BusinessMirror January 10, 2021

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Two decades after the enactment of a Solid Waste Act, compliance with waste handling, disposal law remains wanting

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

NACTED on January 21, 2001, Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, declaring a state policy the adoption of a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management program in the Philippines, remains poorly implemented.

Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC), which was created specifically to oversee the implementation of solid waste management plans and prescribe policies to achieve the objectives of the law, reported the poor compliance of concerned local government units (LGUs).

The Philippines is producing too much garbage that is way beyond its solid waste management capacity.

The Philippines, with a population of over 100 million, is producing over 21 million metric tons of garbage every year.

The country’s weighted average per capita generation is 0.4 kilos, or close to half a kilo. Based on

the projected 2020 waste generation, the Philippines has produced a total of 21,4265,676 metric tons of garbage last year.

The National Capital Region (NCR), with its estimated population of over 12 million, is the biggest producer of garbage.

Based on the projected 2020 waste generation, Metro Manila produced 3,466,469 metric tons of garbage last year.

This is because the estimated weighted average per capita in Metro Manila is almost 0.7 kilos per day.

This means that Metro Manila residents are producing almost twice the volume of garbage produced by those living in other areas.

Maria Delia Cristina M. Valdez, officer in charge chief of the

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.0530

DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources Calabarzon officials conduct a surprise inspection at a sanitary landfill operated by S.B. Hain Enterprises & General Services Inc. in Purok 1, Barangay Kay-Anlog, Calamba City, Laguna, in August last year. The DENR issued a show-cause order for a number of alleged violations committed by the operators of the sanitary landfill operation. DENR CALABARZON

Solid Waste Management Division of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, said in her report in an online meeting with sanitary landfill owners and operators on December 28 that municipal solid waste are composed of 56.7 percent household or residential waste; 27.1 percent is commercial 12.1 percent institutional; and 4.1 percent, industrial.

Of the commercial waste generated, 18.3 percent comes from markets across the country and the remaining 8.8 percent are produced by other commercial establishments.

By weight of municipal solid waste fractions, more than half or approximately 52.31 percent of the total are biodegradable waste, 27.78 are recyclable waste, and 17.98 percent are residual waste,

which include plastics, paper and cardboard, metals, glass and textiles, leather, and rubber. The remaining 1.93 percent are so-called special waste.

Poor compliance

IN her report, Valdez underscored mandatory requirements under the law. These are waste diversion target, 10-year solid waste management plan, materials recovery facilities, and disposal facility—all of which remain poorly complied with, particularly by LGUs. She defined waste diversion as activities which aim to reduce or eliminate the volume or amount of solid waste from waste disposal facilities.

Under Section 20 of RA 9003, which calls for the establishment of mandatory solid waste diver-

sion, each LGU plan shall include an implementation schedule, which shows that within five years after the law took effect, the LGU shall divert at least 25 percent of all solid waste from waste disposal facilities through reuse, recycling and composting activities, and other resource recovery activities. The waste diversion goals shall be increased every three years thereafter.

However, based on data collated from 10-year solid waste management plans approved by the DENR and NSWMC, the diversion target by the end of last year is only 68 percent. Even this has yet to be verified by the NSWMC. As for the mandatory 10-year solid waste management plans, the NSWMC has only approved a total of 1,064, or 58.6 percent

compliance. A total of 521 plans, or 37 percent of the total, are under evaluation, while 76 LGUs have not submitted their 10-year solid waste management plans.

Meanwhile, Valdez reported that as of October 2020, there are 11,558 materials recovery facilities (MRFs) servicing 14,483 barangays, a far cry from the 42,000 or more barangays in the entire country that need servicing by a fully functional MRF. As for LGU disposal, she reported that there are now 189 sanitary landfills servicing a total of 399 LGUs all over the country; and that there are still 261 open dumps that need to be shut down.

This is a far cry from the number of sanitary landfills needed to be established.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4629 n UK 65.1983 n HK 6.1977 n CHINA 7.4180 n SINGAPORE 36.2774 n AUSTRALIA 37.3276 n EU 58.9803 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8100

Source: BSP (January 8, 2021)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, January 10, 2021

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Tumultuous 2020 rewards investors who stared down turmoil

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

T

Bloomberg News

HE bell has just tolled on one of the wildest years in Wall Street history, full of precipitous plunges, improbable rebounds and human tragedy.

The S&P 500 ended on an upbeat, with a 1.4-percent gain in the holiday-shortened week. That pushed its 2020 gain to 16 percent, an ending that would have seemed far-fetched in the bear-market days of March.

Investors needed nerves of steel to stay the course, and those who did were duly rewarded.

Stocks jumped to all-time highs.

Corporate bond yields hit record lows. Speculative mania sprang up everywhere from Bitcoin to IPOs.

Anyone who invested $10,000 at the start of 2020 can likely point to a portfolio that looks positively bloated at year-end. An investor plunging into bets that looked speculative in January would have done even better.

A once little-known biotech company, an electric carmaker trading at lofty multiples, and a loss-making producer of faddish exercise bikes are all up more than 400 percent.

The upshot: Most major asset classes have now posted a tidy profit thanks to the easiest financial conditions on record.

“In 2020, investors consistently chose to believe the best-case scenario, buoyed by liquidity from the Fed and other major central banks,” said Fidelity International Global Chief Investment Officer Andrew McCaf-

fery. “I’m concerned this optimism will not always be matched by the economic reality of 2021.”

For the legions of newbie traders entering the markets after much of the world locked down, the “stocks only go up” mantra served them well—whether they crowded into stay-at-home trades dominated by technology companies, or piled into the reopening trade at the market’s bottom.

Of the world’s 500 biggest firms, some of the best-performing stocks—a biotech company, three electric carmakers and an in-home bike producer—saw enormous gains. Others, such as cruise lines and retailers, took a beating.

Here’s a look at how a hypothetical investor would have fared putting $10,000 to work at the start of 2020 in a selection of standout assets:

Virus victors

THE coronavirus outbreak brought boom times for global healthcarerelated stocks, including Malaysian glove manufacturers and biotech firms. One of the best pandemic plays of all was Moderna Inc., netting a more than 400 percent total return during the course of the year after regulators approved its Covid inoculation.

Despite being first to market,

THE New York Stock Exchange stands illuminated at night, December 6, 2017. MICHAEL NAGLE/BLOOMBERG

Pfizer Inc. shares hardly budged.

Stay-at-home trades

AS governments around the world shuttered economies, companies reaped gains if they enabled white-

‘I

n 2020, investors consistently chose to believe the best-case scenario, buoyed by liquidity from the Fed and other major central banks. I’m concerned this optimism will not always be matched by the economic reality of 2021.’–Fidelity International Global Chief

Investment Officer Andrew McCaffery collar workers to carry on with business-as-usual, or something close to it. Zoom Video Communications Inc. was one such standout, quickly becoming a staple of homeschooling, office politics, weddings and bar mitzvahs.

As hopes of a post-pandemic world grow, the company is down from dizzying highs but still handed investors a total return of almost 400 percent in 2020. Assuming they bought the correct stock.

Silver sparkles

UNPRECEDENTED amounts of stimulus from central banks fueled currency debasement fears in some parts of the investing community.

Those seeking to protect their wealth as the dollar fell to a twoyear low soon flocked to precious metals. Among the latter, silver rose more than 40 percent during the course of the year—eclipsing the likes of gold and palladium.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended investors buy the metal to capture surging demand for solar energy installations.

Electric dreams

THE playbook for 2020 wasn’t just about the pandemic winners and losers though.

Bets on clean energy outperformed as countries including China, South Korea and Japan and even oil majors such as BP Plc pledged to reduce carbon emissions, while investors wagered the Biden administration would set the US on a similar course.

Electric carmaker NIO Inc. was the year’s best-performing stock, up over 1,100 percent in total return terms, beating Tesla Inc. to the trophy.

Best-performing country

NIGERIAN stocks, meanwhile, had an amazing year, as Airtel Af-

rica Plc, Dangote Cement Plc and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc generated huge gains. Local investors flocked to the stock market in search of returns as yields on government debt dropped.

FUD for thought

WHILE speculative mania was everywhere in the second half of the year from developing-country stocks to clean energy, crypto grabbed much of the attention.

Digital currencies in 2020 took steps toward mainstream adoption adoption and a boom in decentralized finance rekindled interest among developers. Bitcoin topped $29,000 for the first time on December 30.

Some investors worried that loose monetary policy will debase fiat currencies, while Elon Musk pondered whether it was possible to convert some of Tesla’s balance sheet into Bitcoin.

The garbage conundrum Continued from A1

In Luzon alone, she said 140 sanitary landfills are needed to serve a total of 772 LGUs. A total of 32 sanitary landfills are needed for the Visayas to serve 408 LGUs, and 34 sanitary landfills are needed to serve 337 LGUs in Mindanao.

She noted, however, that the DENR and the NSWMC, in consideration of the lack of capacity of many LGUs to establish their own disposal facility, allows the clustering of LGUs for the establishment of a single sanitary landfill.

DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns Benny Antiporda said the DENR will launch an “all-out war” against garbage as the DENR takes the lead in celebrating January as Zero Waste Month.

“This Zero Waste Month, we want to start our campaign for a zero open dump,” Antiporda said.

Antiporda warned that some LGUs that refused to cooperate with the DENR and the NSWMC in enforcing the garbage law will face criminal and administrative raps, lamenting the fact that the DENR and NSWMC’s leniency may eventually come to an end.

On the other hand, he said, the DENR and the NSWMC will continue to work with LGUs who are willing to cooperate and solve their respective garbage problems.

The DENR is eyeing the establishment of 300 more sanitary landfills nationwide through public-private partnership. The target is to do it in the next two years, or hoping to complete the feat by the end of 2022.

This is why Antiporda said he reached out to sanitary landfill owners and operators to set aside their differences and work together by organizing themselves and to work in harmony with the national and various local governments to help address the looming garbage crisis.

“…[The] initiative [is] for them to organize themselves to have a voice in the NSWMC,” says Antiporda.

The official said the establishment of more sanitary landfills will require private-sector investment in solid waste management and disposal to meet such “ambitious” target.

Sanitary landfill is the primary long-term method of solid waste disposal allowed under Republic Act 9003.

During the meeting, Antiporda noted that the current number of sanitary landfills in the Philippines remains wanting.

He encouraged sanitary landfill owners or operators to look into the viability of offering their facilities to LGUs with illegal dumpsites, in anticipation of an aggressive campaign by the DENR to close down open dumps starting this month as required by RA 9003, which marks its 20th year as a law on January 26, 2021.

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

TheWorld BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 10, 2021

A3

Storming of US Capitol becomes emblem of Trump era disruption

Demonstrators left a pile of broken TV equipment outside the US Capitol on January 6, in Washington. AP/Jose Luis Magana

China uses Capitol mob violence to cast narrative of US hypocrisy

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hina seized upon the chaos at the US Capitol as an opportunity to drive home a narrative of American hypocrisy, with state media casting the incident as “karma” and “retribution” for Washington’s support of global protest movements including those in Hong Kong.

C h i nese Foreig n Mi n i st r y spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday that some people in the US needed to reflect upon the fact they had reacted differently to the violence in Washington compared with the pro-democracy demonstrations that rocked Hong Kong in 2019. Still, Hua said she believed Americans wanted peace and stability.

“The violence is not so severe as it was in Hong Kong, but you should still remember that at that time some US lawmakers and political leaders were saying words totally different from what they’re saying now,” Hua told a briefing in Beijing.

The Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper posted memes and cartoons contrasting the US response to Wed nesd ay ’s events with American support for sometimes violent protests in Hong Kong.

One article published by the paper cited Internet users saying the US had “tasted the karma of its own double standards” after a proTrump mob stormed the Capitol.

The US was tasting its own medicine after inciting chaos around the world under the pretext of freedom and democracy, the paper wrote, citing online users.

The events were widely reported elsewhere in Chinese media. An official social media account of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, China’s top lawenforcement body, closely covered the developments, and articles using hashtags related to the incident garnered over 100 million views on social-media platform Weibo.

Most other Chinese media were careful to stick to the facts, reposting videos and photos rather than embellish reports with additional color or commentary. One report from state broadcaster China Central Television zeroed in on the fact that few protesters were wearing masks despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

While state media treaded carefully in its reporting, some users

on Chinese social media were quick to draw a comparison between the riots and 2019’s pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, during which demonstrators stormed the city’s Legislative Council.

A Weibo account belonging to a department under China’s foreign ministry asked whether “the beacon has fallen” while highlighting a June 2019 remark by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praising democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong as a “beautiful sight to behold.” The post included the hashtag “Pelosi experiences the beautiful sight herself.”

C h ina’s Commu n ist Yout h League, the party’s branch for younger members, shared photos of the mob on Capitol Hill on Weibo with a caption saying the US Congress was the location of “the most beautiful sight.”

“The US National Guard moved to deal with the rioters in the Capitol, which is also a slap in the face for the US over its previous remarks on similar incidents in other countries and regions and in China’s Hong Kong,” the Global Times wrote.

China has long criticized the US for interfering in its internal affairs and for holding double standards. State media have in recent months used American law enforcement’s response to internal unrest to justify Beijing’s own actions against the sometimes-violent anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong.

Amid separate street violence in the US earlier in 2020, Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin had said China’s government “has not shown any support for the riots in the US. I hope that Americans notice Beijing’s restraint.” On Thursday, Hu tweeted that if the US were a developing country, American media outlets would call the latest events “Washington Spring.”

The Global Times described the latest scenes in Washington using a Chinese term referring to a ruler’s subordinates coming to his rescue when his authority is threatened.

“This is likely Trump’s closing performance to the world,” blogger Buyidao wrote in an article shared by the newspaper. “Thankfully, Chinese people can watch this drama in a relaxed mood.”

Bloomberg News

T

he violent invasion of the US Capitol on Wednesday will reverberate through American politics for years if not decades to come, reshape global perceptions about the strength of US democracy and become an enduring emblem of the Trump era.

Images of mobs storming the building, police drawing guns while barricading the door to the House chamber, and protesters sauntering across the Senate floor showed the seat of American selfgovernance under siege. The final act of a turbulent presidency became a frightening illustration of threats to the nation’s democracy.

Leading Republicans finally began to recoil from a president most had been loathe to publicly criticize after Trump egged on the protesters shortly before they marched to the Capitol, and then delayed speaking out against the chaos.

There were at least four deaths during the mayhem Wednesday, with one woman shot, city police reported. Lawmakers f led the House and Senate chambers, some in gas masks, as rioters carrying Trump flags and Confederate banners breached the building. Extremists posted pictures on Twitter they said were taken in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, with some carting off items from the suite and one man later displaying a piece of mail he said he had grabbed.

National Guard troops and other federal law-enforcement personnel were called in to help clear the Capitol, which was occupied for about four hours. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on the entire city.

Body armor

Congress had to suspend a debate over objections to the Electoral College vote from Arizona that was lodged by Republican allies of Trump—part of the president’s attack on the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Once the Capitol had been cleared, congressional leaders decided to resume the debate in the evening, with senators escorted back into their chamber by FBI personnel in full body armor.

Hours after the takeover began—and after politicians from both sides of the aisle demanded he call for the mob to disperse—

Trump released a video urging the extremists to “go home.” But he also told them, “We love you,” and repeated false claims that the election was “stolen.” In a later tweet, he praised them as “Great Patriots.” Twitter Inc. later locked his account for 12 hours for “severe violations.” Facebook Inc. blocked him from posting for 24 hours.

Even during the Civil War and the height of domestic tumult over the Vietnam War, demonstrators never took over the centers of American power. Yet the Capitol on Wednesday was overrun for the first time since the War of 1812—when it fell to invading British troops—at the very moment that votes were being ceremonially counted for the presidential election, America’s quadrennial exercise in the peaceful transfer of power.

The day’s events seemed almost incomprehensible in a longestablished Western democracy, and spurred charges of an attempted coup. More than one politician drew parallels to political unrest in Latin American or the Middle East.

Comments from foreign leaders eerily echoed the kind of rhetoric US officials often deploy to cajole authoritarian regimes to accept a loss of power. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it is “vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power” in the US. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Fontelles, said the November 3 election results “must be fully respected.”

Former Republican President George W. Bush said, “This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic—not our democratic republic.”

The National Association of Manufacturers, a leading national business organization usually sympathetic to Republican policy goals, issued a statement urging Vice President Mike Pence to “seriously consider” invoking the 25th amendment—the constitutional provision used to remove a president from office who is unable to carry out his duties.

Police officers detain protesters at gunpoint inside the US Capitol. Bloomberg photo

Republican opposition

Republican support for Trump in Congress, which held firm through his failure to condemn White supremacists in the Charlottesville riots, an investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and his impeachment trial, already was strained by his refusal to accept the presidential election results and his role in the party’s losses in the Georgia Senate runoff Tuesday.

Sen ate R epubl ic a n L eader Mitch McConnell vainly tried in advance of Wednesday’s proceedings to dissuade his GOP colleagues from joining objections to the Electoral College votes. Shortly before the mob breached the building, he warned in a speech on the Senate floor that any setting aside of the votes certified by the individual US states “would damage our republic forever.”

“If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” McConnell said. “We would never see the whole nation accept an election again.”

Amid the chaos at the Capitol, Democrat Jon Ossoff ’s victory over incumbent Republican David Perdue in the Georgia runoff was called—cementing Democratic control over the Senate along with Democrat Raphael Warnock’s win over Kelly Loeffler, which was clear earlier in the day.

Voter reaction

Trump’s war with Republican officials in Georgia who refused to overturn their state’s presidential election results had split the party and hampered the GOP candidates in the race. Some Republican officials publicly blamed him for the loss.

Rejection of Trump in suburban areas that once had been supportive of Republicans was pivotal in the Georgia contest, as

it was in the presidential election.

The scenes of chaos and failed insurrection at one of the nation’s most recognized symbols of democracy is certain to further repel moderate voters wary of disorder.

The closest parallel in recent American history may be the riots outside the Democratic National Convention in 1968, an image that tarnished the party for years afterward even though it unfolded outside a convention hall in Chicago far from the seat of government.

Provocative rally

This time, a Republican president was the instigator.

Midday Wednesday, the president held a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, where he told the crowd, “we will never concede,” and repeated fa lse claims that his loss to Biden was due to vote fraud. Trump encouraged protesters to go to the Capitol and support members of Congress who planned to object to some Electoral College votes.

Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, urged supporters at the rally to settle the election dispute through “trial by combat.”

A broadening group of Republicans is holding Trump directly responsible for the violence that followed.

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a longtime Trump ally, said in a statement, “It’s past time for the president to accept the results of the election, quit misleading the American people, and repudiate mob violence.”

Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a moderate Republican and former FBI agent, said in a tweet that there was “nothing short of a coup attempt” and that Trump “lit the flame of incitement and owns responsibility for this.”

Bloomberg News

World economy faces debt doom loop, more inequity post pandemic T

he world economy will be exiting the pandemic weighed down by much bigger debts and increased inequality that could hobble growth in the longer term.

That was one of the memes making the rounds at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association that winds up on Tuesday.

While global growth is widely expected to strengthen as more people are vaccinated, top economists at the virtual three-day conference focused on the glaring inequities that the pandemic had exposed and the fall-out from the efforts to cope with and combat Covid-19.

“We have met every crisis in the recent past with yet more aggressive central bank accommodation and yet more leverage, both public as well as private,” said former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. “The real question is: Is this a doom loop? Does it keep going until it is forced to stop?”

Global debt rose by more than $15 trillion last year to a record $277 trillion, equivalent to 365 percent of world output, according to the Institute of International Finance. Debt from all sectors—ranging from household to government to corporate bonds—surged, based on

data from the Washington-based IIF, which is comprised of the world’s leading financial institutions.

Inequality has also increased—both within and across countries—as the pandemic has hit the poor particularly hard. In the US, Blacks and Hispanics have suffered proportionately more fatalities than whites, while low-wage workers in such industries as leisure and hospitality have borne the brunt of the layoffs as those better off continue to work from home.

“The pandemic has exposed the depth of inequality and in many ways has exacerbated those inequalities,” said Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prizewinning economist.

While rich countries like the US have cushioned the blow to their citizens with massive amounts of government aid, poorer nations have been unable to do that. Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor, said the world’s 46 least developed nations accounted for just 0.002 percent of the $12.7 trillion in public stimulus spending laid out in the fight against the virus.

“In many ways we could see after this pandemic an unwinding of decades of progress toward reducing global inequality,” certainly for the poorest nations, said Harvard University professor and former

well-off decamp from cramped cities for bigger homes elsewhere.

Debt burden

International Monetary Fund chief economist Kenneth Rogoff.

Not everything coming out of the pandemic will be bad news, of course. The speed at which vaccines were developed and the rapid growth of telemedicine are developments worth celebrating.

Economist Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University has also pointed to the potential productivity gains that can be reaped from more time spent working at home—a trend he expects to persist post pandemic.

Rajan, now a professor at the University of Chicago, said lagging rural America could also benefit as the

Even before the pandemic, the US, China and many other countries were experiencing rising inequality and increasing debt. As the coronavirus crisis eases, those two tendencies could combine to present problems for the global economy.

Covid-19 has “exacerbated inequality markedly which also raises the issue of financial fragility,” said World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart.

Many lower-income US households, for example, hold a lot of debt and could find themselves squeezed as temporary moratoriums on mortgage and rent payments end, she said.

Rajan said small businesses could also suffer after many were kept afloat in the US by the Paycheck Protection Program and other government measures. “There is a large wave of potential bankruptcies,” he said.

‘Global consequences’

The problem is even more acute for some emerging

market economies and poorer nations. Indeed, Stiglitz sees the “risk of a debt crisis with global consequences.”

“Many countries were over-indebted before the pandemic and the marked declines in their incomes mean they’re going to have difficulties servicing the debt,” he said.

The US and other wealthier nations though will not be immune to having to take action to rein in surging government debt once the coronavirus crisis has passed, according to former White House chief economist Christina Romer.

The US budget deficit will hit $2.3 trillion in the fiscal year ending on September 30—equivalent to more than 10 percent of gross domestic product— following a $3.1 trillion shortfall in fiscal 2020, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“When we are through the pandemic we are going to need to get our fiscal houses in order,” said Romer, who is now at the University of California, Berkeley. “We’re going to need to get our debt loads down mainly so we’ll be in a position to deal with the next crisis, pandemic, or whatever when it comes.”

Bloomberg News

A4

TheWorld BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 10, 2021

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

Who picks up the tab if vaccines go wrong?

By Anjani Trivedi

T

Bloomberg Opinion

he Covid-19 vaccines are here and distribution has begun. But what if something goes wrong?

Whether it’s a loss of income, hefty medical bills or other serious adverse effects from getting a shot, someone has to pick up the tab, be it vaccine manufacturers or governments. In the past, so-called liability shields have given companies cover to produce effective treatments quickly without legal exposure. But it’s a risky endeavor for countries to absorb full responsibility for highly novel products, developed and licensed at lightning speed. Especially when every man, woman and, eventually, child will need to be injected.

Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world’s largest vaccine maker by volume, wants indemnity. Competitors tripping up one another by instigating frivolous civil suits isn’t a trivial risk for the likes of Poonawalla, who’s manufacturing the jab developed

by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University. It could get messier still because some health-care systems may experiment with dosage quantities and intervals to deal with

mutations. Who will be responsible if there are serious adverse side events then? No insurer will underwrite the risk; the burden of compensation will fall on states or, in the case of poor countries, on Covax, a global initiative to ensure equitable distribution.

On current estimates, Covax can meet only a fifth of global demand by the end of the year. So countries that are striking direct agreements with producers will still have to worry about potential tort claims, which seek civil remedies—and not just for the next year or two. The virus may stick around even after universal immunization, with mutant strains creating an enduring market for jabs long after Covid has ceased to be a public health emergency.

Manufacturers, distributors and other entities in the United States “are very likely to find their Covid-19 products and services moving across borders,” according to RAND Corporation researchers. Their legal exposure in foreign courts is thus uncertain,

Bloomberg photo

especially given the rapid pace of vaccine development and limited data about side effects and longterm consequences.

Going by past pandemics, this data won’t start showing up for a while. When it does, it will likely vary by country, which affects how liability is handled. In 2013, four years after swine flu hit the globe, the UK government reversed its stand on the safety of the Pandemrix jab made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc, after a major study showed that it was associated with narcolepsy. Affected individuals could apply for compensation. At the time, the health department noted that “the decision to recommend that children got this vaccine during the flu pandemic was based on evidence available at the time, along with the advice from

the European Medicines Agency which approved its use.” It then said that the department keeps “all emerging evidence under review,” which is why usage stopped in 2011 for those under 20. The data evolves, muddying potential liability issues.

It gets more complicated. Rich countries are buying up large doses of viable vaccines from Pfizer Inc.BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. Many are now weighing turning over a portion they have secured to low- and middle-income nations facing delays as Covax hasn’t worked out as planned. The European Union, for instance, is considering donating 5 percent of its inoculations, Reuters reported. With altruistic gifts, it’s even harder to assign responsibility.

During the H1N1 pandemic of

A pandemic shift in finances: Prioritize, simplify and save

By Hal M. Bundrick

T

he pandemic has caused many people to reassess their priorities. There is talk of moving out of the city, simplifying life and saving more money.

“I’m not going to spend money like that anymore,” my millennial daughter told me recently, talking about past shopping sprees on handbags, jewelry, and yes, lattes. “Financial security is fun now.”

This from the same person who, until recently, has annually paid to upgrade to the latest version of smartphone ever since she purchased her first Juicy Couture Sidekick back in 2005.

But, as usual, my daughter alerted me to a growing trend.

Developing new financial goals

In an annual survey, consumer research firm The Family Room LLC identifies prevailing trends in more than 150 psychological drivers.

Determining changing priorities from year to year helps identify emotional hot spots among different age groups.

The latest results show dramatic shifts in attitudes, the company says, including a 14-percent increase over the previous year’s survey among parents in “making my life simpler and less complicated.”

Changes are happening in the way people save, too. Among US adults who say they developed new financial habits during the pandemic, 58 percent said they plan to continue cutting back spending on “wants” in 2021, according to a recent NerdWallet survey. Many (36 percent) plan to continue building up general savings, and 30 percent will continue stashing money in emergency savings.

Here are some ideas for simplifying your life and morphing your money habits from carefree to careful.

The gift of prioritization

Leo Babauta, 46, a writer in Southern California, is on a mission to help people “implement Zen habits in daily life.” He believes the pandemic has given us the gift of prioritization.

“When things are falling apart, it helps us realize what’s most important to us,” Babauta says.

“This will help us to simplify our lives as we move forward because simplicity really boils down to two steps: Identify what is most important to you, and eliminate everything else.”

On Babauta’s blog at ZenHabits.net, he chronicles a long list of life changes through the years: quitting smoking, paying off debt, losing weight and taking control of his finances.

He stopped living paycheck to paycheck

by addressing the things that turn us to bad financial habits in the first place: fear, anxiety and stress. Babauta says that the Covid outbreak has sparked him to be even more focused on “taking care of myself, meditating, walking and getting rest.”

“If we’re shopping too much, it’s because we’re stressed,” he says. “If we avoid budgeting, it’s because it causes us anxiety. Breaking the cycle is about choosing better habits to deal with that stress, like going for a walk or making a list, and then creating accountability and support to do the new habit every day, instead of the old habit.”

Tracking spending is essential

Simplifying life is a theme echoed by Richard Liu, 26, a marketing manager in Sydney, Australia.

“One of the ways I helped simplify my expenses is using a money tracking application. Since so many things are digital, making purchases online has been the norm, so being able to track spending is essential,” Liu says. He keeps tabs on his expenses, investments and net worth.

Like so many other Covid castaways, Liu says he is saving money on transportation due to less commuting—and on food by doing more of his own cooking. He also found ways to prepare for a post-pandemic financial rebound:

1. Trim nonessential recurring expenses.

These include things like monthly subscriptions and gym memberships. Make a list of them all.

It’s possible you’ll find more than a couple you’ve either forgotten about or haven’t used in a while.

2. Refinance existing debt while interest rates are low. A mortgage, student loans or personal loans are all candidates for rate improvements. Perhaps even your car loan.

3. Shop for better deals on existing Insurance Policies. With people driving fewer miles, some vehicle insurance rates have fallen.

Many insurers have even issued rebates to policyholders.

Liu says he’s combining these money-saving ideas with another important moneymaking component: He’s been taking on additional freelance work to help make extra cash.

“I think it’s never been so important to create side income or develop new streams of money. More money means more savings, but also stability,” he says. “This has been my main focus and priority and will continue to be.”

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance web site NerdWallet.

Hal M. Bundrick, CFP, is a personal finance writer at NerdWallet. E-mail: hal@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @halmbundrick.

US imports no Saudi Arabia crude for 1st time in 35 years

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By Sheela Tobben & Julian Lee

he US didn’t import any Saudi crude last week for the first time in 35 years, a reversal from just months ago when the Kingdom threatened to upend the American energy industry by unleashing a tsunami of exports into a market decimated by the pandemic.

Eliminating the reliance on Middle East oil has been the dream of every US Administration since the presidency of Jimmy Carter in 1977. Just 12 years ago, when Joe Biden became US Vice President, American refiners were routinely importing about 1 million barrels a day of crude from Saudi Arabia, the second-largest supplier to the US after Canada and seen as a major security risk.

Just three presidential terms later, that flow has fallen to zero. It is the most visual manifestation of how little America now relies on Middle East oil, after shaping its foreign policy for decades around its need for crude. If this abstinence from Saudi oil continues, it would weaken the economic, political and military links that have defined relations between Riyadh and Washington for decades.

The lack of deliveries follows a slump in crude

shipments to the US that left the desert kingdom in recent months. Since tankers from Saudi Arabia take about six weeks to reach import terminals on either the west or Gulf coasts, the drop is only starting to show up now. This is the first week America had no deliveries based on available weekly data through June 2010 from the US Energy Information Administration. A longer history of monthly figures shows this is the first time there were no Saudi imports since September 1985.

Earlier this week, Opec and its allies reviewed their production plans, allowing small increases for Russia and Kazakhstan in February and March, with the rest keeping production unchanged. Then Saudi Arabia surprised even its fellow producers by announcing a unilateral cut to its own production of a further 1 million barrels over the next 2 months. The Opec leader’s decision caused global benchmark Brent oil futures prices to surge beyond $54 a barrel and its US counterpart, West Texas Intermediate crude, to break through $50.

The supply cuts which date back to a producer agreement last year, have helped shore up crude prices, even as fuel consumption struggles to return to pre-pandemic levels. In the past month, oil prices have risen on hopes that demand could

improve as a number of vaccines are starting to be administered to combat the health crisis.

“While the US imports of Saudi oil hitting zero is historic, its likely this is temporary and only an aberration given the current low refinery runs and deep Saudi production cuts that are going to increase, against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic environment,” said Karim Fawaz, director of Research and Analysis for Energy at IHS Markit.

America is still in the throes of the pandemic, with record infections in many states forcing new restrictions, while some other parts of the world are recovering. US gasoline consumption plunged to the lowest in years during the usual high-demand Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday periods.

The demand loss is so acute some US refineries have been idled. “Throughput is still below where it was before the crisis because of reduced domestic demand. So why send more here when Asia is where recovery has been clear,”said Sandy Fielden, director of oil and products research at Morningstar Inc. For Saudi Arabia, cutting shipments to the US is the quickest way to signal to the wider market that it’s tightening supply. The government is alone in publishing weekly data on crude stockpiles and imports, which carry enormous influence among oil

traders. Other big petroleum consuming nations, like China, publish less timely information about oil supplies.

In May and June, Saudi deliveries to the US more than doubled from a year ago in the aftermath of a bitter price war with Russia. The onslaught prompted Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, to tweet in April: “My message to the Saudis: TURN THE TANKERS THE HELL AROUND.” American refiners received the final installment of that bumper load in early July.

Since then, Saudi oil shipments to the US have steadily declined. In November and then again in December, they delivered only 73,000 barrels a day to customers, preliminary US Energy Information Administration data show.

In the short term, the election of Joe Biden could benefit Saudi Arabia. While transitioning away from hydrocarbons would have a long-term impact on oil demand, hopes to revive the 2015-Iranian nuclear deal would pave the way for more Iranian oil to flow globally.

“Those sales will displace Saudi oil and that would mean Saudi Arabia would have to turn to the US to maintain sales,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates Llc. in Houston.

Bloomberg News

2009, the World Heath Organization came up with a multi-country liability shield, as RAND researchers describe it, or a global legal framework. Recipient countries had to sign a letter of agreement that basically allowed donors to wash their hands of liability, or indemnify donors, as long as they followed WHO standards. The issues were knotty and some countries didn’t have the resources to interpret them. Eventually, of the 94 countries that were interested in donations, 87 signed the agreement and only 78 completed the preconditions in the agreement for vaccine supply.

The complexity of the current situation and the sheer scale of production mean a new agreement will be required. National governments will need to negotiate, consider and approve various requirements—all long processes.

If disparities between countries crop up, manufacturers will face barriers to production and distribution. The alternative is national compensation funds, which honor claims for those who have suffered adverse effects from the vaccines.

Many countries simply can’t afford these, further reinforcing the resource and investment imbalance.

Previous widespread illnesses like small pox and other influenzas show that liability issues can hinder progress of new vaccines, even domestically. In 1976, as the Ford administration took on an

ambitious program to vaccinate millions against an anticipated outbreak of swine flu, insurers and manufacturers balked. Their concerns around legal exposure prompted Congress to pass a law waiving liability. Through legislation, the US was substituted as the defendant in lawsuits against any vaccine manufacturer, distributor or American entity providing free inoculation. Although that flu scare didn’t evolve into a fullblown pandemic, firms in the US are now effectively protected. Such a legal setup isn’t standard in most other places.

An additional challenge this time around is the space racetype international competition in vaccine development. China and Russia are promoting inoculations with little or no data validating their effectiveness in large studies.

India has licensed an indigenous product developed by local firm Bharat Biotech International Ltd. “in clinical trial mode”—those receiving the shots will be tracked and that will supposedly prove its efficacy. That’s because phase three experimental data, which do exactly that, aren’t yet available.

All this is too breathtaking a pace for scientists. Policy-makers in developing nations may not have a choice but to take what they can get—easily, cheaply and quickly. But in so doing, they might just be storing up legal troubles for later.

The real price of Saudi Arabia’s surprise oil cuts

By Julian Lee

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Bloomberg Opinion

au d i A r a b i a’s $3 billion insurance premium to protect against falling oil prices will end up being a lot smaller than it seems at first sight. That holds even if demand turns out to be stronger than the kingdom seems to fear.

The Opec+ meeting of oil producers broke up in disarray on Monday night, with Russia pressing for output targets to be raised by 500,000 barrels a day in February. Most other members wanted to leave them unchanged as the coronavirus continues to roil global economies and the recovery in demand remains fragile.

Saudi Arabia appeared particularly worried.

In his opening remarks, the country’s oil minister warned repeatedly against squandering gains made by the group’s hard-won sacrifices last year for “an immediate, but illusory, benefit.” He went so far as to suggest it was even necessary to reverse the output increase that had just come into effect.

And yet, in the end, the collec tive responsibility previously demanded by the Saudis was jettisoned and everyone got what they were asking for. The output targets for most countries will remain unchanged in February and March. Russia and Kazakhstan can proceed with the increases they wanted, albeit spread over two months. And Saudi Arabia will make its cut—and then some.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman was visibly gleeful as he revealed that the kingdom would cut its own production by 1 million barrels a day, or 12 percent, to 8.12 million barrels a day in both February and March.

But he seemed as excited by the fact that he’d managed to keep the decision a secret, not just from the press but incredibly from almost all the other ministers too.

It seems that Russia’s Alexander Novak was the only one trusted enough to be told about the decision in advance, and he warned the prince against the action. After all, such a move would lift prices and throw a lifeline to the producer group’s competitors. Russia is wary of losing market share to others outside the Opec+ group, such as the US shale sector, who refused to join the output-cutting party, but have had to slash production in response to the collapse in prices.

The Saudis are clearly very worried about the potential impact on oil prices of another demand collapse in response to the current wave

of national lockdowns in consuming countries.

And so, rather than try to bend everyone to its will as it’s done in the past, the kingdom turned its back on the group and decided to go it alone, a decision that came from Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader and the energy minister’s brother.

What’s the cost of this output cut? Forgoing 1 million barrels a day of production for the 59 days of February and March would cost $3 billion with crude at $51 a barrel, where it was before the prince’s big reveal. However several factors will reduce that bill.

First, there’s the savings on production costs.

Saudi Aramco pegged those at $2.80 a barrel in the 2019 prospectus for its initial share sale. If we round that to $3 to allow for inflation, the country would save $177 million over the two months by pumping less.

Nex t, there’s the effec t of domestic consumption. Helpfully, the first quarter is the low point, with usage typically down by about 140,000 barrels a day from the previous quarter.

So while production may be cut by 1 million barrels a day, exports may only fall by 860,000 barrels; less if they take oil out of storage tanks.

And then there’s the biggest saving—the output cut’s impact on oil prices themselves.

Just announcing the cut has given Brent crude a leg up to almost $54 a barrel. Future prices have also risen, with the nearest months up by just under $3 a barrel since Monday.

That’s not yet enough of a rise to fully offset the effect on revenues of lower volumes, but it’s a big step in the right direction. Here’s what the numbers look like: Between August and October, the most recent month for which official data are available through the Joint Organizations Data Initiative, Saudi Arabia exported 7.17 million barrels a day of crude and refined products. That would be worth $21.6 billion over 59 days at $51 a barrel.

The output cut would reduce that export flow to 6.29 million barrels a day, worth $18.9 billion at $51 a barrel, or $20 billion at $54 a barrel.

That reduces the cost of Saudi Arabia’s insurance premium from the headline $3 billion to just $1.47 billion. Add in the savings on production costs and it’s down to $1.29 billion.

Each extra dollar on the average oil price over February and March would save the kingdom a further $372 million.

Saudi Arabia’s protection against another demand slump might not be cost-free, but it’s going to be a lot cheaper than the sticker price suggests and a small price to pay for some peace of mind.

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Sunday

Sunday, Janury 10, 2021 A5

DOST 2021 priorities: Intensify R&D projects, plus anti-Covid-19 solutions

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Start-ups

By Lyn Resurreccion

Support to start-ups will be given high priority, including technology business incubation and more collaborative R&D projects between industry and academe will be supported, he added.

“We will put into operation the newest state-of-the-art facilities of DOST to enable us to serve our different publics—industry, academe and government communities,” de la Peña said.

The DOST chief said among the priority R&D areas in the different sectors are the following:

he Department of Science and Technology (DOST) announced that the department will intensify its research and development (R&D) in 2021 following the country's National Harmonized R&D Agenda.

This is in addition to addressing the pressing concerns related to Covid-19, In a post on the DOSTPh Facebook page, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña listed the “DOST Priorities for 2021.”

At the same time, the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)-related programs and projects will be intensified by supporting the establishment of Niche R&D Centers in the Regions (Nicers), de la Peña said. “ They will be provided with needed R & D faci l it ies a nd funding to address the critical

problems, present and projected which are brought about by disasters and extreme natural conditions,” he said.

The Philippines is visited by around 20 typhoons every year.

Before 2020 closed, three strong typhoons wrecked havoc on different areas in Luzon.

T he countr y is a lso in an earthquake belt and has active volcanoes, including Taal, which erupted in January 2020 and left thousands homeless and their livelihoods lost.

The Nicer Programs, he said,

For the agriculture, aquatic and natural resources

w i l l focus more on industr y and energ y related R&D, DRR R&D, and biomedical devices development.

For Human Resource Development in Science and Technology, “our focus will be on how to

facilitate effective learning for our scholars through responsive policies to the challenging env ironment.”

De la Peña said the utilization or commercialization of complete “top concern.”

1. Expansion of the coconut hybridization program in cooperation with the Philippine Coconut Authority 2. Additional R&D projects in support of the Native Livestock Development Program.

3. R&D on aquaculture species which have potentials for food security and export. This includes the giant freshwater shrimp, or “ulang,” and saline tilapia.

4. R&D in support of native fruits for which Nicers have been put up. These include citrus, queen pineapple and tamarind.

5. Pilot testing of locally developed agricultural machines

For the industry, energy and emerging technologies sector

1. Smart food value chain 2. Micro, small and medium enterprises' low carbon transition.

3. Sustainable mineral resources utilization 4. Use of artificial intelligence and robotics technologies for infrastructure and disaster management application 5. Space technology applications in public services

For health sector

1. An anti-dengue drug medicine (a capsule composed of three plants) 2. Anti-Covid-19 programs 3. Food safety and nutrition 4. Biomedical devices in lieu of biomedical services 5. Virology research and studies.

3 published outstanding R&D receive Dr. Elvira O. Tan Awards

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DOST-Newton Agham awards its 2020 PhD scholarships to six female researchers at a hotel in Pasig City on February 26, 2020. DOST Assistant Secretary for International Cooperation Dr. Leah Buendia (left) and British Council Philippines Country Director Pilar Aramayo-Prudencio (right) lead the awarding. The scholars are: Maria Carmen Fernandez (FEU Public Policy Center), Carla Mae Pausta (De La Salle University), Ma. Jowina Galarion (UP Manila), Criselda Bautista (DOH-Research Institute of Tropical Medicine), Pamela Louise Tolentino (UP Diliman), and Julianne Vilela (UP Los Baños). DOSTPh Facebook page

Maximizing intl linkages for S&T

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he Department of Science and Technology (DOST) did not waste time to deliver urgent researches and services to prevent the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. At the same time, it also did not fail to pursue its research and development (R&D) programs and projects despite the pandemic.

Besides these huge responsibilities, the DOST also implemented other tasks that complemented its R&D programs: its international S&T linkages.

The DOST achievements in 2020 were contained in the report, “Leading science, technology and innovation for Inclusive Growth and Development in the time of Covid-19.”

The Science department, through its Office for International Cooperation, led by Assistant Secretary Dr. Leah J. Buendia, facilitated the harnessing of international relations for the country’s S&T.

Agreements on S&T

In the past year, through its international linkages, the DOST signed five agreements with bilateral partners.

At the same time 18 agreements are currently in the pipeline for negotiations, the report said.

The five signed agreements are: n Ratification of the S&T agreement between the Philippines and the United States of America n Memorandum of understanding on S&T in health between Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, University of the Philippines Manila, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine n Memorandum of agreement with the Royal Academy of Engineering n Operational Alliance Agreement with the British Council, and n Co-sponsorship agreement between the DOST and US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Scientific meetings and conferences

To harness its international relations, the DOST officials and Filipino scientists and exper ts participated in at least 40 bilateral and multilateral scientific meetings and ministerial conferences, the report added.

In these meetings, DOST representatives delivered the country’s positions and statements related to science, technology and innovation (STI).

The country, through the DOST, also provided inputs to multilateral joint statements of solidarity, declarations, resolutions and proposals.

With the DOST’s continued leadership and active participation in these multilateral activities, the Philippines was once again elected in the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development effective January 1, 2021.

“All these have put the country as a steady figure in multilateral STI negotiations, particularly in the Asean, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the United Nations, where the Philippines has regained stronger recognition as a more active and stronger

partner in regional and international STI initiatives,” said Science Fortunato T. de la Peña.

Strategic partnerships

Strategic partnerships with bilateral partners have evolved to a higher plane that included joint research and capacity-building programs that aim to contribute in improving the Philippines’ STI standing in the international community, according to the report.

These include: The DOST is coordinating the implementation of six joint research projects.

These include the DOST-Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Joint Scientific Research Program, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco)-Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (Teco) Joint Scientific Research Program, the Meco-Teco VOTE Initiative, the MecoTeco Hat Initiative, and the Newton-Agham Joint Research Program.

This year, DOST also welcomed a new joint research program with the People’s Republic of China.

Through these grants, the DOST brings together local and foreign researchers to work on specific project and allow them to share ideas and resources.

De la Peña said the Science department “hopes to bridge Filipino experts to opportunities for global research collaboration” that are aligned with the Harmonized National R&D Agenda.

Scholarships

The international links also brought home six joint scholarship programs, including the NewtonAgham PhD Scholarship with six new scholarships granted this year by the British Council, the report said.

There are also 24 scholars under the Asean Scholarship with two students who graduated this year.

Partnerships for the Fondazione Italiana Fegato (Italian Foundation for Liver Study) with two ongoing scholars was also maintained.

Two new scholarship programs also started last year. They were the University of Alberta Graduate Scholarship Program and the PhilFrance DOST Scholarship. wHowever, due to the pandemic, the Philippine partners have postponed some activities for the scholarships.

Meanwhile, the Meco-Teco Sandwich Program has 11 new scholars awarded last year.

At the same time, nondegree capacity-building activities, including the Leaders in Innovation Fellowship under the Newton-Agham Program, as well as the participation of Filipino students, researchers, and faculty members of Philippine higher education institutions in capacity building programs of DOST’s bilateral and multilateral partners were also undertaken during the year.

“These programs support DOST’s efforts to develop a strong cadre of scientific talents that will work for the STI in the country,” de la Peña said.

Lyn Resurreccion

hree published research and development papers in agriculture, aquatic sciences, and natural resources and environment were conferred with the Dr. Elvira O. Tan Awards.

The awards were given during the recent virtual S&T Awards and Recognition of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology through its Facebook page.

In Agriculture category, the outstanding published paper was conferred to “De novo genome sequence assembly of dwarf coconut [Cocos nucifera L. ‘Catigan Green Dwarf’] provides insights into genomic variation between coconut types and related palm species,” authored by Darlon V. Lantican of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

It was implemented by UPLB-Institute of Plant Breeding and the Boyce Thompson Institute in Cornell University in the United States The research reported the first high-quality sequence assembly and annotation of the wholegenome sequence of a dwarf coconut variety, Catigan Green Dwarf (CATD).

This sequence provides the most basic information needed to conduct more precise and directed research to address productivity and income concerns of farmers, and the supply and quality demand imposed by local and international markets or consumers.

In Aquatic Sciences category, the award went to the project, “Reproductive development of the threatened giant grouper [Epinephelus lanceolatus]”

Valenzuela City joins VCO study for Covid-19 cases

V

alenzuela City was identified as another site where the study on virgin coconut oil (VCO) will be conducted among symptomatic, asymptomatic positive Covid-19 cases.

Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said on the virtual DOST Report media briefing that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) identified Valenzuela City as a test site in recognition to the importance of widening its scope and expanding the research on using VCO as a potential supplement to prevent the worsening of conditions caused by Covid-19.

Valenzuela City was chosen in addition to the test held in Santa Rosa, Laguna, last year.

He said the DOST-National Capital Region facilitated the coordination among the other involved agencies and provided funds amounting to P2,120,300.

In addition, Valenzuela also provided a counterpart fund for the implementation of the study.

De la Peña said the study has a target sample size of 120 individuals that are further divided into two groups of 60 control samples and 60 samples provided with intervention.

Meanwhile, the inclusion criteria are those symptomatic and asymptomatic cases with positive RT-PCR tests.

The other cooperating agencies involved in the research are the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development and Food and Nutrition Research Institute, and the Philippine Coconut Authority.

At a virtual media briefing last month, de la Peña announced that based on the Sta. Rosa study VCO “could be used” as an adjunct supplement to probable and suspected Covid-19 cases because it could prevent such cases from becoming severe.

He said the volunteers who took “VCO recovered from infection or inflammation approximately 14 days after being subjected to the intervention.”

“Symptoms in the VCO Group significantly declined at Day 2 and no symptoms were observed at Day 18,” he added. Lyn Resurreccion

Darlon V. Lantican

Dr. Rollan Geronimo

Peter A. Palma

by Peter A. Palma of the Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (Seafdec).

The project was implemented by Seafdec, University of Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan; University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia; and Research Institute for Aquaculture in Vietnam.

The research work described the reproductive development of the threatened giant grouper, providing a foundation for ongoing research activities on the development of the giant grouper broodstock and hatchery management.

The research data can be used for the formulation of management policies for the threatened giant grouper species.

The project, “Mapping Fishing Activities and Suitable Fishing Grounds Using Nighttime Satellite Images and Maximum Entropy Modelling” by Rollan C. Geronimo of the Department of Geography, University of Hawaii, was the outstanding published paper awardee under Natural Resources and Environment Category.

It is implemented by the University of Hawaii, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

Earth Observation Group, and National Fisheries Research and Development Institute.

The study highlights the use of nighttime satellite images in obtaining information on the spatial fishing effort of fisheries, especially in Southeast Asia.

Using maximum entropy modeling, the study identified bathymetry and chlorophyll as the main environmental predictors of spatial occurrence of the core fishing areas.

Data from the study can be used to inform various fisheries management interventions in the country.

Rose Anne M. Aya, S&T Media Services

Research center gives positive outlook for PHL agri for 2021

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espite the natural catastrophes that affected agricultural production in Southeast Asia, and the Covid-19 pandemic that crippled most of the key economic sectors in the Philippines, the agriculture sector in the country was able to maintain a positive growth in year 2020.

“It must be acknowledged that there were earlier production growth targets that may not have been achieved. But being able to maintain positive growth is an enduring story of resilience at a time when it is needed the most,” said Director Glenn B. Gregorio of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca).

Gregorio said it is in this light that the overall outlook for the agriculture sector of the Philippines for 2021 is generally positive.

“We are banking on a more aggressive integrated intervention from the government sector bolstered by heightened private sector engagement,” he said in his yearend message.

“The year 2021 must be a year where previous justifications are to be rendered as no longer acceptable,” he said.

Instead, the touted “new normal” clearly means “concrete actions that are wiser, effective, efficient, and sustainable,” he added.

“Overall, Searca remains hopeful that 2021 is a year when the agriculture sector will significantly grow, and truly become an instrument for socioeconomic transformation that centers on the well-being of the farmers and their families,” Gregorio pointed out.

The lesson that must be learned from 2020, especially in relation to Covid-19, “is the appreciation of risks and uncertainty management.”

The back-to-back hazards experienced in 2020

need to be seen as paradigm shifting, and a call for the rethinking, recalibrating, redesigning, and rebranding of our farming systems as sustainable agricultural food systems, he said.

Integrated approaches that mainstream resilience in every node of the value chains of the agricultural food systems need to be made operational and sustained in 2021 and beyond.

According to Gregorio: “Hence, technological interventions and supported by innovations in policy, institutional, conceptual and social aspects should be on the top of our priority so that we would be more able to comprehend these risks and uncertainties.”

He pointed out that “using a science-based management, we will be ready to step up and step out in response.”

As the demand for major agricultural commodities remain under the highly evolving developmental challenges, there is a call for a “sustained investment in the agriculture sector that usher in technological leapfrogging in areas of production, logistics and transportation, valueadding activities, and science-based system of incentivizing consumers towards sustainable behavior,” he said.

Crop production and post-production need more expanded systematic weather stations and precision agriculture systems that efficiently provide real-time information and aid for both immediate and long-term decision making.

At the same time, Filipino farmers need continued and expanded support “for improved access to better agricultural inputs, especially quality seeds and stress-tolerant varieties, better animal and fish genetic breeds, mechanization, technical advice, good agricultural practices, and

modern technological tools (i.e., best mobile apps for agriculture, drone technology), among others, he pointed out.

For animal production, there is a need for integrated farming system based on One Health/EcoHealth approach that calls for the operationalization of the triple bottom line approach: profit, people, and planet.

Specifically, as impending threats like African Swine Fever and other zoonotic diseases remain, support is needed for improved access to better sur veillance system, integrated biosecurity measures, and technology-based operation system, among others.

As Searca also enters the second half of the first year of its 11th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025) with the theme, “Accelerating Transformation Through Agricultural Innovation” (Attain), the center remains steadfast in its mission to elevate the quality of life of agricultural families through sustainable and resilient livelihoods and access to modern networks and innovative markets.

Gregorio said the challenges the sector is facing have strengthened the center’s resolve to work toward the transformation of farmers into “transfarmers.”

This will enable the sector to: 1) embrace disruptive agricultural technologies; 2) imbibe a transformational leadership mindset; 3) work with and empower next-generation agriculture graduates; and 4) work toward the bridging of divides and promotion of harmony.

He said, “Investing in agriculture is the way to step up and step out in resilience toward accomplishing our vision of a better, bigger and smarter future for the farmers and farming families in Southeast Asia.”

Faith

Sunday

A6 Sunday, January 10, 2021

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

Bishop tells police officers: Have ‘strong faith, true service’

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he country’s military bishop called on law enforcers to “true service” and to confront the menace of criminality not just with courage but also faith.

Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines said it is always a challenge to be honest and dignified but everything changes when it is for God and the country.

“We are in tough times and our response should also be tough but we can only be tough responders when we embrace unity, we value service, and we love our country,” Florencio said.

The bishop made the statement during the recent Philippine National Police’s 27th Ethics

Day celebration in Camp Crame, where he was the guest of honor and speaker.

Among those in attendance were Police Chief Debold Sinas and other top PNP officials.

According to Florencio, it is only in true ser vice “that we can gain happiness we are looking for” and where “we can find fulfilment in our lives.”

“An honest and dignified service will be even more meaningful if we feel that it is for our coun-

Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines is flanked by top PNP officials, including Police Chief Debold Sinas, during the recent 27th PNP Ethics Day celebration in Camp Crame. PNP-PIO photo

try given to us by God to nurture peace, love and unity,” he said.

He then turned to the rest of the police force with words of gratitude, recalling their tireless work for the people even amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

While there are some in their ranks who got involved in crimes, the bishop said the institution is

challenged to overcome it with good works, persistence, and strong faith.

Some policemen were recently involved in the killing of unarmed civilians.

He said that a crisis, “if faced brazenly with a strong faith in God, becomes great opportunities for becoming better persons.”

CBCP News

Rehab of cultural treasure UP Church completed

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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he rehabilitation of the 65-year-old Parish of the Holy Sacrifice Church, a national historical landmark and cultural treasure on University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus, has been completed in time for the New Year.

To ensure that its original state of beauty and elegance were maintained when the repairs were executed, the DMCI Homes did a series of consultations with UP officials and UP Parish to address the immediate needs of the chapel.

The rehabilitation started in July 2020 and was completed in December.

The restoration of the UP Church was supposed to start early 2020 but due to the pandemic it was pushed back to the latter part of the year.

DMCI Homes led a team that facilitated the repair of masonry cracks, de-clogging of downspouts and drains, and the installation of new electrical fixtures.

Repa int ing work was performed on the chapel’s iconic dome and roof as well as its walls, col-

Inside the 65-year-old Parish of the Holy Sacrifice on University of the Philippines Diliman campus Nonoy Lacza

umns, eaves, under slabs, ceilings and railings.

DMCI will next restore the church’s ceiling or the underside of the dome this year. It was rescheduled to give way for the church activities during the 2020 Christmas season.

The murals depicting the Stations of the Cross, the marble altar, the floor mural, and the cross at the center of the chapel—all handiworks of national artists— were left untouched.

The cross and the altar were designed and executed by Napoleon V. Abueva, named National Artist in Sculpture in 1976, while the murals on walls were conceptualized and painted by Vicente S. Manansala, who was declared a National Artist in Painting in 1981.

The floor mural was designed

by Arturo Luz, who was named National Artist in Visual Arts in 1997.

Completed in 1955, the UP Church was designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro

Locsin and built by Engr. David M. Consunji, who is popularly known as the grandfather of construction in the Philippines and the founder of the DMCI group of companies.

The church is considered an important architectural landmark due to its unique and timeless design.

It is the first circular chapel in the country with the altar at its center for a more personal and engaging community worship experience.

The church was recognized as a National Historical Landmark and a Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the National Museum of the Philippines, respectively.

It is also the first structure in the country to feature a remarkable thin-shell concrete dome, made possible through Consunji’s innovation in the mixing and delivery of concrete.

It is the only structure in the country to feature the works of five national artists.

With the restoration, DMCI hopes to preserve the architectural, engineering, cultural and religious significance of the church for more people in the coming decades.

Malolos diocese declares 2 new shrines, Marian coronation

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ALOLOS, Bulacan—The Diocese of Malolos, comprised of the Bulacan province and Valenzuela City, announced the elevation of its two parishes to diocesan shrine status, and a Marian coronation.

Joining the ranks of the diocesan shrines are the San Miguel Arcangel Parish in San Miguel town and the Nuestro Señor Jesucristo and St. Andrew Kim Taegon Parish in Bocaue town’s Lolomboy village.

Bishop Dennis Villarojo gave due recognition to the parish church of San Miguel “due to the ardent devotion of the faithful in the province” to St. Michael the Archangel.

“Recent effor ts have been made for the promotion of the devotion to the Archangel Michael such as the procession and home visits of the pilgrim image of the saint,” it said.

The parish also had the privilege to host the 33rd Healing for the World last October 28, 2020.

A similar recognition has been granted to the parish church of Lolomboy “because of the beatification and canonization of the first Korean Saint, St. Andrew Kim Taegon”.

The saint was known to have stayed in “Hacienda de Lolomboy”, an area owned by the Dominican friars from 1830’s to 1841 during his years as a seminarian.

“The significance of the saint’s stay in Lolomboy earned the support of both the Diocese of Malolos in declaring the saint as secondary patron of the Parish of Sto. Cristo as well as the Archdiocese of Seoul, South Korea,” the diocese added.

The Diocese of Malolos declares the Bulacan province’s San Miguel Arcangel Parish Church in San Miguel town and the St. Andrew Kim Taegon Parish Church in Bocaue town’s Lolomboy village as new diocesan shrines. Diocese of Malolos photos

La Purisima Concepción de Baliuag. PHOTO COURTESY OF LUIS FRANCIS TAN

The church, currently in Project Pangarap site, where it relocated in 2009 after the parish’s 50th anniversary, was developed for the erection of pilgrim-friendly structures and places of prayer.

At the same time, Bishop Villarojo also approved the episcopal coronation of the image of “La Purisima Concepción de Baliuag,” also known as “Mahal na Birhen sa Patio,” whose shrine is located at the front of the St. Augustine Parish Church.

St. Augustine Parish Priest Msgr. Andres Valera said the image has been present in the parish since 1898 with the devotion to her spanning about a century.

Local historian Mark James Evangelista noted that “the heavy metal image is of French origin and has a similar copy currently found in the Church of the Twenty-Six Martyrs in Oura, Nagasaki, Japan.”

He added: “Hence, the image might have been placed in Baliuag around the 1870s to the 1890s. Ever since the shrine was built, it has become an avenue for the deepening of the faith of the Baliuageños, most especially in their filial devotion to the BlessedVirgin Mary.”

The episcopal coronation will be held on February 1, while the dates for recognition of the new shrines are yet to be announced.

The other diocesan shrines in Bulacan include the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (San Rafael); Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and Grace (Santa Maria), Nuestra Señora de la Immaculada Concepción de Salambao (Obando), Mahal na Poong Krus sa Wawa (Bocaue), St. John the Baptist (Calumpit), Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Bulakan), and San Isidro Labrador (Pulilan).

Kendrick Ivan B. Panganiban/CBCP News

Cardinal Tagle: The name of a person isn’t just a label

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aming a child is an impor tant decision and how it sounds is not the only thing parents have to consider, said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle recently.

That is why naming, he said, is an important process because a name is a “sacred” thing.

“The name is not just a label. The name of a person contains the very identity of a person,” said Tagle, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The cardinal made the statement during a recent Mass at the Pontifical Filipino College in Rome, Italy.

He shared how he was “hurt” upon learning that children, especially those new born in a refugee camp that he visited, are not given “the dignity of names”.

According to Tagle, it was illegal to give them

a name because they don’t have an identity as far as the host country is concerned.

How are the children called? They have numbers, he recalled.

“I was shocked that that still exists,”Tagle said.

“That’s why I realized how sacred the name is.”

As the new year comes, he said that it is common for people to ask God for blessings of a better year ahead.

But oftentimes, according to him, people associate blessings with material things.

R e f l e c t i n g o n t h e d ay ’s re a d i n g s, t h e cardinal reminded the faithful that “it is God who blesses people.”

“And the name of God is the blessing,” Tagle said. “When God comes, God saves. God does not destroy but saves.” CBCP News

St. Ignatius may provide guidance to your New Year’s resolution

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a k i n g a n d b re a k i n g N e w Ye a r ’s resolutions is a familiar and discouraging annual ritual for many people.

Almost inevitably, in a few short weeks, many find they are unable to meet their goals of self-improvement, be it keeping a positive attitude, improving one’s health or looking for the best in people.

Some might even feel diminished as a result of this failure.

The problem, as I see it, is that most people set out with their resolutions often without identifying a practical path for the journey.

As a scholar of systematic theology, I believe that Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish courtesan, provides insightful guidance.

He managed to reverse his life’s direction to pursue a spiritual path.

Who was Ignatius?

B orn i n 1 4 9 1 , I ñ i g o , l a t e r k n o w n a s I g n a t i u s, w a s t h e yo u n g e s t s o n o f a m i n o r n o b l e f a m i l y i n t h e B a s q u e re g i o n o f S p a i n w h o l e f t h o m e a t t h e a g e o f 1 8 to w i n h i s p l a c e a t t h e ro y a l c o u r t.

Over a decade later, as he lay confined to bed recuperating from injuries suffered in the Battle of Pamplona against the French, he daydreamed about potential future exploits at court or service to God and humanity.

It was at that time that he started to notice the subtle development of his feelings.

When he dreamed about courtly heroism he later felt depleted, but when he reflected about serving God he felt a deep, lasting and energizing peace.

Reflection about his growing self-awareness led him to make a radical change in the direction of his life. He chose to put aside his quest for glory to serve God and creation, especially his fellow humans, whether friends or strangers.

He met a group of university students who became his companions. In 1540, they founded the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, a community of priests and brothers that became known throughout the world for spiritual development, preparator y and university education and justice advocacy.

Challenges before Ignatius Thi s path was not smooth for Ignatius. In the course of his work , he suffered many setbacks, such as suspicion and rejection by church authorities, but he came to a better understanding of himself and his path through those challenges.

As Ignatius narrates in an account of his life, which he related just before his death to a fellow Jesuit, the key is not to become suddenly perfect but to learn how to walk patiently and deliberately to grow in love and service despite imperfection.

Ignatius relates his self-driven determination to preach to pilgrims in Jerusalem.

His intention, however, was not well received by church authorities, who thought he was poorly prepared. This rejection led him to further his education and become more flexible about how he understood his role in serving God. He writes about how he was easily provoked to self-righteous anger.

Once he took offense when a fellow traveler made an insulting comment about the Virgin Mary. Only the stubborn donkey he was riding saved him from pursuing the other traveler and acting on a murderous rage.

In the sharing of his story, Ignatius does not want his biography to become the center of attention. He provides an example of moving beyond the isolated facts of his life journey to

reflect about their interconnected meaning and a way of looking beyond.

As the scholar of renaissance rhetoric Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle suggests, Ignatius is using the story about himself to redirect his readers’ attention to God and a higher purpose.

Unflinching about relating his own faults, Ignatius encourages individuals to reflect on their desires, resources and vulnerabilities as a way to grow.

Practical guidance from Ignatius In the “Spiritual Exercises,” his manual for prayer guides, Ignatius suggests a five -step daily process, known as the “Examen,” as a way to tell and retell life-transforming stories.

These, I believe, are practical recommendations that could help people realize their resolutions in the New Year.

1. Star t with a realistic, accurate and e n c o u r a g i n g a s s e s s m e n t o f yo u r c u r re n t situation.

Ignatius would always begin his moments of reflective self-assessment by reaffirming his gratitude for life and opportunities to serve in a project larger than himself.

Acknowledge strengths, vulnerabilities, p o s i t i ve a n d n e g a t i ve f e e l i n g s, a n d a re a s of encouragement and discouragement a s g i f t s.

2. Be open to the light of a larger perspective.

Call upon the assistance of a higher power to reveal the big picture that holds together the pieces of the journey through the day. Expect to be surprised by new insights.

3. Focus on the events of today.

Create a story that links the episodes of the day and your goals together.

Ignatius would move beyond just listing strengths, weakness and feelings to discover how they advanced or impeded his goal to serve God and others.

4. Identify the moments of darkness and discouragement that resist being drawn into your story.

Ask what episodes disrupt your understanding of yourself and the world. Find new perspective by deepening your commitment to a higher purpose.

Much like the beliefs in other religions, Ignatius turns to his faith to find a new perspective during difficult moments.

Christianity and other religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, help find purpose in a compassionate and merciful love that inspires and guides day-to-day actions, each in their own way.

As a Christian, Ignatius looked especially to the example of compassionate self-sacrifice in Jesus’ death on the Cross to hold difficult moments in a higher faith perspective.

B y c o m m i t t i n g to a c c e p t t h e c o s t o f positive action in the face of his own failings or opposition by others, Ignatius was able to move through obstacles and find encouragement and strength to advance his story.

5. Finally, reflect on how your story offers direction and energy to move forward to the next day.

By incorporating discouraging moments into the flow of a larger story, Ignatius learned how to move beyond the shame and confusion caused by failure and misdeeds to a healthy sense of sorrow.

It helped Ignatius find a higher purpose.

Like Ignatius, many of us may need to revise our resolutions and reflect on how we may proceed, even when we feel discouraged.

Gordon Rixon/The Conversation, CC

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday, January 10, 2021

A7

2020 a bright year for PHL biodiversity

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Encouraging development

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

mid the fatal Covid-19 pandemic with the strict quarantines imposed to prevent its spread, and the destructive typhoons that occurred in the Philippines in 2020, the year was considered bright in terms of protection and conservation of the country’s biodiversity.

In its year-end report, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported the increased number of protected areas covered by law under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas), and the Expanded-Nipas increasing land, coastal and marine areas set aside for conservation.

More importantly, the DENR, through its Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), reported dramatic improvement in the conservation status of endangered Philippine species.

DENR Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon said the downgrading of the status of 12 threatened species is proof that under the leadership of Secretary Roy A. Cimatu the DENR is on the “right track” as far as protecting and conserving the country’s rich biodiversity is concerned.

244 protected areas In a news statement, Cimatu attributed the BMB’s success to its unwavering commitment to making sure the country’s flora and fauna are well protected even during the Covid-19 lockdown when people’s mobility is limited and environment-related crimes are rampant.

“The effects of the community quarantine did not dampen the spirits of our people at BMB. They made sure that the agency’s mandates are still fulfilled to the fullest extent possible,” Cimatu said.

The BMB reported that a total of 244 protected areas covering more than 7.1 million hectares of land and water have been either legislated or proclaimed in 2020 pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 11038, or the Expanded-Nipas Act of 2018.

Calderon, the concurrent BMB director, said the importance of designating protected areas could not be overemphasized, with the serious threats posed by habitat loss to the country’s threatened species.

Bigger area coverage Anchored on effective protectedarea management, the government has

put in place various measures to ensure the protection and conservation of the country’s rich biodiversity.

As a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the DENR, through the BMB, continuously works toward the achievement of the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Target. These are global targets under the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

Thanks to the passage of the Expanded Nipas, additional 94 Protected Areas are now protected by legislation making a total of 107 covering a total of 7.76 M hectares, the DENR report said.

Of the 244 protected areas under the Nipas, 107 are legislated (4.38 million hectares), 13 are proclaimed (1.11 million has), and 124 are remaining initial components (2.27 million has).

To date, the 244 protected areas make up 15.40 percent (4.62 million has) of the Philippine land area, and 1.42 percent (3.14 M has) of territorial waters, contributing to the achievement of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by increasing the percentage of protected areas in the country.

The Philippines is considered as a champion in Asean by achieving nearly its contribution to the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11.

Protected areas management body According to Calderon, the DENRBMB will work this year to activate and ensure a dynamic Protected Area Management Office (PAMO), especially for the 107 legislated protected areas.

A protected area needs a Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), the highest policy-making body for the area, and headed by a superintendent.

This means institutionalizing the funding for the entire PAMO, or field office, that will cover the staffs’ salary and allowances, and other operational costs.

“This will help ensure we have a working protected area management body on the ground,” he said.

Biak-na-Bato National Park in San Miguel, Bulacan, consists of a cave network and a system of rivers and trails of both historical and ecological importance. It is one of the ecotourism areas nearest to Metropolitan Manila. GREGG YAN “Each of the 107 legislated protected areas also need park rangers to protect the parks,” he said.

Defense against calamities Maintaining a healthy ecosystem effectively carried out through a constructive protected area management system, according to Calderon, comes with enormous benefits. It includes human survival against the threat of natural calamities.

Without the legislated and proclaimed protected areas in the Cagayan Valley and Marikina River Basin, the devastation of Typhoon Ulysses could have been worse for communities that are dependent on these natural ecosystems, said Calderon, a forestry expert.

The official said that the no-take policies in strict protection zones ensures the integrity of the natural ecosystems to remain intact and functional, thus providing ecosystem services that benefit the people and the environment.

Home to threatened wildlife Protected areas, where forests are allowed to thrive, serve as home to plant and animal species, including those that are threatened with extinction.

In its report, the BMB said that 12 species are no longer on the brink of extinction, crediting the effective protection and conservation measures put in place in various conservation partners.

The conservation status of the species was either down-listed from endangered to vulnerable or from vulnerable to other threatened species (OTS).

OTS, a classification under DENR Administrative Order 2019-09, refers to species or its varieties that is “not critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable” but is still under threat from adverse factors, such as over-collection throughout its range.

Turtles, frogs, lizards The Asian giant softshell turtle was down-listed two levels from “endangered ” to OTS. Other species that were down-listed from “endangered” to “vulnerable” are the Negros forest frog, Mount Data forest frog, Mindanao bleeding-heart, and Luzon water redstart.

Down-listed from “vulnerable” to OTS are the Mindanao fanged frog, Basilan island caecilian, Todaya caecilian, yellow-headed water monitor, marbled water monitor, large-scaled water monitor, and Mount Isarog shrew-mouse.

Welcome development Calderon said the effective protected area management and the down-listing of the 12 threatened species proves that the DENR is on the right track. “ This is a welcome development because it only means the population of these threatened species is decreasing,” he said.

More importantly, this means their habitat is protected, too, he added.

The down-listing of the species to their improved conservation status stands on solid ground, Calderon noted.

A population count or estimate of their distribution is considered

carefully before deciding to downlist a species, he said.

“We have the biodiversity monitoring system transects in all protected areas.

Second is the wildlife population monitoring being undertaken by our [DENR] regions, Penro and Cenro [Provincial and City Environment and Natural Resources Offices]” Calderon explained in an interview by the BusinessMirror on December 28, 2020.

Wildlife law enforcement He attributed the improved status of this species in general to the unwavering commitment of the DENR’s forest protection officers and Bantay Gubat (Forest Guard) volunteers.

He said despite the pandemic, the aggressive wildlife law enforcement thwarted attempts by illegal wildlife traders to conduct their activities, such as harvesting plants and animals, or destroying their habitats, particularly in areas that are home to species that are considered critically endangered.

These operations led to the confiscation of 53 wild fauna and 27.36 kilograms of agarwood or derivatives of Aquilaria species with an estimated cost of P5.6 million.

Moreover, a total of seven new cases against wildlife criminals have been filed last year.

As of September, the DENR secured 30 convictions out of 32 criminal cases it had previously filed against violators of R A 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001.

The reported down-listing of 12 species in the Philippines to an improved conservation status is an encouraging development, said Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

The ACB is still monitoring the efforts of Asean member-states and their respective biodiversity protection and conservation efforts as part of their commitment to the CBD and in hitting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Weighing in on the down-listing of 12 species in the country, Lim said that while the criteria used by countries vary and may not necessarily be exactly the same as those of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, countries adopt some parameters that are more applicable to their specific situation and best available information.

“But whatever process is applied, the downgrading of species from a higher threat category is always encouraging, especially for those who are at the frontline of protecting our wildlife habitats, our protected areas,” Lim told the BusinessMirror via Messenger on December 30, 2020.

Positive indicator “Generally speaking, downgrading of species in relation to conservation efforts, especially if such efforts are within protected areas, is a positive indicator and a reflection of the good work that PA [protected area] managers, rangers and staff do,” she added.

However, Lim, a former DENR-BMB director, cautioned that “such progress should by no means be a reason for relaxing or reducing seriousness in the application of biodiversity protection policies and related actions.”

She added: “Downgrading does not mean that threats to the species are no longer present and their conservation should no longer be addressed.”

In fact, it should be considered “a challenge for everyone to continue their efforts until such time that the species’ population status become healthy enough to eventually be taken out of the threatened species lists at the national, regional and global level,” she said.

Calderon agreed. He said that even with last year’s achievements the BMB should not be complacent, knowing that those species under improved conservation status might revert to its vulnerable or endangered level if left as they are.

He said the DENR-BMB will continue its aggressive wildlife law enforcement and campaign against the illegal wildlife trade.

PLDT-Smart’s 2020 alliances reveal its commitment to environmental care

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elecoms is inherently a green business.

It helps people and industries reduce their carbon footprint, connecting people through technology and eliminating the need or use of travel.

Through teleconferencing, live streaming, e-commerce and more, the industry connects and helps minimize greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

A s t h e c o u n t r y ’s l a rg 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 Inc. (PLDT), along with its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), actively ensures that it uses energy responsibly, a PLDT-Smart news release said.

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

“To achieve this, we formed environmental alliances with government, academe, and NGO [nongovernment organization] partners throughout 2020, for initiatives that leverage on digital technology and PLDT-Smart’s robust network,” PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan was quoted in the the news release.

Under its environmental stewardship program, Gabay Kalikasan, the alliances aimed to champion

eco-efficiency while helping various communities curb the effects of climate change.

“We, at PLDT-Smart, believe that everything is interconnected when it comes to the environment, and that business response to climate-change issues will have an effect on how the present and future generations will live their lives,” said Chaye A. Cabal-Revilla, PLDT Group chief sustainability officer.

This IoT for mangroves protection uses wireless connectivity to collect critical data relevant to mangroves survival, such as water level, temperature, soil moisture, and other hazards in the site.

The information, which is being collected by the mangrove sensor system, is transmitted over a cloud system to a dashboard accessible to the local communities and authorities.

Initially launched in 2017, Gabay Kalikasan will scale up Connected Mangroves. Along with RFCx, it became a case study in the 2020 Digital Dividends report of GSM Association.

The group previously recognized Connected Mangroves in the 2019 Case for Change initiative as the global mobile industry’s solution to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Marine protection with UPMSI The company kicked off 2020 with a partnership with the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) and Marine Environment and Resources Foundation (MERF), the news release said.

Under the project, PLDT supports research studies for 24 marine protected areas nationwide and a marine renewable-energy program with UPMSI and MERF scientists, in collaboration with local government units.

The research program aims to help develop activities to enhance the conservation of marine protected areas.

Moreover, the research also provides scientific basis so that the enhanced marine protected areas will have the added benefit of helping fight climate change by acting as carbon sinks.

IoT solutions to protect forests and mangroves In reforestation, Smart launched in summer

Connected Mangroves uses wireless connectivity to collect critical data relevant to mangroves survival such as water level, temperature, soil moisture, and other hazards in the site. a landmark initiative with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Huawei Technologies Philippines (Huawei) for an Internet of Things (IoT) solution that taps mobile technology to detect and record rainforest sounds.

This can help prevent illegal logging and poaching in the country’s rainforests, the news release said.

Developed by a US-based NGO of the same name, Rainforest Connection (RFCx) makes use of old cell

phones to monitor and record illegal logging sounds of priority forest areas identified by the DENR. The bio-acoustics are then uploaded to a cloud service using Smart. The information can be accessed via the RFCx mobile application.

RFCx is similar to Connected Mangroves, developed by network partner Ericsson and deployed in Sasmuan Bangkung Malapad Critical Habitat and Eco-tourism Area in Pampanga.

Pioneer partnership for peatlands conservation PLDT-Smart signed another pioneer initiative in 2020 for its partnership with DENR, through its Biodiversity Management Bureau and Caraga Regional Office to protect, conserve and restore the Caimpugan Peatland in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS).

Located in Agusan del Sur, the Caimpugan Peatland holds the only recorded remaining intact peat swamp forest—the largest of its kind—in the Philippines.

“As the first private company in the Philippines to engage with DENR on peatlands conservation,

we at PLDT will contribute our expertise to produce innovations that can help conserve and restore these ecosystems,” Cabal-Revilla said.

Designated as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention inter-governmental treaty on wetlands, AMWS is also recognized as a Heritage Park by the Asean and legislated as a National Park by the Philippine government.

Peatlands can store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. However, its crucial role in mitigating climate change, as well as the huge costs that arise when these natural carbon sinks are damaged, remains largely overlooked.

“Now is the time to change the course of conversation and steer our collaborative efforts toward creating a climate-resilient future,”said DENR Assistant Secretary for Climate Change Ricardo Calderon.

PLDT-Smart’s sustainability framework 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 Service, Growth-driven Innovation, Responsible and Efficient Operations, Excellence through Human Capital, Positive Community Impact, and Good Governance & Ethical Business Practices.

Sports BusinessMirror

RATINGS MONSTER R

EGULAR-SEASON ratings for National Football League (NFL) games declined this season following two straight years of increases. But in a year that saw the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and a presidential election, the 7-percent decrease isn’t as bad as the league and its broadcast partners feared before the season began.

Games averaged 15.6 million television and digital viewers, according to the league and Nielsen. The league averaged 16.5 million regular-season viewers last season after posting 5-percent gains in both 2018 and 2019.

Overall, the continued ratings strength of the NFL—even with most games played in empty or mostly empty stadiums— underscores the financial underpinnings of the league’s decision to play a full season amid a pandemic in which more than 21.5 million Americans have been infected. The networks pay a combined $5.86 billion per season for the rights to broadcast NFL games, and they are

rewarded with huge audiences and revenue from advertisers eager to reach viewers.

“The NFL is a ratings generator and leader throughout entertainment. It is so big and the audience is so committed, I think the only thing the networks worry about is the score [of the games] which determines how long people tune in,” said former CBS sports President Neal Pilson, who now runs his own sports television consulting company.

During the last presidential election year in 2016, NFL ratings were down 8 percent.

However, that year they were down 14 percent at midseason before rallying. In 2020, the declines remained between 6 percent and 8 percent throughout the season.

It was the third straight election year in which ratings have gone down.

The NFL had 20 of the top 25 and 42 of top 50 top telecasts. Only two of the top 100 telecasts from the past year were not sports or news-related.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished as prime time’s top show for the 10th straight

year, but the 17.4 million average was down 15 percent from last season. The Sunday night games were also outdrawn by the late-afternoon kickoffs on Fox and CBS. The NBC games did account for seven of the top 10 and 14 of the 20 most-viewed primetime shows between September 10, 2020 and January 3, 2021. The only non-sports shows to make the top 10 were the first presidential debate on September 29 and the October 25 episode of CBS’ 60 Minutes.

The Kansas City Chiefs played in the two most-viewed games. The defending Super Bowl champions’ opener against Houston on September 10

A8 | S

unday, January 10, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

averaged 20.6 million and their November 22 game at Las Vegas averaged 19.6 million.

Fox’s Thursday Night Football averaged 14.1 million, which is a 6 percent decline. ESPN’s Monday Night Football was off 3 percent, averaging 12.2 million.

Both packages ended the season on high notes. The Christmas game between Minnesota and New Orleans attracted 20.1 million viewers on Fox, making it the most watched Christmas Day program since 2016.

Monday Night Football had weekly increases during its final six games. Two December games were simulcast on ABC. AP

A WORKER cleans seats in Arrowhead Stadium before the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers recently. AP

Froome on track to regaining top form

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srael Start-Up Nation sports director Rik Verbrugghe said Chris Froome’s rehabilitation and training are going strong after it was announced that the Briton would miss his new team’s training camp in Girona to stay in California.

The four-time Tour de France winner is continuing to work on his recovery from a career-threatening crash he suffered at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné at the Red Bull Centre in Santa Monica.

He was set to meet up with his new teammates in Israel for ISN’s first camp of 2021, but that was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and now the rest of the team will work in Spain instead. Verbrugghe said that Froome is on track to his old self.

Froome suffered a laundry list of injuries in the 2019 crash, including a broken right femur, right elbow and fractured ribs. He returned to racing at last year’s UAE Tour, going on to race 44 days during the pandemic-affected season.

The 35-year-old Froome didn’t show the form of old, but Verbrugghe explained that the break in racing and European lockdowns from March to late July disrupted Froome’s recovery process. He added that Froome today is a lot different to how he was at the Vuelta a España, where he finished 98th overall.

“The Froome of the Vuelta is not the Froome of today. Due to the lockdown in Monaco last year in March and the distance to his team, his rehabilitation was not perfect,” Verbrugghe said. “In the meantime, he has become so much stronger.

“We said wholeheartedly ‘don’t hesitate to stay [in California].’ It would be unwise to

CHRIS FROOME is recovering from his careerthreatening crash at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné.

interrupt his rehabilitation there now. Plus, we can’t offer the same training and climate, and it’s quieter there,” he added.

Froome is set to kick off his season at the Volta ao Algarve, although Verbrugghe said that’s not fully set in stone, with the Vuelta a Andalucía and UAE Tour also options. He was set to kick off 2021 at the Vuelta a San Juan, but Covid-19 means it’s unlikely that international teams will be invited—though Froome is already off the start list.

After Algarve, the path to the Tour de France—and hopefully for Froome and ISN, a fifth victory—is set. He will head to the Volta a Catalunya and then to the Critérium du Dauphiné ahead of the Grand Départ in Brittany.

“The Tokyo Olympics are in the plan, too,” Verbrugghe said. “But first his federation has to select him. In addition to that, we need to look at how things stand with the possible quarantine measures.” Cyclingnews

Spreading virus pulls Olympic torches off display in Japan

The rapid spread of the virus in Japan is imperiling plans for the postponed Tokyo Olympics. AP

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OKYO—Japan is halting a public display of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic torches as new virus cases jump in the country and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga orders a state of emergency for Tokyo and the surrounding areas until next month.

Tokyo reported 2,447 new cases on Thursday. This is a jump of 850 cases—just over 50 percent—from the day before. Tokyo was reporting just a few hundred new cases a few months ago.

The rapid spread of the virus in Japan is imperiling plans for the postponed Tokyo Olympics, which are to open on July 23. The Paralympics begin on August 24.

The Olympics were postponed nine months ago because of the pandemic. A poll last month by Japanese broadcaster NHK showed 63 percent of 1,200 Japanese surveyed think

the Games should be postponed again—or canceled.

Japan has attributed about 3,500 deaths to Covid-19, a moderate success rates in controlling the virus for a country of 125 million.

The Switzerland-base International Olympic Committee and local organizers have said the Games will not be postponed again and will be canceled if they cannot be held this time.

Japan has invested at least $25 billion in preparing the Olympics, and the IOC depends on selling broadcast rights for almost threequarters of its income.

The Olympics and Paralympics could involve more that 15,000 athletes entering Japan from 205 nations and territories, plus tens of thousands of officials, judges, administrators, VIPS, sponsors, media and broadcasters. It is not clear if fans will be permitted, or if fans from abroad will be allowed to enter Japan.

Organizers have been vague and say those decisions will not be announced until spring.

In a statement, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said the exhibitions of the torches would be called off starting Thursday. The displays do not involve the Olympic flame. The Tokyo government said the postponements would continue through at least January 29.

The state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures is in effect until the first week of February, which means other planned displays of the torches are likely to be postponed.

The torch relay carrying the Olympic flame is to begin on March 25, and set to involve 10,000 runners across four months. The safety of this is being questioned. There was talk of canceling the relay but that was short-lived with sponsors Toyota and Coca-Cola heavily involved in the torch relay promotion. AP

BusinessMirror

January 10, 2021

Why is Bitcoin’s price at an all-time high?

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BusinessMirror JANUARY 10, 2021 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

RHYTHM & RHYME

By Kaye Villagomez-Losorata

Contemporary hits get classic spin on Bridgerton soundtrack

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ERVING generous measures of Gossip Girl and tamed Fifty Shades of Grey set in 1813 London, Netflix’s Bridgerton had viewers “burning” for it over the holidays. But if you managed to look past the charms of Rege-Jean Page’s Duke of Hastings, it’s easy to notice the perfectly timed pop soundtrack dominating the parties, elaborate schemes, mysteries, gossipmongering, and passionate scenes in the eightepisode season debut.

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To quote Prince Frederick in the series, “The art is not the only beautiful thing on display.” Bridgerton extended art appreciation to the show’s music.

And yes, you may review the scenes if you failed to notice when songs by Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift were getting a classical refresh in this period fantasy.

According to showrunner Chris Van Dusen, the decision to drop mainstream songs in the background was a deliberate and sneaky undertaking meant to go against the grain of how period shows are usually done. He told Oprah Mag, “It really goes to the idea of making this feel different than your other period shows. Whether it’s music or the world of the show, the scripts, the sets, the costumes; it all comes back to infusing things through our own unique modern lens and making things feel relatable to whoever is watching.”

Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” kicked things off right at the first episode during the first ball of the season. The song can be heard when Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) descends from the carriage with her mother and brother while Lady Whistledown, voiced by no less than Julie Andrews, narrates, “Titled, chaste, and innocent, this is what they (the debutantes of the era) have been raised and trained for since birth.” The “Thank U, Next” cover by the Vitamin String Quartet also emphasizes how Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) is controlling his sister’s suitor options.

In the pilot, too, is Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You,” again by the Vitamin String Quartet, which is played right about the time the girls are seen waiting for their “callers” the morning after the ball. After Anthony turned away most of Daphne’s suitors, the men instead pursue Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker) who is staying at the house of the rival family of the Bridgertons, the Featheringtons.

The Vitamin String Quartet then continues to string viewers along in episode two, this time with Shawn Mendes’s “In My Blood” with Daphne and Simon, the same Duke of Hastings who is this series’ breakout star. In the scene, the couple discusses how their ruse has grown from fake courtship to something where Daphne’s future now depends upon. “This is not just about finding the best match to impress Lady Whistledown or the queen or any member of the ton. This about a life, my life. I must finally take charge of it.”

The Vitamin String Quartet goes on to reimagine “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish as the protagonists pretend to advance their mutual understanding with Simon playing the role of a jealous suitor. This, while Miss

Bridgerton gathers first impression from the London’s eligible bachelors one dance floor.

In episode five, The Duke & I (which is also the title of the first novel of the Bridgerton series), “Strange” by Celeste could be heard firing up one of the steamy scenes in the series after a wedding night confession. The song comes after that memorable bit where Simon says, “I cannot stop thinking of you from the mornings you ease to the evenings you quiet to the dreams you inhabit. My thoughts of you never end.” Replacing vocals with violins in this arrangement of “Strange,” you cannot help but still hear the lyrics pierce through the strings in the final seven minutes of this episode.

Last but not the least, Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” provides auditory backdrop when the newlyweds explore honeymoon stage despite the unusual circumstances that led to their union.

As Lady Whistledown intros, “the time has come to place our bets for the upcoming social season,” should Netflix decides to “promenade” season two.

Meanwhile, you may stream all six pickmy-mood-up songs on Apple Music and Spotify. We need all the help we can get going back to school or work post-holiday break. Happy New Year, everyone!

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | JANUARY 10, 2021

BUSINESS

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

My Alt.Diversion in 2020 Catching up on films and TV shows about music

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OCKED down, confined by quarantine measures and stay at home restrictions, I found myself working off music reviewing steam for this column with new albums released last year. On my spare time, I watched films and followed episodic TV shows where modern music provides the thematic spine.

And hey, were some of them worthy of sitting through an hour or two before bedtime.

Here are four personal favorites.

Dave Grohl, and more. It’s entertaining in the sense that most of personalities are seated in a red couch while narrating their own involvement with punk or sharing rare scenes from a welldocumented era.

The series makes for an enjoyable journey for someone who has sustained interest in the genre since 1978. On the whole, Punk! Is a first stop for any millennial wondering about a musical eruption that his older friends would say gave rise to alternative music, postpunk and all those curiosities. From here, tread courageously to punk’s historical trawls that now litter Youtube and various social media platforms.

Gabba gabba hey, indeed!

Blinded by the Light Warner Bros. (2019)

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Netflix (2020)

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HE film tells the entwined story of acclaimed Black blues singer Ma Rainey and the four musicians huddled in a cramped studio readying to record songs for a label owned by white businessmen. Ma’s initial posturing as a prima donna artist is off-putting on surface until midway through the movie, she tells her own agenda to offset the exploitative nature of working with white people interested only in the financial windfall from the engagement. The four mostly ageing studio musicians have their own moments of haughty prejudice against a young rising trumpet player named Levee (played with astonishing punkish fire by the late Chadwick Boseman) until his own emotional ‘levee’ breaks down amid a harrowing personal tale of gang rape and murderous resbak.

These edgy entanglements end in disaster – in soured professional affairs and untimely death. Critics would draw conclusions that the mischievously titled Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is otherwise symptomatic of the continuing social tension between the Whites and the Blacks in the land of milk and honey.

Punk!

Epix (2019)

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HIS four-part docuseries connects the rise of ‘70s punk through the eyes and first-hand observations of living legends like Iggy Pop, Johnny Rotten, Marky Ramone, Debbie Harry.

T’S 1987 and a British-Pakistani teener named Javed dreams of becoming a writer. The problem is, his father holds sway in important family decisions and he firmly believes his only son must graduate from the university, get a white collar job and raise a family. Outside political tension arising from Thatcherism and the white supremacist front conspire to prevent Javed from leaving his hometown to find new opportunities to sharpen his writing skills.

Javed accidentally bumps a stranger at school which leads to his introduction to the music of Bruce Springsteen at a time when “synth is the future” and Bruce belongs to another era. The Boss’ music becomes the soundtrack of his young life that pays off in a big win at a literary competition in the USA and the chance to visit Springsteen’s birthplace.

Personally, it’s my second reintroduction to the music of Bruce Springsteen after in January last year, I chanced upon “Springsteen and I,” a 2013 documentary featuring loving notes from devoted fans from around the world, This time, it again felt good listening and listening once more to “Thunder Road,” “Backstreets,” “and Hungry Heart” which somehow also served as my backgrounder to reviewing The Boss’ latest “Letter To You” on these very pages.

I must say that my interest in music remains even when it is peripheral to the feature presentation. I like the cool ‘50s jazz inspired sounds in the detective series “Bosch,” the early ‘00s rap metal score in the police corruption drama, “The Shield” and the sometimes loud, often sensual tracks in “The Deuce,” a chronicle of the porn industry in the Seventies.

Vinyl HBO (2016)

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IRECTED by Martin Scorsese (The Departed, The Boardwalk Empire) and executive produced by Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Vinyl is a ten-episode single season tornado twirl through the drugs, sex and rock and roll that arguably fueled the US record industry in the Seventies. The drug of choice is cocaine, sniffed voraciously

by Riche Finestra (played to hoodlum-ish finesse by actor Bobby Canavale), founder and president of American Century Records, to fire up his senses in his search for new music and new acts that will take his financially strapped company to better times. Sex is the lure to get a new artists into the fold, the most notorious being when a lowly office secretary bedded the lead singer of a punk band (plus a

threesome in the next segment) to get the group signed to her employer’s label.

Rock and roll is all over the place; at one juncture, the A & R’s decide the fate of artists ranging from Slade to Alice Cooper.

Speaking of coup, the featured fictional punk band named the Nasty Bits is fronted by one Kip Stevens, who’s actually Mick’s son, Jagger Jr. There’s also a gaggle of appearances by famous acts like The Velvet Underground, David Bowie, and Chic’s Nile Rogers, among others.

In the heat of the moment, label boss Finestra killed a double-dealing associate and hid the corpse away with the help of a low-level mobster. The ensuing police inquiry into the supposedly missing (but really dead) man is a background irritant that would have pushed the series to a second season, which unfortunately has yet materialize.

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Why is Bitcoin’s price at an all-time high?

By Jason Potts and Kelsie Nabben

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digital economy, interest in the technology as it matures and the influence of institutional investors in cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is in an upward market trend, also known as “bull market” territory.

It was designed to increase in value over time through the rules Nakamoto wrote into its software code—which Bitcoin’s most outspoken advocates, known as “maximalists,” vehemently defend.

RMIT University

itcoin continues to trade close to its all-time high reached this month. Its price is now around US $34,000—up about 77 percent over the past month and 305 percent over the past year.

First launched in 2009 as a digital currency, Bitcoin was for a while used as digital money on the fringes of the economy. It has since become mainstream. Today, it’s used almost exclusively as a kind of “digital gold.” That is to say, a scarce digital asset.

In response to the risk of economic collapse due to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world have flooded global markets with money created by central banks, in order to boost spending and help save the economy.

But increasing the supply of money erodes its value and leads people to look for inflation-resistant assets to hold. In this climate, Bitcoin has become a hedge against looming inflation and poor returns on other types of assets.

Why does Bitcoin matter?

There are a few possible explanations as

Imagining new futures “Bitcoin’s recent boom in value comes down to a combination of three factors: ideology, social sentiment and hope.” to why Bitcoin is now deemed significant by so many people.

It’s a “safe” asset In the face of global uncertainty, buying Bitcoins is a way for people to diversify their assets. Its market value can be compared to that of another go-to asset that shines in times of trouble: gold.

Amid the turmoil of a global pandemic, an unconventional US presidential handover and geopolitical power shifts the world over, it’s possible more people view gold and Bitcoin as better alternatives to dollars.

It ties into privacy-oriented ideologies Bitcoin (and cryptocurrency in general) is not politically and ideologically neutral. It was born of the Internet era, one plagued with grave concerns for privacy.

Bitcoin’s intellectual and ideological origins are in the “cypherpunk” movement of

the 1990s and early 2000s.

Records of online forums show it was advocated for as an anonymous digital currency that allowed people to interact online without being tracked by governments or corporations, offering an alternative for anyone who distrusts the Federal central banking system.

Perhaps the overt rise of digital surveillance in response to the Covid pandemic has further stoked fears about online privacy and security—again piquing the public’s interest in Bitcoin’s potential.

Why is Bitcoin booming?

Bitcoin’s recent boom in value comes down to a combination of three factors: ideology, social sentiment and hope.

But although these are variable factors, this doesn’t discredit the significance of the

From a larger frame of reference, decentralized cryptocurrencies allow new ways to coordinate without the need for a central arbiter.

And decentralized blockchain-based networks don’t just enable digital money.

Similar to ordinary smartphone apps, software developers around the world are building decentralized applications (DApps) on top of Bitcoin and other blockchain protocols.

They have introduced other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, which are also open platforms for the public. Other DApps include decentralized financial (DeFi) tools for prediction markets, cryptocurrency borrowing and lending, investing and crowdfunding.

The audacious experiment in digital currency of Satoshi Nakamoto, the identity credited with inventing Bitcoin, is working as intended. And what really deserves attention now is what this means for our digital, physical and social futures. The Conversation

Young CEOs: Why wait for decades to be the boss?

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ech-savvy, multitasking and hyper-connected, millennials and Gen Z now dominate the work force. But they won’t settle for merely being the majority. They want to rule and take the lead, and that’s exactly what two young Filipino CEOs, Bran Reluao and Princess Legaspi, are doing.

Reluao, 24, and Legaspi, 27, realize they live in a time where information is readily available and digital technology is changing at a breakneck pace. They see these changes as opportunities to use their individual strengths to solve challenges in the world of business.

Reluao is CEO of BranReluao and Associates, OPC, a digital reputation management agency that specializes in crisis management and online political operations.

The 60-employee company uses unconventional, data-driven, strategies to solve communication problems, spark movements, create immediate social impact and transform cultures.

Reluao’s fortè is political and crisis communications. His agency helped a top-tier

international school handle the online outburst of students regarding their policies during the pandemic. After a two-week campaign, they were able to turn the situation around and even promote the school “as a very lenient and humane institution.”

In the 2019 national midterm elections, Reluao and his group handled a young candidate in Metro Manila who went up against a political giant. It was a threemonth campaign that resulted in 700,000 new social-media followers for their client.

“My agency helped the politician ‘discover’ the power of Facebook Live to have real-time communication with his constituents,” says Reluao. “His every movement was covered real time, enabling people to follow him and see all this accomplishment. Every important activity was covered in social-media platforms and created a strong impact.”

Meanwhile, Legaspi—a commercial and print ad model, TV host, and influencer— matched her skills and interests in lifestyle content to build BigHops Marketing, which later became Whitecanvas Marketing, of

4 BusinessMirror

which she’s the CEO. The company provides full-service marketing solutions to corporate brands in the pharmaceutical, hospitality and telecommunications industries.

Legaspi’s company has done cuttingedge marketing work for Pinkberry, one of the premium brands of Rustan’s; Serenitea, one of the first milk tea brands in the country; a bunch of pharmaceutical product brands; Tombow, an American brand of pens, markers and art supplies; and ACDelco, an American automotive parts brand.

“The Pinkberry account was acquired through a cold e-mail,” says the risk-taking millennial.

Reluao, the political strategist with flair, stresses being a boss “is not just wearing a crown of glory;” it’s also carrying a great responsibility.

“I always make sure I deliver beyond what’s expected,” he said. “Clients come to me for guidance on how to run digital communication campaigns and how to resolve crises. I’m confident there’s a solution for every problem.”

For young people planning to establish January 10, 2021

At 24, Bran Reluao heads the digital reputation management agency BranReluao and Associates, OPC, while Princess Legaspi, 27, is the CEO of Whitecanvas Marketing. their own start-up, Legaspi advocates for the pursuit of knowledge.

“Before Whitecanvas Marketing became what it is now, I had to explore and hop from one company to another, continuously learning,” she said. “Welcome failures with open arms and continue learning from your mistakes. Learning from failure is the most essential, yet misunderstood, concept in business leadership.”