BusinessMirror February 07, 2021

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Sunday, February 7, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 119

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GRASS OF LIFE Iconic Filipino bamboo eyed for sustainable greening of Mindanao’s watersheds

W

By Manuel T. Cayon

Upon seeing the products churned out at the service facility in the town of Naawan, Piñol said improved processing of bamboo would do more than providing simple livelihood to planters. Bamboo may also offer economic opportunities to communities around these processing centers.

Naawan, a fourth-class municipality in Northern Mindanao, is already reaping big gains from its small bamboo processing facility to improve the lives of its upland farmers, Piñol added.

The facility is located in the town’s Economic Enterprise Center established two years ago with financial support from the Department of Trade and Industry and MinDA. For now, the center still needs additional tools and equipment for furniture making.

HO would ever have thought that the iconic, taken-forgranted and once-ubiquitous bamboo could rise beyond the thatched nipa huts of the countryside, common benches and side chairs peddled in many Philippine cities and towns, and simple support poles in small construction projects and banana plantations?

Industry council

PIÑOL: “The common service facility now produces high-end furniture and school desks made out of bamboo, mostly the Giant Bamboo variety.”

Not just for greening

MinDA has its own long-term plan to resuscitate many watershed areas of Mindanao to address constant flooding of the lowlands and minimize other environmental destruction, such as landslides and droughts.

The plan of MinDA’s Green Mindanao Project is also to reduce poverty among the Indigenous People’s (IP) communities “whose ancestral domains are minimally utilized for agricultural production.”

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.0650

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At a common government service facility in coastal Naawan town of Misamis Oriental, new furniture designs are coming out of this community endeavor and have given a pleasant surprise to even the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), which sees the common bamboo of the grass family as the likely main material for a sustainable and environmentfriendly greening of many watersheds of Mindanao.

“The common service facility now produces high-end furniture and school desks made out of bamboo, mostly the Giant Bamboo variety,” said Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, chief of the MinDA. The former chief of the Department of Agriculture (DA) visited the facility along with Mayor Dennis Roa early this month, and reported seeing high-quality bamboo products which were manually made in the common service facility by the local people themselves.

He said Mayor Roa is now actually on the search for a talented furniture designer who could help the local bamboo furniture makers build attractive and commercially viable products.

ALSO in Bukidnon, a private company established recently a bamboo processing facility in the capital of Malaybalay City.

Piñol said the Bukidnon Giant Bamboo Resources Corp. (BGB) established post-harvest facilities for bamboo “to treat, dry and process into slats, while doing integrated production from plantation to manufacturing of finished engineered bamboo products, such as lumber/beams and boards, building materials (doors, jambs, mouldings, etc.) and furniture using the most modern technology in the wood-working industry.”

Roderico R. Bioco, the BGB chairman, briefed him about the bamboo processing facility, after which he and Bioco “agreed to work on organizing the Mindanao Bamboo Industry Development Council to fully utilize the facilities and in the process boost the development of bamboo farming in Mindanao.”

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4554 n UK 65.7241 n HK 6.1998 n CHINA 7.4266 n SINGAPORE 35.9553 n AUSTRALIA 36.5246 n EU 57.5002 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8143

Source: BSP (February 5, 2021)

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When will life return to normal?

In 7 years at today’s vaccine rates W

By Tom Randall | Bloomberg News

HEN will the pandemic end? It’s the question hanging over just about everything since Covid-19 took over the world last year. The answer can be measured in vaccinations.

Bloomberg has built the biggest database of Covid-19 shots given around the world, with more than 119 million doses administered worldwide. US science officials such as Anthony Fauci have suggested it will take 70 percent to 85 percent coverage of the population for things to return to normal.

Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker shows that some countries are making far more rapid progress than others, using 75 percent coverage with a two-dose vaccine as a target.

Israel, the country with the highest vaccination rate in the world, is headed for 75 percent coverage in just two months. The US will get there just in time to ring in the 2022 New Year (though North Dakota could get there six months sooner than Texas). With vaccinations happening more rapidly in

richer Western countries than the rest of the globe, it will take the world as a whole seven years at the current pace.

Bloomberg’s calculator provides a snapshot in time, designed to put today’s vaccination rates into perspective. It uses the most recent rolling average of vaccinations, which means that as vaccination numbers pick up, the time needed to hit the 75 percent threshold will fall.

The calculations will be volatile, especially in the early days of the rollout, and the numbers can be distorted by temporary disruptions.

For example, New York’s target date was briefly pushed out to 17 months this week after a winter blizzard prevented some from getting vaccinated (it’s now back down to 13 months).

A HEALTHCARE worker administers a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a walk-up vaccination site in San Francisco, California, February 3, 2021. DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG

Likewise, Canada’s vaccination rate dropped by half in recent weeks following reports of delayed vaccine shipments. Based on Canada’s latest rate of inoculations it would take more than 10 years to reach 75 percent coverage.

That might serve as a wake-up call

to Canadian politicians and health officials, but it doesn’t mean the country is doomed to a decade of social distancing.

Canada has contracts to buy more vaccine doses per person than any other country, and its vaccination rates are expected to climb.

The pace is likely to accelerate further as more vaccines become available. Some of the world’s biggest vaccine-manufacturing hubs in India and Mexico are only just getting started. More than 8.5 billion doses of vaccine have been contracted by countries through more than 100 agreements tracked

by Bloomberg. Only a third of countries have even begun their vaccination campaigns.

Herd immunity

VACCINATIONS protect against Covid-19 within a few weeks of getting the shots. But if just a few people in a community get vaccinated, the virus can continue to spread unchecked.

As more people get the vaccine, groups of people start to build a collective defense against the virus so that isolated sparks of infection burn out instead of spreading into an outbreak. The concept is

known as herd immunity.

In the scientific community, there are conflicting definitions for when herd immunity is achieved. Is it when enough people are protected that it begins to have a measurable effect on the speed of transmission?

That could begin well before 75 percent of people are fully vaccinated. Others define it as the point when outbreaks can no longer be sustained. For example, even if there’s a cluster of measles cases in an unvaccinated community, herd immunity prevents it from rippling across a country.

How we run the numbers

THE vaccines available today require two doses for full vaccination. Our calculations for coverage are based on two doses per person in the population but don’t distinguish between first doses or second doses administered. Those breakdowns can distort daily vaccination rates and aren’t available in more than 20 percent of the countries we’re tracking.

A new vaccine by Johnson & Johnson recently showed positive results using a single dose in a large clinical trial. If approved, we’ll adjust the number of doses required

proportionate to its market share in each country.

The vaccines haven’t been authorized for use in children— those studies are currently underway. Our calculator, like the virus, includes children in the population needed to be protected.

One metric Bloomberg’s calculator doesn’t account for is any level of natural immunity that might result from recovering from Covid-19.

It’s possible that hard-hit places might require a lower level of vaccination to prevent widespread transmission. While there’s evidence that people who recover from illness do retain some level of natural defenses, it’s unclear how much protection is offered or how long it might last. The vaccine is still recommended for people who have recovered from illness.

The calculator is the latest feature from Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Tracker. The projections are updated daily and are based on the average daily vaccinations in data gathered from 67 countries and the US states and territories. Countries may be excluded when they are in the earliest stages of vaccinations or if they provide infrequent updates on their vaccination numbers.

GRASS OF LIFE Continued from A1

Bioco had told him that starting with its bamboo innovation center in Aglayan, BGB expanded postharvest and manufacturing facilities in the Bukidnon towns of Impasugong, Talakag, Cabanglasan and Manolo Fortich and Claveria in Misamis Oriental.

“Core to the advocacy of BGB is engaging individual farmers and IP communities to expand bamboo propagation as an alternative source of income while able to address environmental concerns, especially the REDD+ program of our government to meet GHG emission reduction commitment under the Paris Agreement. BGB is also pursuing its own bamboo plantation,” Bioco said in a text message sent to Piñol.

“Our aim is to create a solid corporate platform of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) to address at least seven of the 17 SDGs, reforest 100,000 hectares, mitigate the impact of global warming, improve water security and uplift the living standard of 100,000 families,” Bioco added.

Piñol said the council would

form part of MinDA’s Industry Development Philosophy, “which aims to develop agriculture and fisheries by organizing and uniting the stakeholders who will be assisted through financing and market access by MinDA and its partners.”

He said the council would promote the greening of Mindanao’s critical watersheds and headwaters and, at the same time, provide income opportunities for the people. The original plan has included planting of bamboo as well as fruit trees and harvestable trees, “including the very valuable Agar Tree, in the denuded highlands of Mindanao,” Piñol said.

Meanwhile, last year, the DA in the Caraga Region said it has conducted a ceremonial bamboo planting to commemorate World Bamboo Day in September while continuing to pursue the DA’s program to promote its planting and propagation.

Regional Director Abel James I. Monteagudo was accompanied by his technical director, Nicandro M. Navia Jr., and acting technical director Rebecca R. Atega to the ceremonial planting at the Del Monte Lowland Rainfed Research Station (DMLRRS).

Value-added crop

IN February last year, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar declared bamboo as a high-value crop to intensify its promotion.

In a news statement, Dar said the DA’s new agri-industrial strategy “does not only look at enhancing farm productivity, but also [at] developing more valueadded products to further empower farmers by providing them with more business and employment opportunities, and eventually additional income.”

The DA said that aside from food products, bamboo is also used for construction, furniture, handicraft industry, fuel, textiles and the arts.

“Ecologically, compared to other trees, bamboo absorbs two times more carbon dioxide, which is essential for the survival, growth and reproduction of living things.

Bamboo plants also have strong roots, which make it quite useful in preventing soil erosion,” the department said.

In Caraga, the DMLRRS is targeting to produce 1,000 pieces of bamboo planting materials to interested farmers.

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

TheWorld

UN experts: Covid-19 upped extremist threats in conflicts

By Edith M. Lederer The Associated Press

U

NITED NATIONS —T he Covid-19 pandemic has increased the threat from the Islamic State and al-Qaida extremist groups in conflict areas including Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, but the threat remains comparatively low in non-conflict areas despite a series of attacks in Europe, UN experts said in a new report.

The panel of experts said in a report to the UN Security Council circulated on Thursday that the threat continued to rise in conflict zones in the last half of 2020 because “the pandemic inhibited forces of law and order more than terrorists” who were able to move and gather freely despite Covid-19 restrictions.

The panel said UN memberstates, which it didn’t name, assess that as restrictions from the pandemic ease in various locations, “a rash of pre-planned attacks may occur.”

“The economic and political toll of the pandemic, its aggravation of underlying drivers of violent extremism and its expected impact on counterterrorism efforts are likely to increase the long-term threat everywhere,” the experts warned.

The panel said Iraq and Syria remain “the core area” for the Islamic State group—also known as IS and ISIL—and Syria’s northwest Idlib region where al-Qaida has affiliates is “a source of concern.”

But the experts said Afghanistan remains the country “worst affected by terrorism in the world.”

Despite initial optimism after the February 29, 2020 agreement between the United States and the Taliban and the beginning of direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban last September, the panel said the situation in the country “remains challenging.”

More than 600 Afghan civilians and 2,500 members of the country’s security forces have been killed in attacks since last Feb. 29, the experts said, and “terrorist activities and radical ideology continue to be a potential source of threats to the region and globally.”

The panel quoted unidentified UN member states as saying the current number of ISIL fighters has fallen to between 1,000 and 2,200.

While prospects of reviving its former offensive and holding territory “appear remote” ISIL has claimed responsibility for many recent high-profile attacks, it said.

“Al-Qaida assesses that its future in Afghanistan depends upon its close ties to the Taliban, as well as the success of Taliban military operations in the country,” the experts said, estimating the number of al-Qaida members and their affiliates in the country at between 200 and 500 spread across at least 11 provinces.

The panel said: “Afghanistan remains important to both ISIL

and al-Qaida, and the peace process key to suppressing the longterm threat from both.”

In Iraq and Syria, the experts said there is no indication that ISIL will be able to reconstitute its self-declared “caliphate” that once spanned a third of both Iraq and Syria and was defeated in 2017 “in the short to medium term.”

But they said the extremist group “will certainly exploit its capacity to remain in a region characterized by limited stabilization and reconstruction prospects.”

An estimated 10,000 ISIL fighters remain active in Iraq and Syria “waging a sustained insurgency straddling the borders between the two countries,” the panel said.

The majority of fighters are in Iraq but face pressure from the country’s security forces “rendering the country more difficult for ISIL operations” in comparison with Syria where the de-escalation zone in northwest Idlib remains “a limited safe haven,” it said.

Elsewhere in the Mideast, the panel said al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula suffered setbacks in late 2020 and ISIL in Yemen suffered “substantial losses” in July and August, including its leader Abu Al-Walid Al-Adeni.

The experts said Israel’s recent normalization of relations with some Arab countries “was used as a rallying narrative by terrorist organizations in the region” including al-Qaida groups which condemned leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and called on their followers “to retaliate by attacking foreign interests in the region.” An ISIL spokesman also called on followers “to attack foreign nationals in Gulf states” though none have been reported yet, they said.

T he pa nel sa id t he e x t remist g roups have made prog ress recent ly ma in ly in A f r ica.

“While terrorism continues to spread in West Africa, the region of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique is among the most concerning areas,” it said.

In Cabo Delgado, the experts said fighters from the Islamic State Central Africa Province have taken over towns and villages, continue to hold the port of Mocimboa da Praia despite a sustained government offensive.

Elsewhere in Africa, the panel said an ISIL affiliate “remains resilient in northeast Sinal despite heavy Egyptian military pressure.”

In the Sahel, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara “suffered significant attrition” in confrontations and as a result of counterterrorism operations but “its command-and-control capacity remains effective,” the experts said. And in Somalia Al-Shabab continues to target military operations and civilians.

In Europe, the experts said attacks in Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland between September and November “underscored the enduring threat” from extremists.

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Joe Biden strikes tough tone on Russia in diplomatic push

By Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee & Darlene Superville

W

The Associated Press

ASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Thursday said the days of the US “rolling over” to Russian President Vladimir Putin are gone as he called for the immediate release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

During his first visit to the State Department as president, Biden issued his strongest condemnation of Putin as large protests have broken out throughout Russia following the jailing of Navalny. Thousands of protesters have been arrested.

The new American president was also seeking to make clear to the world that he’s making a dramatic turn away from Putin following the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, who avoided direct confrontation and often sought to downplay the Russian leader’s malign actions.

Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Putin’s most determined political foe, was arrested January 17 upon returning from a five-month convalescence in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning, which he has blamed on the Kremlin.

“I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions—interfering with our election, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens— are over,” said Biden, who last week spoke to Putin in what White House officials called a tense first exchange. “We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interests and our people.”

Biden’s comments on Russia came as he asserted a broad reset of American foreign policy, including reversing Trump’s order to withdraw US troops stationed in Germany, ending support for Saudi Arabia’s militar y offensive in Yemen and promising to support LGBTQ rights as a cornerstone of diplomacy.

Using the visit to outline how his foreign policy would differ from that of his predecessor, Biden called for a return to the “grounding wire of our global power.” He

sought to buck up the diplomatic corps, many of whom were discouraged by Trump’s policies and tone.

“America is back. Diplomacy is back,” Biden told State Department staff before delivering his foreign policy speech. “You are the center of all that I intend to do. You are the heart of it. We’re going to rebuild our alliances.”

With Biden’s most public diplomatic effort of his young presidency, White House officials said he was hoping to send an unambiguous signal to the world that the United States is ready to resume its role as a global leader after four years in which Trump pressed an “America First” agenda.

He offered a list of issues where he said he would reverse Trump’s policies or forge different priorities, including scrapping the former president’s plan to withdraw about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 US troops stationed in Germany. The European nation hosts key American military facilities like the Ramstein Air Base and the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command.

Trump announced the pullback after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime Nato ally “delinquent” for failing to spend 2 percent of its GDP on defense, the alliance benchmark.

No reductions or changes have been made to US troop levels since Trump’s announcement.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hinted at a likely reconsideration of the order in a conversation with his German counterpart last week, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Biden also signed a presidential memorandum Thursday that addresses protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals worldwide. The

President Joe Biden delivers remarks to State Department staff on, February 4, in Washington. AP/Evan Vucci

memorandum, which builds off guidance the Obama administration issued in 2011, directs State Department officials and other federal officials working abroad to ensure that US diplomatic and foreign assistance efforts promote and protect LGBTQ rights.

Biden also announced plans to increase the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States to more than eight times the level at which the Trump administration left it. Trump drastically reduced the cap to only 15,000.

Biden’s plan would raise it to 125,000, surpassing the ceiling set by President Barack Obama before he left office by 15,000.

Biden, through executive order, also called for rescinding Trump-era rules that resulted in excessive vetting of applicants, expanding capacity for adjudicating applications for refugee applications, and other steps.

Mark Hetfield, president of the Maryland-based refugee resettlement agency HIAS, said the announcement won’t lead to overnight changes but applauded Biden’s order as a “head to bottom review of the program so that America can once again lead by example on protecting refugees.”

Biden, by contrast, chose longtime confidant Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state, aiming to reinvigorate an American diplomatic corps that had been depleted and demoralized under four years of the Trump administration.

He was greeted by employees eager to hear that diplomacy has returned to the top of the presidential agenda and that the expertise of long-serving foreign service officers will be valued.

“I promise I will have your back,” Biden told the department staff.

“And I expect you to have the back

of the American people.”

Although Biden’s first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.

To that end, Biden announced he was appointing a longtime US diplomat for the Middle East, Tim Lenderking, as his special envoy in Yemen. The move comes as Biden is searching for a diplomatic end to the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign that has deepened humanitarian suffering in the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country.

Lenderking, a career foreign service member, has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire. It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Biden’s approach to multilateralism.

A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Navalny to prison for more than two and a half years, finding that he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany. Biden again called for Navalny’s release.

“Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution,” Biden said. “He’s been targeted, targeted for exposing corruption.

He should be released immediately and without condition.”

The Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Lolita C. Baldor contributed reporting to this article.

Global food trade has been upended by container crisis

By Isis Almeida, Ann Koh & Michael Hirtzer

F

ood is piling up in all the wrong places, thanks to carriers hauling empty shipping containers.

Global competition for the ribbed steel containers means that Thailand can’t ship its rice, Canada is stuck with peas and India can’t offload its mountain of sugar. Shipping empty boxes back to China has become so profitable that even some American soybean shippers have to fight for containers to supply hungry Asian buyers.

“People aren’t getting their goods where they need them,”said Steve Kranig, director of logistics at IM-EX Global Inc., a freight forwarder that handles cargoes including rice, bananas and dumplings from Asia to the US. “One of my customers ships 8 to 10 containers of rice every week from Thailand to Los Angeles. But he can only ship 2 to 3 containers a week right now.”

The core issue is that China, which has recovered faster from Covid-19, has revved up its export economy and is paying huge premiums for containers, making it far more profitable to send them back empty than to refill them.

There are signs that the soaring freight rates are boosting the cost of some foods. White sugar prices surged to a three-year high last month, and delays in food-grade soybean shipments from the US could mean higher tofu and soy milk costs for consumers in Asia, said Eric Wenberg, executive director of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance.

Food costs

While it’s not entirely uncommon for containers to transit back empty after a voyage, carriers usually try to backfill them to profit from shipping rates in both directions. But the cost of carrying goods from China to the US is almost 10 times higher than the opposite journey, prompting liners to favor empty boxes instead of loading them, Freightos data showed.

At the port of Los Angeles, the US’s biggest for container cargo, three in every four boxes going back to Asia are traveling empty compared with the normal 50-percent rate, said Executive Director Gene Seroka.

In Vancouver, containers remain in the yards. Terminals have shortened the time to transport the stuffed boxes onto ships from three days to as little as seven hours,

said Jordan Atkins, vice president of WTC Group.

“It’s not possible to get the amount of volume we have here in Vancouver to return containers in those tight windows,” said Atkins. “Pulses in general are struggling getting on the ships,” he said, referring to crops like peas and lentils. Canada is the world’s second-largest producer of pulses.

India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer, exported only 70,000 metric tons in January, less than a fifth of the volume shipped a year earlier, said Ravi Gupta, president of Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd, the nation’s top refiner.

Vietnam, the largest producer of the robusta coffee beans used to make instant drinks and espresso, is also struggling to export. Shipments dropped more than 20 percent in November and December, said Le Tien Hung, chairman of Simexco Dak Lak, Vietnam’s No. 2 exporter.

Around the world, some foodstuff buyers are waiting while others have halted purchases altogether, traders say.

‘Shortage of everything’

“It’s been like that since December,” said Kranig of

IM-EX Global. “You’re going to get not only a shortage of food but a shortage of everything. I would not be surprised to hear some beneficial cargo owners’ freight rates for 2021-2022 shipping season double from previous years.”

If that prediction bears out, once the bulk of North Americans and Europeans are vaccinated, some of those high freight rates could be passed on to them as they return to cafes, restaurants and office towers.

The container crunch comes just as American shippers are trying to boost exports of everything from soybeans to grain meals to Asia. China is scooping up American crops to feed a hog herd that’s recovering from a deadly pig disease faster than most expected.

The situation is so dire that some buyers are canceling contracts, opting for bulk shipping methods, the most common for feed products, or delaying purchases to avoid high freight costs.

“We know that some of the industry’s largest and most consistent buyers of soybean containers in Asia over the years are now electing to buy bulk vessel supplies,” said Doug Grennan, vice president for select global grain and oilseeds at Scoular Co., a century-old trader that’s

one of the US’s largest shippers of agricultural goods in containers. “And certainly like others, we had some booking cancellations.”

Still, a major global spike in food costs is unlikely.

Only a small percentage of grains and oilseeds is traded in containers, said Arnaud Petit, executive director of the International Grains Council in London, with the rest going bulk cargo. It’s also unclear how much of the rise in shipping costs companies will be able to pass on to consumers, given the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus.

Suspending shipments

Hapag-Lloyd AG last year told customers it was suspending overseas container shipments of North American agriculture products to reposition empty containers back to Asia. Nico Hecker, director of global container logistics at the German sea-freight company, said in November that the firm was experiencing the strongest increase in demand for 40-foot containers following one of the biggest decreases ever.

The pandemic has also upended flows of refrigerated containers. In China, boxes are piling

up at ports as workers have to comply with strict Covid-testing procedures as well as disinfection of meat and seafood products after frozen-food imports were blamed for the spread of the virus. There are so many cold containers in Dalian that the port is running out of power plugs to keep them on.

As imports are being held up, wholesale pork prices in China, the world’s top consumer, jumped to the highest since September. That’s prompted the government to boost sales of state pork reserves to meet booming demand ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Labor shortages due to the spread of the coronavirus are slowing operations at ports, and worsening the container shortage. Strikes in Argentina have also boosted demand for American agriculture products to supply Asia, increasing competition for boxes.

“It’s a bit of a perfect storm,” said Grennan.

“You have pent up demand in Asia for agriculture products and that’s at the same time you have a pretty substantial consumer goods demand in the US. When you add to that some of these labor issues, that’s what really created the scarcity you are seeing.” Bloomberg News

A4

TheWorld BusinessMirror

Sunday, February 7, 2021

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Uighurs in Turkey fear sellout to China in exchange for vaccine

By Dake Kang & Suzan Fraser

B

The Associated Press

EIJING—Abdullah Metseydi, a Uighur in Turkey, was readying for bed last month when he heard commotion, and then pounding on the door. “Police! Open the door!”

In this November 6, 2018, file photo, members of the Uighur community living in Turkey carry flags of what ethnic Uighurs call “East Turkestan,” during a protest in Istanbul, against what they allege is oppression by the Chinese government to Muslim Uighurs in far-western Xinjiang province. Because of shared cultural ties, Turkey has long been a safe haven for the Uighurs, a Turkic group native to Xinjiang. Opposition legislators in Turkey are accusing Ankara’s leaders of secretly selling out Uighurs to China in exchange for coronavirus vaccines. AP/Lefteris Pitarakis

A dozen or more officers poured in, many bearing guns and wearing the camouflage of Turkey’s anti-terror force. They asked if Metseydi had participated in any movements against China and threatened to deport him and his wife. They took him to a deportation facility, where he now sits at the center of a brewing political controversy.

Opposition legislators in Turkey are accusing Ankara’s leaders of secretly selling out Uighurs to China in exchange for coronavirus vaccines. Tens of millions of vials of promised Chinese vaccines have not yet been delivered. Meanwhile, in recent months, Turkish police have raided and detained around 50 Uighurs in deportation centers, lawyers say—a sharp uptick from last year.

Although no hard evidence has yet emerged for a quid pro quo, these legislators and the Uighurs fear that Beijing is using the vaccines as leverage to win passage of an extradition treaty. The treaty was signed years ago but suddenly ratified by China in December, and could come before Turkish

lawmakers as soon as this month.

Uighurs say the bill, once law, could bring their ultimate lifethreatening nightmare: Deportation back to a country they fled to avoid mass detention. More than a million Uighurs and other largely Muslim minorities have been swept into prisons and detention camps in China, in what China calls an anti-terrorism measure but the United States has declared a genocide.

“I’m terrified of being deported,” said Melike, Metseydi’s wife, through tears, declining to give her last name for fear of retribution. “I’m worried for my husband’s mental health.”

Suspicions of a deal emerged when the first shipment of Chinese vaccines was held up for weeks in December. Officials blamed permit issues.

But even now, Yildirim Kaya, a legislator from Turkey’s main opposition party, said that China has delivered only a third of the 30 million doses it promised by the end of January. Turkey is largely reliant on China’s Sinovac vaccine to immunize its population against

the virus, which has infected some 2.5 million and killed over 26,000.

“Such a delay is not normal.

We have paid for these vaccines,” Kaya said. “Is China blackmailing Turkey?”

Kaya said he’s formally asked the Turkish government about pressure from China but has not yet received a response.

Both Turkish and Chinese authorities insist that the extradition bill isn’t meant to target Uighurs for deportation. Chinese state media called such concerns “smearing,” and foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin denied any connection between vaccines and the treaty.

“I think your speculation is unfounded,” Wang said at a Thursday press briefing.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in December that the vaccine delay was not related to the issue of the Uighurs.

“We do not use the Uighurs for political purposes, we defend their human rights,” Cavusoglu said.

But though very few have actually been deported for now, the recent detentions have sent a chill through Turkey’s estimated 50,000-strong Uighur community. And in recent weeks, the Turkish ambassador in Beijing has praised China’s vaccines while adding that Ankara values “judicial cooperation” with China—code, many Uighurs fear, for a possible crackdown.

In the past, a small number of Uighurs traveled to Syria to train with militants. But most Uighurs in Turkey shun jihadis and worry they are hurting the Uighur cause.

Lawyers representing the detained Uighurs say that in most cases, the Turkish police have no evidence of links to terror groups.

Ankara law professor Ilyas Dogan believes the detentions are politically motivated.

“They have no concrete evidence,” said Dogan, who is representing six Uighurs now in deportation centers, including Metseydi. “They’re not being serious.”

Even if the bill is ratified, Dogan doubts there would be mass deportations, given widespread public sympathy for the Uighurs in Turkey. But he believes the chances of individuals being deported would go up significantly.

Because of shared cultural ties, Turkey has long been a safe haven for the Uighurs, a Turkic group native to China’s far west Xinjiang region. Turkish President Recep

Erdogan denounced China’s treatment of the Uighurs as “genocide” over a decade ago.

That all changed with an attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, which prompted a mass purge and alienated Erdogan from Western governments. Waiting to fill the void was China, which is loaning and investing billions in Turkey.

Signs of strong economic ties abound, big and small: An exporter with business in China was appointed Turkey’s ambassador to Beijing. A Chinese-funded $1.7-billion coal plant is rising on the banks of Turkey’s Mediterranean sea. Istanbul’s airport obtained the world’s first “Chinese Friendly Airport” certification, setting aside check-in counters to receive thousands of tourists from Shanghai and Beijing. And President Erdogan’s once-fiery rhetoric has turned dull and diplomatic, praising China’s leaders for their assistance.

China also began requesting the extradition of many more Uighurs from Turkey. In one leaked 2016 extradition request first reported by Axios and obtained independently by The Associated Press, Chinese officials asked for the extradition of a Uighur former cell-phone vendor, accusing him of promoting the Islamic State terror group online. The vendor was arrested but eventually released and cleared of charges.

Abdurehim Parac, a Uighur poet detained twice in the past few years, said even detention in Turkey was “hotel-like” compared to the “hellish” conditions he was subjected to during three years in Chinese prison. Imim was eventually released after a judge cleared his name. But he has difficulty sleeping at night out of fear that the extradition bill might be ratified, and called the pressure “unbearable.”

“Death awaits me in China,” he said.

Rising fears are already prompting an influx of Uighurs moving to Germany, the Netherlands, and other European countries.

Some are so desperate they’re even sneaking across borders illegally, said Ali Kutad, who fled China for Turkey in 2016.

“Turkey is our second homeland,” Kutad said. “We’re really afraid.”

Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul contributed to this report. Fraser reported from Ankara.

Ma excluded from China state media’s list of tech luminaries

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ack Ma was conspicuously absent from a list of China’s entrepreneurial greats published by state media, underscoring how the iconic Alibaba cofounder has run afoul of Beijing.

Ma, lionized at home for creating some of his country’s largest corporations, didn’t make the cut in a Shanghai Securities News front-page commentary lauding the leading lights of technology.

Instead, the official Chinese paper held up archrival Pony Ma as “rewriting the mobile age” with Tencent Holdings Ltd. Also on its list were BYD Co. Chairman Wang Chuanfu, Xiaomi Corp. cofounder Lei Jun and Huawei Technologies Co.’s Ren Zhengfei.

T he brief editorial—which ran the same day Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is slated to unveil earnings—may help assuage fears Tencent could get caught up in a broader industry crackdown now

Jack Ma Bloomberg photo

focused on Ma’s Alibaba and Ant Group Co. Beijing has launched a campaign to curtail the growing power of private technology corporations in almost every facet

of Chinese life, as exemplified by the ubiquity of Tencent’s WeChat messaging service. Shares in Tencent and Xiaomi rose more than 2 percent on Tuesday.

Jack Ma’s absence is telling given the Shanghai Securities News is the most important business publication in Alibaba’s backyard. The billionaire made his first public comments in January since disappearing from view late last year, after his now-infamous rebuke of Chinese regulators prompted a backlash that derailed Ant’s record $35-billion initial public offering and spurred an investigation into his e-commerce giant. Much about the future of China’s most recognizable and outspoken businessman remains unclear.

“A generation of Chinese entrepreneurs emerged from the rigid structures of our old economic system with the desire to escape poverty and passion to achieve business ambitions,” the newspaper, which is backed by the official Xinhua News Agency, wrote. “They have breathed new life into China’s economic reforms.” Bloomberg News

Residents fill pots from a water truck on July 4, 2019, when Chennai became one of the first major cities in the world to run dry. Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

How one of world’s wettest major cities ran out of water

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limate change is bringing rising sea levels and increased flooding to some cities around the world and drought and water shortages to others. For the 11 million inhabitants of Chennai, it’s both.

India’s sixth-largest city gets an average of about 1,400mm (55 inches) of rainfall a year, more than twice the amount that falls on London and almost four times the level of Los Angeles. Yet in 2019 it hit the headlines for being one of the first major cities in the world to run out of water— trucking in 10 million liters a day to hydrate its population. This year, it had the wettest January in decades.

The ancient south Indian port has become a case study in what can go wrong when industrialization, urbanization and extreme weather converge and a booming metropolis paves over its flood plain to satisfy demand for new homes, factories and offices.

Formerly called Madras, Chennai sits on a low plain on the southeast coast of India, intersected by three main rivers, all heavily polluted, that drain into the Bay of Bengal. For centuries it has been a trading link connecting the near and far east and a gateway to South India. Its success spawned a conurbation that grew with scant planning and now houses more people than Paris, many of them engaged in thriving auto, health care, IT and film industries.

But its geography is also its weakness.

The cyclone-prone waters of the Bay of Bengal periodically surge into the city, forcing back the sewage-filled rivers to overflow into the streets. Rainfall is uneven, with up to 90 percent falling during the northeast monsoon season in November and December. When rains fail, the city must rely on huge desalination plants and water piped in from hundreds of kilometers away because most of its rivers and lakes are too polluted.

While climate change and extreme weather have played a part, the main culprit for Chennai’s water woes is poor planning. As the city grew, vast areas of the surrounding floodplain, along with its lakes and ponds, disappeared. Between 1893 and 2017, the area of Chennai’s water bodies shrank from 12.6 square kilometers to about 3.2 square kilometers, according to researchers at Chennai’s Anna University. Most of that loss was in the past few decades, including the construction of the city’s famous IT corridor in 2008 on about 230 square kilometers of marshland. The team from Anna University projects that by 2030 around 60 percent of the city’s groundwater will be critically degraded.

With fewer places to hold precipitation, flooding increased. In 2015, Chennai suffered its worst inundation in a century. The northeast monsoon dumped as much as 494mm (19.4 inches) of rain on the city in a single day. More than 400 people in the state were killed and 1.8 million were flooded out of their homes. In the IT corridor, water reached the second floor of some buildings.

Four years later it was a shortage of water that made headlines. The city hit what it called Day Zero as all its main reservoirs ran dry, forcing the government to truck in drinking water.

People stood in lines for hours to fill containers, water tankers were hijacked, and violence erupted in some neighborhoods.

“Floods and water scarcity have the same roots: Urbanization and construction in an area, mindless of the place’s natural limits,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, a writer and environmental activist who lives in Chennai. “The two most powerful agents of change—politics and business—have visions that are too short-sighted. Unless that changes, we are doomed.”

Tamil Nadu, the state of which Chennai is the capital, predicts in its climate-change action plan that the average annual temperature will rise 3.1°C by 2100 from 1970-2000 levels, while annual rainfall will fall by as much as 9 percent. Worse still, precipitation during the June-September southwest monsoon, which typically brings the steady rain needed to grow crops and refill reservoirs, will reduce while the flood-prone cyclone season in the winter will become more intense. That could mean worse floods and droughts.

The northeast monsoon officially ends in December, but this winter the heavy rain continued well into January, with Tamil Nadu receiving more than 10 times the normal rainfall for the month.

“Such heavy rainfall was not normal when my parents and grandparents were young,” said Arun Krishnamurthy, founder of Chennai based nonprofit Environmentalist Foundation of India. “People here talk a lot about the weird weather, but they don’t link it to climate change.”

Chennai is an extreme example of a problem that is increasingly disrupting cities around the world that are also grappling with rapid population increases. Sao Paulo, Beijing, Cairo and Jakarta are among urban centers facing severe water scarcity. “It’s a global problem, not just Chennai,” said Krishnamurthy. “We need to work together to ensure that we have a water-secure future.”

The Tamil Nadu government says it’s addressing the problem. In 2003, it passed a law requiring all buildings to harvest rainwater. The rule helped raise the water table, but the gains were soon eroded by a lack of maintenance, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s Central Ground Water Board.

Efforts to recharge groundwater have also struggled to offset the volume of water being extracted through boreholes.

The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board did not respond to questions about the issue. The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board did not reply to an e-mail seeking comments.

Shortly after 2019’s Day Zero, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced a public program that would include a “massive participation of women” covering everything from rainwater harvesting, water saving and the recycling and protection of water resources, along with studies on how to clean up the state’s polluted rivers.

Until then, the government’s strategy had centered around the construction of large desalination plants, a costly tactic more commonly associated with arid nations or islands with limited fresh water. The plants have been criticized for causing environmental damage and having a negative impact on local fisheries.

Now, the government is pursuing a new approach inspired by the city’s past. The Greater Chennai Corporation is supporting an initiative called City of 1,000 Tanks, a reference to the ancient manmade lakes that were built around temples.

Supported by the Dutch government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the plan is to restore some temple tanks and build hundreds of new ones with green slopes throughout the city to absorb and filter heavy rains, recharge the groundwater, and store water for use during dry months.

“Floods, drought and sanitation are all interlinked,” said Sudheendra NK, director of Madras Terrace Architectural Works, which is involved in the project. “When a critical mass of people take up all this then a significant difference will be noticed and we will no longer be in crisis.” He said it would take at least 5 years for the project to have an impact.

Meanwhile, Chennai continues to add a quarter of a million people a year, making it a race against time to curb the floods and water shortages.

“My fear is these things will happen more often in the future,” said Krishnamurthy. “We didn’t learn the lesson from ‘Day Zero.’” Bloomberg News

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Sunday

Sunday, February 7, 2021 A5

British Council opens scholarships Seafdec/AQD’s community-based sea ranching for Filipino women in STEM

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ilipino women will have a chance to have a scholarship in postgraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the United Kingdom (UK).

This is based on a scholarship program the British Council recently launched.

The scholarship will give over 100 women from 20 countries in the Americas, South Asia and East Asia, including the Philippines, the opportunity to obtain their postgraduate degree in the UK to further develop their careers in science, a British Council news release said.

According to data from the UN Scientific Education and Cultural Organization (Unesco), fewer than 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women and only 30 percent of female students select STEM-related fields in higher education.

Globally, the enrolment of female students in areas related to STEM is low, specifically for information and communications technology (3 percent), natural sciences, mathematics and statistics (5 percent), and engineering, manufacturing and construction (8 percent).

“We want to contribute to closing the gender gap in STEM and help advance the broader effort towards gender equality,” said British Council in the Philippines Country Director Pilar Aramayo-Prudencio.

“Our Women and Girls in STEM programmes around the world are designed with a lifecycle approach in mind—from inspiring young girls to stay in STEM to supporting women working in STEM fields to reach positions of leadership and to network with their peers in their region and in

the UK,” Aramayo-Prudencio said.

The scholarship will cover tuition, monthly stipend, travel costs, visa and health coverage fees.

It welcomes applications from women with dependants. It also has a provision for scholars who might need a short pre-sessional English course to achieve the language level needed for their studies.

Besides the Philippines, eligible countries in Southeast Asia are: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Women from the Philippines wishing to pursue studies in Energy Transition and Climate Change, Health and Life-Sciences and Agriculture are encouraged to apply.

“UK universities are globally recognised for research excellence. This is a fantastic opportunity for qualified and talented women from the Philippines to live and study in the UK,” AramayoPrudencio added..

“Successful candidates will not only enhance their careers in STEM; they will also be able to promote research and innovation in the Philippines, connect with researchers in the UK, and inspire the next generation of Filipino women in STEM,” she said.

All potential candidates must apply directly to the following universities: University of Glasgow, Liverpool John Moores University or University of Stirling.

Applications for the British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM are open until mid-March 2021.

F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , v i s i t w w w. britishcouncil.org/study-work-abroad/in-uk/ scholarship-women-stem.

DOST-FPRDI rolls out technology through incubation program

Legacy to sustainable fisheries An aerial view of the solar and generator powered hatchery and nursery facilities at Molocaboc Island in Negros Occidental in 2019.

The island is without electric and freshwater supply system. The facilities were built as part of the Community-Based Resource Enhancement project initiated by the SEAFDEC/AQD. Photo by JF Aldon

A local fisher helps sample the sea cucumber population in a sea ranching site at Molocaboc Island in Negros Occidental during a monitoring activity of the SEAFDEC/ AQD in 2016. Photo by IT Tendencia

Mariano Abog Jarina holds up a seahorse juvenile for closer inspection at their community-based hatchery in Molocaboc Island in 2019. The late Jarina was a former president of Mosra and played a pivotal role in rallying support for the now successful sea ranching project on the island. He passed away on October 4, 2020, at the age of 72. Photo by RD Dianala

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The partnership among DOST-FPRDI, LSPU, Adoress Farm and DOST-PCAARRD was sealed during the TBIs Co-Incubation MOA online signing ceremony held recently via Zoom. DOST-FPRDI photo

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Laguna-based agro-forest farm will soon learn the process of making antimicrobial soaps and hand mists developed by the Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI).

This came after the DOST-FPRDI partnered with the Laguna State Polytechnic University (LSPU) in providing technical assistance to Adoress Farm.

The initiative is under the National Agri-Aqua Technology Business Incubation Program of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD).

DOST-FPRDI’s technical expert, Dr. Jennifer P. Tamayo, will train Adoress Farm staff in developing the anti-microbial soaps and hand mists using their own plant materials. The institute will also provide business development services and access to testing laboratories.

Supporting small enterprises

According to Dr. Noel Catibog, chief of DOSTPCAARRD’s Technology Transfer and Promotion D ivision, Te c h n o l o g y B u s i n e s s I nc u b at i o n (TBI), he hopes to accelerate the transfer and commercialization of research-based outputs in the country.

“TBI is an innovative process where an institution supports start-ups by providing them necessary technical and business development services,” Catibog explained.

The DOST-FPRDI has its own TBI called the “Peak Three.”

Established in 2019 with funding grant from DOST-PCAARRD, Peak Three is intended as a support

system for small or starting wood and nonwood forest products enterprises.

Among its services are assistance through v a r i o u s w o o d a n d n o n w o o d p ro c e s s i n g technologies; linkage with investors; assistance in intellectual property protection; mentoring on business management, marketing and finance; and technology training and testing services.

First of its kind

Catibog shared that the partnership between two or more TBI—such as the case between DOST-FPRDI and LSPU—is the first of its kind in the country.

Known as co-incubation, this collaboration is seen to bring “access to a wide range of services, larger pool of technical experts and network of investors and partners; better benefit-sharing of knowledge, facilities and equipment; and higher promotion of technology commercialization.”

Acco rd i n g to DO S T- F P R D I D i re c to r D r.

R o m u l o T. A g g a n g a n , t h e c o - i n c u b a t i o n initiative is an “excellent pathway for state universities and colleges, and research and revelopment institutes to commercialize their technologies and collaborate in research and product development.”

“We are encouraging start-ups or small wood and nonwood forest products enterprises to check out DOST-FPRDI’s TBI. The Institute will be glad to assist you in moving your business to the next level,” he ended.

Interested parties may contact DOST-FPRDI Director Dr. Romulo T. Aggangan at info@fprdi. dost.gov.ph or fprdi@dost.gov.ph . Apple Jean C.

Martin-de Leon/S&T Media Service

ust off Molocaboc Island in Negros Occidental, beneath a turquoise canopy of water, fishers searched the coral reef for abalone and sea cucumber, two prized delicacies in Asian cuisine.

Live abalone sells abroad for up to $120 a kilogram, or approximately P5,700, and dried sea cucumber, $2,000/kg, or about P96,000.

But the fishers were not here to cash in on the abalone grazing on coralline substrates and the sea cucumber burrowing in the white sand.

Not yet. They carefully weighed and sized them, logged the numbers in a notebook, and returned them to the reef to enable them to continue to grow and reproduce.

During the formative years of the sea-ranching project, the fisherfolks asked when they will benefit from the rehabilitation of the overfished abalone, sea cucumber and seahorse population.

Dr. Nerissa Salayo, a socioeconomist of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department, answered: “It will likely take longer than we would expect. It could be beyond our lifetime. But for sure, if we succeed, we will leave a legacy to the fisherfolk of the future generations,” she said in a Seafdec/ AQD news report written by Juliana Rose Pagador and Rex Delsar Dianala.

Some fisherfolk got serious, but with a smile, they said, “So we’re dead already, but our children will benefit.”

Sea-ranching approach; sustainability Over a decade since the conversation with Salayo, the fisherfolk have abandoned destructive fishing practices and adopted a sea-ranching

The Molocaboc fisherfolk and research staff of the SEAFDEC/AQD during a monitoring off Molocaboc Island in 2016. Photo by IT Tendencia

approach.

Salayo looked back at the people’s cooperation and participation, and credited them for the current success of the sea-ranching project at Molocaboc Island, 20 minutes by boat from the Sagay City Port north of Negros Island.

It was since 2006 when the Molocaboc fishers and the Sagay City local government have been working with Seafdec/AQD, whose staff guided them in the Community-Based Resource Enhancement Project.

After years of social preparation and assessments, hatchery-bred juveniles of abalone, sea cucumber and seahorses were periodically released in a no-catch zone, starting in 2011.

Since then, the fishers have been protecting and monitoring the stocks.

Abalone, sea cucumber and seahorses flourished and—except for seahorses which were banned from the trade— gleaners started gathering just outside the protected site, Seafdec/AQD said.

Over the years, they reported catching a bit more, which supplemented their subsistence income.

In 2017, the fishers of Molocaboc began shipping live abalone to top hotels in Manila, while local traders supplied exporters in Cebu.

To ensure sustainability, gleaners only harvested abalone with shells of at least 6-centimeters long, thanks to a Sagay City regulation initiated by the project.

Sea cucumbers were also protected by nationwide harvest-size and trade regulations, Seafdec/AQD added.

Role of fisherfolk leaders, barangay officials Convincing the community to be

involved in the project was the first hurdle, but one that was soon resolved.

Salayo recalled the efforts of Mariano Abog Jarina, an elderly fisherfolk leader who helped bolster interest and support for the project from the very start.

With most of his life dedicated to fishing, Jarina, fondly called Tatay Marianing, has a reputation in the community for his steadfast principles and sincere dedication to his work.

A father of seven, he was the breadwinner of his growing family until he stopped going out to sea in 2005 because of declining health.

“Tay Marianing is one of several personalities, together with the officials of Barangay Molocaboc, who made things easier for me when organizing people,” Salayo noted. “He would personally approach people in their homes to encourage them to participate in discussions and lectures, especially during the early stages of the project.” “ Toget her w it h h is co -sen ior buddies, he was hands-on during sampling, overseeing and guiding fellow fisherfolks on tasks. Like my father, I would seek his advise if there were problems in the field,” Salayo recalled.

“The Jarina family also opened their home and treated us like we were a part of the family, whenever our team had to stay for a few days and nights,” she said as she cited the challenge of monitoring the released stocks, especially the nocturnal abalone.

In 2009, the Barangay Molocaboc Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council, was organized. Jarina would serve as one of

DOST Usec Dr. Brenda Nazareth-Manzano, ‘a champion of regional devt through S&T’

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he Department of Science a nd Tec hnolog y (DOST ) announced the passing of Undersecretary for Regional Operations Dr. Brenda L. NazarethManzano on Thursday, at 10:43 a.m. after a long battle with cancer.

“The consummate public servant, she died with her boots on, ever the champion of regional development through science and technology. We will truly miss her passion, her friendship, ready smile and helping hand,” Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña said in his Facebook account.

“A transformational leader,” Nazareth-Manzano believed that in this fast-changing world, growth and change are inevitable. “[And] that if we want to catch up

with the rest of the world, we have to improve our ways, no matter how drastic the changes may be,” her office said in a statement.

“It was her transformational leadership that led to the attainment by DOST-I X—the organization she handled for more than two decades—of hav ing the distinction as the first DOST Regional Office to have been confer red t he Ph i l ippi ne Q u a l it y Award Level 1: Recognition for Comm it ment to Qu a l it y Ma nagement in 2012, and PQA Level 2: Recognition for Proficiency in Qualit y Management in 2017,” the statement said.

She also inspired four other DOST Regional Offices to embark on the quality excellence journey.

With her guidance and leadership, there are now five DOST Regional Offices that have been conferred with PQA—three Regional Offices with PQA level 2 (DOST-II, DOST-IX, and DOSTXI) and two Regional Offices with PQA level 1 (DOST-Calabarzon and DOST-VIII).

As a scholar of the former National Science and Development Board, she graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the Western Mindanao State University, magna cum laude.

She earned her academic units in Master of Science in Management Engineering from Adamson University and academic units in Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Sto. Tomas.

She obtained the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand.

The DOST has been a home to Undersecretar y Nazareth-Manzano. After graduating from college in 1983, she started working for the then-National Science and Technolog y Authority, now the DOST, then as a Science Research Specialist 1.

She rose from the ranks to become the Officer-in-Charge at the Office of the Regional Director of DOST-IX in March 1991, when she was just around 29 years old.

She then took her oath as the fullfledged DOST-IX Regional Director in January 1992.

Twenty-five years after, she became the DOST ’s Undersecretar y for Regional Operations in Januar y 2017.

A model leader and a recognized public manager that she was, Undersecretary Nazareth-Manzano received several awards such as the 2012 Gawad Career Executive Service Presidential Award, the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award conferred by the AIT Alumni Association’s Mother and Philippine Chapters, the Regional Outstanding Lady Executive, and the Golden Heart Medallion Award for Excellence in Science Promotion, Research and Development, and Technology Transfer, among many others.

She is also a Career Executive Service Officer I.

its presidents, in succession with other officers.

He continued as advisor of the organization until he passed away last October 4, 2020, at the age of 72. Until his last moment, he was saying that Molocaboc Sea Ranchers Association (Mosra) should continue to care for the stock enhancement project with Seafdec in Molocaboc.

For the future Today, about 60 community members are participating in the project.

Seafdec/AQD Chief Dan Baliao has turned over the hatcheries and other sea ranching support facilities to the Sagay City local government unit (LGU) and Mosra in 2019.

“For 13 years, Seafdec built up the community acceptance of the sea ranching project, and had proven that harvesting abalone and sea cucumber can indeed be done sustainably. It is time for the fishers and the LGU to fully own the success and be a model for what other coastal communities can do,” Baliao said as reported by Seafdec/AQD. Janet Tuling Jarina, Tatay Marianing’s daughter and the present secretary of Mosra, shared that the monthly monitoring of the abalone and sea cucumber stocks continued in daily schedules and shifts among the members amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Papa [Jarina] always emphasized that this project is for the future generations of our community. The benefits reaped from our efforts today will be appreciated by our kids and even grandkids,” said the younger Jarina, a mother of a four-year-old boy.

Faith A6 Sunday, February 7, 2020

Sunday

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

Church leaders to High Court: Exercise ‘sound judgment’ on Anti-Terrorism Act

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eaders of different Christian church denominations urged the Supreme Court to make “sound judgement” as the oral arguments on petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 began last week.

“We pray that sound judgment founded on our nation’s values and Constitutional protections of democracy, civil liberties, and the respect for human life and rights will guide the court,” they said in a statement released to the news media.

The statement was signed by: Auxiliary Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo, D.D., apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila; Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines; Br. Armin A. Luistro, FSC, provincial superior of De La Salle Brothers in East Asia; The Most Reverend Rhee Timbang, Obispo Maximo of Iglesia Filipina Independiente; Sr. Ma. Lisa Ruedas, DC, of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of Daughters of Charity; and Bishop Emergencio

Padillo of Middle Luzon Jurisdiction of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

The church leaders said they believe that the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 “is a repressive law fashioned around an ambiguous definition of ‘terrorism.’”

They said that not only will the AntiTerrorism Council be “emboldened with broad powers that impinge on those reserved for other branches and offices of government,” but implementation of this law will be ripe for “militarism and abuses of human rights.”

“With concern for democracy and the protection of human life, we pray that the Supreme Court will be able to discern the dangers and pitfalls of this legislation. We urge them to uphold democracy and civil liberties, by striking down the repressive and ambiguous law,” they said.

Members of national networks of humanitarian, development and faith-based organizations held a picket as they filed the 36th petition against the anti-terrorism law at the Supreme Court on September 21. CBCP News They added that the “perverse and rampant pursuit of red-tagging witchhunts” in recent months “demonstrate clearly the pernicious character of unchecked labelling of persons.”

Under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, they said democratic space, freedom of speech and association, and other human rights will be under threat, coupled with a severe weakening of protections of civil liberties.

“Even more, the very lives and liberty of those who express dissent or stand to assert the rights of the people will be placed in peril,” they added.

Those in power have already demonstrated their desire for overreach

and broad discretion in going after so-called “enemies of the state” or “terrorism.”

Their folly in attacking church people, artists, members of the academe, development workers, and even former government officials lays bare great danger in undermining the checks-and-ba lances and due process under the law, the church leaders said.

“The Supreme Court is especially placed to judge these dangers and assure that civil liberties are safeguarded and democratic rights upheld,” they said.

As Church leaders, they said they

“will continue to speak out for the welfare of the people.”

The Church leaders, “vehemently oppose” the law on the following grounds: 1. An overly broad and amorphous usage of the term terrorism, which will be utilized by state forces for attacks on dissent and curtailment of human rights and civil liberties.

2. A weakening of the judicial system and the constitutionally enshrined function to check-and-balance the actions of other branches of government, including state forces under the administrative branch.

3. Allowances for surveillance, wire-tapping and invasion of privacy without any evidence of any alleged suspect’s wrongdoing.

4. Arrests and holding of persons without warrants or charges, duly and speedily processed through the courts.

5. A removal of financial penalties to be awarded to persons detained under false pretense, thus increasing the likelihood of gross impunity to be committed by state forces.

“We urge the Justices of the Supreme Court to weigh and measure wisely to stand of the side of democracy, civil liberties, and human life. We urge the Supreme Court to strike down this law fraught with ominous features that reek of the dark days of the Marcos martial law,” the church leaders said.

Vatican modifies distribution of ashes for Ash Wednesday

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The Diocesan Shrine of St. Andrew Kim Taegon in Bocaue, Bulacan. PHOTO FROM THE PARISH

ATICAN—The Vatican gave guidance recently about how priests can distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ash Wednesday falls on February 17 this year. It marks the start of the Lenten season for Catholics.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a note recently, directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes once to everyone present, rather than to each person.

The priest “addresses all those present and only once says the formula as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,’” the note said.

It continued: “The priest then cleanses his

hands, puts on a face mask and distributes the ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places.

The priest takes the ashes and sprinkles them on the head of each one without saying anything.”

The note was signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and its secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche.

In 2020, the divine worship congregation put out various instructions for priests on administering the sacraments and offering Mass during the coronavirus pandemic, including for the celebration of Easter, which occurred when many countries were in lockdown and public liturgies were not permitted.

In the Philippines, Catholic prelates said recently they would follow the procedure released

by the Vatican on the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday this year.

“Actually [the] sprinkling of ashes on the head is the original way. This was already done last year,” Manila Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, said in an interview.

Pabillo said they are waiting for the directive of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) regarding the celebration.

Caloocan Bishop Pablo David said, “We actually did that already last Ash [Wednesday] 2020.”

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco also said he would follow the procedure.

“We would just do the sprinkling, which goes back to ancient times,” he said. Catholic News Agency

via CBCP News and PNA

Pope Francis proclaims World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

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ATICAN—Pope Francis announced recently the establishment of an international day to honor grandparents and the elderly to take place each year in July.

“The Holy Spirit...arouses thoughts and words of wisdom in the elderly today: their voice is precious because it sings the praises of God and guards the roots of peoples. They remind us that old age is a gift and that grandparents are the link between generations, to transmit to young people an experience of life and faith,” Pope Francis said in the library of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

“Grandparents are often forgotten and we forget this wealth of preserving and passing on the roots.

For this reason, I have decided to establish the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly,” the pope said.

The World Day for the Grandparents and the Elderly will take place annually on the fourth Sunday of July, close to the feast of the grandparents of Jesus, Saints Joachim and Anne.

This year it will take place on Sunday, July 25, and Pope Francis will offer a special Mass to mark the occasion, according to the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.

In his Angelus address—offered via a live video broadcast due to the Covid-19 pandemic—the pope recalled the upcoming liturgical celebration of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple by Mary and Joseph.

“The day after tomorrow, February 2, we will celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, when Simeon and Anna, both elderly, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, recognized Jesus as the Messiah,” the pope said.

Pope Francis also pointed to the example of the Virgin Mary who “always kept Jesus’ words and gestures in her heart and followed Him with total willingness and faithfulness.”

“May she help us too to listen to Him and follow Him, to experience the signs of His salvation in our life,” he prayed.

The pope said that Jesus “speaks not with human authority, but with divine authority, because he has the power to be the definitive prophet, that is, the Son of God who saves us, heals us all.”

He asked: “Do we listen to the words of Jesus which are authoritative?”

“Always, do not forget, carry a small Gospel in your pocket or bag, to read it during the day, to listen to that authoritative word of Jesus,” he said.

The pope explained that Jesus’ ministry of healing, exorcisms and “preaching with authority” show that Christ “aimed at defeating the evil present in humankind and in the world.”

“Jesus’ teaching has the same authority as God speaking; in fact, with a single command he easily frees the possessed from the evil one and heals him,”he said.

“His word points directly at the kingdom of Satan: it puts him in crisis and makes him retreat, forcing him to leave,” Francis said.

After the Angelus prayer, children from the diocese of Rome joined the pope in the Apostolic Palace to read a letter about the importance of peace.

The children are participants in the virtual “Caravan of Peace” organized by Catholic Action.

Pope Francis also highlighted World Leprosy Day, which occurs each year on the last Sunday of January.

He appealed to world leaders to join efforts to treat those suffering from leprosy—officially called Hansen’s Disease—and to work for their social inclusion.

“I express my closeness to those who suffer from this disease, and I encourage missionaries, health workers and volunteers committed to their service,” the pope said.

“The pandemic has confirmed how necessary it is to protect the right to health for the most vulnerable people.” Courtney Mares/Catholic

News Agencyvia CBCP News

Bulacan parish dedicated to Korean After 1 year, Muslim women reflect on wearing the niqab amid masked world saint declared a diocesan shrine

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he country’s only Catholic par ish in Bu lacan province dedicated to a Korean saint was elevated to diocesan shrine status.

In a recent Mass, the Parish of Nuestro Señor Jesucristo was formally declared as the Diocesan Shrine of St. Andrew Kim Taegon by Bishop Dennis Villarojo of Malolos.

Located in Lolomboy, a village in Bocaue town, the shrine was built in honor of the first Korean-born Catholic priest who once lived in the area before he was martyred in the 19th century.

The celebration began with a fluvial procession of the saint’s pilgrim image at Bocaue River to re-enact the arrival of the martyr in Lolomboy.

In his homily, Villarojo exhorted the faithful to “learn” from the martyr “who understood very well what it means to live a life inspired

by God.” The bishop also led the blessing of a pilgrims’ museum in the old shrine based on Korean architecture and featuring a 15-tier pagoda which is handled by the parish and the Sisters of St. Andrew, a congregation of Korean nuns who also settled in Lolomboy to aid in the promotion of the devotion to the saint.

The event was held as the parish joined the Korean Catholic Church’s year-long celebration of the 200th

anniversary of the birth of Kim, which culminates on August 21, his natal day.

After being baptized at age 15, Kim studied at a seminary in the Portuguese colony of Macau as a scholar of the Parish Foreign Mission Society.

Between 1837 and 1841, a civil unrest in China erupted that forced him to seek refuge and continue his studies in a Dominican convent in Lolomboy.

In 1844, he left the Philippines and went to China where he was ordained priest the following year.

Back to his hometown in Seoul to begin catechising Koreans in secret, he was arrested and was beheaded in September 1846 during the wave of persecution launched by the Joseon dynasty.

Kim was among the 103 Korean martyrs, including 15 women, canonized by St. John Paul II in Seoul on May 6, 1984. Their feast is celebrated on September 20.

Because of the historical importance of the saint’s arrival in Lolomboy, he was declared a secondary patron saint of the parish after his canonization.

On May 2, 1986, the parish was declared as a spiritual twin of “Saenamteo,” also known as the 103 Korean Martyrs Shrine and Parish.

Kendrick Ivan B. Panganiban/CBCP News

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ne year into the pandemic, protective face masks have come to signify different things for different groups of people.

To some it’s an issue of protest, while for others it’s a statement of social responsibility.

Some people have even turned it into a style statement and are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on designer masks.

At the same time, racial perceptions related to masks have put an additional burden on groups that already experience racism and inequality.

Across the country, several Black American men have been arrested, followed and challenged by police officers who claimed they looked “suspicious” in pandemic masks.

But in a group I have studied since 2013— Muslim women in the West who wear the niqab, or the Islamic veil, along with a headscarf—the experiences have been more positive.

Challenges faced by many Muslim women

The niqab is worn by a small minority of Muslim women. It is a piece of cloth tied over the headscarf (hijab) that comes in a variety of styles and colors.

It is sometimes mistakenly labeled as the burqa, which is an all-enveloping garment that largely entered the American imagination during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

At that time the Western media, while depicting burqa-clad women, wrote about how the war would help advance the rights of Afghan women.

Niqab wearers are a difficult group to study, and scholars have described them as a “rare and elusive religious sub-culture.”

Despite this challenge, I have been able to conduct three research projects that relied on interviews with women who wore the niqab.

Initially, I conducted a larger study of 40 women that I published in my book Wearing the Niqab: Muslim Women in the UK and the US. I also interviewed a group of 11 women in April 2020 after mask-wearing became mandated in public in many US states and countries.

In January I was able to reach 16 women who agreed to be interviewed about their experiences

of wearing the niqab one year into the pandemic.

I found that many recently adopted the niqab because walking around with a covered face became less daunting as more people appeared in public with face masks.

As I found, many wanted to wear the niqab to underscore the religious character of this practice.

Some women wore a mask under the niqab, mindful of the health guidance that requires masks to be constructed out of a “tightly woven fabric,” in order to stop the virus from being spread.

Others used thick, snugly attached niqabs in lieu of a mask.

Studies have shown that Muslim women more likely to experience prejudice in public spaces, employment and other services, when they dress religiously.

Over 80 percent of the women I interviewed for my book said they experienced some form of abuse in public, such as hostile stares, comments, having the niqab ripped off or being physically injured.

Legislation that bans religious face coverings in public has been passed in some countries and territories, such as France and Quebec.

On March 7, Swiss citizens will be voting on a niqab ban in a nationwide referendum.

In the past, advocates of such laws have argued that face-covering is a sign of religious extremism, social separation and patriarchal oppression of Muslim women.

However, during the pandemic, criticism has been leveled by scholars and activists at governments that upheld such legislation while simultaneously requiring their citizens to wear masks.

In France, for example, one is liable to pay $165 (€135) if caught in public without a mask, while wearing a niqab still carries a risk of being fined up to $180.

During my interviews in April with 11 niqabwearing women in the United States and Europe about their experiences of face-covering during the early phase of the pandemic, I found their responses to be guardedly positive.

Women reported decreased levels of the kinds of prejudice they experienced before the

pandemic. They attributed this to the new social expectation that everyone was wearing a facial covering. Many enjoyed the sense of “invisibility” while wearing the niqab.

A woman from Illinois who I spoke with over Zoom (names of the respondents are withheld to preserve their anonymity) said: “There are so few of us, and still we were told we were a threat to society because we covered our faces. Now that argument has just disappeared. I just hope this sentiment doesn’t make a comeback once the pandemic is over.”

Free to dress religiously

Almost a year later, I went back to find out whether the “mask effect” held steady for these women.

I spoke with 16 women who said that the niqab had become a much more accepted option among the pandemic masks.

I found that many women were switching from wearing it only occasionally outside their homes to every time they were in public spaces.

Some actually adopted this garment for the first time in their lives.

In an online poll that I ran with the help of the owner of the online Islamic fashion boutique Qibtiyyah Exclusive UK as part of my 2021 study, 14 women out of 51 who responded said that they had decided to begin wearing the niqab during the pandemic.

One anonymous respondent commented: “I feel this is the perfect opportunity for any Muslimah [Muslim woman] to start wearing the niqab. I would if I didn’t already.”

Another wrote: “It’s been a flawless transition [to wearing the niqab]. No one says a word.”

Another stated, “I’d been experimenting with the niqab before, but now, since Covid-19, I have worn the niqab full time.”

The niqab is not mentioned by the Quran— which mandates only modest clothing for both men and women more generally.

The Quran (24:31) says: “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears. Let them draw their veils over their chests, and not reveal their hidden adornments...”

An individual practice

There is a common misconception in the West that this is an oppressive, patriarchal practice forced upon Muslim women.

In reality, several studies have shown that many women choose to wear the niqab—sometimes against their families’ preferences.

The 40 niqab wearers I interviewed for my book considered it a religious practice. Many of them said that the wives of Prophet Muhammad reportedly wore it regularly.

A woman from Texas said: “I wear the niqab because I choose to follow what I believe to be the most accurate interpretation of God’s word that says women who cover their faces will be rewarded for fulfilling this extra duty.”

It is a highly individual practice to which the women I interviewed came after a long reflection. They acknowledged that while the niqab may be suitable for them, it might not work for others.

A woman from the UK explained why some women choose to wear it while others don’t: “The Quran says to cover yourself modestly.

Now, the interpretation of that is different to every group of Muslims. Some people believe it just to be the loose dress. Others believe it to be an outer garment as well as headscarf. Yet others would go one step further and say it’s the face covering as well, because [the Quran] says to cover yourself.”

Women who adopted the niqab after the beginning of the pandemic also described their experiences to me. Following years of doubt about the safety of wearing the niqab in their neighborhoods, they felt this was the best time to try.

A woman from Pennsylvania who began wearing the niqab in late 2020 sent me a message: “I wanted to wear the niqab for a long time, but I live in a very white area. I was afraid—I don’t like to be stared at and I already get enough of that in my hijab. With everyone wearing a mask, I figured now’s the time. At first, I wanted to only test it out, but literally nobody looked at me twice. So I’m just wearing it, with a mask underneath.” Anna Piela, Northwestern

University/The Conversation, CC via AP

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday, February 7, 2021

US, PHL sign P7.25-B pact for environment protection

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he US government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Philippine National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) signed a new, five-year bilateral assistance agreement valued at more than P7.25 billion ($150 million) to protect the Philippine environment.

Through the agreement, the United States and the Philippines deepen their commitment to protect the environment by promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, expanding access to renewable energy, and reducing risks from natural disasters, a US Embassy news release said.

In partnership with national, provincial and local governments, USAID will implement projects to increase access to clean energy and water; improve natural resource management; and protect the Philippines’ landscapes, wildlife, and fisheries.

These projects support the Philippines’s and United States’s shared goal of preserving the Philippines’s world-renowned natural treasures while improving the lives of Filipinos and ensuring sustainable jobs.

“This new agreement with Neda, which includes partnerships with the Departments

of Natural Resources, Energy, and AgricultureBureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, marks a new era in our longstanding support to the Philippines,” said USAID Philippines Mission Director Lawrence Hardy II. “We will work together to address many environmental challenges. Together, we will strengthen government and community efforts in responding to environmental challenges to achieve our shared vision for safer and more resilient Filipino communities. Our assistance will help protect the forests, fisheries, and water and energy resources for millions of Filipinos, increase livelihoods, and promote nature as an engine of sustainable growth,” Hardy added.

The bilateral agreement is one of four new, five -year USAID- government of Philippines Development Assistance Agreements launching in 2020 and 2021, with an anticipated total value of P32.7 billion ($675 million) over the next five years.

The other new agreements include with the Departments of Health, Finance, and Education.

Over the past 20 years, USAID has provided over P216 billion ($4.5 billion) to advance the country’s development goals, the news release said.

MaCEA, PLDT-Smart collaborate for environmental stewardship

Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands: PHL’s 8th wetland of intl importance

The wooden boardwalk in the Sasmuan Bangkung Malapad Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area which sits in the heart of the Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands. The site is soon to be open to the public. Photos courtesy of DENR-3 PAO/Don Guevarra

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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he Philippines marked its celebration of the World Wetlands Day on February 2 with the designation of Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands (SPCW) as the country’s 8th Wetland of International Importance, or Ramsar Site.

The designation of Sasmuan as a Ramsar Site, the first in Central Luzon, was an affirmation of the Philippines’s commitment to the Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

Wetlands and water PLDT-Smart and MaCEA walkway mural

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h e c o u n t r y ’s l a r g e s t i n t e g r a t e d telecommunications company PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and its wireless subsidiary, Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), have partnered with the Makati Commercial Estate Association (MaCEA) to expand the PLDT-Smart Gabay Kalikasan street mural of internationally renowned and multiawarded environmental “artivist” AG Saño.

Aimed at raising awareness on climate change, Saño’s initial artwork in December 2019 featured more than 3,000 square feet of Philippine flora and fauna throughout the telco headquarter’s Legazpi Street frontage and De la Rosa Street walkway, a PLDT-Smart news release said.

The street mural’s second phase, completed in March 2020, was a 120-feet tall vertical piece at its Gallardo back entrance, and is said to be the tallest environmental mural in Southeast Asia.

Completed right before the end of January 2021, the mural extension on the Legazpi-De la Rosa elevated walkway continued the existing mural theme around the PLDT building, which featured armored bird species all found in the Philippines.

“The general state of the environment did not improve in 2020. Wildlife population is still diminishing. As environmental street artists, we want to keep on creating images of nature to keep nature’s beauty in the consciousness of the daily urban pedestrian,” Saño said.

With the mural, MaCEA aims to constantly transform and reinvent itself to remain relevant and interesting while raising awareness on the environment.

Makati’s civic body aims to make the central business district pedestrian-friendly and well connected, celebrating its distinct neighborhood, transforming it into an art center and helping redevelop it further into a vibrant central business district.

A s t h e c o u n t r y ’s l a r g e s t i n t e g r a t e d telecommunications company, with energy as a necessary resource to deliver their services, PLDT actively ensures that it uses energy responsibly.

As greenhouse-gas emissions arise from energy consumed by its network in operation, in the establishments they run, and emissions from transport, PLDT aims to protect the planet through technology-based carbon footprint offsetting programs.

This includes initiatives in reforestation, marine protection, mangroves preservation, and peatlands conservation that leverage on digital innovations and PLDT-Smart’s network.

Gabay Kalikasan represents PLDT-Smart’s Effective Environmental Stewardship sustainability pillar, one of the seven that make up the company’s Sustainability Framework.

The other pillars are Awesome Customer Experience and Quality of Ser vice, Growthdriven Innovation, Responsible and Efficient Operations, Excellence through Human Capital, Positive Community Impact, and Good Governance & Ethical Business Practices, the news release said.

The mural extension is supported by Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

Dominguez welcomes US plan to reenter Paris Agreement

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HE D epar tment of Finance (DOF) has welcomed the plan of the United States (US) to join again in an international accord to address the climate crisis.

In a statement posted at the DOF portal, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III was pleased by the announcement of US President Joseph Biden that the superpower nation will reenter the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The landmark international pact was signed in 2015 to address global warming. The US abandoned the climate agreement in 2020 after former President Donald Trump ordered the country’s withdrawal.

According to the DOF chief, Biden’s move is a welcome development after President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly called on all countries to act immediately on the climate crisis as one community under the international pact.

He also stated that more efforts are needed to guarantee the generation of the $100 billion annual funding goal in the Paris Agreement for the adaptation and reduction needs of developing countries like the Philippines.

“Now, more than ever, we need to ensure the mobilization of finance flows toward the adaptation needs of our most vulnerable

communities. We need such action to be faster and on a greater scale. And we need it to bring about effective solutions on the ground across the globe,” Dominguez said.

He suggested that developed nations “must deliver on their commitments to the Paris Agreement” to secure climate justice, including assistance to developing economies resulting to “low-carbon and sustainable development”.

Dominguez mentioned the ensuing Covid-19 pandemic in his statement as “a stark reminder that health, economic stability and nature are intertwined,” adding that it has demonstrated the “domino effect” that was caused “when one element in this interconnected system is overturned.”

The firm and earnest response to the unprecedented health crisis, the Finance secretary said, revealed the exceptional capability of the society to put the emergency brake on the “business-as-usual” way of thinking.

“It showed that we can act as one and radically change our ways and our systems to fight the scourge of a deadly virus for the greater good of all,” read his statement. “The same unity, resolve, and sense of urgency should be applied in combating the climate emergency and pursuing low-carbon and sustainable development.” Roderick L. Abad

A7

Anchored on the theme, “Wetlands and Water,” this year’s celebration of the World Wetlands Day also marked the 50th anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands, or the Ramsar Convention, to which the Philippines is a signatory.

The Convention was adopted in Ramsar City in Iran, from which it was named, in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

In a statement congratulating the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in hosting the country’s celebration of World Wetlands Day 2021, Convention Secretary-General Martha Rojas Urrego highlighted this year’s theme which draws attention to the value of wetlands for freshwater supply.

“The world is facing a growing water crisis with profound consequences and wetlands are at the heart of its resolution,” she said.

Urrego added that less than 1 percent of water on the planet is usable freshwater and is stored in wetlands—rivers, streams, lakes, marshes, estuaries and aquifers—underscoring the fact that wetlands are incredibly important source of freshwater.

“Yet nearly 90 percent of the world’s wetlands have vanished. We are losing wetlands three times faster than forests,” she said.

“It is time to value wetlands for how they contribute to sustainable development and the overall health of the planet,’ she pointed out.

Migratory bird haven Besides supporting the livelihood of fishermen in the municipality, the Sasmuan wetlands is a 3,500-hectare coastal area straddling four barangays in the town of Sasmuan.

The area is composed of mangrove forests and mudflats—which are certified native and migratory waterbirds magnet flying across continents during migration.

In the Asian Waterbird Census held last month, around 80,000 birds comprising 63 species were counted in Sasmuan.

In a statement on February 3, DENR-Region 3 Executive Director Paquito Moreno Jr. said the designation of the Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands as Ramsar Site brought honor to the people of Pampanga and the rest of Central Luzon.

While the area is neither a protected area nor an ecotourism site, it met four of the nine criteria to be declared a Ramsar Site.

“We met Criteria 2 and 3, which means that SPCW supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities, and play a big role in maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region,” Moreno said.

The SPCW also met Criteria 5 and 6 indicating that it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds, and supports 1 percent of the individuals in a population of 1 species or subspecies of waterbirds.

Moremo added that SPCW is a “vital component of our environment and its declaration as Ramsar Site is an integral part of our strategies in cleaning and rehabilitating our Manila Bay.”

Internationally important Besides Sasmuan coastal wetlands, the seven other Ramsar Sites in the Philippines are Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary; Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area; Naujan Lake National Park; Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary; Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park; Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park; and Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area.

The DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) said the wetland areas feature astounding biodiversity and natural beauty.

“They are important livelihood areas for communities living near the sites and are home to different endemic species of flora and fauna as well as migratory birds,” DENR-BMB Acting Director Amelita D.J. Ortiz told the B usinessM irror.

Ortiz said via e-mail on February 1 that despite their importance, wetlands, which practically means waterlogged ecosystems, have been widely misunderstood and paid very little attention to by policymakers worldwide.

Unappreciated “Its [wetland] importance and functions, albeit numerous and more than any other types of ecosystem, in terms of the biodiversity and resources it provides, the climate and disaster risks it regulates and, generally, its various services that affect human well-being and quality of life, remain largely unappreciated to the point of being regarded as wastelands,” Ortiz said.

The DENR-BMB Caves, Wetlands and other Ecosystem Division said wetlands include a variety of water bodies and its shores, whether coastal, inland and human-made.

Marshes, swamps, peatlands, lakes, floodplains, rivers, including riparian areas, are inland wetlands.

Coastal wetlands include salt marshes, coastal lagoons, mangroves, intertidal flats, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and other marine areas that are not deeper than 6 meters at low tide.

Human-made wetlands include dams, reservoir, rice paddies, fishponds, salt pans and wastewater treatment ponds.

Important ecosystem Ortiz said the importance of preserving wetlands cannot be overemphasized. “ We t l a n d s p r o v i d e a w i d e r a n g e o f ecosystem services essential to human survival, such as food, freshwater and livelihood, rich biodiversity, protection from floods, droughts and other disasters, and store vast amounts of carbon more efficiently than any other natural ecosystem,” she said.

She said particularly important among wetlands are the peatlands, which store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.

Inadequate protection Having no single Philippine legislation that advances wetland conservation and their wise use, the protection of these very important and unique ecosystems remain very challenging.

The Philippines, is a signatory to the Convention on Wetlands, which entered into force in the country on November 8, 1994.

As a contracting party, it is committed to work toward the adoption and legislation of a national wetland policy.

Yet, for almost 26 years since the accession of the Philippines to the Convention, no legislation has been initiated to serve as a framework to organize and harmonize all legislated laws and policies to attain the wise use of the country’s wetlands and water resources.

“With this fragmented management approach, not all wetlands are equally protected. The degree

Aerial view of the Sasmuan Bangkung Malapad Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area showing its receiving area and wooden boardwalk. of their protection depends on the classification or kind of the wetland,” Or tiz explained.

Fragmented management approach Wetlands are vulnerable to various threats because of fragmented management approach.

Various government agencies have overlapping mandates, one way or the other, over water bodies, said Joy Navarro, chief of the Special Ecosystems Standards Section of Caves, Wetlands and other Ecosystems Division of the DENR-BMB. “Mangroves, coral reefs and wet caves, for example, have absolute protection from destruction through the Fisheries Code, Forestry Code, or the Caves Act,” Navarro explained.

“However, water bodies that are not considered protected areas or critical habitats under the Enipas [Expanded National Integrated Protected Area Systems], or the Wildlife Act, or as marine protected areas under the Fisheries Code, or are not identified as Environmentally Critical Areas as part of the EIA [environment impact assessment] system, hardly receive legal protection,” she lamented.

Ongoing initiatives The DENR-BMB is implementing various programs to protect and conserve the country’s wetlands.

For one, the BMB, through the DENR Regional Field Offices, is implementing the wetlands inventory and database management, profiling and designation of wetlands as national and international importance, critical habitat and as protected areas.

It also works with several nongovernment organizations and private agencies for various wetland conservation programs.

For the protection and conservation of peatlands in Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, the DENR-BMB is working with telecommunications company Philippine Long Distance Telephone.

Recently, for the Boracay rehabilitation, the DENR-BMB partnered with Aboitiz Equity Ventures, JG Summit, Boracay Tubi System Inc., Energy Development Corp. and San Miguel Corp.

Wetlands-rich PHL In 2016, the DENR-BMB published the first edition of Atlas of Philippine Inland Wetlands and Classified Caves, accounting for a total of 314 wetlands, both inland and human-made, 2,487 rivers and river systems, and 416 classified caves all over the country.

These cover a total area of 22,370.06 square kilometers (km2).

For coastal and marine wetlands, the Philippines has a total of 18,541.99 km2, while inland wetlands are pegged at 3,667.37 km2..

At the same time, the DENR-BMB was counted a total of 160.70 km2 of man-made wetlands across the country.

LGUs‘ role The DENR-BMB is banking on strong partnership and

collaboration with various institutions, particularly local government units (LGUs) to protect wetlands within their jurisdiction.

Intensifying awareness-raising and increasing the capacity of LGUs to mainstream wetlands conservation is the main key to encourage them in protecting our wetlands, Navarro said.

“It is also important to make them realize that protecting wetlands means providing their people long-term benefits from them, such as protection from the adverse impact of typhoons, flood, drought and other natural calamities, sustainable livelihood and source of food and water,” Navarro said.

Wetland loss The global wetland loss and degradation, according to the DENR-BMB, continues faster than other ecosystems.

Historically, throughout the world, the DENRBMB said wetlands have often been mistakenly regarded as “wastelands” because they are wet, soggy, muddy areas that bred mosquitoes, flies, diseases and had unpleasant odors.

Because wetlands were not productive for traditional needs, such as shelter or agricultural production, they were thought of as places to avoid and, in many cases, eliminate.

These, the DENR-BMB believes, are factors why large areas of wetlands were drained and converted for other land uses, such as housing developments and farmland.

Navarro said the country’s wetland has lost so much and continues to lose some more at an alarming rate under growing pressures of land use, pollution, drainage and other reasons, aggravated by the changing climate.

Stronger protection In a telephone interview on February 1, Navarro said the designation of wetlands of international importance is one way of highlighting their significance to promote awareness and rally support from various sectors, including policymakers, decision-makers, LGUs, the private sector and local communities.

For instance, she said in the case of Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands, a stronger policy regime is expected to be put in place now that it is recognized for its international importance.

“This is an international recognition that the Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands is important internationally. If it is important internationally, it is important also for the Philippines to protect it,” she said.

The DENR-BMB, she said, will now include the newly designated Ramsar Site as a priority wetland in implementing various programs.

“Since it now has international recognition, there will be a sense of pride and, hopefully, increased awareness among local communities, but also policy-makers like lawmakers from their area—for important legislation,” she said.

Sports

A MAN passes a signage for Super Bowl 55 as he runs along the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. AP

BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, February 7, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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Wimbledon eyes reduced-capacity crowd in June

IMBLEDON, England— Wimbledon organizers are planning for a reducedcapacity crowd at this year’s Grand Slam tournament, though other options remain, the All England Club said Thursday.

The club previously announced that the tournament, canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, would go ahead with or without fans. The three options are full capacity, reduced capacity or no fans.

“The majority of our planning focus is currently centered on the option of a reduced capacity Championships and how that would affect each stakeholder group, but we are not yet in a position to rule out any of the other scenarios,” the club said in a statement.

Wimbledon, called off last year for the first time since 1945, is scheduled to run from June 28 to July 11.

“While the rollout of the vaccination program in the UK is a very heartening development,” the club said, ”it naturally remains too soon to know how this will impact public attendance at major events in the UK.”

With five months to go, “we are continuing to develop our detailed scenario planning” and working with public health authorities to stay informed about developments.

“Our approach will be to remain as agile as possible and leave enough flexibility in our planning to adapt as required to the prevailing conditions in the summer,” the club said.

Britain has recorded more than 108,000 coronavirus-related deaths— highest in Europe.

Australian Open organizers say the year’s first Grand Slam will start as planned next Monday. Under the current plans, up to 30,000 spectators are expected daily at Melbourne Park for the two-week event.

The US Open and French Open were held last year but with strict protocols to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus. No fans were allowed at Flushing Meadows, while Roland Garros was limited to 1,000 fans per day.

The All England Club said it plans to provide “regular updates as our plans develop.” AP

25K FANS ALLOWED FOR SUPER BOWL LV T

HERE will be about 25,000 fans inside Raymond James Stadium for the Super Bowl on Sunday. One reason the Buccaneers and Chiefs won’t be playing before oceans of empty seats is Kansas City helped to prove it was possible to have folks in the stands.

The Chiefs hosted the Texans in the kickoff to

the season. From the start, they followed a plan to allow 22 percent of capacity—approximately 17,000 fans—for each game at Arrowhead Stadium. Fans had to go through temperature checks; sit in small groups and pods; adhere to strict social distancing measures; and wear face masks whenever they weren’t eating or drinking.

Even when Covid-19 numbers were spiking around the country, the Chiefs never experienced an outbreak traced back to their fans. And as the season wore on, other teams began to follow their blueprint for allowing fans into their own stadiums.

Chiefs President Mark Donovan said they take tremendous pride in that as an organization.

“To be the team on that stage the very first weekend and launch National Football League [NFL] football and do it successfully, and then be the last playoff game before the Super Bowl and close that window and do it successfully, that’s a memory I’ll share with everybody here for a long, long time,” Donovan said.

David (hamstring) all worked. Tampa Bay added tight end Cameron Brate to the injury report with a strained back that limited him.

The Chiefs moved indoors in Kansas City because of snow and a temperature in the low 30s.

Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher (Achilles tendon) and rookie linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (knee, ankle) were not available. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins (calf) and running back Le’Veon Bell (knee) both practiced after being limited Wednesday.

Thursday marked the final time talking to the media for the Bucs and Chiefs until after the Super Bowl.

“I’m real happy,” Chiefs Coach Andy Reid said with a thumb’s up.

TAMPA Bay Coach Bruce Arians wanted to make sure his Bucs are ready for something they haven’t dealt with much during this season played during a pandemic: noise.

The Bucs had 16,009 in the stands when they routed Atlanta, 44-27, to wrap up the regular season. Approximately 25,000 fans will be allowed inside Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, so Arians pumped up the speakers during the Bucs’ one-hour, 45-minute practice Thursday.

Arians said communication was easy with nearly empty stadiums during the regular season.

He used the speakers before the National Football Conference championship in Green Bay where Arians said it was very loud for his offense.

“I’m hoping there will be some crowd noise when we’re playing defense because our guys are used to talking to each other,” Arians said.

“They’ve talked to each other all year and now all of a sudden, they’ve got to use hand signals.”

Linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul was limited at practice Thursday after sitting out a sore knee Wednesday. Defensive tackle Steve McLendon was given the day off.

Wide receiver Antonio Brown (knee), safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle) and Jordan Whitehead (shouder) and linebacker Lavonte

BRADY’S PORTUGUESE

PREPPING FOR NOISE

TOM BRADY’S six Super Bowl rings don’t protect him from being trash talked in his own home.

Asked by a reporter to say hi to his fans in Brazil if he knew any Portuguese, Brady praised his 10-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter for how fluent they are in the language. His wife, model Gisele Bundchen is from Brazil, so Portuguese is spoken regularly at home.

“Unfortunately, their dad is way behind and in his understanding of how to speak the language,” Brady said. “But I can usually understand a lot of things my wife will say: Papai nao sabe de nada, which means Daddy doesn’t know anything. I usually get that a lot in the house.”

Brady may not be able to speak Portuguese as well as the rest of his family, but the Tampa Bay quarterback knows enough to understand most of what they’re saying, especially when it’s about him.

“I know when they’re speaking Portuguese, kind of what they’re saying, even if they’re, you know, taking shots at their dad...,” Brady said.

“Sometimes when I use my Portuguese words, my daughter will be like, ‘Daddy, you spoke Portuguese’ which is pretty great. So she’s very fluent.” AP

NBA reveals All-Star Game plans on March 7 in Atlanta

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HE National Basketball Association (NBA) told its teams recently that it expects to finalize plans in the coming week to have an All-Star Game in Atlanta.

The game and skills competitions will be held on March 7, the NBA told clubs in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. It remains unclear when players would have to report to Atlanta and how testing will work there, or if fans will be part of the game.

The first-half schedule ends March 4, with the second half set to begin on March 11. The league said it expects to agree to terms with the National Basketball Players Association on testing protocols that will apply to all players during the break, how testing will work for the All-Star event, and when players will have to report back to their home markets to begin preparations for the second-half schedule.

ESPN first reported on the contents of the memo.

Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant is the leading overall fan vote-getter so far with just over 2.3 million, the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James has just under 2.3 million, and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has just over 2.1 million.

It would be Atlanta’s third time playing host to the game, the others coming in 1978 and 2003.

Cleveland is the 2022 host, Salt Lake City will host in 2023 and Indianapolis will get the event in 2024.

Daily testing, the NBA said, will continue during the break and the league expects that another condition will be that players won’t be allowed to travel internationally. If a player leaves his home market during the midseason break, the NBA is expected to mandate that he stay in private accommodations.

All players will likely have to be back in home markets within two days of their teams resuming play, the NBA said.

BROOKLYN’S Kevin Durant is the leading overall fan vote-getter so far with just over 2.3 million. AP

Talks between the league and the NBPA have gone on for weeks about if and how to salvage the All-Star Game, which was originally scheduled to be played in Indianapolis this season—before the pandemic called off those plans. Among the ideas the league and the union are discussing: how the game can benefit both Covid-19 relief and historically Black colleges and universities.

Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox said Wednesday night he thought the notion of an All-Star Game was “stupid” during a pandemic.

Players have been told to wear masks on their benches, coaches must wear them at all times during games and the league and NBPA have installed strict protocols to try to get through the season safely. AP

BusinessMirror

February 7, 2021

Millennials are changing the luxury real-estate market

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BusinessMirror FEBRUARY 7, 2021 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

MONSTER GROOVE

Butch Vig on Jamir Garcia’s final song with Project E.A.R.

By Rick Olivares

“I

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

: Niggel Figueroa

T has a monster groove.”

That is how noted American producer and drummer Butch Vig described the song “Dark Times” by Project E.A.R. (East Asian Revolution) that is the last recorded work of the late Jamir Garcia.

The song slowly eases its way in like those old creepy Korn songs after which the thumping bass and thunderous drums come in that grab you by the jugular and never lets go.

It’s a darn good song made perhaps more poignant and bittersweet by the ongoing pandemic and the passing of Jamir Garcia who penned the song’s lyrics and is his last recorded work.

“Dark Times” written and sung

by Jamir Garcia with Project E.A.R. features the late Lean Ansing (guitars) of Slapshock; Moot Marimuthu (vocals), JD Wong (bass), AJ Nasir (bass), Rudy Malik (drums), DJ Uno Zakaria (turntables) of Malaysian rap metal band Popshuvit; Dandee (vocals)

Anabelle O. Flores : Tony M. Maghirang, Rick Olivares, Darwin Fernandez, Leony Garcia, Stephanie Joy Ching Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez : Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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

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

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725.

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817-1351,817-2807.

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PROJECT E.A.R.

of Thai hiphop crew Bangkok Invaders; Ray Toro (guitars) and James Dewees (keyboards) of My Chemical Romance; Emmett Ishak (vocals) of Malaysian grunge band Butterfingers; and Wing Meng (guitars) of Malaysian alternative rock band, Love Me Butch.

Its corresponding video harkens back to dark lighting, obscuring of faces, scratching, and frame manipulation of A Perfect Circle’s “Judith” that was directed

by David Fincher.

“The song definitely has these elements from the 90s and the 2000s,” agreed Vig who famously produced blockbuster albums by Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, and Garbage for whom he plays drums. “It’s a hybrid mixing of synths, heavy guitars, and a hiphop groove. It’s a brilliant constructed song. It has a double chorus. I don’t know how many songs have that.”

Vig stressed that “Dark Times represents 2020” with the world shutting down due to the

Covid-19 virus that continues to wreak havoc to this day.

“What Jamir was singing — there is an optimism to this song,” pointed out Vig. “All of us hope that when people hear it there, you can pull yourself out of the lowest of lows. As tragic as what happened to Jamir, it is about optimism and rising above the dark. And I hope the song will touch people that way.”

While the song represents the last work of Garcia, Vig hopes that this is not the end of his association with Project E.A.R. “I am really happy to be a part of it and to put it out in the world,” pronounced the bespectacled Vig who looks like he himself stepped out of a music video from the 1990s.

“I love being involved recording and mixing.”

“That (future collaboration) has to happen in some point in the future. I feel on some level I am a part of Project E.A.R. It has some weight to it. ‘Dark Times’ is something I can definitely hear on rock radio here (in the United States). I have a feeling we’ll be doing more work together.”

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | FEBRUARY 7, 2021

BUSINESS

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SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

REVOLVING AND EVOLVING

Fil-Aussie Salli Edwards debuts with genre-spanning album

S

ALLI Edwards is a singer-songwriter based in Melbourne, Australia. She’s a former journalist who wrote about wide-ranging topics from breaking news stories to entertainment and politics.

Her current passion is making music and her recently released solo debut titled “Revolving Doors” delves into the many facets of human relationships.

The music on her album spans various genres in keeping with Ms. Edwards inclination towards a smorgasbord of interests.

There’s Santana’s “Samba Pati” swirl in the serpentine riffs that punctuate her deft acoustic guitar strumming in “Kayenta.” A Carole King vibe radiates from “Fool Moon” while “Damage” recalls the quiver in topnotch ‘70s divas like Melissa Manchester that sends goosebumps a-popping.

In “Good Thing Going,” Salli essays a memorable throwback to sprightly ‘60s

pop, with quivering slide guitars in her wake.

In the end, Salli is her own musician absorbing the influences of the records and bands she listened to as well as the music that soundtracked her stay in various parts of the world from Manila to Milan and San Francisco to Melbourne.

In an exchange of email messages with Soundstrip, singer-songwriter Salli Edwards reminisced about her experience living for a time in Manila thus: “Being Filipino, music is in my DNA! While I was growing up in Japan, I remember my family always had music playing at home.

I grew up listening to the old crooners like Matt Monro, Nat King Cole, Perry Como and of

course, Frank Sinatra, and even Japanese pop songs. We also listened to composers like Burt Bacharach and Henry Mancini at home, who are among my top favorites. I think Filipinos are very romantic when it comes to music - love songs are always a big hit!”

“Living in Manila made me appreciate the music that my family played at home while I was growing up. The songs I write are a product of all the things I have listened to in my lifetime. Hence, my style of music is hard to describe as it’s a mix of a lot of influences - indie, pop, folk, 60s pop, electronica and even jazz.”

The rising Fil-Australian phenomenon also shared the challenges in the production and release of her debut album, “Revolving Doors” in pandemic times. She elaborated, “When the pandemic hit and we had to go into lockdown here in Melbourne, essentially this meant that I couldn’t go into a studio to record the album or even meet with other musicians.

“I have used online recording studios before, and they presented a solution to my problem. I used an online recording service called Tunedly and had the privilege of having some of the best session musicians from all over the world play on the album.

We were able to harness the power of technology and the internet to record the album from the comfort and safety of our homes and deliver a professional studio-quality product. Working on the album was also a bright spot for me last year while being in lockdown.”

The music scene around the world has been adversely impacted by the pandemic and Salli observed that the particular scene in her hometown is adapting to the new sensibilities brought on

arguably by restrictions and lockdowns due to the pandemic.

She said, “We are very fortunate here in Melbourne to be in a position where we’ve had over three weeks of no community transmission (as I write this.) Restrictions have been gradually easing and live music is resuming, which is fantastic!

Melbourne has always had a vibrant music scene, which is one of the reasons I decided to move here years ago. A lot of my favorite Australian artists are also from Melbourne.

Usually, there are bands playing everywhere, in nearly every pub in every street. When COVID hit, it was so sad as the vibe was gone, with restaurants, bars and music venues being closed. Now it’s great that it’s all coming back to life.

“I myself can’t wait to go to a gig soon, although I know it won’t look the same as before COVID. Venues have smaller numbers and it will be some time before we have acts from overseas come and tour. With the lifting of restrictions, I also hope to get a band together soon and perform the songs on the album live.

“While in lockdown last year, I wrote the song ‘Traces’ (the first single from the album) which was inspired by how things were unfolding all over the world as the virus was spreading. The song came out in just 15 minutes - I just had this strong need to express how I was feeling about the pandemic, being in lockdown, the uncertainty and fear we were all feeling and missing the freedom we had to do the things we love. (A lot of people have told me this is their favorite song on the album.) Writing this song and spending a lot of time at home made me decide to finally record the album, which is something I’ve wanted to do for years.”

Millennials are changing the luxury real-estate market

By Jacqueline Davalos

I

Bloomberg

n sharp contrast to the “slacker” stereotype that has defined their generation, millennials aren’t living in parents’ basements. They’re buying multimilliondollar homes.

A mansion in Montecito, California, that is on sale for almost $17 million sits on just over 4 acres.

Millennials, or adults born from 1981 to 1996, represent the largest share of homebuyers in the US at 38 percent, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors released last year.

“They’re just as interested in owning a home. They just waited longer to buy their first one,” says Bradley Nelson, chief marketing officer of Sotheby’s International Realty.

Breaking from the notion of a “starter home” that older generations embraced, wealthy millennials, Nelson says, are going big. “In the past, people bought a modest property, lived in it until starting a family, and then traded up to a larger property,” he says. “Millennials are finally coming out of the gate, and it’s not uncommon for the first purchase as a first time homebuyer to be a multimillion-dollar luxury home in the US or internationally.”

As a result, millennials are quickly becoming a dominant force in high-end real estate.

“Baby boomers are retiring to sunnier locales, while remote work has allowed millennials to ascend the housing ladder in smaller, more affordable cities,” says a new report from Sotheby’s on global luxury in 2021. “An emphasis on things like sustainability will certainly go into

overdrive with the aging of millennials, who, at 72.1 million, are the largest adult generation, with unique consumer preferences that will profoundly influence the direction of the luxury-housing market.”

Market-moving preferences Millennials are the most educated generation in history, have higher earnings, and are set to inherit more than any prior generation, according to a May 2020 report by the Brookings Institute.

Characterized by their tech savvy and environmentally conscious values, millennial preferences are poised to dramatically shape the market, a dynamic that has been on display during the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning almost immediately after the coronavirus hit, for instance, buyers began to flock to areas that offered walkability, nature, and a well-rounded quality of life. (Think food and an art scene.)

“It’s the difference of choosing where you want to live vs. living where you work,” he says. “Millennials are thinking about their overall lifestyle. It’s propelled these second-tier markets into the top of the interest list.”

Permanent changes Going forward, developers are likely to

Sotheby’s International Realty | Bloomberg

integrate touchless, high-tech features into more homes and focus on bolstering sustainability credentials in new buildings, Nelson says.

From energy-saving geothermal systems and solar panels to green roofs, “these are the features that are most attractive,” he adds. “If a home is move-in ready and environmentally conscious and has a Tesla charger installed in the garage, those homes are generating a premium, because you have so many buyers interested in competing for them.”

However, amid indiscriminate declines in overall tax revenues caused by the pandemic, governments globally are reassessing property and wealth taxes as a means of filling budget gaps. “Across all buyers, tax implications are going to be larger part of their home-purchase consideration,” Nelson says.

For the fast-growing cohort of young, affluent buyers eager to snag their dream homes, millennials face slim pickings for options that meet their unique tastes.

“Inventories are at near-record lows in general, and especially for the homes with the features they’re looking for,” he says. Still, Nelson adds that with “wealth creation growing and cost of capital declining, it’s a promising storm for the high-end housing market.”

Global Water Awards returns for 3rd cycle, invites young innovators

T

he Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award has opened registrations for its 3rd cycle, offering total funds of $1 million for solutions to the challenges of water scarcity.

According to UN data, nearly half the global population lives in areas that experience water scarcity at least one month per year. The challenge impacts food production, burdens health services, hinders industry, and affects literacy and education.

“The UAE based Award provides a demonstration of the mission of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to provide clean water for people in need,” said His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Suqia UAE. The biennial award is open to entries from across the world and features four award categories. These are the newly created Innovative Crisis Solutions Award, Innovative Research & Development Award, Innovative Projects Award, and Innovative Individuals Award, which includes the subcategory of Youth Award.

According to Sara Waleed Alzaabi, Senior Engineer Climate Change & Sustainability, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), it is important to address the global water crisis so that future generations do not become entrapped in the cycle of poverty.

“In recent years, the younger generations have become catalysts for positive change, from climate change to education to technology to water,” she said. “This is why we introduced a Youth Award to encourage bright young minds to participate in combating the global water by using innovative, renewable energy powered solution to produce clean water.”

Applicants for the Youth Award must be between the ages of 15 and 35. He or she must have demonstrated the deployment of a project developing and enabling renewable-energy-powered water solutions of proven environmental, scientific, social or technological significance. One winner will be awarded a prize value of $20,000.

Applications for the 3rd cycle of the award is open until April 30, 2021. For more information, visit www.suqia.ae/en/awards.

3 facts about Gen Z jobseekers

T

he “Gen Zs,” or the first wave of kids born between 1997-2012, are all grown up and are now on the cusp of graduating college and pursuing their first job. But as they begin their professional lives in this time of a pandemic, what do we really know about these first digital natives?

What do they look for in a company? Here are three things to know about Gen Z jobseekers, according to a recent survey of college students in Metro Manila.

Fact 1: They want to work with purpose.

Call them optimistic or idealistic, but Gen Zs place a very high value on the notion of “purposeful and meaningful” work. They look for companies that align with their values and yearn for a career that is geared towards cre-

ating social impact.

Fact 2: They look for mentorship and career growth. Young jobseekers value the importance of having mentors and figures to look up to and learn from. They are looking for a company with a reputation for career growth and a strong company culture that invests in their talents.

Fact 3: They see multinational companies as “career goals.” Most Gen Zs have identified working for multinational companies (MNCs) as their “dream workplace.” They pointed to the success, stability, and recognition of the corporation and its products, as well as its competitive salaries and benefits.

One company that meets the unique criteria of Gen Z job hunters is Mondelez

4 BusinessMirror

Philippines, which continues to hire people for critical roles amid the pandemic. Cited as one of the dream companies to work for by graduating students and prospective firstjobbers in the same survey, the multi-national company offers career opportunities in operations, finance, and marketing.

Young talents in these functions work with their favorite childhood snack prodFebruary 7, 2021

ucts—such as Eden Cheese, Cheez Whiz, Tang, Cadbury, Toblerone, Oreo, Chips Ahoy! and more—while being able to help shape the future of the Filipino snack experience.

Career development is a priority at Mondelez Philippines as well. The company promotes career advancement and skills development through month-long career development sessions, individual coaching programs, special assignments, and training with top local and international leaders.

At Mondelez Philippines, Gen Zs can be part of a workplace where they can make an impact, grow, and create a difference even amid the pandemic and beyond. To know more about Mondelez Philippines, go to https://ph.mondelezinternational.com/home.