandan Mahtani (Director, Adam Hall Asia, Singapore), and Nepthali Llamo (Asst. to the President for Operations, AVSC).

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ILIPINOS have a deeply ingrained culture when it comes to entertainment. Singing and music, in particular, has become such an important cornerstone for our collective identity that they are considered non-negotiable for parties or any other gathering that calls for some serious bonding.

It’s this collective attitude that has inspired Audio-Video Solutions Corporation (AVSC) to constantly provide innovations to the market.

As the provider of a premium line of portable videoke systems like Grand Videoke and professional

BTS...

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only thing that holds ARMY to BTS. BTS writes and produces their own music, and they infuse it with messages and feelings which youths of today relate to.

Most of their songs serve as a platform to talk about important things, particularly for generations spanning from millennials to Gen Zs, such as societal issues like flawed educational systems and the harm of certain generational gaps, as well as the healing message of loving oneself, and taking comfort in not being alone in one’s struggles.

It’s amazing that BTS’ advocacy against violence in their End Violence Campaign with UNICEF is also reflected in their work, spreading this much needed message further.

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | FEBRUARY 2 , 2020

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SIC OUR BUSINESS

GIRL POWER IN HIGH HEELS

MELANIE C. ON HER NEW BEGINNINGS AND UPCOMING MANILA VISIT

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By Darwin Fernandez

HO could ever forget one of the world’s most iconic girl groups to ever set foot on the international limelight?

Melanie C (Photo by Philip Sinden)

The Spice Girls have always been a beacon of strong attitude and diva confidence that just emanates in their performances and music; a power crew that set a trend and even a model formula for many modern girl groups to follow. Many good things do come to an end, but for Sporty Spice otherwise known as Melanie C, things are just about to get better.

It has been already been a wild year for many of us, but Melanie ended her year on a high note as she completed a tour with the Spice Girls across the UK and is now set to launch a new set of sound in Asia along with her first ever live performance in the Philippines.

Melanie was last seen in Asia as a judge in 2015 beside Anggun, David Foster and Vanness Wu for the reality talent competition Asia’s Got Talent, and now performing for her admires, the pops icon is excited to feel the love.

“I’m so excited about the Philippines. I have so many fans there, and I hear of them from Europe, so it’s wonderful to be able to visit them on their own turf.”

Though she won’t be with the group we’ve come to know and love, the former Sporty Spice has promised to not leave us short this year with new sets of songs coming

Melanie C with Sink The Pink

out as well as a new album to top the year off.

Her new song “High Heels” is in collaboration with Sink the Pink, an influential LGBTQ drag collective in London. The single is a showcase of Melanie’s new sound and how much she has evolved as an artist and how music itself has changed.

“It’s a huge learning curve but working in music because it has it changed and evolved so much it just keeps it interesting.” Melanie added, “For me as a performer I’m always learning, I’m improved by all the different experiences I’ve had- whether in the studio with other artists or in arenas and stadiums, performing.”

She reminisced on her humble beginnings as a solo artist with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams.

“He gave me so much confidence to be a solo artist.” She said, “Musically, it was much of a diversion for me since there was much more rock. I love different styles of music but I’m a pop artist, I always will be.”

In her upcoming tunes and further into the year, she promises a more techno and ‘dancy’ theme to her music but also that moments of personal emotion that every artist just has to have in their music. As for her music, she notes that many things can’t stay the same.

“I’m incredibly proud with all of the hits I’ve shared with the Spice Girls, I love all of the songs. [But]

I’m excited for this new beginning for Melanie C so I hope you enjoy it when you get to hear it.”

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FEBRUARY 2 , 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

Sound trip BusinessMirror

YOUR MUSIC OUR BUSINESS

THROW BACK

AL DIMALANTA IS HERE AGAIN! PUNK HATERS AND PRISSY OLD TIMERS BEWARE

By Tony M. Maghirang

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LMOST two years ago, Al Dimalanta, frontman of preeminent Pinoy punk band Dead Ends, revealed on these pages that he’s retiring from the local band scene. He said he’d grown tired of the bickering and the small minds that have spawned loathing and distress in the punk underground.

A few months later, Al with his band Throw played onstage in a fund raiser for a sick punk rocker, That one-off gig led to a few more live performances raising speculations that Al may be quietly staging a comeback, a rather very un-punk move.

In his latest interview with SoundStrip, Al Dimalanta admitted he just couldn’t shake off the adrenalin rush of a live performance.

He explained, “Hinahanap ng katawan ko, eh.

Playing in a band has become a huge part of my life growing up and until now so it’s something that my system looks for. It may sound cheesy but my life feels incomplete if I don’t play onstage.”

During his brief absence from

the scene, Al said he missed not only the mere fact of being in front of audience but also the rough housing and riotous atmosphere of a punk rock show. He disclosed, “My body aches for the rush that I get playing in front of a crowd.

Yung physically playing talaga, shouting, playing guitar, and everybody shouting along, slam dancing, and having fun.”

In short, Al Dimalanta is back on the band scene like he never left, and he’s got the original members of Throw to carry on Pinoy punk’s primordial fire.

He elaborated, “We plan to release an album next year and we intend to return to the basics. Yun bang mga one minute blasts. Like, one basic idea for a song. Pak! One

verse, one refrain. another verse, then another refrain. Pak! Tapos!”

If that sounds like a lot of noise, old-timers should remember that loads of mostly American bands in the ‘80s built careers, if short-lived, around short sharp sonic discharges.

Al pointed out, “Actually, noise is an integral part of punk rock. If someone says our music is noisy, it’s a compliment, thank you. For us, the noisier, the better.”

He hastened to qualify that Throw is a studio band first because it’s in the recording where their audience can listen and better appreciate what the songs are all about. In concert, the shouting, the cacophony and the commotion drown out the political subtext of Throw. While Dead Ends once declared “Mamatay Sa Ingay!,” Throw would rather believe and take a stand.

His other current band, As We Defy, is another matter altogether.

It’s where Al and his mates allow their punk rock toots to shoot out not just in volume but also in a little bit of metal rampage.

“As We Defy is thrash metal,” Al described his other outfit. “It’s our effort to play hardcore with the strong influence of heavy metal. It opens up spaces for virtuosity in every aspect of our music. Like, longer solos,

breakdowns, and so on. Ang sarap kaya nag-thrash!”

His earlier semi-retirement has reportedly been caused by detractors who got to his nerve.

Has all axes been buried and forgotten by now? ““I’m all for peace!” Al declared.

“But let me say this: ‘I shouldn’t effin’ care but I got affected.’ They branded me a sell-out when if you look closely at what they’re doing, they’re trying to put up the same thing, getting sponsors and playing very mainstream stuff.”

“That’s it. Right now, I’d like to focus on getting on with my life.”

Almost four decades into the punk rock life, Al has also seen a shift in his audience. It’s now a mixed crowd composed of older old-school punks and new blood who he feels are not that invested in the scene.

“Dati, pag punk ka, you’re full-on punk rocker talaga!” Al expounded. “You wouldn’t listen to anything else other than punk. You wouldn’t go to any other shows.

May sense of exclusivity ang punk then.”

“Now, the audience has more eclectic tastes. They also listen to classic rock and alternative rock.

Still, when they come to our gigs, they have fun with us.”

He likes it that way since as he argued, nobody started out as punk rock right away. His generation listened to the likes of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath before they got turned on to punk.

Al credits the late Howlin’ Dave of DZRJ in the early ‘80s for introducing him and his pals to The Sex Pistols, The Clash and all the young punk bands back in the day. He also pays tribute to the now defunct but legendary A2Z Records for tuning his head around to hardcore and blitzkrieg aftermath.

Yes, Al Dimalanta is returning to the music scene he has always loved. It’s not exactly his second coming but punk haters and ageing curmudgeons, you better watch out.

The reunited Throw are Al Dimalanata on guitars/vocals, Dennis Maniego on bass, Alan Roldan on guitars, and Spyk Maniego, drums.

Fans hold on to paper planners, citing comfort, creativity

By Katherine Roth

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The Associated Press

n a digital and increasingly paperless age, fans of paper planners remain enthusiastic and steadfast.

“There’s something comforting about using a planner. It’s very personal, and apart from the cacophony of screens,” says Jennie Tung, executive editor at Martha Stewart Living, adding that paper planners have “a retro appeal.”

“The act of writing things down by hand slows you down and makes you more mindful,” she says. “A paper planner becomes a personal record, and for some people it’s almost like a diary.”

Many paper planners today are so welldesigned that they become a way to make a statement, she says, adding that “they are beautifully designed objects that are a joy to hold and use.”

And contrary to what one might imagine, many of the biggest fans of paper planners aren’t older people who grew up with them but a younger generation embracing their comfortable vibe. According to Stephanie Fleming, cofounder of Me & My BIG Ideas, which makes The Happy Planner, “the age demographic is around 25 to the early 40s range, with a lot of movement toward college-age women.”

“I had imagined younger people preferring digital planners, but younger generations really want to slow down a bit. Having everything at their fingertips is not necessarily making people happy. There’s something about going back to basics,” Fleming says.

This photo provided by The Happy Planner shows a variety of planners the company has available in 2020. It’s a digital and increasingly paperless age. But fans of paper planners remain as enthusiastic and steadfast as ever. The Happy Planner via AP

Details of a 2020 planner from The Happy Planner “A lot of people are looking for some digital detox,” she adds.

Tung notes that paper planners now come in an array of designs and can be carried around all day. A few brands noted by the pros at Martha Stewart Living as chic and well-designed include Smythson, Appointed, and Sugar Paper, as well as the

“bare bones but gets the job done” paper planners from Rollbahn.

All the planners offered by The Happy Planner feature encouraging words and positive messaging for those working toward health wellness, career or financial goals, for example.

And with their accompanying planner

stickers and customizable extension packets, they can be a creative outlet akin to scrapbooking.

“A planner is not just about being a calendar. It’s about so much more than that,” Fleming says. “There’s the aspect of focus and creativity, in addition to productivity.”

She admits that “digital calendars are nice because they keep your desk uncluttered,’’ but adds, “people do engage more when they write things down.”

Paper planners range from minimalist versions costing a few dollars to fancy planners for over $100.

And there’s always the option of using both digital and paper in some combination.

In the meantime, paper still has a place with many people trying to keep a complicated life in order. Fleming says: “When I sit down on a Sunday and plan my week in my planner, it’s registering things in a way it doesn’t if it’s on my phone or computer.”

Muslim millennial’s site dispels stereotypes for millions Continued from page 8

In recent years, Forbes magazine chose her for its “30 Under 30” list of top achievers. Michelle Obama asked her to speak at the United State of Women Summit. She was also part of a panel that included female astronaut Cody Coleman and was moderated by former President Bill Clinton. Most recently, she served on an advisory committee for the live-action remake of Disney’s Aladdin and attended the premiere.

“It was such a full-circle moment for me, because when I was a little girl, Princess Jasmine was one of the only representations that I had growing up,” she said.

Being on the committee allowed her “to try to course-correct some of the

Al-Khatahtbeh, founder of MuslimGirl.com (left) sips a soda while talking with old friends Mohammed Ali (right) and Saad Khan outside of a corner market in the Brooklyn borough of New York. AP problematic stereotypes” in the first movie, including some that she did not notice as a child.

She pointed to two examples: The opening song talked about a faraway place that

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is “barbaric.” And Jasmine was dressed in a belly dancing outfit and chains in a “hypersexualized and oppressive way.”

On her site, Al-Khatahtbeh is especially proud of stories that deal with race and sexFebruary 2, 2020

uality. “Of course, female sexuality is honored within our religion, and it shouldn’t be something we shy away from or think of as a taboo.”

Most of the site’s visitors live in the US and Britain, and an estimated 70 percent are millennials and Gen Z ages 15 to 32. One of the site’s most controversial stories was written by a Muslim transgender convert.

“We want to push the envelope that way by creating that space and reminding people that they have a place within our religion,” she said. “I’m really proud of that, because one thing MuslimGirl does really well is we attract youth. They want to come in, and they want to learn more about Islam because of the way that we put it out there. We always say that our language is the millennial tongue.”

Muslim millennial’s site dispels stereotypes for millions

By Luis Andres Henao The Associated Press

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EW YORK— Today she travels the world, attends a red-carpet movie premiere and sits on panels with astronauts, former presidents and feminist icons.

But in the years after 9/11, Amani AlKhatahtbeh was just a New Jersey teenager, writing a blog from her bedroom. She used the blog to connect with other young Muslim girls and defy stereotypes. At the time, the only reflections of herself in the news seemed to be men in orange jumpsuits who looked like her father and women who seemed silent and oppressed, she said.

“Being bombarded with those headlines growing up and never feeling represented by them, I did what any millennial would do, which was to turn to social media,” AlKhatahtbeh said. “I decided to put my own place out there and create that space for us to talk back.”

A decade later, her MuslimGirl.com site is an online magazine with a global audience writing about how it feels to be the only woman in a hijab at a kickboxing class, offering beauty tips and covering stories of teenagers fighting Islamophobia. Last year, the domain that she bought for $7 had more than 2 million hits.

The site “is the biggest English-language online platform for Muslim women voices,” the tech entrepreneur, now 27, said at her family’s video game store in New Jersey.

“Our goal is to reclaim our narrative.”

She was nine when the airliners struck the World Trade Center towers, and she remembers the warning of her Jordanian immigrant father: “They’re going to blame us.”

In the aftermath, she was bullied. People threw eggs at her home and slashed her mother’s tires. Her family faced such a backlash that her father temporarily relocated them to Jordan.

While she is proud of being “born and raised a Jersey girl,” it was only in Jordan that she began to take pride in her roots.

She learned Arabic and appreciated Middle Eastern food and hospitality. When she returned to the US, she began to wear a headscarf as an act of defiance against a rising anti-Muslim tide.

“I lost a lot of friends, people started treating me differently,” she said. But she also became an ambassador for her faith.

Students, even teachers, stopped her in school and asked about the Quran and Islam.

“I had to learn as much as I possibly

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, founder of MuslimGirl.com, sits for an interview inside her family’s video game and electronic store business in Somerville, New Jersey. AP could about my own religion, the ins and outs of it, what Islamophobes were saying about it, so that I could understand how to respond,” she said.

Eventually, she concluded that if the people around her had those questions, so did many others.

She started the blog at 17 with help from friends at her local mosque. Most of the work is still a grassroots effort. Her younger brother, Ameer, a journalism student at Rutgers University, helps run communications. Although the site pays a group of editors, most articles are written

by Muslim women volunteers.

MuslimGirl has also partnered up with

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companies like ORLY for the creation of a halal nail polish and received support from the Malala Fund. Most recently, VaynerMedia founder Gary Vaynerchuk became an investor. The site’s topics—in categories like #woke, #fit and #fierce—range widely.

Posts include a list of the top 10 most beautiful verses from the Quran, a look at Marvel’s newest Muslim superhero and a story about how hijab-wearing Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad has a Barbie doll made in her likeness.

The site and its founder have attracted a legion of devoted fans who follow her on social media under the hashtag #muslimgirlarmy. She also has detractors who say February 2, 2020

Al-Khatahtbeh records a podcast pilot at Spotify’s headquarters in New York. AP she is too Americanized or too progressive.

Some question her appearance, such as the way she wears her hijab or shows her arms.

She also has tattoos, an eyebrow ring and long manicured nails.

“A lot of times, at any given moment, I can have like two completely different, opposing parties be bonded by their criticism of us,” Al-Khatahtbeh said.

These days, she divides her time between Los Angeles and New York, attending meetings for potential business partners and live-recording moments of her life for Instagram and Twitter.

Continued on page 7