BusinessMirror January 11, 2020

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FARM GASTRO TREAT n

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Tourists will soon savor the delight, health benefits of freshly harvested greens in PHL hotels

NACPAN Beach in El Nido, Palawan KEVIN BENCKENDORF | DREAMSTIME.COM

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo | Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE Department of Tourism (DOT) is helping hotels source local agricultural products, an extension of its mandate to promote farm tourism in the country.

With Sen. Cynthia A. Villar as its chief architect, the Farm Tourism Development Act was enacted in 2016, which seeks to promote farms as tourism sites.

In a news briefing, Tourism Secretary Bernadette RomuloPuyat said the DOT is “going beyond that. The biggest question we always ask is, how can the law help the farmers? In this regard, we have already held a Farm Tour-

ism Summit in Manila [in 2019], and we plan to hold another in Iloilo, Clark and perhaps in Cagayan de Oro [in 2020], where we will be linking farmers with the hotels.”

The law sets up a Farm Tourism Development Board, which shall set the overall direction in the implementation of a Farm Tourism Strategic Action Plan.

The DOT chief chairs the board with the agriculture secretary as

TOURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat recently met with the Accor Group, led by Michael Issenberg, chairman of Accor Asia Pacific (fifth from left). The DOT will be helping the hospitality group source farm produce for its hotels, five of which will be built in the New Clark City. (From left) Accor VP for Development Chris Cho, DOT Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr., COO Continued onAccorHotels a2 Patrick Basset, and Cluster GM for Fairmont Raffles Hotels Bernd Schneider. PHOTO COURTESY DOT

vice chair and the trade and industry secretary as a member. Other members include presidents of an educational institution providing farm tourism, a national farm tourism organization, a national inbound tour operators association, and national federation of farmers’ cooperative.

Romulo-Puyat said, “Many hotels have started to come in,” looking for a steady supply of agricultural products. “In fact, just recently, I spoke with the chairman of the Accor Hotel Group [for Asia Pacific, Michael Issenberg] and they are putting up 22 hotels in the Philippines. They would need a good source [of farm produce], so that’s why we will be going around the country.”

New hotels

SHE added, “In Clark alone they will be putting up five new hotels,

including the world-famous Banyan Tree hotel. What we plan to do is to link these hotels to the farmers directly. It just makes sense that hotels will get their supply directly from the farmers themselves, without the middlemen. We will help the famers consolidate so they can meet the demands of the hotels,” said the DOT chief.

Romulo-Puyat, who was undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture (DA) for 12 years before heading the DOT in 2017, noted the common problem of farmers is the lack of transportation to carry their produce from their farms to the market. However, she disclosed, “Victory Liner has approached us in the DOT and pitched in to help. They have already committed two buses for farmers coming from Benguet, in addition to giving them a free Continued on a2

Taiwan leader gets election boost from unlikely place: China

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By Ken Moritsugu & Ralph Jennings

Her main opponent, Han Kuoyu of the Nationalist Party, won the mayor’s race in the DPP stronghold of Kaohsiung in the 2018 local elections and held a comfortable lead over Tsai in early 2019.

Tsai began chipping away at his lead in the spring and pulled ahead for good in August. She was the clear leader by the end of the year, according to an aggregation of polls

by The News Lens, an independent youth-oriented media outlet.

A Tsai victory is the last thing that Xi wants, yet it was his major policy speech on Taiwan at the start of 2019 that many analysts point to as the starting point for her political recovery.

The Associated Press

AIPEI, Taiwan—A year ago, Taiwan’s leader was on the ropes. Then she got a boost from an unexpected corner: Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Polls indicate that President Tsai Ing-wen is poised to win a second four-year term today, Saturday, a remarkable turnaround for a leader whose future was in doubt after voters dealt her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a major loss in November 2018 local elections.

Since then, Tsai has capitalized on three developments: the fears generated by China’s tough words on Taiwan, protests in Hong Kong that have reinforced those fears and US government actions that reassure voters that America

will have Taiwan’s back if the going gets tough.

“All the factors that help Tsai Ing-wen are happening: the China factor, the US factor and the Hong Kong protests,” pollster You Yinglung, chairman of the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, said at a news conference late last month.

A victory for Tsai and her independence-leaning party would likely herald continued tensions and a further souring of relations with China, which considers selfgoverning Taiwan a renegade province.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.6030

‘One country, two systems’

IN this January 8, 2020, photo, wristwatches with a picture of Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s President and the 2020 presidential election candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party, are sold during an election campaign rally in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu province. AP

THE Chinese leader upped the pressure on Taiwan to join China under the “one country, two systems” framework that governs Hong Kong. He called for talks on the issue, while saying that China would not rule out the use of force to achieve unification.

Continued on a2

n JAPAN 0.4621 n UK 66.1280 n HK 6.5151 n CHINA 7.2995 n SINGAPORE 37.4476 n AUSTRALIA 34.6985 n EU 56.2048 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4906

Source: BSP (January 10, 2020)

News

BusinessMirror

FARM GASTRO TREAT A2 Saturday, January 11, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Continued from a1

ride going to Clark. It’s part of their CSR [corporate social responsibility].”

Symbiotic

SHE added, “I am very happy that I was able to bring together my work in the DA and now with the DOT. That is to say, the hotel comes out with the demand, while the farmers provide the supply with their produce of high agriculture practice.”

She noted that the project with Accor isn’t the first time the DOT is helping farmers sell their produce directly to buyers. “We actually did that already with El Nido Resorts. All the rice famers there supply El Nido resorts with their produce. What happens is that the farmers get a higher yield by having their target market in El Nido resorts. There is no more middlemen. This is what we want to replicate, the El Nido model.”

Everybody’s biz

WHILE she noted that the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016 was crafted to “promote day tours to farms, we wanted to go beyond this. That’s why we targeted the market linkage between farmers and hotels. The farmers now have a sure and steady market for their produce. That makes tourism everybody’s business. When you have tourism, it helps the local souvenir shops, farmers, it employs people, tour guides, transportation, etc.”

As per the DOT web site, there are 419 accredited farm tourism

COCONUTS on Corong-Corong Beach, El Nido, Palawan. SHUNGA_SHANGA | DREAMSTIME.COM

sites in the country as of December 27, 2019.

Sustainability catalyst

IN an interview with the BusinessMirror, Gaynor Reid, Accor­ Hotels’s Communications Vice President for Asia Pacific, said the hospitality group has 15 hotels in the pipeline, all set to open by 2025. At present it manages eight hotels, which include Raffles and Fairmont hotels in Makati, Movenpick Mactan Island in Cebu, Movenpick Resort and Spa in Boracay, Novotel Manila Araneta in Cubao, Quezon City, Mercure Manila Ortigas, and Joy Nostalg

Manila also at the Ortigas business district.

“We at the DOT are looking forward for Farm Tourism to serve as a catalyst for greater sustainability,” said Romulo-Puyat. “We know that we can now pursue it properly, guided by the IRR [Implementing Rules and Regulations].

Farm Tourism holds the promise of food sufficiency and additional income for our tourism stakeholders, including farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk. After all, gainful employment, enhanced productivity and sustainable livelihoods are what tourism is really all about,” she said.

“Farm Tourism capitalizes on two of our competitive advantages: agriculture, as 41.7 percent of the total land area in the country is devoted to farming [as of 2016 according to the World Bank], employing 23.5 percent of the Filipino workforce [as of July 2019], and the world-renowned Filipino brand of hospitality that brought in 7.1 million foreign visitors to the country [in 2018],” she stressed.

Indeed, if the agriculture expert turned tourism marketer pulls this off seamlessly, in time she—and the sectors she serves— will see a truly bountiful harvest, farm-wise and goodwill-wise.

Taiwan leader gets election boost from unlikely place: China Continued from a1

Tsai responded immediately, saying Taiwan’s 23 million people would never accept “one country, two systems” and launching a four-day media blitz. Three weeks later, her support rating was 10 percentage points higher than after the November 2018 election setback.

She also benefited from a revamp of her public image that used memes, animation and social media to reach young voters. Campaign spokeswoman Lien Yi-ting credited the strategy with playing an important role in boosting Tsai’s approval ratings.

Then came the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, which erupted in June. Tsai has repeatedly pointed to the unrest as proof that the “one country, two systems” approach pushed by China doesn’t work.

Taiwan’s presidential elections generally revolve around the island’s relationship with China. Voters have gone back and forth between the tough line that the DPP says is best to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and the cooperation with China that the Nationalist Party says will foster economic growth.

“I think, because of the recent months of the Hong Kong protests and Tsai’s successful strategy of playing the anti-China card, these

‘S

he’s [Tsai] like the coolest politician in Taiwan. Young people really love her again, which is amazing because a year ago, no one liked her.”–Lev Nachman, a Fulbright fellow researching politics in Taiwan practical issues are played down and voters are swayed into this scare mentality,” said Jason Hsu, an NP lawmaker who is a member of Han’s policy advisory team.

The economic argument has lost some of its potency as Taiwanese companies move manufacturing out of China because of rising labor costs and the US-China trade war, which has led to tariffs on Chinese goods. China has made it more difficult for Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.

US ‘support’

THE US, which does not recognize Taiwan but sells it military equipment for defense, has passed laws and taken other steps that, while largely symbolic, have demonstrated support for the island. That emboldens voters to stand up to China, despite the risks.

“These make people believe

that the US is a factor that Taiwan can rely on,” said Wong Ming-hsien, a professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies. “And if Taiwan can rely on that, it can sustain pressure from China.”

Han’s predilection for verbal gaffes, and a primary challenge from business leader Terry Gou that divided the NP, have also helped Tsai, said Lev Nachman, a Fulbright fellow researching politics in Taiwan.

He sees these factors and the remaking of Tsai’s image as equally if not more important than the Hong Kong protests in restoring Tsai’s popularity.

“She’s like the coolest politician in Taiwan,” he said. “Young people really love her again, which is amazing because a year ago, no one liked her.”

News BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Locsin affirms policy to help all at-risk Mideast OFW, but gets into exchange with groups

By Recto L. Mercene

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ILITANT groups picketed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday, urging the government not to send Filipino troops to Iraq, the center of unfolding tension between the United States and Iran, and to help speed up the return of their relatives in Iraq.

When Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., however, tried to explain the government’s plans for the migrant workers, he got into a heated argument with protest leaders when one of them refused to lend him his microphone.

There are an estimated 1,900 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) employed in households and in American-run military bases in Iraq, one of three Middle East countries (the other two being Iran and Lebanon) where government raised the alert level to 4, meaning, a forced evacuation.

Locsin, wearing white barong, arrived at his office as the militant groups Migrante, Courage, and Bayan Muna where condemning the deployment of Filipino troops to Iraq, fearing this might endanger Filipino workers there if tensions between Iran and the US escalate.

Apparently, the groups had not read an earlier statement from the government explaining that if ever troops are sent to Iraq, they are there only to help speed up the repatriation and to protect the lives of Filipino there, and not to engage in any activity that may be construed as supporting any of the combatants between the United States military and Iraqi soldiers.

L o c s i n at te mpte d to ge t hold of the microphone that a protester was holding in an apparent attempt to reiterate this point and assure the crowd that no effort will be spared to ensure the safe repatriation of workers, but the protester refused, saying, “Programa namin ito [this is our program].”

The protesters kept on shouting the slogan, “Makibaka, huwag matakot [struggle on, don’t be afraid],” while a frustrated Locsin was seen in an ABS-CBN video going back to his office. But a short while later, he came back and confronted the shouting mob, daring them to strike him, while telling the DFA guards not to intervene and to stand back.

“ Tr y, sige bugbug in mo ako [okay, tr y and beat me],” Locsin could be heard saying in an ABSCBN video but he was ignored until he spotted a nearby broadcast crew’s microphone and borrowed it. He then clarified the gover nment’s stand v is-à-v is OFWs in the Middle East, and as he said earlier, “any where in the world where they could be assisted by the DFA.” Last week, as he waited for the arrival of a group of returning OFWs from Lebanon, Locsin told the BusinessMirror, “No one will be left behind.”

On Friday, Locsin, speaking on an ABS- CBN News microphone, told the protesters the government would repatriate and shoulder the cost of the exit visas of all Middle East OFWs who wanted to go home.

“Kahit na parang wala nang giyera [even if there’s no war]... there will be a massive repatriation effort to bring our people back home, ’yung gustong pumunta rito [for those who wanted to come home],” he said.

Philippine authorities, he said, would also stay in conflict areas to protect Filipinos who refuse to go home.

Kuwait maid

MEANWHILE, Locsin said he would seek justice for a Filipina maid in Kuwait who was allegedly killed by her employers— a killing that prompted Manila to suspend the deployment of household workers to the oilrich state recently.

When the secretary read on Twitter on Friday that the family of the slain migrant worker in Kuwait was being offered “blood money” so that the employer would be freed, Locsin angrily asked: “How did the family of the slain Jeanelyn Villavende get the news of the blood money offer?” He then answered his own question on his official Twitter account, saying it was the local recruiter who relayed that information.

Earlier, Locsin said he would see to it that the local recruiter of Villavende goes to jail.

The former three-time Ma k at i cong ressma n a lso told A BS - CBN he wou ld help pro tester Reg ina Ga rde, who sa id her sister, a domestic worker in Saud i A rabia, was ba r red f rom going home by her employers even after her contract lapsed.

CAAP, 3 MAJOR CARRIERS VOW HELP TO REPATRIATE FILIPINOS FROM M.E.

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S developments in the Middle East (ME) unfold, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) and airlines Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and AirAsia have pledged their commitment to aid in the possible repatriation of Filipinos from countries in the region affected by tension between the United States and Iran.

“Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines have agreed to accommodate free of charge stranded Filipinos in the UAE [United Arab Emirates] or in any of its available Middle East flights, once the plans for the repatriation has been outlined. AirAsia on the other hand has agreed to the possible allocation and free accommodation of repatriated Filipinos that need to go back to their respective provinces in their domestic flights,” Caap Director General Jim Sydiongco said.

This manifestation of the airlines came after defense, labor, and transportation officials met to draft plans for the evacuation of Filipinos affected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The meeting, presided over by Defense Secretar y Delfin Lorenzana, mapped- out a c t i o n s c u r re nt l y b e i n g u n d e r t a ke n by co n ce r n e d a g e n c i e s, a s we l l a s f u t u re strategies that the government will initiate should the events in the ME escalate, in order to secure the safety of Filipinos there.

For his part, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the air sector guarantees the swift and effective implementation of the repatriation plan.“When needed, our aviation sector, and the whole of DOTr, will fully support the government’s efforts in this repatriation. We will ensure that there will be no delays in getting our OFWs home and safe,” Tugade said.

Caap, likewise, expressed its readiness to comply with the government’s air requirements, air asset needs, and air-traffic aid to facilitate air movement.

“Caap will be doing its part and will be more than willing to support air operations that will ensure the safety of the Filipino people in this crucial time,” Sydiongco said.

Meanwhile, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) said it is ready to accommodate repatriated Filipinos at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals.

Miaa General Manager Ed Monreal said he will mobilize his medical team to assist repatriated OFWs in case they needed medical assistance.

He added that boarding gate 16 will be reserve for repatriated Filipinos so they can relax while immigration officers are processing their travel documents and distribute as well “Malasakit” kits containing drinking water, biscuits, wipes and other hand sanitizers. Recto Mercene

Saturday, January 11, 2020

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SEC files criminal raps vs Kapa group over get-rich-quick scheme

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By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed criminal charges on Thursday against a get-rich-quick scheme organization, saying it has moved closer to putting behind bars the group’s officers and promoters.

The SEC said it filed separate complaints against Kapa Community Ministry International in Rizal, Quezon City and Bislig, Surigao del Sur. In a separate criminal information filed with the Bislig City Regional Trial Court Branch 29, the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Kapa of engaging in the selling, or offering for sale or distribution, of securities to the general public without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the SEC. The DOJ charged Kapa founder and president Joel A. Apolinario, trustee Margie A. Danao and corporate secretary Reyna L. Apolinario of allegedly violating Sections 8 (8.1), 26.1 and 28 of Republic Act 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

Section 8 (8.1) states that securities shall not be sold, or offered for sale or distribution, within the Philippines without a

registration statement duly filed and approved by the SEC. Section 28 states that no person shall engage in the business of buying or selling securities in the Philippines as a broker or dealer, or act as a salesman, or an associated person of any broker, or dealer, unless registered with the SEC. The DOJ also indicted Marisol S. Diaz, Adelfa Fernandico, Moises Mopia and Reniones D. Catubigan for violation of Section 26.1 of the SRC for promoting the investment scam.

The DOJ further charged Diaz before the Rizal Regional Trial Court for violation of Section 28.

It filed similar criminal information against Mopia and Fernandico with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 93.

The SEC said the judges, “upon finding of sufficient probable cause for the issuance of warrants of arrest, shall order the arrest of the indicted officers and promoters of Kapa.” It said a warrant of

arrest was already issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on December 2 last year against Fernandico.

It said criminal proceedings stemmed from the complaint it received on June 18 last year against Kapa “ for the unauthorized sale, or offering for sale or distribution, of securities to the general public.” A DOJ resolution on September 25 last year “ found probable cause to bring charges against Kapa, affirming the findings of the SEC.” The SEC said it found Kapa “to have enticed the public to invest at least P10,000 in exchange for a 30-percent monthly return for life, without having to do anything other than invest and wait for the payout.”

The SEC said Kapa employed a Ponzi scheme, “an investment program that offers impossibly high returns and pays investors using the money contributed by later investors.”

The SEC initially issued an advisory against Kapa in March 2017 followed by a cease-and-desist order on February 14 last year and an order of revocation of the Kapa certificate of incorporation on April 3.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council also obtained a freeze order from the Court of Appeals on June 4 last year on assets suspected to be linked with Kapa.

The SEC has secured convictions over previous Ponzi schemes since the SRC was enacted in July 2000.

In November 2015, for instance, the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 56 convicted spouses Saturnino and Rosario Baladjay, who operated a pyramiding scam through Multitel International Holdings Inc. The court sentenced them to serve seven years in jail for each count of violation for a total of 455 years and ordered them to pay the complainants a total of P8 million.

In addition, Rosario was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment in a separate conviction for syndicated estafa, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in July 2017.

Meanwhile, the SEC reiterated its advice to the general public to exercise more caution and discernment “as certain supporters and promoters of Kapa peddled false information about the group’s supposed revival.”

The SEC said it “called out” Roger Abing Camingawan and Daniel Flash Villas “for falsely claiming, in paid radio broadcasts from General Santos City, that Kapa successfully registered as a crowdfunding entity.” The Kapa, disowned the claim, saying it did not authorize the publication of such false claims on social media.

“We are committed to see the cr imina l proceedings against K apa through to the end,” SEC C h a i r m a n Em i l io B . A qu i no said. “We will pursue ever yone involved in the investment scam that played havoc with the future of our fellow Filipinos, including those who continue to attempt to per petuate it.”

US Army plans to expand Asian cyber efforts to counter China

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HE US Army will expand efforts to counter China by deploying a specialized task force to the Pacific capable of conducting information, electronic, cyber and missile operations against Beijing.

The unit, which Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy is expected to detail at an event in Washington on Friday, would also be equipped to hit land- and seabased targets with long-range precision weapons, such as hypersonic missiles, possibly clearing the way for Navy vessels in the event of conflict.

The Army task force would help neutralize some capabilities China and Russia already possess and are intended to keep US carrier groups away from the Asian mainland, McCarthy said in an interview. It’s not clear how quickly the unit, which would

likely be based on islands east of Taiwan and the Philippines, can be deployed.

T he move is desig ned to “neutralize all the investments China and Russia have made,” McCarthy said. It would be bolstered by a new agreement with the National Reconnaissance Office that develops and manages US spy satellites, he said.

Under that accord, Army tactical units will be better able to tap information gleaned from existing and future low Earth orbit satellites, he said.

petitor” China and historic rival Russia. The extent to which the current tensions with Iran upset that plan remains to determined but the Army is pressing ahead.

Under McCarthy’s vision, the move would allow the Army to create a new paradigm in the Pacific where ground forces would “punch a hole” in enemy defenses for air and naval forces.

Now, the ground-based unit in those island chains can create the support “for air and sea,” McCarthy said.

Pivot to Asia

C H I N A’ S m i l it a r y do c t r i ne calls for a so-called anti-access strategy, backed by long-range anti-ship missiles and spacebased sur veil lance capabilities, intended to keep US aircraft carrier strike groups well beyond the so-called first and

THE pivot would help Defense Secretary Mark Esper achieve a long-sought American goal of shifting more forces from Europe, the Middle East and Africa to the Pacific, better positioning the US to take on “peer com-

Island chains

Vatican hands down ‘not guilty’ verdict on healing priest Fr. Fernando Suarez

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HE Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith of the Vatican has exonerated a healing priest from Bukidnon, who was accused of sexual abuse.

The Congregation sent a letter to the Judicial Vicar and Retired Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias that has ruled Fernando M. Suarez of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose de Occidental Mindoro of “not guilty” of the accusation against him of committing sexual abuse of minors.

In response, Tobias, through the National Tribunal of Appeals (NOA)

of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) informed Suarez and other priests and bishops about the ruling from the Vatican through a decree of notification.

“This means that he [Suarez] has been falsely accused of these crimes and, therefore, nothing now stands [in the way] for him to exercise his healing ministry, provided it is done properly in coordination with the ecclesiastical authority of every ecclesiastical jurisdiction,” the decree read.

The decree of notification was issued on January 6, 2020.

Due to the allegation of committing sexual abuse, Suarez was banned by several bishops from conducting healing masses.

Among the said bishops was Bishop Jose Cabantan, Malaybalay bishop; former archbishop of LingayenDagupan, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, and the late Bishop Jose Oliveros of the Diocese of Malolos.

To recall, the NOA submitted the case of Suarez to the Vatican for action on May 8, 2019. Samuel P. Medenilla

second island chains. The first island chain extends from the Kuril islands down to Borneo, while the second island chain generally extends from just east of Japan to Guam and down toward New Guinea.

The pivot includes greater Army participation in regional war games like the “Defender Pacific” series and deploying a “Security Force Assistance Brigade” next year for the Indo-Pacific theater similar to ones set up and deployed to Afghanistan, he said.

The Army started experimenting with the task force in 2018. The 17th Field Artiller y Brigade from Joint Base LewisMcChord in Washington State conducted nine major training e xerc i ses, plu s si mu l at ion s a nd wa r ga mes to eva lu ate concepts. Bloomberg News

A4 Saturday, January 11, 2020

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

SRA order strikes import/export deal to assure ample sugar supply T

PIDS study prescribes PHL export diversification, product innovation

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

HE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) will allow exporters of raw sugar to the United States to import refined sugar to ensure that the country would have ample supply of the sweetener.

The SRA recently issued Sugar Order 4, which established an “A” sugar-export replenishment program for Crop Year 2019-2020.

“To replenish the volume when exported to the US, and restore domestic supply of sugar with more processed and valued refined sugar, an A sugar-export

replenishment program has to be implemented,” the SO read. The order took effect on Thursday, January 9.

Furthermore, the SRA noted that the A sugar-export replenishment program will “benefit farmers, particularly small farmers as it will increase the value of their A

sugar quedans.”

Under the replenishment program, exporters of A sugar “may import a corresponding volume of sugar exported at a ratio of 1:1 [raw equivalent],” according to the SO. “If the replenishment shall be in raw form, SRA shall require the imported raw sugar to be tolled in a local refinery prior to reclassification,” it added.

“As used in this order, an Lkg [50 kg] of refined sugar shall be equivalent to 1.08 Lkg of raw sugar, if replenishment shall be in refined form,” it added.

The SO pointed out that only A sugar quedans issued for the current crop year, and exported to the US sugar quota for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 are covered by the replenishment program.

Furthermore, the exporters of A sugar may start importing once the SR A Board “determines that the replenishment is needed through the issuance of a separate sugar order/circular on guidelines of importation for the replenishment.”

The separate order shall outline the arrival date and requirements for issuance of clearance for release, and other pertinent rules on the importation of sugar through the replenishment program.

“Provided, that, imported sugar for replenishment shall be initially classified as ‘C,’ or reserve sugar, in their clearances for release of imported sugar. All sugar imported under this program shall be stored in an SRA-registered warehouse prior to its reclassification to ‘B,’” the SO read.

Nueva Ecija farmers, LGU execs buck govt’s onion import plan

FARMERS and local officials of Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, are hoping and appealing to the Department of Agriculture for the reconsideration of its decision to allow the importation of onions by mid-February. They have expressed fears that importing onion would result in their products being dumped due to low prices. FILE PHOTO BY MARILYN GALANG

B

ONGABON, Nueva Ecija— Farmers and local officials here have called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to reconsider its decision to allow the importation of onions by mid-February.

Mayor Allan Gamilla acknowledged that the government must stabilize the prices of goods, and make a good balance between farmers and consumers.

However, Gamilla appealed that all means other than importatio

must be exhausted first, saying that local onion producers would unduly suffer from unreasonably low prices.

“Sa pag-i-stabilize, gobyerno naman talaga ang may kontrol nito.

Maaari pong sila ang magdikta ng tamang presyo na kikita ’yung mga magsasaka at kaya lang po ng consumer sana para maging balanse.

[To stabilize prices, the government, indeed, has the control. It may dictate the right price that

would enable the farmers to earn, and is also affordable to consumers to make it balanced],” he said in a recent interview.

Gamilla agreed with farmers that the prevailing market price of P130 to more than P200 per kilogram of onion is not justified for consumers.

He also acknowledged that the DA has extended support to farmers by distributing free seeds and pesticides last December.

Gamilla, however, said the impor-

tation during harvest season would surely hurt local farmers.

“This may even deny local farmers access to cold storage when needed,” he said. “Okay lang mag-import, pero huwag sana sa panahon na umaani dahil ngayon pa lang kami nagbabakasakaling bumawi sa malaking lugi. [It is okay to import, but not during the harvest season because it is only now that farmers could recover their huge losses].”

Leon Abunan, 72, a farmer from Barangay Lusok here, said importation is an impending disaster for them.

“Huwag po sana [Hopefully not],” he said, expressing fear that the import of bulbs, whether red creoles or yellow granex, would result in their products being dumped due to low prices.

Abunan said he has thought of giving up onion farming, which he started when he was 20 years old.

“Ang mga kapatid ko ay tumigil na sa sibuyas. Kamatis na ang tanim nila.

[My siblings have already stopped growing onion, and are now planting tomatoes],” he said.

Abunan said he spends some P150,000 for his 6,000-square-meter farm per cropping.

Records from the Municipal Agriculture Office showed more than 2,300 hectares of farmland here were planted with onion in 2019.

As of January 2, figures were down to 1,376.84 hectares; with 970.19 planted with red creoles, 405.55 hectares w ith yel low granex, and 1.10 hectares with red shallots. PNA

HE country needs to diversify its exports and market destinations and introduce more product innovations in a bid to boost its export performance, according to a paper released by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

In terms of the industrial exports, the research paper, titled “Facilitating Structural Transformation through Product Space Analysis: The Case of Philippine Exports,” said one short-run diversification strategy is to focus on the products that are not yet substantially produced but the country has revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in.

“The starting points of the first strategy are the existing exports already produced [although not substantially, accounting for less than 0.5 percent of the country’s total exports] by the country, and require less adjustments in the production structures,” it said.

Potential markets for these goods include Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies and Asean members, it added.

The paper also said the agricultural sector can diversify into the production of goods with higher sophistication content, as well.

In the short run, the country can focus on improving the production structure of agricultural goods which the country has RCA in, but are not yet substantially produced.

These include processed fish and seafood, industrial oil, cereals/pasta/bread, animal/vegetable fats/oil and extracts/dye.

The paper further said another short-run diversification strategy looks at products that are relatively close to the country’s current production structure, but the country has no RCA in.

Potential products include part/ accessories of instruments/devices/ equipment, equipment/devices/parts of electrical nature, minerals, parts/ accessories of motor vehicles, products related to plastics, among others.

It added potential markets for these goods include OECD economies, Asean countries, Brazil and Morocco.

Some OECD and Asean economies are markets for goods in the country’s current export basket, such as integrated circuits, static converters, and photosensitive/photovoltaic/LED semiconductor devices, color television receivers/monitors/projectors and crude/refined copra oil.

Further, the paper said it is imperative to promote an environment that encourages innovations as a way of doing business, noting that innovations are correlated with the firm’s productivity and employment growth.

“To facilitate product innovations, there is a need to ensure that process innovations are integrated into the various stages of good production. This will require increased servicification,” it added. Philexport

German lifestyle event spotlights Filipino craftsmanship skills

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HE country’s creative edge in producing distinctly designed handcrafted products takes center stage, once again, as Philippine manufacturers join “Ambiente 2020” this coming February 7 to 11, 2020, at Messe Frankfurt, Germany.

Under the Lifestyle Philippines brand, 24 strong furniture and home décor manufacturers that represent some of the artisan regions in the country will highlight handcrafted, and consciously made, products that speak of story and purpose.

The participation’s key messaging for this year is “Hands That Work.”

This direction presents a celebration of the innate capabilities of Filipinos to create the most design-driven yet functional pieces from natural and sustainable raw supplies, and even from old and considered as waste materials. The participation will highlight the artistic and capable hands of local manufacturers that harnessed different material manipulation techniques to create exquisite products globally used and appreciated today.

“We are a country of artisans. Our ancestors, up to our modern lineage, are weavers, sculptors and artists who produce objects that excite the global market. Therefore, we are strongly rallying behind our exporters and helping them promote in the international arena through trade shows, like Ambiente,” said Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions Executive Director (Citem) Pauline Suaco-Juan.

As the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Citem spearheaded Lifestyle Philippines, or the collective branding of creative enterprises that represent the best of the Philippines’s home and fashion sectors.

Ambiente is a trade fair recognized as a meeting point for buyers and suppliers from all over the world, and the participation is expected to enable the country to vie for a slice of the design and lifestyle market in Europe. Germany is the biggest trading partner of the Philippines in the European Union and its 11th global trading partner, with a total trade volume of $7.4 billion in 2018.

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Sunshine Place: A senior hub where Christmas is for everyone

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, January 11, 2020 A5

Travel notes: A senior couple’s trip together

By Nick Tayag

I

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

T is said that if you can imagine it, it will happen. But, sometimes, even if you don’t imagine or wish it, it still happens.

FELICIDAD T. SY Foundation Chairman Felicidad T. Sy (left) graced the Sunshine Place’s Christmas Party with Nancy Ty.

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CLOI SUGANO, soprano and Sunshine Place piano teacher, with her back-to-back solo: “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and her National Music Competition for Young Artists winning piece, “Sempre Libera,” which won her second prize in the Voice Category.

HILE it is said that Christmas is for kids, the recent Christmas Party at the Sunshine Place showed that it is for everyone during a fun-filled evening of great music and great camaraderie.

SM Investments Corp. Vice Chairman Tessie Sy Coson (second from left) warmly welcomes Asia Pacific College President Tata Pastor Medado (fourth from left) and Atty. Antonio Pastor (most left) with brother Rafael at Sunshine Place’s Christmas Party.

The senior hub was filled with strains of glorious music: The Met Chorus from the Manila Metropolitan Theater’s series of Christmas medleys...Cloi Sugano’s back-to-back solo…and Mariel Ilusorio and Atty. Antonio Pastor’s classical piano performances.

The Sunshine Place’s very own Tap Class also performed a special dance intermission, to the tune of “Love Never Felt So Good.” The exchanging of gifts of members, and a raffle completed that Christmas feeling those in attendance always love.

Sunshine Place, a senior recreation center under the Felicidad T. Sy Foundation, is a venue for adults to live actively, through engaging in recreational classes and ageappropriate physical training program. It is the venue where senior citizens can be entertained, where they can socialize and reflect; a place of happiness and wellness for one’s mind, body and soul.

RENOWNED pianist Mariel Ilusorio delighted guests with two piano solos—“No Other Love” and “Mayon Fantasy”

by Francisco Buencamino. She’ll also grace a monthly musical of Sunshine Place called Sunshine Classics every Wednesday of the month from January to June 2020.

BenCab, Kidlat Tahimik to grace Baguio’s ‘crazy’ arts exhibit ‘Ibagtit’

By Pigeon Lobien

Philippine News Agency

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AGUIO CITY—Some 30 artists from at least four mediums will hold a one-of-a-kind exhibit at what is called the media center of Baguio and the Cordilleras—the Luisa’s Café on Session Road—during the second full moon of the year 2020 on February 8.

The full moon was once said to be the cause of madness, thus the word lunatic from the word luna or moon.

“They will be coming from four art mediums,” said one of the lead organizers, Kigao Rosimo, a sculptor, who will be joining Baguio and Cordillera artists in the rare show.

“Everybody is invited to join as long as they bring their artworks with them,” said Rosimo of the event called Ibagtit.

Bagtit is crazy in Baguio dialect, a mix of Ilokano, Pangasinense, Tagalog and even highland dialects.

The exhibit will actually be a cause-oriented event especially in mental-health issues, thus the title that is also inspired by the Baguio arts festival in November 2019 entitled Ibagiw.

The show will have visual artworks like sculpture, paintings, photography, performance art, music and literature under the care of the Baguio Writers Group (BWG) led by

SCULPTOR Kigao Rosimo plays a kundiman tune in front of his shop Char Bar which sells activated charcoal and soap made up of charcoal and shaped in the likeness of a woman’s body. Rosimo is one of the lead organizers of a multi-medium arts exhibit starting on February 8 during a full moon, entitled Ibagtit, bagtit or crazy in local dialect. PNA PHOTO BY PIGEON LOBIEN

two-time Palanca awardee for poetry Frank Cimatu, an editor of the local weekly Baguio Chronicle.

The works will be displayed at the walls of the second floor of the café owned by Chongloy Wong, called “bureau chief” in what is now known as the Chongloy News Network (CNN).

Photojournalists will be part of the exhibit as they will display their works, too.

Veteran painter Roland Bay-an is expected to join the event where performances will be made on particular days, especially during the opening day, which is a Saturday.

Angelo Aurelio is expected to come out with performances not just during the

opening day but also during Fridays of the monthlong event where visual artists must bring their framed work.

Cimatu will actually lead the poetry readings that will have young poets under the BWG of which he is one of its advisers.

Expected to grace the event’s opening will be the city’s two national artists—Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera for visual arts and Kidlat Tahimik for films.

“It’s a crazy idea but anything that is crazy could work,” said Rosimo, who owns a store at Kidlat Tahimik’s Ili-Likha artists village where he sells soaps made of charcoal and activated charcoal which he says could cure any illness.

Rosimo survived prostate cancer using activated charcoal, which he mixes with water for drinking and poultice at his groin.

Baguio was declared as a creative city for folk arts and crafts in October 2017, which led to the creation of the Baguio Arts and Crafts Collective Inc. that now organizes the annual arts festival.

The Diplomat Hotel at the Dominican Heritage Hill is one of the prospective venue for the annual festivity and is currently under the care of the city artists so they could stage more events there, said Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong who was impressed by the staging of the Ibagiw.

A trip to America was never in our minds or in our plans. Yet, on May 6 last year, we found ourselves at the LAX Airport after a grueling long flight from Manila.

The trip was entirely the idea of my wife’s younger siblings and their dear spouses who had suddenly and generously chipped in to sponsor our three-week visit to the west coast. To give them credit, they really made an effort to make our stay as enjoyable and memorable as possible. We can never thank them enough.

To my inquisitive senior citizen friend Del Garcia, as well as old folks who have never been to America, the question is what was the trip like?

Everyone knows that as people age, they become more anxious about the idea of traveling long distances. Travel can become more challenging, to say the least. There are no age limits to travel. My wife’s 80-plus-year-old aunt endures the punishing 14 to 18-hour trip across the Pacific to San Francisco, California, every now and then. She is still as sprightly and as prickly as ever. However, many older travelers have to take into account factors that those of us in their prime never consider.

My first advice is make sure you are medically fit to endure a long trip (14 to 18 hours of sitting in a pressurized cabin). If your flight itinerary includes a stopover, that’s additional walking. Note that outside the Philippines, there are no tricycles or jeepneys to take you to the next couple of blocks; and commuter buses run on schedule and do not stop just anywhere.

Before our flight, we knew there was going to be a three-hour stopover (or layover) somewhere in Shanghai. What we did not know was that the layover at Pudong Airport did not have a jet bridge. We had to go down a flight of stairs. While my wife was given a wheelchair, the three hours still took some effort on our part and it added to the total travel time. My advice is to book a nonstop flight if possible. It means a higher fare, of course. But it’s worth it for seniors especially those who have mobility problems.

When you check-in at the desk, you can request a wheelchair that will get you to your gate. We found the travel breezy because of this amenity. Thanks to helpful airport porters, we were whisked briskly through screening procedures, immigration and customs clearance checks, and happily got out of the airport in no time at all, to our amazement and relief. They just wheel you in and wheel you out. For a small tip, of course.

One thing though—requesting this assistance means that you will have to remain on board until all other passengers have deplaned, which can be a lengthy delay.

If you have an overactive bladder, checkin early so you can request for a seat near the comfort room. A seat near the aisle is the most convenient option and can help avoid embarrassment when it comes to waking up fellow passengers and asking them to move each time you have to go to the restroom.

Limit liquid intake before and during your flight, or avoid diuretics, such as soda and coffee. Plain old water is the most bladderfriendly choice.

Once you’ve reached your destination, request your hosts for a day of rest in between your explorations. Thankfully, our hosts were sensitive enough to make our trips and excursions every other day. Also warn them that you may need to make frequent stops so they choose the route that have these stopovers. In our case, we found Google Maps to be very helpful in highlighting each rest stop along the route.

There is also the ticklish problem of how

to get out of the itinerary meticulously designed by your hosts so you would be able to see what really interests you. Museums or national parks? Cultural events or theme parks? Local cuisine or the branded franchise restaurants? Local crafts or malls? It may be impolite to turn down suggested spots because, as locals, they ought to know better. Fortunately, our prepared itinerary was flexible enough to allow some changes. For instance, we were supposed to drive to Las Vegas but sensing that we were not up to it, our hosts took us to other spots that gave us more meaningful experiences.

I hate selfie tourism because it detracts from the significance of the scenery or the historic or cultural landmark. But in every destination we visited, we had to take the obligatory or perfunctory selfie. I had to be game so as not to destroy everyone’s ebullient mood.

Traveling together as a couple was reassuring, knowing that you’re with a loved one all the time. One of the worst nightmares is getting sick far from your immediate family while in a strange land.

But beyond the holiday aspect of our trip there was a deeper sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. It was a journey back in time, as my wife and siblings relived old times somehow reconnecting with their past selves as the young boys and girls they used to be.

Being present now as older, wiser and better persons was their best gift to each other.

At the same time, it was also a journey to the future. In the faces of the transplanted nieces and nephews, and their states-born children, we saw the future of my wife’s clan in America. We could sense that the Filipino part of them is vanishing right in front of our eyes. Observing and talking to them, I realize a generational and oceanic divide. They are barely informed of what is happening in our part of the world. All they know are stuff they pick up on social media. Superficial things like beaches, food, fashion, music. Mano?

Suman? What’s that? Rizal? People power revolution? They’re clueless.

What impressed us about that trip was the deference shown to seniors, the handicapped and the disabled. There was always a space vacant reserved for them. Wheelchairs are always available for use in all tourist attractions (albeit for a small fee.)

But having said that, I cannot help but note too that in bountiful California (or America) I saw patches of poverty, with unkempt, homeless white men on the streets, holding placards, asking passing commuters for help or begging for food. For example, in San Francisco, California, even panhandlers creatively stage themselves with signs such as: “Will work for food” or “I’m not going to tell you a lie, I need money for alcohol” to others and hoping somehow of getting a favorable response from passersby.

Even if it was in our bucket list, I cannot deny that the trip has changed us. For one thing, it has made us less envious of others who flaunt their travels on social media. Because we were able to experience things beyond the usual, that journey broke down the monotony of our daily routine and infused some adventure, excitement and exploration into our lives.

Marveling at the giant sequoia trees filled our minds with enough wonder to last through our remaining years. Seeing mountain ranges after mountain ranges, blue lakes, waterfalls and gorges has humbled me and has proven Gustave Flaubert right when he said: “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

Best of all were the museums and the heritage sites we explored, although there was not enough time to linger. Visiting the posh houses of family members, relatives and meeting their friends made us see how one can indeed prosper in that country through sheer hard work.

So, to our fellow seniors, if you get the chance to travel outside the Philippines, grab it. So what if you’re old? As someone said: “Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times.”

A6

BusinessMi

Saturday, January 11, 2020 | Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

MIKKEL BJERG TARGETS WORLD HOUR RECORD

THE spotlight on Mikkel Bjerg couldn’t be much brighter.

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NDER-23 (U23) talents graduate to the professional ranks with varying degrees of expectation, but the spotlight on Mikkel Bjerg couldn’t be much brighter.

The Dane has won the World Championship time trial title at U23 level three years on the trot, and has his sights set on becoming the best time trialist in the world, of any age.

After a season in which Egan Bernal became the youngest winner of the Tour de France in 100 years, Remco Evenepoel won WorldTour races and elite titles straight from the junior ranks, and Tadej Pogacar won three stages and placed third overall at his first Grand Tour, young talents are taking less and less time to hit the heights.

Bjerg, who will turn pro with UAE Team Emirates, sought to play down any sense of pressure when speaking to Cyclingnews at a December team training camp in Spain.

“When guys like that make massive results in their first year, it motivates me a lot, but it doesn’t add any pressure,” he said.

“The stories of Bernal and Evenepoel, they’re one in a million—not every neo-pro goes and wins the biggest races.”

That said, Bjerg is hardly self-effacing when it comes to measuring his own ability and acknowledging his own ambitions.

“I think I’m within the 10 best guys in the world now in the time trial,” he said.

If he’s already in the top 10, without having turned a pedal as a pro, the ambition is, naturally, to be the best.

“I’m striving to be the best and that’s what motivates me,” he said.

“I look a lot at the data. At Worlds, it’s difficult to compare, because the U23’s race on different courses to the pros, but last year at the Danish championships, I could see the level of Kasper Asgreen there. I could see my power that day and what I needed to close the gap to Kasper. Hopefully, the next few years I will progress and be the best.”

Bjerg will make his professional bow at the Tour Down Under in Australia in January, where he’ll be working for Jasper Philipsen in the sprints. He’ll get a first chance of his own when he lines up at the Volta ao Algarve in February, where he’ll be able to measure himself against the rest in his first time trial as a pro.

He’ll then race some semi-Classics in Belgium before it’s decided whether he should be parachuted into the squad for some of the major one-day races.

“The Classics are something that motivates me, for sure,” Bjerg said.

“Often, you need to mature a bit before you can excel in the Classics. They’re so long that maybe when you reach the final 50 km, as a neo-pro, you’re out of gas. When I see the Tour of Flanders on TV, it doesn’t look that hard, but I’ve done the U23 Flanders and that was so hard.

I can, maybe, be good there in the future, but at the moment it seems like a really good jump.

Just going to Flanders, without finishing it, would be a really big experience.”

Hour Record and Worlds

BJERG is keeping quiet on the matter, but 2020 could see an assault on the UCI Hour Record spring up at any moment.

He had talked of taking on the record, set

by Victor Campenaerts in April with a distance of 55.089 kms, this autumn, using his form from the Worlds to see how far he could go.

He later revised that to a non-UCI-accredited attempt at the Danish Hour Record, which was taken from him by Martin Toft Madsen earlier this year (53.975 kms), but that was shelved due to illness.

“It’s a work in progress. If it’s possible to beat it next year, we’ll find out during the season and, hopefully, the team will support it 100 percent,” he said.

“We’ll take it as it comes, but, if the shape is really good and I can beat it this year, I don’t see why I should wait. The longer I wait, the biggest the chance Rohan Dennis will come along and smash it out of the ballpark.

“The Hour Record is just one hour at threshold. If you want to do a good one, you should focus on it for a couple of months beforehand, for sure, but it doesn’t vary that much from a racing calendar. From my perspective, you could do a WorldTour race three weeks before and still do the Hour Record. It’s not like you have to modify your training to focus only on the Hour Record.”

In any case, the Hour Record is a useful indicator for where Bjerg wants to progress as a time trialist. Despite shining on Worlds courses that have combined punchy ramps with faster sections, he wants to “strive more toward the Hour Record type of TT effort.”

The Worlds in Aigle-Martigny next September are a good place to start, with the time trial taking place on a flat 46-km course along the valley. Toward the end of his first season, it will give a true indication of how he matches up to the world’s best on the biggest stage of all.

“That’s a big ambition for next year—I really want to do well at Worlds,” Bjerg said, marking out Dennis, winner of the past two titles, as the benchmark. “He’s the guy to beat, and probably at Ineos he’s not going to get worse.” Cyclingnews

CHRIS FROOME hits back against suggestions his recovery was not going well.

DON’T UNDE ALEXANDER KRISTOFF says he’s starting to get older.

Kristoff: 2019 Tour de France may have been my last

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LEXANDER KRISTOFF will shake off seven years’ worth of habit in 2020 as he skips the Tour de France for the first time since 2012, and returns to the Giro d’Italia.

The Norwegian enjoyed a strong 2019 season, winning his first major spring Classic since 2015 at Gent-Wevelgem, as well as winning six other races and finishing on the

podium of the Tour of Flanders.

However, despite signing a new two-year contract with UAE Team Emirates, the 32-yearold has found his options limited in 2020, as Fernando Gaviria is the favored sprinter for the Tour, while Tadej Pogacar and Fabio Aru go for the overall title.

“It’s not 100 percent ideal,” Kristoff told Cyclingnews at a recent team training camp in Spain, trying to find the positives.

“I’ve never had a summer vacation as long as I’ve had kids—the whole summer it’s always been ‘daddy’s in France’—so it will be nice to spend some time with them over the summer.

“I hope I’ll do the Tour again in the future, but you never know.

Maybe I’ve done my last Tour. I’m starting to get older. Still, I hope I have a chance to go back.”

Racing the Giro leaves Kristoff with a tricky balancing act, given he’ll want to be in top shape for the spring Classics, beginning with Milan-San Remo on March 22 and ending with Paris-Roubaix on April 12.

After starting his 2020 season on the Iberian peninsula at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Clásica de Almería and Volta ao Algarve, Kristoff will head to the so-called opening weekend in Belgium for a taste of the Classics before ParisNice takes him into the proper spring period.

“It’s difficult to balance being in shape for the Giro if you want to be in shape from San Remo to Roubaix. It’s less than one month,

so there’s not really time to start the Giro in top shape,” he said.

“I will not compromise—I’ll focus everything on the Classics and, if I do well there, my season is already good, and we’ll see how it goes in the Giro. I’m motivated to do the Giro, and I’ll try and come back into shape in the short time.

“Maybe I’ll just have a few days rest after the Classics before building up to the Giro.

There’s a limit to how much you can lose in one month. If I can have one or two good days, that would be enough.”

If the 2019 Tour does indeed turn out to be Kristoff’s last, he will have ended on a bitter note. After a strong spring and decent latter part of the season, the Tour was the major area of disappointment last year.

It was a major disappointment for UAE Team Emirates as a whole, as each rider underperformed, with rumors circulating that a change in sports drink had caused the riders to absorb too much water.

Kristoff acknowledged that was part of the problem, but there were wider reasons the riders were overweight, as he revealed he gained nearly 6 kilograms in the first week.

“There are many things that happened.

Ultimately, the whole squad was too heavy. I maybe started the Tour at 77.9 kgs and after a few days I was close to 84 kgs. Then it’s difficult to perform,” he said.

“I think the problem was that we got too much energy. It’s maybe hard to believe, but some days are not so hard, and if you eat or drink too much you can actually get too many calories. The body absorbed a lot of water, and we gained some kilos there, but we also got some kilos of extra fat because we were eating too much.

“We were maybe not monitored enough, but the doctors think they have the reasons and the solutions. The team saw what happened and worked on it and already the team performed very well in the Vuelta. The team has hired a new nutritionist, who gives us more advice on what to do at home, and during the races we’ll be monitored more than before. It was a onetime mistake and, for sure, we won’t make the same mistake this year.”

Kristoff has often faced question marks over his weight, with his old team, KatushaAlpecin, telling him he was “too heavy” in 2017. Yet, somewhat, perversely in a sport where being light is given such importance, Kristoff believes being “slightly too heavy” was one of the factors behind his 2019 spring success. Cyclingnews

CHRIS FR T EAM Ineos principle Dave Brailsford has come out in support of four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome’s return to the French Grand Tour after recent reports claimed the 34-year-old’s comeback from injury had gone off track.

Brailsford warned people not to disregard Froome’s ability to return from the devastating injuries suffered in a harrowing crash, while he was warming up for the time trial stage at the Criterium du Dauphine in June.

“After the accident, Chris worked incredibly hard,” Brailsford told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “He is putting all the courage and determination into training that led him to win seven Grand Tours to be ready in time for the start of the 2020 Tour.”

Froome fractured his hip, elbow, femur, sternum and vertebrae in the crash, and had extensive surgery to repair his injuries. He then underwent a second surgery in November to remove a metal plate in his hip and screws in his elbow.

His recovery was initially described as going well, as he returned to training earlier this summer, but the recent reports in Bicisport and SpazioCiclismo.com painted a much different picture, with Team Ineos Sports Director Dario David Cioni reportedly questioning if Froome would ever return to his Grand Tourwinning form.

THE CCC Team ride on the Adelaide Hills before the Tour Down Under.

Froome moved quickly to quash that speculation, however, revealing that the training camp he left early—and on which the recent reporting was based—took place in December and not recently, as reported. He is scheduled to take part in another training camp in Gran Canaria this week, with Brailsford telling Gazzetta that the Team Ineos leader plans to stay a week longer than his teammates.

“No one should underestimate Froome,” Brailsford said. “He and Ineos will really do everything they can to get him to his best by the start [of the Tour de France] in Nice on June 27.”

Froome had hoped to add a record-tying fifth yellow jersey to his collection in 2019, but the Dauphine crash knocked him out for the season and opened the door for young Colombian and Ineos teammate Egan Bernal to seize the race ahead of defending champion Gerraint Thomas, also of Team Ineos.

In a tweet posted Sunday, Froome hit back against suggestions his recovery was not going well.

“Hope that I can set this straight, I was last at a training camp at the beginning of December,” he wrote. “My recovery is going well, and I will be heading to my next training camp on Thursday.

Onward.”

FROOME CLEARS UP CAMP ISSUE

CHRIS FROOME has taken to social media in

irror CYCLING

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Riis back in elite cycling as team manager of NTT

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OPENHAGEN, Denmark—Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour de France champion who admitted to doping following his retirement from cycling, is back in the sport as team manager of NTT Pro Cycling on the World Tour.

It marks the return of Riis to top-level men’s cycling for the first time since he left his role as team manager of Tinkoff-Saxo in 2015. He has since been trying to establish Danish-based teams in the lower tiers of cycling.

NTT Pro Cycling, the first team from

what has happened out there.

“We’ll create one of the world’s best cycling teams.”

In 2007, Riis admitted to using the bloodbooster EPO from 1993-98, including during his ‘96 Tour victory. Riis wasn’t sanctioned because time limits had expired, but he said he no long considered himself a worthy winner of the Tour, the most prestigious race in cycling.

“I have committed errors in the past,” the 55-year-old Riis said. “But I am convinced that

people who know me, know what I stand for and they know what I think.”

Douglas Ryder, founder and team principal of NTT Pro Cycling, said being able to call upon the “expertise and breadth of experience that Bjarne Riis will provide” is “another significant moment in the history of this team.”

The 2021 Tour is scheduled to depart from Copenhagen, with the first three stages held in the city and elsewhere in Riis’s native Denmark. ”It is a dream come true,” Riis said. “I see it as the ultimate bonus when the team lines up at the start of the Tour de France in 2021 in Copenhagen.” AP

Dennis reveals brush with eating disorder, scraps Grand Tour plan

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ERESTIMATE

FROOME response to reports saying that he had returned early from a training camp in Spain, posting that the last camp that he’d attended had in fact taken place in early December, and not more recently.

Froome posted on Twitter on Sunday evening: “Hope that I can set this straight, I was last at a training camp at the beginning of December. My recovery is going well and I will be heading to my next training camp on Thursday. Onward.”

It had been reported that Team Ineos sports Director Dario Cioni was concerned about Froome’s recovery from his serious crash at last year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

“After two days of training in Spain, Froome, who aspires to [win] a fifth yellow jersey, returned home. He’s not well and who knows if he will recover?” Cioni was reported to have said.

The quotes in the Italian press—in Bicisport and on SpazioCiclismo.com—were widely reported, and were thought to have been recent, but in fact appear to refer to the Team Ineos training camp in Mallorca, in Spain, in early December, as referenced

by Froome.

The destination for Froome’s training camp this week is as yet unknown, as is the 34-year-old’s first race of 2020, although he is set to continue training in order to try to return to full fitness and attempt to win a fifth Tour de France, which this year starts in Nice on June 27—a week earlier than normal due to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Cyclingnews

CCC riders visit Adelaide Hills

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Africa to compete at World Tour level, said Wednesday the Danish company that Riis coowns, Virtu Cycling, has invested in one third of the shares of the operational company behind NTT Pro Cycling. Based in South Africa, it was previously known as Team Dimension Data and has been on the World Tour since 2016.

“I have, in reality, not been away from cycling,” Riis said at a news conference in Copenhagen. “During the time I have not been on a World Tour team, I have been observing

A7

HE CCC Team riders in Australia for the Tour Down Under visited the Adelaide Hills affected by recent bushfires as the local residents confirmed the area is ready to welcome the race when Stage 2 starts in Woodside.

Simon Geschke, Joey Rosskopf, Fran Ventoso, Lukasz Wiśniowski, Szymon Sajnok and Josef Cerny rode through the areas hit by the bushfires and spent time with local people in Woodside, who were preparing banners to welcome the race.

“Every January, the town in the Adelaide Hills come out and show us so much support at the Tour Down Under. We are humbled to have the opportunity to show our support for the people who have lost loved ones, homes, business and land in the catastrophic bushfires currently raging across Australia,” the CCC Team said via social media.

“We would like to extend our condolences to everyone impacted by the bushfires, and our support and thanks to all of the firefighters,

OHAN DENNIS revealed he was on a “slippery slope” to an eating disorder last year after trying to lose weight in order to compete for overall titles at stage races and Grand Tours.

A few years ago, Dennis, a former track rider and current time trial world champion, announced his intention to become a Grand Tour contender within four years. That process was delayed but never taken off the table, and his potential was underlined last year when he placed second at the Tour de Suisse.

Dennis, however, will now scrap the Grand Tour project, focusing instead on time trial titles—the Olympics and Worlds are his key 2020 targets—as well as the odd weeklong stage race.

In an interview with The Advertiser (Adelaide), Dennis opened up about the struggles he faced with his approach to food and his weight.

“Last year I was thinking ‘you know what? it’s probably something that physically I can do—be a Grand Tour rider—and I have the capabilities.

But I just don’t know if I want to go down the road, and I’ll be honest with you, I started to eat and not eat and was on that slippery slope of a complex or disorder,” he said.

“It got to a point where I was putting on weight, I would have one beer but then feel guilty and wouldn’t eat at training the next day, so then I couldn’t train properly, I wouldn’t do a good session, eat minimal and bonk again. Then you think you’re shit, you

summer—following a frustrating day in Rio four years ago—before looking to add a third straight World title in Switzerland in September.

A Grand Tour bid was always unlikely in an Olympic year, but Dennis now concedes he may never try to emulate Bradley Wiggins, a fellow former pursuit rider who won the Tour de France with Ineos in 2012.

“I pulled the reins on that a fair bit earlier last year, it’s not worth having a disorder,” he said.

“I am not someone who is naturally really skinny. I’m not a big guy either but I do put on weight fairly quickly when it comes to cycling and bulk up quite easily compared to guys like [Egan] Bernal and these pure climbers. I’m not sure if it’s really worth going through the stress of trying to match that. I’m more comfortable with still having a life off the bike and being the best in the world at something.”

Insidethegames

ROHAN DENNIS: l’d have one beer, feel guilty, and wouldn’t eat at training the next day.

THERE’S NO STOPPING TOUR DOWN UNDER T

HE 2020 Tour Down Under is set to continue despite Australia’s ongoing bushfire crisis, which has particularly affected large parts of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, and, to a lesser extent, the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. The women’s and men’s stage races, held between January 16 and 26, will gave routes in the areas.

The race organization released a statement across the weekend, stating that it was committed to staging the race as planned, but that “the safety and well-being of everyone involved...is our priority.”

“Our thoughts are with those people and communities affected by the bushfires, and certainly with the CFS [Country Fire Service] and others who continue to work so hard to keep South Australian people and property protected,” the statement read.

“We are in discussions with the Adelaide Hills Council, who are committed to seeing the Santos Tour Down Under running through the region.

The Council and DPTI [Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure] are working hard to ensure the routes are safe so both the men’s and women’s races can go ahead as planned.

“In talking with the Adelaide Hills Council, the most significant thing we as a race can do at this time is to promote that the Adelaide Hills are open for business, to promote the region and encourage people to travel into and support the region. We are working closely with Council, emergency services and the local communities and will continue to monitor the situation,” it said.

“As always, the safety and well-being of everyone involved with the Santos Tour Down Under is our priority.”

STANDING ON STANDS People stand on cycle stands as they watch the New Year’s Day Parade in London. AP

emergency service personnel, and volunteers who are tirelessly working to protect the country.”

The bushfires have damaged huge areas of Australia, with harrowing images of volunteer firefighters taking on the fires, and koalas and kangaroos trying to escape the flames.

Flames have swept across Australia’s southeastern mountain and coastal areas, leaving Sydney and other areas under smoke. While the Adelaide area has been hit by some major fires, the biggest seen on television around the world are hundreds of miles away from Adelaide, with the wind blowing the smoke east, away from the city and the area where the racing will be held.

Race officials have confirmed they are working closely with authorities to monitor fire danger, air quality, and other safety issues affected by any local fires. However the Adelaide Hills area wants to show they are ready to host the Tour Down Under despite the recent damage.

“We are in discussions with the Adelaide Hills

feel down and you keep going.”

Coupled with the desire to be light was the mental stress of a messy split from his Bahrain-Merida team, following his sudden exit from the Tour de France. In the aftermath, Dennis withdrew from social media and started focusing on the World Championships, pointing to his head as he crossed the line and praising his psychologist, David Spindler.

Dennis’s victory in Yorkshire was emphatic, suggesting his preparation had been flawless, but the struggles with his weight had persisted right up to the flight to the UK. “I got down to 68 kg just before Worlds but that was due to stress, and I was eating between 100 and 300 g of chocolate every night on top of all my other food,” he said.

“I ended up having to get on creatine and whey protein powder to bring me back up to my time trial weight, which is 70-71 kg. I’m still lean at that weight but I’m [now] not looking in the mirror and thinking ‘you’re too skinny’, and that’s where I was at before Worlds.”

After an appearance at the Bay Crits last week, Dennis will officially begin his 2020 campaign and make his Ineos debut at the Australian national time trial championship on Wednesday, where he’ll be looking to take the title back from Luke Durbridge. Later this month, he’ll race the Tour Down Under, before heading to Europe ahead of the Giro d’Italia in May. After the Giro, which features three time trials, he’ll focus on Olympic gold in the

Council, who are committed to seeing the Santos Tour Down Under running through the region,” Tour Down Under officials said in a statement.

“The Council and DPTI [South Australia planning department] are working hard to ensure the routes are safe so both the men’s and women’s races can go ahead as planned.”

Adelaide hosts the women’s opening World Tour race between January 16 and 19, with the men’s race between January 21 and 26.

“I’m happy that the race takes place, it’s always a great event here,” Geschke said.

“We hope we can help bring more awareness and have an impact in a positive way,” Rosskopf said. “It’s great the communities are behind the race even if they’ve got a lot bigger things to worry now.

“It’s wild to see that it stops just a couple of blocks from town and that the firefighters can control and defend the towns, because everything leading up to here is wiped out.” Cyclingnews

Aussie nationals organizers monitor fire, air-quality risks

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HE 2020 Australian Road National Championships are set to be decided this week with Cycling Australia (CA) and the event organizers carefully monitoring any fire danger with the authorities—as well as monitoring the air quality to ensure the athletes’ health.

Australia’s bushfires continue to burn in large parts of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, with the championships taking place in the latter. In South Australia, the organizers of the Tour Down Under have announced that the men’s and women’s stage races are still set to go ahead, despite fires in the Adelaide Hills.

“CA and event organizers have been in regular contact with the CFA [Country Fire Service], Victoria Police and Ballarat City Council with regards to the risk of bushfire in

the region, the air-quality situation, and the weather forecast,” read a statement from the national championships race organization on Monday.

“The situation will also be monitored by the event control center on-site each day of the Championships. Any and all decisions regarding the event will be guided by the advice and information obtained from the above discussions with participants and stakeholders to be provided with updates as required,” it read.

“Event organizers will be testing the air quality with reports to be received twice daily and will also take advice from the official medical supplier and race doctor,” it continued. “Currently, planning does not demonstrate any hazardous air-quality levels during the event.”

SPORTING SUPPORT

IN attempting to continue, the event will ensure that communities will benefit financially from visitors spending money to follow the event, while Australia’s sporting community has already proved that it’s able to support the work of firefighters and those affected by the disaster.

Tennis player Nick Kyrgios last week pledged to donate AU$200 to fire relief efforts for every ace he serves during the Australian summer—a gesture quickly followed up by a number of other tennis pros, with fellow Australian and current women’s world No. 1, Ash Barty, pledging to donate all her winnings from the Brisbane International tournament, which runs from January 6 to 12, to the Red Cross in order to help those affected by the fires.

Within cycling, defending Women’s Tour Down Under champion Amanda Spratt last month told Cyclingnews that she was prepared for evacuation from her home in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, with her MitcheltonScott team sharing the donation pages set up for the NSW Rural Fire Service and the CFS Foundation to help support volunteer and emergency firefighters during the bushfire crisis. Cyclingnews

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Thomas Bach thanked Iran for cosponsoring the Olympic Truce.

IOC thanks Iran for support on political neutrality

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nternational Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach praised Iran’s support for “principles of political neutrality in sport” in a letter to the country’s President Hassan Rouhani—despite its refusal to allow its athletes to compete against Israelis.

Bach, who met Rouhani in New York City during a visit to the United Nations in September 2018, thanked the Iranian Government for cosponsoring the Olympic Truce—a resolution which aims to ensure a halt to all hostilities, allowing the safe passage, and participation, of athletes and spectators at Tokyo 2020— following its approval at the UN General Assembly last month.

According to The Tehran Times, the IOC president wrote he “trusts that you and your government will continue to support these principles of political neutrality, and solidarity, so that the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and beyond will be a true celebration of unity in diversity of all humankind.”

It comes even though the government in Tehran is continuing to order Iranian athletes not to face Israelis at sports events—a clear violation of the Olympic Charter that Bach helped draft.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly praised athletes who have refused to face opponents from Israel.

Since its Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has refused to recognize Israel.

Iran has been banned by the International Judo Federation (IJF) since October, after Saeid Mollaei alleged he was ordered to lose at the World Championships in Tokyo in August to avoid facing an Israeli opponent in the next round.

Mollaei, who has since sought refuge in Germany and has been cleared by the IJF to represent Mongolia, claimed he was ordered to throw his semifinal rather than risk facing an Israeli in the final of the under 81-kilograms class.

The 27-year-old, who made his first appearance for Mongolia last month, was defeated in the semifinal and went on to lose his third-place fight.

Mollaei alleged he had been instructed to withdraw from the competition by Arash Miresmaeili and Reza Salehi Amiri, presidents of the Iran Judo Federation and the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran, respectively.

The suspension from the IJF threatens Iran’s participation in the sport at Tokyo 2020, and it is possible other organizations could follow suit if Iran does not relax its stance.

In November, United World Wrestling (UWW) postponed its Greco-Roman World Cup in Tehran in response to “current instability” in Iran.

Two teams had withdrawn from the event on the advice of their governments.

UWW was criticized by Iran for its decision, marking the latest dispute between the governing body and the nation.

In February 2018, UWW banned Alireza Karimi for six months for deliberately losing the quarterfinal of his under 86-kg freestyle contest at the 2017 under-23 world championships in Polish city Bydgoszcz, to avoid Israel’s Uri Kalashnikov in the next round.

His coach, Hamidreza Jamshidi, was also handed a two-year penalty. Insidethegames

Saturday, January 11, 2020

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

AUSSIE ATHLETES TO THE RESCUE

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HE Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) described the response of athletes to the country’s bushfire crisis as “inspiring,” after a number of stars pledged money and support after blazes destroyed thousands of homes and left 25 people dead.

“Although the fires continue to burn, seeing the Australian community come together to support those affected by the fires has been inspiring, with many Aussie athletes pledging to do whatever they can to help,” the AOC said.

Double Winter Olympic snowboarder Ben Mates, who competed in the halfpipe competition at Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010, has been on the front line as a firefighter. He has risked his life, despite only undergoing ACL surgery 14 weeks ago.

Olympic swimming siblings Emma and David McKeon were forced to flee their home in Lake Conjola as fires overran the town.

Emma, winner of an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay at Rio 2016, called for donations.

“It is so hard to truly understand the level of devastation and suffering happening right now across the country,” Emma said.

At the Association of Tennis Professionals Cup and other tennis tournaments in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, players—including Nick Kyrgios—pledged money for every ace they serve. Ashleigh Barty said she will donate her

Nick Kyrgios pledges cash for every ace he hits at the Association of Tennis Professionals Cup.

Bach guarantees Russian athletes’ future after release of doping ruling

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HE International Olympic Committee (IOC) reassured Russian athletes they are free to compete like any other country until the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivers its ruling in the longrunning doping scandal.

IOC President Thomas Bach said athletes from the national are entitled to “enjoy the same rights and obligations” as all other athletes pending the CAS decision after Russia appealed the range of sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

The IOC president claimed this was “particularly true for this young generation of Russian athletes,” and welcomed those set to take part in the Winter Youth Olympic Games which open here tomorrow. A total of 107 Russian athletes are set to compete at Lausanne 2020, an event not covered by the package of sanctions handed down by Wada as punishment for Russia manipulating data from the Moscow Laboratory.

Russia will have the largest delegation at the Games behind hosts Switzerland, whose team comprises 112 athletes.

The sanctions include a ban on

the Russian flag at major events, such as the Olympic Games, while only Russian competitors who can prove they were not implicated in the doping scandal or the cover-up will be able to participate.

The sanctions will only come into force once the CAS has delivered its verdict.

It will then be up to International Federations to determine the extent of Russian participation at major events.

“The Russian team is welcome at this Youth Olympic Games like any other team participating here,” Bach said here.

“A final decision has not been taken on the doping issues and the manipulation of the data in Russia, so

entire prize money from the ongoing Brisbane International tournament.

Football Federation Australia has dedicated two rounds of the A-League and W-League seasons to raising funds for the cause and Australia’s rugby sevens sides pledged $340 for every try scored at the Sydney 7s in February.

Among other fund-raisers are triple Olympic equestrian gold medalist Andrew Hoy, who has appeared at six Games. He donated the official Olympic blanket used by horse Rutherglen at London 2012 for auction, alongside a signed photo and personal note.

Double Olympic medal winning canoeist Jess Fox also raised money by making handmade Christmas cards and selling them online.

Meanwhile, an auction set up by Australian cricket legend Shane Warne, who is selling his baggy green Test cap, has attracted bids over $343,000.

“While the entirety of Australia feels the same despair, the bravery and generosity that has come out of these bushfires has been a true reflection of Aussie spirit, mateship and resilience,” the AOC said.

More than 6.3 million hectares has burned so far, with high temperatures and drought causing the fires.

The fires have been particularly intense in the east and south, where a large number of people live. Insidethegames

TOM BRADY gives another indication that he isn’t done playing football. AP

until there is a final decision, the Russian athletes are enjoying the same rights and obligations as all the other athletes.”

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency confirmed it would appeal the Wada decision last month, triggering a case at the CAS which is set to drag on toward this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Should CAS rule in Wada’s favor, it will be mandatory for all signatories of the World Anti-Doping Code—including the IOC—to enact the punishments, labeled “unfair” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Insidethegames

Brady: I still have more to prove

B

OSTON—Whether Tom Brady will return as quarterback of the New England Patriots next season is still an open question. But the 42-year-old on Wednesday gave another indication that he isn’t done playing football.

In an Instagram post to fans, Brady said “I still have more to prove,” following a season that ended with the Patriots failing to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 2015.

“In both life and football, failure is inevitable,” he wrote. “You don’t always win. You can, however, learn from that failure, pick yourself up with great enthusiasm and place yourself in the arena again.”

New England’s season ended with a 20-13 loss in the wild-card round to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night. A six-time Super

Bowl champion, four-time Most Valuable Player of the National Football League title game and three-time winner of the league MVP, Brady could become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career when his contract ends in March.

That has placed team owner Robert Kraft and Coach Bill Belichick on the clock to either bring back Brady for his 21st season, or watch the franchise’s greatest player depart from the only team he’s called home.

Belichick said this week that there isn’t an established time line to resolve Brady’s status, but he acknowledged that his case is unusual.

“Everybody’s situation is different,” Belichick said. “Certainly, Tom is an iconic figure in this organization. And nobody respects Tom more than I do.” AP

WUSHU, baseball5 ADDED TO PROGRAM OF 2022 YOUTH OLYMPICS

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Wushu is among the initial contenders to be selected for this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, but ultimately fails to reach the final short list.

HE International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the addition of baseball5 and wushu to the Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games sports program.

The IOC revealed Dakar 2022 had requested the two sports be added to the program. The decision was ratified by the IOC Executive Board in Lausanne on Thursday.

“They [Dakar 2022] are hoping these additions will help engage the young population both there and in Africa,” IOC Spokesman Mark Adams said. “We had reports of the engagement of both those disciplines with younger audiences.”

“There are 39 national federations in Africa alone for wushu, and 159 federations around the

world,” he added. “It has a very good young and gender-balanced profile. It is a dynamic sport, which we expect to put on a very good show.”

Baseball5 is a five-on-five format of baseball aimed to be an urban variation of the sport. The competition is over five innings.

Baseball5 is played with a rubber ball as the sole piece of equipment needed. It was first piloted during the Friendship Games in the Great Lakes region of Africa in 2017 with teams from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda participating.

“The inclusion of baseball5 at the Youth Olympic Games is the goal we had set ourselves since the beginning of the project in 2017,” said Riccardo Fraccari, World Baseball Softball

Confederation (WBSC) president. “We are proud to have reached it. Our newest discipline has seen tremendous growth in recent years.”

Wushu was among the initial contenders to be selected as an additional sport at this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, but ultimately failed to reach the final short list.

The sport has been contested at the Asian Games, and was on the program at the third African Youth Games in Algiers in 2018.

Wushu will debut at the Youth Olympic Games, although it appeared in the “Sports Lab” at Nanjing 2014.

The Centre International de Conférences Abdou Diouf was provisionally identified as the ideal venue for both sports. It is located just 10

minutes from the Youth Olympic Village.

The two sports join breakdancing, karate, surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding, which were added to the Dakar 2022 program last month.

Beach wrestling, beach canoeing and coastal rowing are among the other disciplines set to feature at the Youth Olympics for the first time.

Skateboarding effectively replaces roller speed skating, while youth-orientated events, such as hockey fives, futsal and 3x3 basketball keep their places.

Acrobatic gymnastics and trampolining were dropped after being included at Buenos Aires 2018. Boxing was included, despite the suspension of the Olympic recognition of the International Boxing Association. AP

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Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Saturday, January 11, 2020 A9

The Internet has become a cluttered, proprietary mess

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BY ELAINE OU Bloomberg News

HE Internet was built on open standards and interoperability, but networks tend to balkanize.

If you’ve ever tried to receive an e-mail from me through Gmail, it probably went to spam.

My company runs its own e-mail server, and Google feels that our mail authentication is inadequate.

And remember those flash-based web sites from the aughts? They’re no longer supported by major browsers, and entirely blocked from Apple’s mobile devices.

Every now and then, we see attempts to reopen the Internet. Last month, for example, Twitter announced Bluesky, a project to create an open protocol for social media. If adopted, Bluesky would allow anyone to spin up a Twitter clone and host a social network. Content could be shared across platforms—for example, a Twitter user could retweet a post from a Bluesky version of Facebook, allowing her followers to interact with the post without switching accounts.

There are plenty of other examples. One of the older ones is XMPP, an open protocol developed for social networking and chatting. The project began in 1999, and was adopted and later abandoned by AOL Instant Messenger, Facebook Chat, and Google Talk.

(Once a platform gains significant market share, there are competitive advantages to using a proprietary protocol.) A more recent introduction comes from Mastodon, a decentralized social network, as well as a software, in the form of ActivityPub. You know where I’d really like to see open protocols? On the entire rest of the Internet. Take Wikipedia, regarded as a definitive source of truth by fact-checkers on Facebook and YouTube. After criticizing Wikipedia’s oligarchic editing process, a former cofounder created the Knowledge Standards Foundation to promote an open protocol where anyone can host wiki-type encyclopedia pages.

Custom reading interfaces can then fetch pages from sources preferred by the individual user.

Then there’s Google Search. Google’s prowess doesn’t come from hundreds of petabytes stored on index servers, although that does create a massive barrier to entry for competitors.

The company’s dominance comes from its proprietary ranking algorithm, designed to deliver the worthiest links to the top of a user’s search results.

Google has been accused of de-ranking certain sites, promoting political biases, or even spreading disinformation. An open protocol for Google Search could allow anyone to set up a Web server to receive queries and forward them to the

index servers, then rank results using competing algorithms. The approach could be extended to any content platform.

The challenge, of course, is making a profit. It’s hard for platforms to monetize an open protocol— it’s like trying to make money off of e-mail. Jack Dorsey explains how an open protocol might be good for Twitter: “It will allow us to access and contribute to a much larger corpus of public conversation, focus our efforts on building open recommendation algorithms which promote healthy conversation, and will force us to be far more innovative than in the past.” No company truly wants to be forced to innovate—Jack was just going for a tricolon—but the first two points are valid. As a nondominant social network, Twitter could benefit from accessing external content, just like Google gains access to new data each time a Gmail user corresponds with an external e-mail address.

Distributed platforms also give companies a way to avoid the messy problem of content moderation.

Google contracts with over 10,000 search quality raters who spend their days evaluating controversial search results, while Facebook has hired 15,000 moderators to manage problematic content. With

a federated Internet, these companies would not have to employ so many moderators, or worry about creating a catch-all policy that attempts to please everybody—anyone who didn’t like one server’s content policies could simply start their own social network. No one complains to Mastodon about unsatisfactory moderation rules, because the host of a Mastodon server can implement whatever filters or amplification algorithms they want without losing access to external content.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that nasty content will take over the Internet. When a controversial social network called Gab created a Mastodon instance, many other servers simply preemptively blocked it. Rather than adhering to content rules imposed in a top-down manner, individual communities make their own rules and create an actual marketplace of ideas.

Requiring open protocols could even be part of an antitrust approach to increasing competition among big tech companies.

Back in March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested that regulators should guarantee the principle of data portability between services.

#Australia trends as bushfires continue and animals die PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

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MODEL Kaylen Ward has raised money for the Australian bushfires by sending a nude photo for every $10 donated to the cause.

THE bushfires in Australia have burned millions of hectares, destroyed thousands and killed millions of mammals, birds and reptiles (at press time). Over 25 human lives have been lost in one of the biggest disasters in recent history, and experts say the fires will continue to burn for months.

Victoria and NSW, Australia’s two most populous states, have had their coasts destroyed by fires.

An ecologist at Sydney University has estimated

that nearly half a billion animals perished in the state of New South Wales alone. The hashtags #Australia, #PrayForAustralia and #AustraliaOnFire have been trending on social media and people have been sharing stories, pictures and links where to donate.

The photos of injured and dead animals are the most heart-wrenching. Many of them died because their habitats have been destroyed.

Celebrities have rallied to help Australia.

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth and his family have donated $1 million. American singer Pink has donated $500,000.

A woman raised money by selling nudes for $10 each. She said she has raised around $1 million from this. Australian singer Kylie Minogue and her family donated $500,000. Australian actress Nicole Kidman and her husband, singer Keith Urban, donated the same amount. Korean hiphop artist Jay Park has

donated $30,000. At press time, Kylie Jenner had donated $1.5 million.

Authorities have charged at least 24 people for intentionally starting bushfires in the state of New South Wales, and the Australian government has created a $1.4-billion bushfire recovery fund to help residents, businesses and farmers recover from losses.

While arson is a major factor, the bushfires have also been blamed on the dry conditions and low rainfall that Australia has been experiencing in recent years. There have been droughts and record high temperatures. The Australian bushfires have shown us the reality of climate change.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government have faced criticism over the way they have handled the crisis because the bushfires have been burning since September.

The Australian Red Cross has put up the web site register.redcross.org.au to help people find and be reunited with loved ones after an emergency.

Australia’s Red Cross Disaster relief and recovery fund helps support evacuation centers and recovery programs for the affected communities. The Victorian Bushfire Appeal is where you can donate directly to communities (bit.ly/3063425). The Saint Vincent de Paul Society is helping people on the ground in rebuilding, providing food and clothing and emotional support (bit.ly/304�KXn). The Salvation Army has also set up a page to give support to communities affected by the fires (bit.ly/2T5y1SP).

If regulators go a step further and promote interoperability as well, it could be the modernday equivalent of forcing Bell Labs to liberate their patents. Compulsory sharing of technology may not have been advantageous to the Bell System, but it certainly increased US innovation in the long run. ■

TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING, SAYS TALKWALKER

WITH trust in traditional advertising continuing on a downward trend, brands and organizations need to invest in technology even more, according to leading social listening and analytics firm Talkwalker.

In its recently released Social Media Trends 2020, a collection of more than 50 global industry experts’ socialmedia predictions coauthored by HubSpot, Talkwalker, notes how across the globe, traditional advertising faces a tough challenge as generation Z and millennials dominate the market scene, giving rise to the age of digital consumerism characterized by technology-driven consumer behavior and skepticism about advertisements and endorsements. Talkwalker notes that 84 percent of millennials express their distrust in traditional advertising.

The same report shows conversational data around advertising has dropped significantly in net sentiment in the past 13 months.

“Generation Z and millennials are now seen as highvalue targets by brands because of their significant spending power. To get their buy in, marketers in the Philippines, for instance, have been resorting to conveying personalized message and brand purpose. Moreover, experts across the globe note the need to equally place high value on how and where brands convey these messages,” said Ben Soubies, head of sales for Asia Pacific at Talkwalker.

More than the message, Soubies underscored the vital role that new and disruptive technologies play in engaging the current generations of consumers. Being first-born digital natives, Gen Zs and millennials place a premium on consumer experience. Gen Zs, in particular, were born with everything at their fingertips. With digital connectivity and the emergence of social commerce very accessible, these digital natives expect seamless consumer journey across touchpoints. The global experts tapped by Talkwalker all agree that brands should leverage technology to put their message across and reach out to their target markets.

Using data from more than 50 global experts, PR professionals, social-media gurus and influencers, the Social Media Trends 2020 outlines what brands need to know to upscale their marketing potential in 2020.

It also covers other relevant areas such as influencer marketing going small to big, harnessing the power of data privacy, and how Tiktok would be vital to marketing strategies, among others, said Soubies.

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www.businessmirror.com.ph

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THE new Door View Cam on display at the Ring booth before CES International in Las Vegas in 2019. AP

Realme launches own 5G technology with X50

CES Gadget Show: Surveillance is in— and in a big way

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BY MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press

ING competitor Wyze Labs, an honoree in the CES 2020 innovation awards, announced a data breach just after Christmas affecting 2.4 million customers.

And widely used voice assistants made by Google, Amazon and Apple all came under scrutiny in 2019 for data retention practices that allowed employees and contractors to listen to users’ audio recordings.

There’s been some pushback, at least on facial recognition and other surveillance technology from China. Hikvision and iFlytek, two Chinese tech companies that showed off their artificial intelligence (AI) at CES 2019, now face US export restrictions because the Trump administration says the technology has been used in the repression of China’s Muslims.

But China isn’t the only place where the lines have blurred between consumer technology and government surveillance operations. Watchful residents of American neighborhoods are increasingly encouraged by Ring to share their doorbell video footage with police detectives. And

device makers are counting on consumers buying into ever-more elaborate forms of computer vision and other AI technology to give them peace of mind.

Camera maker Arlo this week launched its first wireless floodlight camera, with night vision, a siren, two-way audio to converse with intruders and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust its brightness.

Another company, Sunflower Labs, is using CES to show off its “home drone security” system. If trespassers step onto your lawn, a camera-equipped drone flies out from its resting place to take a look at them and streams the live video to your phone. Sound like something that might guard the lair of a James Bond villain? CEO Alex Pachikov says it’s actually less intrusive to neighbors than your run-of-the-mill doorbell camera, because it’s only looking down at your own property.

Serious talk about privacy protections and regulations isn’t completely absent at CES. The schedule includes panel talks connecting policymakers with privacy executives from companies, like Apple and Facebook.

Venture capitalist Rajeev Chand, who is moderating one of those panels, said tech companies

are getting better at seeing themselves as custodians, not the owners, of user data, but much more needs to be done. “We are probably at the first or second inning for how privacy reshapes the consumer tech industry,” said Chand, a partner and head of research at Wing Venture Capital.

But even as some US policy-makers seek to restrict or ban facial recognition, the conference is getting its attendees more accustomed to everyday uses of surveillance technology in commercial and security settings. Attendees at the gadget show can use their face to pick up their event badges for the first time.

“We’re experimenting with it,” said Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes CES. He dismissed privacy concerns, saying that attendees have a choice. “You’re opting in,” he said. “If you want to do it, you’ll have an opportunity to do it.”

Cindy Cohn, of EFF, said she plans to skip the face scanners because she doesn’t know who has control over the images they collect. She said there’s only so much that consumers can do to guard against misuse.

“There is a risk treating this as an individual decision,” she said. “That’s not really fair or right to do to people. We need to fix the policies.” ■

THE fastest-growing smartphone brand, Realme joins the 5G sphere with the launch of its first 5G-powered smartphone in China, the Realme X50.

With this development, the brand hopes to bring 5G connectivity more accessible to a broader audience.

The Realme X50, which boasts of a contemporary design, reliable performance and an affordable price tag, ushers in a new era of Realme smartphones designed to meet the youth’s demand for 5G connectivity.

The X50 is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, the first 5G-integrated chipset of Qualcomm. This chipset supports SA and NSA and 5G bands, such as n1, n41, n78 and n79. The X50 also responds to mainstream 2G, 3G and 4G bands.

The Realme X50’s powerful performance is complemented by a huge-capacity 4,200-mAh battery that packs a 30-W VOOC flash-charging technology.

The phone supports full-function NFC and dualfrequency GPS. It has dual super-linear loudspeakers with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res. The Realme X50 integrates a state-of-the-art quad camera setup comprising a 64MP main camera, a 12MP 2x telephoto lens guaranteeing 5x optical zoom and 20x hybrid zoom, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, of 119 degrees and a 2MP ultra-macro lens. The front cameras feature a 16MP f/2.0 wide primary lens, and an 8MP 105-degree ultra-wide angle lens. For video recording, the phone packs UIS Max Mode, live bokeh capability, ultra-wide-angle framing and 960 fps slow motion.

The phone is also the first Realme smartphone to feature the brand-new Realme UI design.

The X50 features a Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and a 6.57-inch hole-punch LCD display with 90.48-percent screen-to-body ratio and a 120Hz refresh rate. This display supports not only the Sunlight Display Technology but Dark Mode, as well. The power button integrates a fingerprint sensor.

Moreover, Realme partnered with industrial design master Naoto Fukasawa for the Realme X50 Master Edition, which comes in two options: Point and Line. With its regular alignment and glass indium plating giving off a futuristic vibe, the Realme X50 Master Edition is set to lead contemporary smartphone designs.

Local fintech encourages Filipinos to invest in stock market

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES A FINANCIAL-technology (fintech) company aims to encourage more Filipinos to invest in the stock market.

“There are so many newsletters and advisories nowadays regarding the stock market,” Tsupitero.com Founder Miko Sayo said in an e-mail interview.

“It’s so easy to write. Anyone can just do it. However, to be reliable, experience plays a key role in giving recommendations and analysis in the stock market. The longer you are in the market, the more that you’ve seen it all and know what to expect. I have been analyzing the markets since 2002, and this newsletter has been the longestrunning stock market newsletter in the PSE,” he added.

Last year, Tsupitero formed a partnership with four other companies that want to spread awareness on the value of investing in bourse market.

These are AAA Southeast Equities, AP Securities, XM and eToro.

VINCE HERMOSURA

AAA Southeast Equities is the first online brokerage in the Philippines to facilitate automated cut loss and buy on breakout orders. AP Securities is one of the longest-running brokerages in the

MIKO SAYO

country that consistently ranks among the top local brokers around these parts. XM has grown to a large and wellestablished international investment firm to become a true industry leader. EToro

is an online platform which sets out to disrupt the world of trading, and make trading accessible to anyone, anywhere, reducing dependency on traditional financial institutions.

“We are very excited about our partnership because with our joined hands, we are able to reach more people about these different investing opportunities here in the local and international market,” president and CEO Vince Hermosura explained.

Hermosura said the partnership is expected to create more knowledgeable Filipino investors, and entice more Filipinos to invest or trade in other means.

“I think it’s high time for more Filipinos to invest through other ways, and to allow them to use these different platforms to make their money grow.

With Tsupitero.com, we can definitely help,” explained Hermosura.

He said the only challenge Tsupitero can see is the short-term condition of the market. Hermosura noted the markets could be erratic in the short term, as the

company’s services will be affected, as well, when market turns sour.

So far, the company has hardly marketed and promoted its services.

Nevertheless, Sayo said Tsupitero has organically grown its subscribers and members in Facebook to more than 95,000 followers to date. “We hope to be able to get a wider reach by partnering with other established and trusted brokerages to provide expert analysis,” he noted.

Moving forward, Hermosura said Tsupitero will be partnering with several trusted and well-established firms, as well as independent writers to provide more expert analysis on the markets.

With a bigger group of writers, he said, Tsupitero will now have a smorgasbord of writers who will provide a lot more content and tackle different interests in the financial market.

“Beginners can take advantage of these tools and analysis by experts to help them gain an edge in their investing decisions,” he added.

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GOOGLE SAYS OVER 500 MILLION PEOPLE USE ITS ASSISTANT MONTHLY

Amazon’s Ring fired staff for trying to access customer data

BY MATT DAY & BEN BRODY Bloomberg News

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MAZON.COM Inc. said its Ring subsidiary fired at least four employees for improperly seeking access to customer data over the last four years, the latest privacy headache for the video doorbell maker it acquired in 2018.

“Although each of the individuals involved in these incidents was authorized to view video data, the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions,” Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, wrote in response to an inquiry from five Democratic senators about the company’s privacy and data security practices. The letter doesn’t specify what customer data the employees involved in four separate incidents sought, how many employees were involved or how many of them successfully gained access to it. In addition to investigating and firing the employees, Ring has taken “multiple actions” to limit data access to a smaller pool of employees, Huseman said.

Ring has been beset by allegations of privacy flubs in the last year, from a report that employees had previously passed around unencrypted footage captured by doorbells, to claims from civil liberties groups that Ring’s partnerships with law

enforcement, which allow police departments to ask that doorbell owners turn over footage to aid investigations, risk enabling a government surveillance network.

The company also faces a lawsuit brought by a man who claims someone took control of a video camera installed on his garage and spoke to his children, one among a set of similar incidents that reportedly relied on stolen passwords.

In an interview with CNET, Ring Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Siminoff said watching a widely shared video of a similar experience “made me cry. And every time I think about it makes me sad.”

In November, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and four colleagues wrote to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos to express concern about reports of vulnerabilities to systems holding “a vast amount of deeply sensitive data and video footage detailing the lives of millions of Americans in and near their homes.”

The senators asked about policies on deleting users’ footage, security policies and ambitions on facial recognition. In addition, they focused on reports that developers in Ukraine had “unrestricted access to Ring’s entire camera database in unencrypted form, with each video file reportedly linked to a specific Ring user.”

“If hackers or foreign actors were to gain access

to this data, it would not only threaten the privacy and safety of the impacted Americans; it could also threaten US national security,” the lawmakers wrote.

Huseman’s response said that no Ring employees or contractors, including those in the company’s Ukrainian research and development offices, have unrestricted access to customer camera data.

On Monday, in an announcement timed to coincide with the massive CES technology trade show, Ring announced a new feature of its smartphone app designed to centralize privacy and security settings. A Ring spokesman said the company planned to enable two-factor authentication, a more secure password protocol, on customer accounts by default.

Sen. Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, said Ring’s privacy tools announced this week don’t go far enough. “Ring’s privacy and security problems won’t be solved with a new privacy dashboard,” he said in a statement. The Ring spokesman declined to comment on the terminated employees beyond the details in the letter, which was provided by Wyden’s office. “Privacy, security and user control will always be paramount as we pursue and improve technologies that help achieve our mission of helping to make neighborhoods safer,” she said in an e-mailed statement. “We take the protection of customer data very seriously and are always looking for ways to improve our security measures.” ■

TikTok security flaws may have exposed user videos to hackers

BY ZHEPING HUANG & EDWIN CHAN Bloomberg News A CYBER-SECURITY firm has called attention to security holes in TikTok that would have allowed hackers to infiltrate the accounts among its billion-plus users, another black eye for a Chinese-owned social-media phenom that’s drawn fire from US lawmakers.

Check Point Software Technologies

Ltd. outlined in a report a series of vulnerabilities that cyber attackers could exploit to manipulate user accounts and information, from revealing personal data and deleting videos to sending text messages on behalf of TikTok. The research firm said it informed TikTok—owned by Chinese giant ByteDance Inc.—which deployed fixes. TikTok confirmed the patches and said it was committed to protecting user data, and encouraged researchers to privately disclose

flaws. The revelations may intensify the scrutiny over a social-media service that’s exploded in popularity globally in past years. ByteDance has emerged as the world’s most valuable start-up thanks largely to the platform, where more than a billion, largely young, users share lip-syncing and dance videos. But with escalating tensions between China and the US, American politicians have warned the app represents a national security threat and urged an investigation.

The Beijing-based company is weighing options to address those concerns.

“TikTok videos are entertaining.

They’ve created a major trend, a style, even a musical genre,” Check Point researchers wrote in the report. “But as some have experienced, there is often a fine line between fun clips to private, even intimate assets being compromised while trusting to be under the protection from the apps we use.”

GOOGLE said its digital assistant is used by more than 500 million people every month. Depending on your perspective, that’s either a win for Google, or a big miss. On the one hand, having the voice-controlled technology on over half a billion devices far outstrips main rival Amazon.com Inc., which said last year that more than 100 million gadgets had been sold with its Alexa digital assistant. However, Google’s Android operating system runs on roughly 2.5 billion devices. That suggests the Google Assistant either isn’t available with some of these products, or that many people aren’t using the service.

Either way, the numbers give a glimpse into the war between Google, Amazon, Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. to get their voice-controlled digital assistants in front of as many people as possible. For the tech giants, voice is the latest frontier for pulling people into their ecosystems, collecting data on them and then selling services or advertising based on that information. As smartphone growth wanes, voice assistants become more important.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google and rivals have been under fire for privacy when it comes to this new technology.

The companies often use human contractors to transcribe audio clips from people’s requests as a way to improve the quality of the AI algorithms. But consumers weren’t always aware. Workers who did the listening recounted hearing all kinds of personal information, including home addresses and intimate conversations.

As part of its announcement, Google said it was adding more privacy and security features for the Assistant. Users have to opt-in to let Google keep any voice recordings made by the device, and now they can directly tell it to delete something that might inadvertently have been picked up by saying “Hey Google, that wasn’t for you,” or “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week.” BLOOMBERG NEWS

AD-FREE YOUTUBE AND YOUTUBE MUSIC FOR SAMSUNG USERS

SAMSUNG partners with YouTube to let Galaxy smartphone users experience the many perks of the streaming platform simply by being part of #TeamGalaxy. Galaxy customers can now watch videos without interruptions with YouTube Premium, as well as get exclusive access to their music streaming app, YouTube Music.

YouTube Premium allows patrons to enjoy background play so they can continue to listen to music or watch videos even when they exit the YouTube or YouTube Music apps.

They can also download videos and watch them offline, and view clips ad-free.

Owners of the Galaxy A Series (A80, A70, A50s, A30s, A20s and A10s) can avail themselves of two months of access to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. Meanwhile, customers who have the Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Note Series (Note10 and Note10+), Galaxy S Series (S10e, S10 and S10+), and Galaxy Tabs (S5e and S6) can enjoy four months of access. To avail themselves, customers must have purchased and activated their Galaxy devices between February 20, 2019, and February 29. They can redeem their subscription on the account section of the YouTube app, where they can click on “Get YouTube Premium.”

Galaxy owners can only avail themselves of this promo if they have not been a recipient of a trial to Google Play Music, YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium in the past 12 months. Eligible customers must redeem this offer on their devices before March 31, 2020.

“Offering complimentary access to YouTube Premium is just one of the many ways we want to thank our customers for their support. It is also our way of showing that Galaxy devices are the perfect lifestyle companion for them to watch their favorite channels and listen to their much-loved music,” says Jerry Manus, Samsung Philippines Business Unit head for IT and Mobile.

More information is available at www.youtube.com/ premium/samsung.

/

SAMSUNG Galaxy Note 10+

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

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Reviewing the Google-less Huawei Mate 30 Pro TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

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T’S been described as luxurious and sublime, a camera beast and a powerhouse phone; yet, it’s also been dubbed the forbidden fruit, called useless outside of China and the best phone you shouldn’t buy.

No other smartphone in recent history has received such stellar reviews with equally wary recommendations than the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Years from now, we would probably look back at the series as a turning point for Huawei—as its first smartphone to ship without Google Mobile Services (GMS)—for better or worse.

I’ve been using the Huawei Mate 30 Pro for almost two months now and unlike others who chose to install Google on their devices, I opted to stick with the preinstalled Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and see if I could survive life without “Google.”

I thought I would be a disaster, but, so far, it’s been better than I expected.

You see, using the “Google-less” Mate 30 Pro is a lot like having a relationship with someone from a different religion/or culture. It’s not easy, and there were a lot of frustrating moments at the beginning.

But, eventually, you learn to adjust, find compromise and discover work-arounds. After all, it’s a device that’s easy to love, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

Before we go to the actual review of the phone, in this first part we will be discussing my experience and thoughts about using HMS.

FROM GMS TO HMS TWENTY-NINETEEN has been a tough year for Huawei despite being the world’s No. 1 telecom supplier and the world’s second-biggest phone manufacturer. Caught between the US-China trade war, and fears that its equipment could be used to spy on other countries and companies, Huawei was placed in the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List, prohibiting it from doing business with US companies — Google included. The US offered a temporary reprieve to companies, allowing them to work with Huawei until August. That reprieve was extended to November and again to February 2020.

That’s why the Mate 30 series (and the upcoming P40 series), although still running on Android, does not ship with Google Mobile Services.

Android but no Google Mobile what?

To start, GMS is a suite of Google-branded applications and cloud-based services that often come preinstalled on Android devices. These include Google Search, Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Play Store, Gmail, Drive, Maps and Google Photos, all of which require GMS. It works as a set of Application Programming Interfaces or APIs that allow developers to use things like Google Maps to show a location, or Google Drive to store data like game progress or use Google Sign-in. So while your phone doesn’t need GMS to run, it does need it for some apps to function properly. Unlike other apps whose APKs you can simply sideload, these are the ones that will crash or will not even open.

However, GMS is not a part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which means an Android manufacturer needs to obtain a license from Google in order to legally preinstall GMS on an Android device—something Huawei is prohibited from doing due to the US ban.

Even if Huawei has repeatedly expressed their desire to continue working with Google, the unpredictability of the trade ban has forced it to take an independent path, one which would not rely on Google and its services, thus the aggressive

development of HMS. So instead of GMS, the Mate 30 series pushes its Huawei Mobile Services and its version of Google Play Store, called the Huawei AppGallery, as a substitute.

HMS includes apps, such as Huawei Cloud, Huawei Browser, Huawei Themes, Huawei Music, Huawei Video, Huawei Reader, Huawei Assistant, and more.

It’s actually not something new as Huawei has always preinstalled its own apps on its phones, although on the Mate 30 it becomes your primary option.

NO GOOGLE, NO PROBLEM? WELL, NOT EXACTLY Since its global launch in April 2018, the AppGallery has been serving more than 390 million global monthly active users in more than 170 countries and regions with accumulated downloads reaching 180 billion, with the number of overseas apps released on the Huawei AppGallery increasing as more developers join the HMS ecosystem.

Beyond the numbers, however, the question is, “are the apps usable to us Pinoy users?

As an Android user, my digital life has been dominated by Google, but when I went to China for the first time last year, I realized that there are billions of smartphone users there who don’t use Google. In Seoul, I read that South Koreans rely on Naver as their search engine instead of Google (with Google Maps even restricted!) and, for iOS loyalists, Apple’s apps will always be better. So, yes, while everyone here in the Philippines uses Google apps, its not actually the end-all and be-all, and HMS, while still far from perfect, presents some good alternatives.

Huawei’s own default apps, for example, are OK but there are still lots of things to improve on, and, hopefully, Huawei makes it better for their users who don’t live in China and aren’t Chinese.

The AppGallery, for example, is obviously meant for Chinese users, and you won’t find on it apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., which have been blocked in China. Instead, you have to use other app source downloaders, such as Aptoide or APKpure to find these apps. Don’t worry, all your social-media apps will work just fine.

The e-mail app is okay and I didn’t have any problems logging in to my Gmail account, but the interface is different and needs a bit of getting used to. I particularly miss how Gmail sorts out the promotional e-mails and subscription e-mails so these don’t flood your inbox. There is also no preview of the attachments, so you have to download the

photos first, and I also encountered times when I had to restart the app because the attachments wouldn’t load. Another option is to download Outlook, or if you really want Gmail you could access it via the built-in browser.

Speaking of the browser, its also the best workaround and the only way you’d be able to watch YouTube (with limitations), use Google Maps (even with Maps Go), and Google Photos (which is very crucial for me, as I use it to back up all of my photos).

Using the browser for Google Photos, unfortunately, requires you to manually upload them and there is no “select all” option if you want to upload an entire day or month simultaneously. There is Huawei Mobile Cloud, but there is a limit to the free storage and you have to pay a monthly fee if you need more, unlike Google Photos which is free and unlimited, so I just use it to back-up my phone’s other less consuming data. Another interesting app is Huawei Music, which I just discovered plays more than just the music you store on your phone. If you’re tired of the usual stuff, you can enjoy different—and I mean different—kinds of music from the app’s music libraries, popular song lists, audiobook channels, etc. And yes, you can still download Spotify.

Huawei has a pool of over a million globally registered developers, but its priority is to entice more developers to distribute applications through AppGallery especially those behind the top apps on Google Play Store.

There are also teams that are working to bring local apps from the Philippines to the AppGallery.

As such, you can now find Smart’s PayMaya, BDO, OWTO, Booky, SSS, Cashalo, Home Credit, GMA News, as well as regional ones, such as Lazada and Shopee, so you don’t have to give up your online shopping habits. Reports say Huawei is working to bring more local apps to the AppGallery every day. All are working fine except for Grab, which doesn’t show the map so you can’t pin your location, but an update is expected to fix this real soon.

So far, the only apps I couldn’t find or use are the streaming apps. There is no work-around for Netflix, HBO Go doesn’t work without GMS, and the other apps like iWant just crashes. There is iFlix on the AppGallery, but I’m having trouble playing any content. The only one which seems to be working perfectly so far is VIU, so if you love Korean dramas, you are in luck.

I also asked Cocco de Leon, one of the admins of One Huawei PH and moderators of the official Huawei

Community site, and fellow Huawei Mate 30 Pro user, about his thoughts on using HMS. Like me, Cocco has decided to stick with HMS, and he shared some of his thoughts about Huawei’s app system.

He agrees that using HMS was definitely a big adjustment. “Not only for me but for a lot of users. We are so used to using Google services, and that apps and storage services are a click away. With Huawei’s growing portfolio of apps, I needed to adapt to get most of my common tasks running.”

Cocco adds that while he likes the fact that Huawei is becoming less dependent on Google, and is gearing to improving everything within their AppGallery, he hopes there will be more apps without the need to download them from third-party apps providers (APKpure, Aptoide). “A lot of the apps I get from APKpure are not available on Huawei’s AppGallery, but I have been seeing a lot more recently than about a month ago, so that is progress.”

He, likewise, points out that among the most urgent or useful apps missing or needs to be fixed besides Grab are the other delivery apps which are dependent on Google Maps, and banking apps like BPI which also need to be made very secure.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, getting the Huawei Mate 30 Pro is a lot like being in a relationship with someone from a different culture or religion. You could do it the easy way and hope they’d be the one to convert, just like sideloading GMS and maintaining your Android status quo. Or you could rethink possibilities, try HMS and discover a world beyond the bonds of Google. Who knows, it may even help you get ready to embrace Harmony OS? Next week, in Part 2, we review the hardware and all the features of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and find out why it sold millions and continue to defy expectations. ■

CHINA TO COMPLETE BEIDOU COMPETITOR TO GPS WITH NEW LAUNCHES

BEIJING— China said on Friday its Beidou Navigation Satellite System that emulates the US Global Positioning System will be competed with the launch of its final two satellites in the first half of next year.

Project director Ran Chengqi told reporters that the core of the positioning system was completed this month with the launch additional satellites bringing its total constellation to 24.

That was up from 19 the year before, making it one of rising space power China’s most complex projects. Ran described the system at a rare news conference as having “high performance indicators, new technology systems, high localization, mass production networking and a wide range of users.”

“Before June 2020, we plan to launch two more satellites into geostationary orbit and the Beidou-3 system will be fully completed,” Ran said.

The latest launches mark the third iteration of Beidou, meaning “Big Dipper,” the first of which was decommissioned in 2012. Future plans call for a smarter, more accessible and more integrated system with Beidou at its core, to come online by 2035, Ran said.

“As a major space infrastructure for China to provide public services to the world, the Beidou system will always adhere to the development concept of ‘China’s Beidou, the world’s Beidou, and the first-class Beidou,’ serving the world and benefiting mankind,” Ran said.

China’s space program has developed rapidly along all lines over the past two decades and developing independent high-tech capabilities— and even dominating in fields such as 5G data processing—is a major government priority.

In 2003, China became just the third country to independently launch a manned space mission and has since constructed an experimental space station and sent up a pair of rovers to the surface of the moon. Future plans call for a fully-functioning permanent space station, a mission to mars and a possible crewed flight to the moon. AP

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Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE NCR Regional Office located at 967 Maligaya St., Malate, Manila, within 30 days after its publication.

Please inform DOLE NCR if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR

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In the ad material of Notice of filing of application for Alien Employment Permits published on July 7, 2019, the company of Mr. Liu, Xiaobao under MOA CLOUDZONE CORP.. should have been read as NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION located at 10th Floor, Sky Garage Tower, 1 Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Parañaque City, Metro Manila and not as published. In the ad material published. In the ad material published on January 9, 2020, the position of Chen, Xiangtao under FIRST GREAT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES INC. should have been read as Mandarin Customer Service Assistant Supervisor and not as published. In the ad material published on January 9, 2020, the position of Su, Lenh Sin under FIRST GREAT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES INC. should have been read as Information Technology Specialist – Vietnamese Accounts and not as published. In the ad material published on December 12, 2019, the nationality of Mr. Win Myint Aung under FIRST GREAT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES INC. should have been read as Myanmari and not as published.

If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR