BusinessMirror January 16, 2022

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A broader look at today’s business

n

Sunday, January 16, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 100

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

IN this March 14, 2019, file photo, water containers waiting to be filled up are lined up during a water-supply shortage which lasted for days, in Antipolo City. JUNPINZON | DREAMSTIME.COM

Water-supply shortage looms once again in Metro Manila as dry season approaches

BREWING SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT I

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

N March 2019, some 10,000 households across the National Capital Region (NCR) experienced the worst water supply shortage in decades.

For days, water did not flow from the taps, and many were forced to line up on the streets, awaiting water rations from trucks provided by water utility companies. In some condominiums, unit owners were even forced to draw water from swimming pools.

Water-supply shortage is a perennial problem for the more than 12 million residents of the NCR, or Metropolitan Manila, during the dry season, which starts in March until the onset of the wet season in June.

Around 97 percent of the water supply for the NCR comes from a single source some 45.3 kilometers away—the Angat Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Alarming level

IN a news statement posted on its website on January 3, 2022, the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB) said that as of December 31, 2021, the Angat Dam elevation is at 202.80 meters, which is 9.2 meters below the normal high water level of 212 meters.

While there was a slight increase in the water level with some rainfall brought about by the northeast monsoon, such is not enough to fill the dam to near its ideal year-end elevation.

Meanwhile, based on weather forecasting by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the occurrence of the La Niña phenomenon, which started in October 2021, will continue to

SEVILLO DAVID, NWRB Executive Director: “If we can recycle [clean water], we should recycle. If we usually wash our hands for 20 seconds, we can do it by turning off the faucet while not in use and turn it on if we will really start washing.” NWRB.GOV.PH

persist until March 2022.

This means that rainfall could be enhanced by the northeast monsoon from January to February, which could provide more precipitation.

However, this could only bring near normal rainfall in the Angat watershed area in the first semester of this year.

The good news is: With the current status of Angat Dam and the forecasted rainfall in the watershed, the dam may reach its minimum operating level of 180 meters in the middle of April 2022.

Water level projections for the first semester of 2022 show there is sufficient water supply until the onset of the rainy season by the middle part of the year, but there is a need to manage the releases from

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.1150

the dam as a precaution for any significant changes in the projections, it says.

Conserve water—NWRB

THIS early, the NWRB is alarmed by the water situation in the Angat Reservoir and is appealing to the public to conserve water and avert yet another shortage.

Sevillo David, Executive Director of the NWRB, told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview that current water level in Angat as of January 13, 2022, is slightly above 200 meters above sea level (masl). This is already over 10 meters below the normal high water level of 212 meters, he said.

With this water level, the official said, there’s a need to call for water conservation measures to ensure the sustainable supply of water until the onset of the rainy season in June.

“We just want to be ready. As of 6 am, water level is at 200 masl.

This is much lower compared to the water level we had during the same period last year,” says David.

Recycle, save clean water

ACCORDING to David, water conservation measure is a must, on top of limiting the use of clean water.

“If we can recycle, we should recycle. If we usually wash our hands for 20 seconds, we can do it by turning off the faucet while not in use and turn it on if we will really start washing,” he said.

The NWRB is also encouraging using “used” water in flushing toilets, or in watering plants.

He said continuous flow of water from the taps while washing hands is wasteful and can be avoided. This, he said, can help save clean water.

David said water conservation can also be done while brushing teeth, turning the faucet off when the glass is full, and

turning it on only to refill.

Water allocation steady…for now DAVID said despite the situation, NWRB has decided to continue the current water allocation for Metro Manila, which is 48 cubic meters per second. This, he said, is to ensure steady supply of water, which is essential in helping fight the spread of Covid-19.

At the current water supply allocation, he said, demand for Metro Manila could still be met as he underscored the need for reliable water source, especially during the pandemic.

David said the NWRB will continue to monitor the water level in Angat and come up with measures that will ensure a steady supply, even if it means slightly reducing water allocation for domestic use, or for irrigation needs of farms in Pampanga and Bulacan.

Maynilad, Manila Water preparations

PRIVATE water concessionaires Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Company are not taking the water situation in Angat sitting down.

Sought for comment, both Maynilad, which serves the West Zone of the NCR, and Manila Water, which serves the East Zone, are already gearing up for the possible effect of reduced water allocation to avert another crisis reminiscent of the 2019 water crisis in Metro Manila.

Alternative sources

IN an e-mail reply to questions, Maynilad said the company has projects that will help augment its water supply in case the water allocation from Angat Dam is reduced anew.

These include the construction of two modular treatment plants in Cavite designed to draw water from nearby rivers.

Maynilad has also reactivated

deep wells in some locations. It is also ready to reactivate more deep wells in the coming months.

Furthermore, Maynilad said the company has intensified its leak repair and pipe replacement activities to help conserve clean water flowing through its pipes.

“We would like to minimize the impact of the reduced allocation [on] the water supply to our customers. We are already working with MWSS [Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System] regarding this,” Maynilad said.

“Even if we have supply augmentation measures, we would still like to remind the public to practice responsible water use,” the company added.

Supply augmentation

FOR its part, Manila Water expressed appreciation to the MWSS Board for, firstly, approving projects that will allow the company to provide additional water sources and supply augmentation, especially for the coming dry months now that the Angat Dam fell short of the targeted normal water level of 212 masl.

These projects are:

1. Maximization of the capacity of Cardona Water Treatment Plant at 100 million liters of water per day (MLD)

2. Operation of deep wells that can provide an additional supply of 115 MLD 3. Operation of the 20 MLD Marikina Potable Water Treatment Plant Secondly, Manila Water thanked the MWSS and NWRB for allowing the company to “harness groundwater through deep wells as part of our contingency and augmentation measures.”

“Third, we can also recover backwash water to add to our supply and harness water from the Alat Dam, located upstream of

La Mesa,” Manila Water told the Business­Mirror.

Responsible water use

“ALTHOUGH these supply augmentation measures are in place, we continue to advocate responsible use of water with our government partners, MWSS and NWRB. We believe that the conservation of our water resources is a shared responsibility of the government and the concessionaires who closely coordinate with each other to provide the needed water supply, and the general public to ensure that water distributed is used wisely and responsibly to be able to avert any water shortage,” Manila Water said.

Meanwhile, the company says it continues to support and work with MWSS for development and implementation of short- to long-term projects to ensure sustainability of future water supply, which include the 80-MLD Calawis Antipolo Source System and the 50-MLD East Bay Phase 1, scheduled for 2023. Other projects being eyed as medium-term water sources include the 200-MLD East Bay Phase 2 from Laguna Lake by 2024, the 438-MLD New Wawa Dam Project, the 600-MLD Kaliwa Dam Project and the 250-MLD Kaliwa River Phase 1A, both targeted by 2025.

“Over the long term, MWSS is looking into the 550-MLD Kaliwa River Phase 1B and the 3,000-MLD Kanan/Agos River Phase 2,” it says.

Moreover, Manila Water said the MWSS projects for the construction of the new 15-km Aqueduct No. 7 and the 6.4-km Tunnel 5 are now on stream to provide another 1,600 MLD to flow towards La Mesa Dam.

“These projects are targeted to be completed by September 2024.

The completion of these aqueducts and tunnel system will optimize the flow of excess water from Ipo to La Mesa Dam,” the company said.

n JAPAN 0.4477 n UK 70.0684 n HK 6.5642 n CHINA 8.0367 n SINGAPORE 37.9811 n AUSTRALIA 37.2322 n EU 58.5573 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.6202

Source: BSP (January 14, 2022)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, January 16, 2022

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Kim Jong Un’s hypersonic missiles show he can hit US back

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By Iain Marlow and Jon Herskovitz Bloomberg News

UST before dawn Tuesday, Kim Jong Un watched as a hypersonic missile took flight, “leaving behind it a column of fire,” and adding a new weapon in his arsenal that could potentially slip past US defenses and deliver a nuclear bomb.

The rocket deployed a hypersonic glide vehicle that successfully hit a target at sea after flying roughly 1,000 kilometers and performing a 240-kilometer “corkscrew” maneuver, the official Korean Central News Agency said. Kim supervised the launch, making his first reported appearance at a weapons test in almost two years and underscoring the importance of a missile that would “help bolster the war deterrent of the country.”

While North Korea’s claims weren’t immediately verified, the launch was symbolic of a shift in the regime’s testing program. For more than two years, Kim has been focused on churning out a range of missiles developed to evade allied defense systems and make the idea of any US-led preemptive attack too costly to contemplate.

That may help deter another confrontation with the US like in 2017, when former President Donald Trump threatened “fire and fury” and officials talked of a “bloody nose” strike on the country.

The tests show that Kim pressed ahead with plans to ward off any

THIS photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is a test launch of a hypersonic missile on January 11, 2022, in North Korea. KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP

future attacks, even after Trump opened unprecedented face-to-face negotiations the next year.

‘Nuclear Club’

DUYEON KIM, an adjunct senior fellow in Seoul at the Center for a New American Security, said Pyongyang is trying to create the impression that it can hit back.

“Recent advances in its missile program indicate that North Korea still aims to secure a secondstrike nuclear capability, make its missiles modern and more survivable, reassure the North Korean people of its military might in regard to the United States, and credibly gain entrance into the nuclear club,” she said.

Kim Jong Un is likely trying to prove he can strengthen North Korea’s position among the world’s nuclear-armed nations despite crushing economic sanctions.

More advanced systems such as hypersonic glide vehicles give Kim leverage in future talks by allowing him to menace US allies such as South Korea and Japan, as well as American bases in Asia.

North Korea has so far re-

IN this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang.

The photo was taken during December 27 to December 31, 2021, according to the source.

‘R

KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP

buffed President Joe Biden’s overtures, leaving negotiations little changed since Trump walked away from the negotiating table three years ago. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told reporters Tuesday that the latest test “takes us in the wrong direction.”

“The United States has been saying since this administration came in that we are open to dialogue with North Korea, that we are open to talking about Covid and humanitarian support,” Nuland said. “And instead they’re firing off missiles.”

On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department designated five North Koreans living overseas— one in Russia, and four in China— for aiding the country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The State Department also designated some individuals and a Russian entity, Parsek LLC.

serious and ongoing concern about the DPRK’s [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] continued proliferation activities and those who support it,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, referring to North Korea’s formal name. “We remain committed to seeking dialogue and diplomacy with the DPRK and call on the DPRK to engage in negotiations.”

The launch Tuesday was North Korea’s second test of a hypersonic glider in less than a week. Other weapons systems demonstrated in recent months include long-range cruise missiles, a new submarinelaunched ballistic missile and nuclear-capable rockets fired from train cars.

“Kim probably wants the US to perceive his threat potential as not only growing, but ever-expanding and with numerous possibilities,” said Soo Kim, a policy analyst with the RAND Corp. who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency. “This way, he not only ups

ECENT advances in its missile program indicate that North Korea still aims to secure a second-strike nuclear capability, make its missiles modern and more survivable, reassure the North Korean people of its military might in regard to the United States, and credibly gain entrance into the nuclear club.”—Duyeon Kim

Call for dialogue

“THESE designations convey our

his game for negotiations—there’s also a surprise element that keeps the US and the international community on their toes.”

During Kim Jong Un’s decade in power, North Korea has gone from possessing a rudimentary nuclear bomb with no proven delivery system to likely detonating a thermonuclear device and building a missile that could carry it to the US. As punishment, Kim’s regime has been hit with international sanctions that have helped make the North Korean economy smaller than when he assumed leadership.

Defense analysts argue that what North Korea tested in its last two launches probably doesn’t qualify as a “hypersonic glide vehicle” because its wings wouldn’t provide enough lift for long-range flight. Instead, it was likely a “maneuvering reentry vehicle” that can separate from a missile and perform turns to evade interceptors.

“Though North Korea has made some claims, the full extent of this capability is unconfirmed,” said Joseph Dempsey, a research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “However, the ability to change trajectory or flight path could pose additional challenges for regional missile defenses.”

The latest missile—which flew at almost 10 times the speed of sound—would also be harder to track by existing allied radar systems, which have long been focused on more traditional trajectories. That has led to some discrepancies in accounts of the launch, with South Korea defense agencies saying the missile only traveled 700 km, not 1,000 km.

“The North Koreans could be embellishing their achievements, or the limited sensor arrays possessed by Japan and South Korea may have had some trouble coping with this new class of threat,” said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of the book Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea.

“These tests, I think, are largely accounted for by Kim’s own military modernization objectives in the pursuit of effective nuclear deterrence against the US,” Panda added. “The North Koreans are not interested in talks right now.”

Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 16, 2022

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Biden picks Fed bank regulator, adds first Black woman to board

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A traveler walks through the Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China, on November 23. China’s marked economic slowdown in the second half of the year is testing the central bank’s policy mettle and dividing economists over whether more aggressive action is needed to avoid a deeper downturn. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

China’s rigid Covid-19 approach makes it a no-go zone for airlines

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By Siddharth Philip & Anurag Kotoky

ntering the third year of the pandemic, China’s unbending approach to Covid-19 has left the world’s second-largest economy all but shut off from international travel, with fewer than 500 inbound flights scheduled this week, compared with about 10,000 this time two years ago.

Capacity cuts are intensifying as China tries to snuff out virus flareups with aggressive lockdowns. Since mid-December, airlines have eliminated almost 1,000 flights that would have arrived in the country between now and February 1, the start of the Lunar New Year—typically the busiest time for travel anywhere on the planet.

Despite the difficulty every country faces in containing the Omicron strain, China is persisting with attempts to keep the virus out. Authorities have blocked dozens of air services to and from the US because passengers on previous flights tested positive for Covid after arrival, adding to tensions between the two nations.

And there won’t be a bump in incoming traffic for the February 4-20 Beijing Winter Olympics either. China has banned non-resident spectators from attending what would normally be a sure-fire draw for tourism as thousands of fans, athletes and journalists fly in. The host of the last Winter Olympics, South Korea, saw a 15-percent jump in arrivals in 2018, the year of the event.

China will probably issue special landing permits and special flight clearances for the Olympics, and then reinstate the restrictions on regular flights, said Mark Martin, founder of Dubai-based Martin Consulting LLC. Reductions from mid-December represent the elimination of about one-third of an international flight schedule that was already cut by more than 90 percent from the year before the pandemic.

“We don’t expect international travel to and from China to recover to 2019 levels for the next three quarters at least,” said John Grant, OAG’s chief analyst. The stance has cost airlines revenue, “especially as China had been among the fastest-growing markets, with a large number of affluent travelers eager to see the world.”

Flights between China and key destinations like Europe, Japan and North America are even lower now than they were a year ago.

While long-distance flying has lagged the short-haul recovery globally, other nations have seen more foreign trips restored, especially in the West.

US airlines have brought back 77 percent of pre-pandemic international capacity, while the UK is around 47 percent, based on data from flight tracker OAG. While Singapore and Australia have gradually started to reopen, external arrivals remain tightly limited in Asian nations such as Japan.

Hong Kong is following China’s lead and then some, last week banning flights from eight countries including the US, UK and Australia. From Sunday, flights from places the government deems high risk won’t even be able to transit through Hong Kong for at least a month. That ruling covers about 150 countries and territories.

China’s hardening approach continues to drive down inbound capacity from last year’s levels, a time when many thought the worst of the pandemic was over.

Capacity from Southeast Asia has fallen to 124,411 seats for January from 182,182 a year earlier, data from Cirium show. On the cusp of the pandemic in January 2020, the figure was 6.32 million.

From Europe, capacity has dropped to 107,012 seats from 127,971 last year and 1.49 million in January 2020. North America follows the trend, sliding to 34,549 seats from 74,032 in January 2021 and more than 1 million two years ago.

Domestic crunch The restrictions extend to China’s vast domestic air-travel market, one of the strongest in the world throughout most of the crisis, as the government kept sporadic outbreaks contained and people were by and large able to travel within the country.

Authorities have intensified clampdowns by shutting off cities such as Tianjin, a major port to the east of Beijing that connects Chinese manufacturers with the world.

This could pose an even bigger problem for Chinese airlines, given the domestic market—the world’s second-largest after the US—has supported about 100,000 flights a week, compared with fewer than 1,000 international trips.

Still, the aviation regulator has set ambitious targets, saying on Monday it expects 570 million air passenger trips this year, compared with 440 million in 2021. That could provide some relief for Air China Ltd., China Southern Airlines Co., China Eastern Airlines Corp. and other domestic operators.

Even without the Olympics, the Lunar New Year is typically the busiest time for Chinese airlines. For flights taking place this current week, the domestic schedule was slashed by almost 20 percent since mid-December.

Carriers have made much smaller cuts for next week and the following two, suggesting they may be in line for more pain, along with hotels, restaurants and other venues as lockdowns persist or worsen. Bloomberg News

resident Joe Biden plans to nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator and economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to be governors, people familiar with the decision said Thursday, completing his overhaul of leadership at the US central bank.

The selections of Cook, who would be the first Black woman on the Fed’s board, and Jefferson, who would be the fourth Black man, keep a Biden promise to improve diversity at the Fed. The nominations also would add experts focused on a broad recovery in the jobs market as officials seek to contain the hottest inflation in nearly four decades.

The three potential new Board members are in a position to join Jerome Powel l—whom Biden chose in November for another four years as chair—and current Governor Lael Brainard, who the president aims to elevate to vice chair. Both Powell and Brainard testified this week in confirmation hearings before the Senate Banking Committee.

The newly configured Fed Board faces a challenging year ahead with the ongoing pandemic threatening the economic recovery and soaring inflation. Investors expect the Fed to start raising interest rates off near-zero levels in March.

Cook, Jefferson and Raskin would each be subject to confirmation by the Senate as well.

If all of Biden’s Fed nominees are confirmed, it would mark two firsts for the Fed’s seven-member board: four women serving together, and two Black governors at the same time.

W hile making history with Cook’s nomination, the selection of Raskin to the vice chair for supervision position means the top three positions on Biden’s Fed would still all be held by White officials.

Progressive demands

R askin’s nomination as vice chair for supervision responds to pro g re s s ive de m a nd s for someone who will bring a more pro-regulatory posture to the position than her predecessor, Randal Quarles, who was roundly criticized by Democrats as being too lenient on Wall Street.

Democrats such as Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and progressive groups have had a keen interest in who fills the job, publicly calling for somebody who would stand up to megabanks.

The super vision vice chair is Washington’s premier banking overseer, established by the Dodd-Frank Act after the 2008 financial crisis. The official leads the supervision of financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and will likely influence decisions from bank capital rules to how to police the cryptocurrency industry.

Raskin is likely to be assailed by Republicans who have been railing against what they see as mission creep outside of the Fed’s narrow statutory mandates, including on issues like climate and racial justice. If all 50 Republicans unite against her, she would need every Democrat in the Senate to support her in order to be confirmed.

Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, reiterated Thursday evening that he has “serious concerns” about Raskin.

“I have serious concerns that

she would abuse the Fed’s narrow statutory mandates on monetary policy and banking supervision to have the central bank actively engaged in capital allocation,” Toomey said in a statement.

White House officials notified some US senators about the news on Thursday night. The White House does not plan for the nominees to appear at an event with Biden, a person familiar with the matter said.

Inclusive employment

The picks are likely to join the dovish wing of the policy debate as officials balance their concerns over inflation against a commitment to seek full employment that is both broad-based and inclusive.

If confirmed, they will vote on monetary policy at each Federal Open Market Committee meeting; their views could influence the pace at which the Fed raises interest rates in coming years, and how high the central bank goes.

Raskin was reportedly considered, and passed over, for other top jobs in the Biden administration, including head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and a new post within the Treasury heading up climate policy.

She is currently a law professor at Duke University. Under the Obama administration she was deputy secretary of the Treasury from 2014 to 2017. Before that she served as a governor at the Fed and as Maryland’s commissioner of financial regulation.

“No. 1, she’s brilliant. No. 2, she’s such a personable individual,” Kathleen Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said Thursday.

Raskin is married to a prominent Democratic lawmaker from Maryland, Representative Jamie Raskin, who was lead manager for the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

Diversity push

The selections of Cook and Jefferson would bring diversity to a central bank that’s faced criticism about its homogeneity, especially in recent years. The economics profession more broadly has also been grappling with a past that

often ignored or overlooked the impacts of racism and inequality on the economy.

Positions in the Fed and in economics as a whole have historically been held by White men—the Fed’s Washington hub had just two Black Ph.D. holders at the end of 2020, among its roughly 400 economists.

Cook, an economics professor at Michigan State University, has dedicated a large part of her career to researching the ways in which economic inequality hampers growth.

She has studied the economic costs of inequality in a variety of ways, from the racially uneven distribution of Paycheck Protection Program loans during the pandemic to the impact of post-Civil War violence on Black invention and the lost value to the economy of fewer Black patents.

The appointment may not come without some friction, though.

Some Republicans in the Senate have argued that tapping Cook for the Fed board would be controversial.

Fed experience

Jefferson, the vice president for academic affairs and an economics professor at Davidson College in North Carolina, has worked at the Fed twice before, serving as an economist in the board’s monetary affairs division from 1996 to 1997, and as a research assistant in the fiscal analysis section from 1983 to 1985.

He has authored and edited books and articles on poverty, and inequality has been one of the focus areas of his teaching. He has taught at Columbia University, the University of Virginia and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

Kevin Hassett, who was Trump’s chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, intends to “aggressively support” Jefferson throughout the nomination process.

“Phil Jefferson is someone I would have been 100 percent comfortable telling President Trump to nominate to the Federal Reserve,” said Hassett, who taught at Columbia with Jefferson in the 1990s.

Bloomberg News

US pushes Europe over sanctions vs Russia with wary eye on Putin

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he US is putting pressure on European allies to agree on potential sanctions against Russia, worried about slow progress despite weeks of talks and heightened concerns that President Vladimir Putin could soon invade Ukraine, said people familiar with discussions that have taken place this week.

T he Biden ad m i n i st rat ion has also discussed the range of possible actions by Moscow it believes should trigger retaliation, the people said. Aside from sending troops into Ukraine, it could include any effort to engineer a coup against Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy or other acts to destabilize his government.

The talks between the US and bigger European powers come as meetings this week with Russia failed to shed light on Moscow’s intentions. While Putin has denied he currently plans to invade Ukraine he is demanding security guarantees from NATO that the military alliance says it cannot deliver, and he’s continuing to build a massive troop presence on the border.

Presenting a united front on economic deterrence is a crucial lever in the attempts to steer Putin off military action, especially as there are no set dates for further discussions with Moscow. Russian officials stepped up their rhetoric on Thursday, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov saying the talks with Western nations were at “a dead end.” Those comments hit the ruble, which was the worst performer on the day against the dollar in emerging markets.

The US prodding on sanctions underscores a growing sense of impatience in the Biden administration about the European stance.

For one thing, American officials are unhappy that European nations haven’t agreed on the exact sanctions they’d roll out if Russia invades Ukraine. For another, the US worries European leaders are ill-prepared to respond if Putin takes action that falls short of an all-out invasion, such as cyber attacks or stepped-up disinformation campaigns.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Thursday conceded that the US and Europe may not be in full agreement on which

sanctions should come into force if Putin attacks Ukraine, but said he is confident that both sides agree there would be “severe economic consequences” for Moscow.

“Does that mean that the US and Europe are going to have precisely the same list down to every last detail? No.” Sullivan told reporters at the White House. “Does it mean that I will be able to stand before you and say the United States and Europe have moved in unison on the application of severe economic measures? I’m confident that I will be able to do that.”

One person familiar with the US position said European officials acknowledged at the NATO meetings this week they were poorly prepared to respond to a “hybrid” attack by Russia, and wanted to know what the US triggers for action were, and how it would ramp up its response. White House spokespeople had no immediate comment.

For months the US and its European partners have been working on a package that could include measures targeting Russia’s largest banks and export controls on advanced technologies in key in-

dustries and high-tech goods.

Some big western European members of the European Union have raised questions about the impact some of the penalties under discussion could have on their own economies, according to people familiar with the discussions. That includes the potential that Putin responds by cutting off crucial gas supplies to Europe.

The allies are working through economic impact assessments and technical discussions about the proposed measures, and the Biden administration is looking at ways to mitigate the impact the sanctions might have on Europe’s energy supplies. European natural gas prices surged as much as 16 percent Thursday on the reality that Russia and the US remain far from bridging their differences.

The strongest ideas on the table, such as cutting Russia off the Swift international payments system, are seen as a no-go for some countries. A number of European governments have also proposed carve-outs and introducing some financial measures gradually, two of the people told Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg News

Journey

»life on the go

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BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Editor: Tet Andolong

Hann Resorts opens Clark luxury casino

HANN Signatures

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By Bernard L. Supetran

igh-rollers and gaming aficionados have a new “millionaire’s playground” with the recent opening of the Hann Casino Resort, the country’s first integrated leisure complex, at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.

Owned and developed by Hann Philippines Inc. (HPI), it is Central Luzon’s first world-class luxury leisure complex which broke ground in February last year before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

The sprawling property, a sub-brand of Hann Resorts, includes Marriott Hotel, Swissotel, and Widus Hotel & Casino, which will soon be converted into a Mercure brand.

“Despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, Hann’s vision of creating the ultimate playground remains the same. We have opened Clark’s first fully-integrated resort, and our guests can expect the finest in hospitality and entertainment,” says HPI Chairman and CEO Daesik Han. Designed by Hong Kong-based Aedas Interiors HK and local firm Aidea, the new casino is triple the size of Widus Hotel’s old gaming area, and features hundreds of table games, 800 slot machines, as well as private rooms inside the H Club.

He said that the Casino offers gamers and guests a complete experience under its “Play Bold. Live Bold” philosophy to redefine gaming, entertainment, leisure, dining, hospitality, and lifestyle shopping in the Philippines.

For a gustatory treat, the gaming area has food and beverage outlets such as the Bar 20, which also serves as the live activity area, Nasi for Kapampangan and native dishes, the Marriott-operated Wu

Xing Chinese fine dining restaurant, and and Spice Street Eats for Asian-style togo hawker food.

Moreover, it also has the Rewards section for gamers and the Hann Signatures souvenir shop.

For the safety of its guests, Hann Casino has enhanced its Covid-19 protocols to go beyond the government-mandated minimum health standards. Its air-conditioning in the gaming areas use Under Floor Air Distribution (UFAD) to ensure that air is continually cleaned of pollutants including tobacco smoke, volatile organic compounds, and airborne pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19.

UFAD is state-of-the-art technology of Forsspac, a Filipino engineering design and commissioning company focused on building services and systems.

Hann added that the second phase of the development will see the grand launch of Hann Casino and the first flagship franchise of Swissotel Clark, a five-star chain known for its intelligent design, precision craftsmanship, and environmental sustainability philosophy.

The Swiss global brand will also host top-notch international and local restaurants to further add diversity to Pampanga province as the country’s culinary capital.

Swissotel and Mercure are part of Accor, a world-leading augmented hospitality group with some 5,000 hotels and

GAMING area

Hann Group opens Clark luxury casino resort

residences across 110 countries.

“The opening of Hann Casino and Swissotel Clark will help kickstart the country’s economy by providing muchneeded jobs. By 2022, Hann Casino Resort is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hann Lux Lifestyle Resort, the property group’s second premium subbrand, will be launched in a few years at the New Clark City as part of its second phase development. It will include three 18-hole championship golf courses, Banyan Tree Hotel, Angsana Hotel, Westin Hotel, and The Luxury Collection by Marriott International.

Once completed, Hann Resorts will emerge as the ultimate luxury playground north of Manila.

Science Sunday

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

BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 16, 2022

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From Delta to Omicron

How scientists determine the variants spreading in US

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he Omicron variant quickly took over the global coronavirus landscape after it was first reported in South Africa in late November, 2021. The US became the 24th country to report a case of Omicron infection when health officials announced on December 1, 2021, that the new strain had been identified in a patient in California.

How do scientists know what versions of the coronavirus are present? How quickly can they see which viral variants are making inroads in a population?

Alexander Sundermann and Lee Harrison are epidemiologists who study novel approaches for outbreak detection. Here they explain how the genomic surveillance system works in the US and why it’s important to know which virus variants are circulating.

What is genomic surveillance?

Genomic surveillance provides an early warning system for SARS-CoV-2.

The same way a smoke alarm helps firefighters know where a fire is breaking out, genomic surveillance helps public health officials see which coronavirus variants are popping up where.

Labs sequence the genome in coronavirus samples taken from patients’ Covid-19 tests. These are diagnostic PCR tests that have come back positive for SARS-CoV-2. Then scientists are able to tell from the virus’s genome which coronavirus variant infected the patient.

By sequencing enough coronavirus genomes, scientists are able to build up a representative picture of which variants are circulating in the population overall.

Some variants have genetic mutations that have implications for prevention and treatment of Covid-19.

So genomic surveillance can inform

decisions about the right countermeasures—helping to control and put out the fire before it spreads.

For example, the Omicron variant has mutations that diminish how well existing Covid-19 vaccines work.

In response, officials recommended booster shots to enhance protection.

Similarly, mutations in Omicron reduce the effectiveness of some monoclonal antibodies, which are used both to prevent and treat Covid-19 in highrisk patients.

Knowing which variants are circulating is, therefore, crucial for determining which monoclonal antibodies are likely to be effective.

How does genomic surveillance work in the US? The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads a consortium called the National SARS-CoV-2 Strain Surveillance (NS3) system.

It gathers around 750 SARS-CoV-2positive samples per week from state public health labs across the US. Independent of CDC efforts, commercial, university and health department laboratories sequence additional specimens.

Each ty pe of lab has its own strengths in genomic surveillance.

Commercial laboratories can sequence a high number of tests, rapidly. Academic partners can provide research expertise. And public health laboratories can supply insight into local transmission dynamics and outbreaks.

Regardless of the source, the sequence data is generally made publicly available and, therefore, contributes to genomic surveillance.

What data gets tracked?

When a lab sequences a SARS-CoV-2

The CDC uses statistical methods to estimate variant proportions for the most recent past until the official data has come in.

How many Covid-19 samples get sequenced?

A woman wearing a winter coat gets tested for Covid-19 at a mobile testing site in New York on January 11. Scientists are seeing signals that Covid-19’s alarming Omicron wave may have peaked in Britain and is about to do the same in the US, at which point cases may start dropping off dramatically. AP/Seth Wenig genome, it uploads the results to a public database that includes when and where the coronavirus specimen was collected.

The open-access Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) is an example of one of these databases.

Scientists launched GISAID in 2008 to provide a quick and easy way to see what influenza strains were circulating across the globe. Since then, GISAID has grown and pivoted to now provide access to SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences.

The database compares a sample’s genetic information to all the other samples collected and shows how that particular strain has evolved.

To date, over 6.7 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences from 241 countries and territories have been uploaded to GISAID. Taken together, this patchwork of genomic surveillance data provides a picture of the current variants spread-

ing in the US. For example, on December 4, 2021, the CDC projected that Omicron accounted for 0.6 percent of the Covid-19 cases in the US. The estimated proportion rose to 95 percent by January 1, 2022.

Surveillance gave a stark warning of how quickly this variant was becoming predominant, allowing researchers to study which countermeasures would work best.

It’s important to note, however, that genomic surveillance data is often dated. The time between a patient taking a Covid-19 test and the viral genome sequence getting uploaded to GISAID can be many days or even weeks.

Because of the multiple steps in the process, the median time from collection to GISAID in the US ranges from seven days (Kansas) to 27 days (Alaska).

Hybrids boost carabao mango’s competitiveness

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r esearch program that aimed to develop mango hybrids was seen to improve the competitiveness of carabao mango in the local and international markets.

The 6.5-year program, “Enhancing Competitiveness of Philippine ‘Carabao’ Mango through Varietal Improvement,” aims to identify molecular markers associated with red blush, thick peel and resistance to fruit fly and anthracnose through genotyping by sequencing technology.

It also aims to develop hybrids that may have the target traits singly or in combination with the other intended traits.

A project of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), it is being led by Dr. Maria Luz J. Sison of

the Institute of Plant Breeding, University of the Philippines Los Baños (IPB-UPLB).

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technolog y (DOST-PC A ARR D) is funding the program with a budget of P33 million.

A ccord i ng to C a roly n E . A lc a sid , leader of t he component project,“Characterization of ‘Carabao’ and other Mango Varieties with Red Blush and Thick Peel, and Development of Hybrids,” one carabao mango selection with excellent eating quality has been registered to the IPB Germplasm and Technology Release and Registration Office.

The team also registered to the National Seed Industry Council two other mango varieties, “Mangoming’’ and “Farrales,” which have potential for processing and as table type mango, respectively.

Another carabao mango selection with good eating quality and resistance to anthracnose was also identified and will be registered.

Alcasid said during an online program review that four carabao mango hybrids with red blush were also produced and characterized.

Sison said in another project, “Characterization of ‘Carabao’ and other Mango Varieties with Resistance to Fruit f ly and Anthracnose,” four carabao mango selections with resistance to fruit f ly and three

carabao mango selections with resistance to anthracnose had been identified.

Participants during the review included the program team members from IPB-UPLB headed by Director Dr. Fe M. de la Cueva of IPB, and representatives from DOST-PCA ARRD led by the Deputy Executive Director for R&D Dr. Feliciano G. Calora Jr., OIC of the Crops Research Division Dr. Allan B. Siano and the CRD monitoring team.

Dr. Rene Rafael C. Espino, Retired Professor from UPLB, served as the Technical Reviewer and Evaluator.

A Phase 2 program in the pipeline is set to complete the characterization and evaluation of the developed mango hybrids. S&T Media Services

DOST, govt agencies provide support to ‘Odette’-affected communities in Caraga

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he Association of Regional Executives of National Agencies in Region XI (Arena XI) held relief operations to help the families and communities affected by Supertyphoon Odette (international codename Rai) in December.

The super typhoon devastated several areas in Visayas and Mindanao a week before Christmas, affecting over 7 million people.

It resulted in P11.1 billion damages in crops and farmland and another P17.5 billion damages to homes, roads and infrastructures, according to the latest government data.

Employees from different national government agencies (NGAs) gave their support to families affected by Odette through the Arena XI donation drive on December 28, 2021.

The collected donations included water, water gallons, rice, canned food, hygiene kits, clothes and materials for temporary shelter.

The relief goods were given by the following agencies in Region XI: Departments of Science and Technology, Health, Energy, Agrarian Reform (DAR), Trade and Industry, Education, and Public Works and Highways;

Bureau of Fire Protection, National Economic and Development Authority, Commission on Audit, National

Housing Authority, Bureau of Plant Industry-Davao National Crop Research, Development and Production

Support Center, DAR Regional Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Professional Regulation Commission and Office of Civil Defense.

Arena XI President Dr. Anthony C. Sales, who is also the DOST XI regional director, spearheaded the turnover of the second batch of Arena XI donations to OCD XI on December 29, 2021 which was transported to Caraga Region for distribution to the affected communities.

“Thank you to all the NGAs who extended their support for this endeavor.

From vaccination to donation drive, we stand ready to offer help and develop initiatives to support our people during this challenging time,” Sales said.

In October 2021, Arena XI also donated material support to persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in facilities managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology XI. “Due to their environmental conditions, hygiene kits are a necessity most especially the PDLs are highly susceptible to contracting Covid-19.

This is one way to address the lack of basic supplies of the PDLs while going through this pandemic,” Sales added.

S&T Media Services

Earlier in 2021, the CDC and other public health laboratories were sequencing about 10,000 Covid-19 specimens per week total.

Considering that hundreds of thousands of cases have been diagnosed weekly during most of the pandemic, epidemiologists considered that number to be too small a proportion to provide a complete picture of circulating strains.

More recently, the CDC and public health labs have been sequencing closer to around 60,000 cases per week.

Despite this improvement, there is still a wide gap in the percentages of Covid-19 cases sequenced from state to state, ranging from a low of 0.19 percent in Oklahoma to a high of 10 percent in North Dakota within the past 30 days.

Moreover, the US overall sequences a much smaller percentage of Covid-19 cases compared to some other countries: 2.3 percent in the US compared to the 7 percent in the UK, 14.8 percent in New Zealand and 17 percent in Israel.

Which Covid-19 tests get sequenced?

Imagine if researchers collected Covid-19 tests from only one neighborhood in an entire state. The surveillance data would be biased toward the variant circulating in that neighborhood, since people are likely transmitting the same strain locally. The system might not even register another variant that is gaining steam in a different city.

That’s why scientists aim to gather a diverse sample from across a region.

Random geographically and demographically representative sampling gives researchers a good sense of the big picture in terms of which variants are predominant or diminishing.

Why don’t patients in the US get variant results?

There are a few reasons patients are generally not informed about the results if their specimen gets sequenced.

First, the time lag from specimen collection to sequence results is often too long to make the information clinically useful. Many patients will have progressed far into their illness by the time their variant is identified.

Second, the information is often not relevant for patient care. Treatment options are largely the same regardless of what variant has caused a Covid-19 infection.

In some cases, a doctor might select the most appropriate monoclonal antibodies for treatment based on which variant a patient has, but this information can often be gleaned from faster laboratory methods.

As we begin 2022, it is more important than ever to have a robust genomic surveillance program that can capture whatever the next new coronavirus variant is.

A system that provides a representative picture of current variants and fast turnaround is ideal. Proper investment in genomic surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens and data infrastructure will aid the US in fighting future waves of Covid-19 and other infectious diseases. Alexander Sundermann,

University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences/The Conversation (CC)

Outstanding R&D, S&T institutes recognized in DOST-Elsevier Awards

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he Department of Science and Technology’s outstanding research institutes were recognized in the 2021 DOST-Elsevier Awards. Elsevier is a global scientific publisher.

T he awa rdees were c hosen among DOST research and development institutes (RDIs), science and technology (S&T) institutes and the 10 state universities and colleges which were given intellectual property-based access to the Elsevier subscription.

The winners were: n DOST-Forest Products Research and Development Institute for the Highest ScienceDirect Usage this year under the RDI category; n DOST-Science Education Institute under the S&T institutes category; and n DOST Regional Office 2 under the Regional Office category. n The Central Luzon State University bagged the remaining major awards—Highest Publications Scopus and the Most Accepted Proposals, both under the State University and College category.

The Most Accepted Proposals award is given to the institution that got the most number of proposals submitted to DOST. Sc ienceD i rec t i s El se v ier ’s leading information solution for researchers, teachers, students, health care professionals and information professionals.

It offers millions of full-text publications, including journal articles and books chapters from Elsevier, its imprints and society partners.

From researchers pursuing scientific breakthroughs to academic institutions and government agencies evaluating research, Scopus is the abstract and indexing database of choice.

Worldwide, Scopus is used by more than 3,000 academic, government and corporate institutions and is the main data source that

supports the Elsevier Research Intelligence portfolio.

Certificates of appreciation were also given to all participating institutions as well as to Elsevier Coordinators.

Elsevier is the world’s largest scientific publisher of peer-reviewed journals and articles.

For the fourth time, the DOST revitalized its subscription to the scientific publishing giant’s online journals, citation index database, and capacity building of researchers on authorship to scientific journals.

This allows access of researchers to more than 3,000 journals and 25 million research articles across 26 subject areas and citation index database with over 5, 000 publishers and about 76 million articles.

At present, there are 667 higher education institutions, R&D institutes, government agencies and DOST regional offices nationwide, that are utilizing the online journal articles acquired through Elsevier.

Executive Director Dr. Enrico C. Paringit of DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development underscored the importance of comprehensive scientific literature, thus, he called the scientific community to use the platform.

“Science-based researched and science-backed decisions are critical especially at these trying times.

While we navigate our way through the new normal, we wish to increase the numbers of our partner intuitions who will use Elsevier in whatever science breakthroughs they will do in the future,” he said.

“Greater access to high-quality scientific literature is encouraged now that our way of lives has changed amid the pandemic. As we strive to find solutions, all these available resources will help us innovate more,” he added.

S&T Media Services

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Faith

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Sunday

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

Pope Francis on Covid vaccines: Health care a ‘moral obligation’

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OME—Pope Francis said recently that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus was a “moral obligation” and denounced how people had been swayed by “baseless information” to refuse one of the most effective measures to save lives during the pandemic.

Francis used some of his strongest words yet calling for people to get vaccinated in a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, an annual event in which he sets out the Vatican’s foreign policy goals for the year.

Fra ncis, 85, has genera l ly shied away from speaking about vaccination as a “moral obligation,” though his Covid-19 advisors have referred to it as a “moral responsibility.”

Rather, Francis has termed vaccination as “an act of love” and that refusing to get inoculated was “suicidal.”

On Monday he went a step further, saying that individuals had a responsibility to care for themselves “and this translates into respect for the health of those around us. Health care is a moral obligation,” he asserted.

He lamented that, increasingly, ideological divides were discouraging people from getting vaccinated.

“Frequently people let themselves be influenced by the ideology of the moment, often bolstered by baseless information or poorly documented facts,” he said, calling for the adoption of a “reality therapy” to correct this distortion.

“Vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease,” he added.

Some Catholics, including some conservative US bishops and cardinals, have claimed that vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses were immoral, and have refused to get the jabs.

The Vatican’s doctrine office, however, has said it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive Covid-19 vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses.

Francis and Emeritus Pope

Pope Francis delivers the Angelus noon prayer in St.Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, on January 9. AP/Gregorio Borgia

Benedict XVI have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

Francis repeated his call for universal access to the shots, particularly in the parts of the world with low vaccination rates, and called for revisions to patent rules so that poorer countries can develop their own vaccines.

“It is appropriate that institutions, such as the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization, adapt their legal instruments lest monopolistic rules constitute further obstacles to production and to an organized and consistent access to health care on a global level,” he said.

Francis delivered the speech to a much smaller group of diplomats than usual, and skipped the part of the audience that ambassadors relish: a chance to greet him personally and exchange a few words.

The restrictions were clearly a response to the exponential rise in

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the Faith, while Solidon is a team ministry member of the Cathedral Parish of the Nativity of Our Lady.

Monsignor is a title bestowed

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ALAMANCA, Spain—When Kent Albright, a Baptist pastor from the United States, arrived as a missionary to Spain in 1996, he was unprepared for the insults and threats, or the fines from the police for handing out Protestant leaflets on the streets of Salamanca.

“Social animosity was big—they had never seen a Protestant in their life,” said Albright, recalling one woman who whispered, “Be thankful we don’t throw stones at you.”

He couldn’t have imagined that 25 years later, he would be pastoring an evangelical congregation of 120 and count about two dozen other thriving Protestant churches in the northwestern city.

And there’s a distinctive feature to the worshippers: Most are not Spanishborn—they’re immigrants from Latin America, including about 80 percent of Albright’s congregation.

Country long dominated by Catholic Church

coronavirus cases in Italy.

On other topics, Francis lamented Syria’s devastation, calling for “political and constitutional reforms” so the country can be “reborn,” and urged that any sanctions avoid targeting civilians.

He didn’t single Russia out by name but called for “acceptable and lasting solutions” for Ukraine and the southern Caucasus inspired by “reciprocal trust and readiness to engage in calm discussion.”

And he also urged more open communications to avoid culture wars, without mentioning gender ideology or other hot-button topics by name. “[Some attitudes] leave no room for freedom of expression and are now taking the form of the ‘cancel culture’ invading many circles and public institutions. Under the guise of defending diversity, it ends up cancelling all sense of identity, with the risk of silencing positions,” he warned. AP

3 Borongan diocese priests appointed as ‘papal chaplains’ ORONGAN CITY, Eastern Samar—Pope Francis has honored three priests of the Diocese of Borongan in Eastern Samar province by appointing them as “Chaplains to His Holiness” with the title of Monsignor.

The diocese announced the appointments on January 7.

The new papal chaplains are Msgr. Lope Robredillo, Msgr. Eutiquio “Euly” Belizar, Jr., and Msgr.

Romeo Solidon.

Robredillo is the diocese’s Vicar General and chairman of two diocesan commissions: Liturgy and Cultural Heritage of the Church.

He is also the parish priest at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in Quinapondan town.

Belizar, who is currently on sabbatical leave, heads the diocese’s Commission on Doctrine of

Surge of evangelicals in Spain, fueled by LatAms

on a diocesan priest who has distinguished himself by many years of exceptional service to the church, or has provided a specific

and specialized function in church governance.

It is also an honorary title and does not affect the priest’s duties or ministerial assignment.

And because the title historically designated a priest who served in the papal curia, the diocese said that all nominated monsignors are officially considered part of the papal household, whether they serve in the Vatican or elsewhere.

“In sca l ing bac k honor if ic positions within the Catholic Church in 2014, Pope Francis retained the category of ‘Chaplain to His Holiness’ for any and all new nominated recipients,” it said.

In keeping with the pope’s reforms, a “Chaplain to His Holiness” is only granted to a diocesan priest who is over 65 years of age. CBCP News

The numbers reflect huge surges in Spain’s migrant population and evangelical population in recent decades, profoundly changing how faith is practiced in a country long dominated by the Catholic Church.

One of the newest members of Albright’s congregation is Luis Perozo, 31, a former police officer from Venezuela who arrived in Spain in February 2020 and applied for asylum with his wife, Narbic Escalante, 35.

While the couple wait for their status to be resolved, Perozo works in a hotel laundry. His wife does nursing in a retirement home.

“I was a lifelong Catholic,” says Escalante. “When I arrived in Salamanca, I entered the church, looked everywhere, said hello, and they ignored me. I went to several churches—I felt absolutely nothing.”

Perozo and Escalante soon visited Albright´s church; one of Perozo’s uncles had emigrated earlier and was already a member.

Escalante commended Albright’s approach to pastoring, including services with lively music and less emphasis on repetitive prayer.

“I definitely feel better here than in the Catholic Church,” she says. “It allows me to live more freely, with less inhibitions.”

Migrants and evangelicals

With the arrival of the euro currency two decades ago, Spain experienced a boom that fueled migration. In 2000, there were 471,465 legally registered migrants in Spain; there are now about 7.2 million.

Albright was so intrigued that he wrote a PhD thesis about the phenomenon, estimating that 20 percent of the migrants are evangelicals.

The last official census conducted by the Justice Ministry’s Observatory of Religious Pluralism found 1.96 percent of Spain’s population was Protestant in 2018—more than 900,000 people. That’s up from 96,000 tallied in 1998.

The steady growth of the Protestant population coincides with a steady drop in the number of churchgoing Catholics.

Spanish Catholics down to 62 percent

According to the Sociological Research Center, a public institute, 62 percent of Spaniards define themselves as Catholics, down from 85 percent in 2000.

It’s a striking development in a country where Catholicism, for centuries, was identified with near-absolute power—from the long, often brutal era of the Spanish Inquisition to the 36-year dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, who called his regime National-Catholic, in the 20th century.

Of the 23,000 Catholic parishes in Spain at present, more than 6,000 have no full-time priest. Some churches had to be grouped together and served by traveling priests who minister to multiple parishes.

The church’s challenges are evident in the province of Zamora, just north of Salamanca, which has lost 16 percent of its population since 2000. There are 304 parishes and only about 130 priests.

One of the traveling priests, the Rev. Francisco Ortega, manages six parishes—trying to adapt as the number of churchgoers steadily declines.

It’s a hectic agenda, but Ortega recently received some help—Rev. Edgardo Rivera, a 42-year-old missionary from El Salvador, joined him in November.

It’s a reversal of the pattern several centuries ago, when hundreds of Catholic missionaries embarked for Latin America from Spain.

Priests born from elsewhere

Overall, about 10 percent of the Catholic priests now serving in Spain were born elsewhere. The influx is welcome, given that the average age for a priest in Spain today is about 65.

Rivera and Ortega strive to be good teammates. While Ortega blessed parishioners during one recent celebration, Rivera managed the church’s sound system via Bluetooth and changed the music tracks and volume from his phone.

The next day, after Sunday Mass, Rivera organized a gathering at the community center where he officiated. The official church building, 300 years old, is falling down; gifts from parishioners will be needed to supplement the diocese’s repair budget.

He then headed to the village bar with some of the parishioners, ordering a glass of white wine.

He couldn’t imagine drinking a beer at a bar in his Salvadoran hometown after Mass.

“But if this is where people gather and how people socialize here, this is where I have to be too,” River said. AP

End-of-life conversations can be hard, but your loved ones will thank you

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eath—along with taxes— is one of life’s few certainties. Despite this inevitability, most people dread thinking and talking about when, how or under what conditions they might die.

They don’t want to broach the topic with family, either, for fear of upsetting them. Ironically, though, talking about death “early and often” can be the greatest gift to bestow on loved ones.

As a sociologist who has studied end-of-life issues for more than two decades, I’ve learned that people know they should talk about death honestly and openly, but surprisingly few do.

In fact, one recent study showed that while 90 percent of adults say that talking to their loved ones about their end-of-life wishes is important, only 27 percent have actually had these conversations.

It’s frightening to think about our own suffering, or our loved ones’ distress. But everyone should talk about and prepare for death precisely because we want to minimize our own suffering at the end of life, and soften the anguish of loved ones left behind.

No time to plan

These conversations are more urgent now than ever, as the Covid-19 pandemic has changed how Americans die.

For the past several decades, most adults have died from chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer and lung disease. The time between diagnosis and death for people with these conditions can be months or even years.

That gives patients and their families ample time to share their feelings, resolve unfinished business,

and make practical preparations for death—including estate planning, advance care planning and even planning a celebration of life that bears the dying patient’s creative imprint.

But when the pandemic struck in 2020, Covid deaths began to occur quickly and unexpectedly, with many patients dying just days after they felt their first symptoms.

Their families were robbed of final moments together and often had no documents in place to guide the patient’s health care or the distribution of their possessions.

This suddenness, isolation and lack of preparedness all are hallmarks of a “bad death” for both the patient and their family.

What to cover

A dvance care planning , which typically involves a living will and a

health-care proxy, allows people to articulate which medical treatments they want or don’t want at the end of life.

A living will formally articulates preferences for care, such as whether to use comfort measures like hospice and palliative care, or more invasive measures like feeding tubes and ventilators.

Documenting these preferences when the patient is still able to make those decisions helps to ensure they die on their own terms—a cornerstone of the “good death.”

Appointing a hea lt h-care proxy when still relatively young and healthy gives people an opportunity to decide who will be tasked with their end-of-life decision-making.

It also clarifies loved ones’ responsibilities and can fend off arguments that could arise around the deathbed. Having these discussions early

also prevents panicked choices when someone’s health takes a dramatic turn for the worse.

End-of-life discussions also help you to construct your own legacy.

In Death and Identity, a classic book in death studies, sociologist Robert Fulton observed that “preserving rather than losing…personal identity” is a critical aspect of the dying process.

Being treated like a “whole person” is a core component of a good death, and honest discussions are a key to maintaining your unique identity, even at the end of life.

Conversations also help us share how we’d like to be celebrated after we’re gone. This might be as simple as dictating the music, food, and photo or video displays for a memorial service; where to spread ashes; or charities for mourners to support.

Some people take more ambitious

steps at leaving behind a legacy, such as penning an autobiography or leaving behind videos for relatives. Creating a “post-self ” that lingers years after the body has died can be a cherished gift to families.

Getting started

Broaching these conversations can be awkward or unnerving, but it doesn’t have to be. Death is a natural and inevitable part of life and should be approached as such.

I have argued that the end of life is a stage, just as childhood, adolescence and old age are.

Each stage teaches lessons for the others that lie ahead.

Children learn skills in school that they’ll need to enter the workforce. Teens learn how to navigate romantic relationships as preparation for the future. Deborah Carr, Boston University/The Conversation (CC)

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

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Zoos, aquariums shift to a new standard of ‘animal welfare’

I (From top left, clockwise) TIP President Dr. Elizabeth Quirino-Lahoz, Subicwater CEO Benjamin Antonio III, TIP Senior Vice President Angelo Lahoz; and DOST Undersecretary Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara for R&D during the virtual MOU signing. TIP photo

TIP and Subicwater collaborate for wastewater treatment in Zambales

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he Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) is positioning itself as a viable partner and pushes for stronger academeindustry-government linkages.

This is manifested in one of its projects in the recent signing of a collaborative research agreement with Subic Water and Sewerage Co. Inc. for the project “Constructed Wetland for Wastewater Treatment of Effluent from a Water Provider.”

TIP and Subicwater formalized their partnership in a virtual conference led by TIP President Dr. Elizabeth Quirino-Lahoz, Subicwater Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Antonio III, and Undersecretary Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara for Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The project—which aims to reduce the concentration of wastewater pollutants through an integrated wetland system—is funded by the DOST through its Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy (Cradle) program, with the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) as the monitoring agency.

“Collaborative projects such as this provide the platform for students, faculty members and researchers to work with industry partners and government agencies, thus, making learning more relevant, meaningful and impactful. Learning by doing,” Quirino-Lahoz said.

For Subicwater, the partnership “could not have come at a more

perfect time.”

Citing the 2018 Boracay wastewater crisis and the stricter standards set

by DAO 2021-19 for water effluent, Antonio said this collaborative effort is an opportunity to create “one of the most practical and cost-efficient options that we can use to address growing issues in sewerage management in the Philippines.”

Guevara, meanwhile, noted that with increased economic activity comes the need to protect and rehabilitate the island. “ Tourism opportunities provide economic v ibrance enjoyed by local industr ies, most notable are businesses lined up in water ways that take advantage of spectacular v iews. T hrough research and development, we’ ll be able to strike a healthy balance between preserving the environment and providing much needed support to private industries,” she added.

TIP’s venture with Subicwater is the latest addition to the list of DOST Cradle-sponsored projects. It is spearheaded by TIP Manila’s Chemical Engineering Department Chairman Engr. Lorraine Carrillo and TechnoCoRe Catalyst Industry Relations and Senior Project Manager Dr. Therese May Alejandrino.

TechnoCoRe is TIP’s thrust toward technopreneurship and collaborative applied research. It empowers students, faculty members, and researchers to work on innovative solutions to the problems of stakeholders, including government, industry, civic organizations and society at large.

Building back better agenda to help minimize impacts of climate change

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By Rizal Raoul Reyes

eing a disaster-prone country, it is said that the “Build Back Better” philosophy is needed in the Philippines for it to be able to at least minimize the impacts of severe typhoons and other natural disturbances caused by climate change.

However, it seems the country has not learned its lesson well as Supertyphoon Odette (international name code Rai) mercilessly pummeled large parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

Renato Redentor Constantino, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities executive director, told the BusinessMirror in a recent phone interview that the local government units (LGUs) in the affected provinces did not even have solar powered units and satellite phones as part of the contingency plans.

“Bohol, Cebu, Siargao and Puerto Princesa should have benefitted from the lessons of Typhoon Yolanda [in November 2013],” he said.

Philippine Institute of Environmental Planners fellow Nathaniel von Einsiedel told the BusinesMirror in an e-mail interview that implementing Build Back Better is easier said than done.

He said there were various reasons why the destruction wrought by Odette was severe despite the popular acceptance of the Build Back Better philosophy.

One is the still inadequate integration and operationalization of disaster-risk reduction and climate change-adaptation measures by certain LGUs in their full range of functions, which may be because of financial limitations, as in the case of fourth to sixth class municipalities.

Another is the inability of certain LGUs to effectively enforce land-use regulations and other development

controls that are aimed at preventing settlements on disaster-prone and other danger zones.

“Related to this is the inability of certain LGUs to provide resettlement sites with adequate job and livelihood opportunities, thus, resulting in people displaced by the disaster returning to their previous neighborhoods,” explained Einsiedel, also a principal urban planner of Consultants for Comprehensive Environmental Planning Inc. He sa id architects, toget her with civil engineers, have long been involved in designing and promoting disaster-resilient houses and buildings.

He noted that a number of architects have been involved in the formulation and updating of the National Building Code that has integrated higher standards in consideration of more recent disaster risks.

Amid the current disasters, he said architects can craft local building codes suited to the particular disaster risks that a province, city or municipality faces, instead of just relying on the National Building Code which is too generalized.

“However, the preparation of a Build Back Better roadmap cannot be left to architects alone. It requires the involvement and commitment of a much broader set of stakeholders, including local communities and the business sector,” Einsiedel said .

If the Build Back Better agenda or roadmap is implementable, Einsiedel pointed out that it has to be formulated by the LGUs’ key stakeholders, such as the business sector, civil society organizations and the academe, among others.

Another major lesson was the failure of LGUs to build genuine evacuation centers by the LGUs.

n 1980 I visited the zoo in a major US city and found row after row of bare concrete boxes with jailhouse-style bars occupied by animals from around the world.

The animals appeared to be in good physical condition, but many were staring into space or pacing restlessly around the edges of their tiny quarters.

It was depressing. I’m not naming the zoo, because you could have seen the same thing at most US zoos in that era.

More recently, visitors to many zoos and aquariums see animals in surroundings that resemble their native habitat, behaving in ways that are typical for their species. What has changed?

In the intervening years, the professional zoo and aquarium community has fundamentally altered the way it views the task of caring for the animals in its collections.

Instead of focusing on animal care, the industr y is now requiring that zoos meet a higher standard— animal welfare. This is a new metric, and it represents a huge change in how zoos and aquariums qualif y for accreditation.

I am a scientist who studies animal behavior, both in captivity and in the wild. This recent development in the zoo world is the result of an evolution in the scientific understanding of animals’ lives and welfare. It also reflects zoos’ and aquariums’ increasing focus on conservation.

From trophy case to conservation message

Since the first animal menageries in ancient Egypt, zoos and aquariums have taken a progression of forms.

T he Br itish Royal Menager ie, which was housed in the Tower of London from the early 13th century until 1835, served as an animated trophy case.

In Europe, exotic animal collections were often displayed in garden settings for the amusement of the gentry, and by the late 18th century, for the general public as well.

These places often functioned as stationary circuses, sensationalizing the strangeness of animals from afar.

In Victorian England, zoos were recast as edifying entertainments.

This was also true in the US, where the first zoo opened to the public in Philadelphia in 1874.

Early zoos weren’t very good at keeping animals alive.

In the first half of the 20th century, though, zoos began to focus on animals’ physical health. This ushered in the “ bathroom” era in zoo

The Tower of London housed England’s royal menagerie, or zoological garden, for several centuries. Picture from the 15th century, British Library. Wikimedia Commons design, with an emphasis on surfaces that could be steam-sterilized, such as ceramic tile.

Over the past 50 years, a landscape immersion model of zoo design has risen to prominence, as institutions have evolved into conservation and education organizations.

By displaying animals in settings resembling their natural habitat— and setting the scene for visitors to imagine themselves in that habitat— the hope is to instill in visitors who might never see a lion in its element a passion for its preservation.

Changing standards

Accreditation is a mechanism for maintaining and pioneering best practices. Being accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is the highest level of professional recognition for North American zoos and aquariums.

Fewer than 250 out of approximately 2,800 animal exhibitors licensed by the US Department of Agriculture are AZA accredited.

To earn that accreditation, a zoo or aquarium must demonstrate alignment with its mission, a sound business operation and significant activity in the areas of education, conservation and research.

But the centerpiece of accreditation is demonstrating quality of life for animals under human care.

For decades, the focus was on practices that correlate with animal health, like absence of illness, successful reproduction and longevity.

The AZA has published objective standards for what it means to provide proper care for a tapir, a tiger or a Japanese spider crab—for example, requirements specifying certain amounts of physical space, environmental temperature ranges and cleaning routines.

These extensive and detailed standards were devised by working groups of experts in various species from across the zoo and aquarium community and based on the best available scientific evidence.

A recent revision to accreditation standards in 2018, however, supersedes this model in favor of a new goal—that a zoo or aquarium demonstrate it has achieved animal welfare.

Not only must animals be healthy, but they should also display behavior typical of their species. Climbers must climb, diggers must dig and runners must run.

Understanding the lives of animals is central

Over the past 60 years, scientific

understanding of animals’ cognitive abilities has exploded.

A large body of scientific work has shown that a relatively rich or impoverished environment has effects on both brain and behavior. Such awareness has led the zoo and aquarium community to formally embrace a higher standard of care.

Zoo or aquarium personnel can provide such behavioral opportunities only if they know what is normal for that species in the wild.

So optimizing animal welfare requires a knowledge base that is both broad and deep. For example, a zoo must understand what is normal behavior for a pygmy marmoset before it can know what behavioral opportunities to provide.

Many zoos and aquariums house hundreds of animal species. Each species exists because it occupies a unique niche in the ecosystem, so the conditions that produce ideal welfare for one species may not be the same as those for a different species.

Developing welfare standards for the wide diversity of zoo species will take time and quite a bit of research.

A lthough A ZA-accredited zoos and aquariums contribute over $200 million per year to research in over 100 countries around the world, the need for conservation research always far outstrips the available funding.

How old is an eastern black rhinoceros before it begins to go on adventures away from its mother? If a flamingo chick has a medical issue that is successfully resolved, how can keepers tell if its development has been affected?

How can keepers evaluate whether items introduced into the enclosure of a troop of Japanese macaque monkeys, intended to enrich their environment, are actually serving that purpose?

Knowing the answers to these questions, and a multitude of other similar ones, will help the zoo community truly optimize the welfare of animals under their care.

Another major factor behind the AZA’s new standard is its role in species conservation.

Captive animals typically outlive their wild counterparts. Zoos and aquariums are the figurative lifeboat for an increasing number of species that are extinct in the wild.

Simply keeping an animal alive is now no longer enough. Zoo-based efforts to save endangered species will succeed only if understanding of the animals’ lives is fully integrated with husbandry standards. Michael J. Renner,

Drake University/The Conversation

Scientists explore Thwaites, Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier

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team of scientists is sailing to “the place in the world that’s the hardest to get to” so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica’s ice.

Thirty-two scientists are starting a more than two-month mission aboard an American research ship to investigate the crucial area where the massive but melting Thwaites glacier faces the Amundsen Sea and may eventually lose large amounts of ice because of warm water.

The Florida-sized glacier has gotten the nickname the “doomsday glacier” because of how much ice it has and how much seas could rise if it all melts—more than two feet (65 centimeters) over hundreds of years.

Because of its importance, the United States and the United Kingdom are in the midst of a joint $50 million mission to study Thwaites, the widest glacier in the world by land and sea.

Not near any of the continent’s research stations, Thwaites is on Antarctica’s western half, east of the jutting Antarctic Peninsula, which used to be the area scientists worried most about.

This 2020 photo provided by the British Antarctic Survey shows the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica. David Vaughan/British Antarctic Survey via AP “Thwaites is the main reason I would say that we have so large an uncertainty in the projections of future sea level rise and that is because it’s a very remote area, difficult to reach,” A nna Wahlin, an oceanographer from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said in a recent interview from the Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, which was scheduled to leave its port in Chile hours later.

“It is configured in a way so that it’s

potentially unstable. And that is why we are worried about this,” she said.

Thwaites is putting about 50 billion tons of ice into the water a year.

The British Antarctic Survey says the glacier is responsible for 4 percent of global sea rise, and the conditions leading to it to lose more ice are accelerating, University of Colorado ice scientist Ted Scambos said from the McMurdo land station last month.

Oregon State University ice scien-

tist Erin Pettit said Thwaites appears to be collapsing in three ways: Melting from below by ocean water.

The land part of the glacier “is losing its grip” to the place it attaches to the seabed, so a large chunk can come off into the ocean and later melt.

The glacier’s ice shelf is breaking into hundreds of fractures like a damaged car windshield. This is what Pettit said she fears will be the most troublesome with six-mile (10-kilometer) long cracks forming in just a year.

No one has stepped foot on the key ice-water interface at Thwaites before.

In 2019, Wahlin was on a team that explored the area from a ship using a robotic ship but never went ashore.

Wahlin’s team will use two robot ships—her own large one called Ran which she used in 2019, and the more agile Boaty McBoatface, the crowdsource named drone that could go further under the area of Thwaites that protrudes over the ocean—to get under Thwaites.

The ship-bound scientists will be measuring water temperature, the sea floor and ice thickness. They’ll look at cracks in the ice, how the ice is structured and tag seals on islands off the glacier. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, January 16, 2022 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

‘GRANDMA’ CLAUDIA STILL SKATING AT 49 D

ECADES into a decorated speedskating career, Claudia Pechstein is still achieving firsts.

The 49-year-old German will become the oldest woman to compete at a Winter Olympics in Beijing and the second athlete—and only woman—to compete in eight Winter Games.

“Almost everybody say to me, ‘It’s amazing you’re still competing on this level. It’s crazy,’” she said. “I like skating.”

Pechstein will tie Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai for participating in the most Winter Games.

She’ll surpass Anne Abernathy, a luger from the US Virgin Islands who was 48 at her fifth Olympics in 2002. Abernathy was injured during practice at the 2006 games and didn’t compete.

Pechstein, a five-time Olympic champion, qualified in the mass start, an event that debuted four years ago in Pyeongchang and features up to 24 skaters racing 16 laps at the same time. It features all-out sprints, jockeying for position and tactics, which a veteran like Pechstein knows plenty about.

The owner of nine Olympic medals

turns 50 on February 22, two days after the closing ceremony.

“Every day is harder to get motivated, especially when you feel not so great and the results aren’t coming along,” she said, “but I’m still proud of myself. I can still compete with the world’s younger girls.”

Many of her competitors weren’t born when she won her first Olympic medal, a bronze at the 1992 Albertville Games, the first after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She’s a remainder of the old East German sports machine, having grown up on that side of the wall and competed as a teenager.

In 2009, Pechstein was banned for two years by the International Skating Union (ISU) because of irregularities in her blood profile.

The suspension was not based on a positive test, but the ISU found her blood values to be indicative of doping use.

Pechstein denied the accusations then, as she does to this day.

“I don’t do anything forbidden,” she said. “I can look in the mirror every morning.”

She lost her appeal and served the ban, with her reputation taking a major hit.

She returned to the ice in 2011, but her court fight is still going on.

She believes the arbitration process is unfair to athletes, who are required to sign agreements that force them to take their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In doing so, athletes waive their rights to bring their cases to courts in their home countries, and Pechstein believes that is unjustified. She also wants her ban overturned.

In 2016, she lost her case in Germany’s highest civil court. She refused to give up, and took her fight to Germany’s federal constitutional court.

“I never give up. I still fight for my right,” she said. “I go for European court, if it’s necessary.”

Pechstein points out that if not for missing the 2010 Vancouver Olympics because of the ban, she’d be at her ninth games in China.

“They make a really big mistake and they know it,” she said of the ISU. Pechstein last won an individual World Cup title in December 2017, the oldest woman to do so.

“It’s not easy with this in the head always,” she said, referring to her court battles.

Pechstein is a federal police officer

in Germany, where her partner, Matthias Grosse, is president of the German Speed Skating Association.

They met after he e-mailed her in 2009 offering his support.

Her longevity and results command respect among the much

K

Under the practice, a girl dresses, behaves and is treated as a boy, with all the freedoms and obligations that entails. The child can play sports, attend a madrassa, or religious school, and, sometimes crucially for the family, work. But there is a time limit: Once a bacha posh reaches puberty, she is expected to revert to traditional girls’ gender roles. The transition is not always easy.

It is unclear how the practice is viewed by Afghanistan’s new rulers, the Taliban, who seized power in mid-August and have made no public statements on the issue.

Their rule so far has been less draconian than the last time they were in power in the 1990s, but women’s freedoms have still been severely curtailed. Thousands of women have been barred from working, and girls beyond primary school age have not been able to return to public schools in most places.

With a crackdown on women’s rights, the bacha posh tradition could become even more attractive for some families. And as the practice is temporary, with the children

SANAM (center) celebrates a goal as she plays soccer with boys from her neighborhood, in Kabul. AP

eventually reverting to female roles, the Taliban might not deal with the issue at all, said Thomas Barfield, a professor of anthropology at Boston University who has written several books on Afghanistan.

“Because it’s inside the family and because it’s not a permanent status, the Taliban may stay out [of it],” Barfield said.

It is unclear where the practice originated or how old it is, and it is impossible to know how widespread it might be. A somewhat similar tradition exists in Albania, another deeply patriarchal society, although it is limited to adults. Under Albania’s “sworn virgin” tradition, a woman would take an oath of celibacy and declare herself a man, after which she could inherit property, work and sit on a village council—all of which would have been out of bounds for a woman.

In Afghanistan, the bacha posh tradition is “one of the most underinvestigated” topics in terms of gender issues, said Barfield, who spent about two years in the 1970s living with an Afghan nomad family that included a bacha posh. “Precisely because the girls

There was Tonya-Nancy, there was Tara Lipinski: Scandals do leave scars

By Barry Wilner

The Associated Press

T

younger set.

“I think it’s really good for her that she’s doing it and she likes it,” Dutch skater Femke Kok said. “Why not?”

Pechstein is a long shot to medal in Beijing, yet just making it there represents a victory.

“It’s for me more than the gold,” she said. AP

Afghan tradition allows girls to access freedom of boys ABUL, Afghanistan—In a Kabul neighborhood, a gaggle of boys kick a yellow ball around a dusty playground, their boisterous cries echoing off the surrounding apartment buildings.

Dressed in sweaters and jeans or the traditional Afghan male clothing of baggy pants and long shirt, none stand out as they jostle to score a goal. But unbeknown to them, one is different from the others.

At not quite eight years old, Sanam is a bacha posh: a girl living as a boy. One day a few months ago, the girl with rosy cheeks and an impish smile had her dark hair cut short, donned boys’ clothes and took on a boy’s name, Omid. The move opened up a boy’s world: playing soccer and cricket with boys, wrestling with the neighborhood butcher’s son, working to help the family make ends meet.

In Afghanistan’s heavily patriarchal, male-dominated society, where women and girls are usually relegated to the home, bacha posh, Dari for “dressed as a boy,” is the one tradition allowing girls access to the freer male world.

CLAUDIA PECHSTEIN will become the oldest woman to compete at a Winter Olympics in Beijing and the second athlete—and only woman—to compete in eight Winter Games. AP

revert back to the female role, they marry, it kind of disappears.”

Girls chosen as bacha posh usually are the more boisterous, self-assured daughters. “The role fits so well that sometimes even outside the family, people are not aware that it exists,” he said.

“It’s almost so invisible that it’s one of the few gender issues that doesn’t show up as a political or social question,” Barfield noted.

The reasons parents might want a bacha posh vary. With sons traditionally valued more than daughters, the practice usually occurs in families without a boy. Some consider it a status symbol, and some believe it will bring good luck for the next child to be born a boy.

But for others, like Sanam’s family, the choice was one of necessity. Last year, with Afghanistan’s economy collapsing, construction work dried up.

Sanam’s father, already suffering from a back injury, lost his job as a plumber. He turned to selling coronavirus masks on the streets, making the equivalent of $1-$2 per day. But he needed a helper.

The family has four daughters and one son, but their 11-year-old boy doesn’t have full use of his hands following an injury. So the parents said they decided to make Sanam a bacha posh.

“We had to do this because of poverty,” said Sanam’s mother, Fahima.

“We don’t have a son to work for us, and her father doesn’t have anyone to help him. So I will consider her my son until she becomes a teenager.”

Still, Fahima refers to Sanam as “my daughter.” In their native Dari language, the pronouns are not an issue since one pronoun is used for “he” and “she.”

Sanam says she prefers living as a boy.

“It’s better to be a boy...I wear [Afghan male clothes], jeans and jackets, and go with my father and work,” she said. She likes playing in the park with her brother’s friends and playing cricket and soccer.

Once she grows up, Sanam said, she wants to be either a doctor, a commander or a soldier, or work with her father. And she’ll go back to being a girl. AP

HERE’S one word that always grabs the world’s attention in sports: scandal.

Figure skating has had its share—anyone recall Tonya and Nancy in 1994?

That one has been examined as often as Nathan Chen nails a quadruple jump.

Not so much the 2002 disgrace at the the Salt Lake City Olympics. Until now.

Tara Lipinski, the 1998 Olympic gold medalist and now an analyst for NBC, partnered with husband Todd Kapostasy on a four-part documentary series on Peacock, NBC’s streaming outlet. It’s called “MEDDLING” and looks deeply into the impact the judging misdeeds had on the two pairs teams involved: Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

Just after improprieties in the scoring centering on French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne surfaced, Sale and Pelletier, who had finished second to the Russians, were elevated to co-gold medalists. Then they shared the top podium at the medals ceremony.

“It brought a sadness for me as an Olympic champion knowing what that night is like,” Lipinski explains. “You skate your heart out and everything goes right, the rest is all fun and soaking in the crowd and seeing marks. And you win and have your time on the podium listening to the national anthem, and those are one-time lifetime memories.

“I think they would all agree it was the most bizarre and unfortunate night. How uncomfortable and extremely awkward it was sharing the top podium. David said it was ‘done for the people, not for us.’

“I don’t think any of those skaters will get that night back, their one shot at Olympic glory and to experience what it would be like to win a gold medal.”

Instead, they got chaos. As the AP reported: “So on Sunday night, after the original dance ended, a blue carpet was laid down on the ice and a medals

podium put on top of it. Canadian and Russian flags were hung on a scaffold, ready to be pulled to the rafters.

“It had the potential to be awkward—medals ordinarily won by one couple shared between two.

But Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze accepted their co-champions gracefully, a gift Sale and Pelletier acknowledged.”

Still, as Lipinski and Kapostasy discovered during interviews with everyone involved—including Le Gougne—it left scars. On the sport, which immediately underwent a revamping of the scoring system, eliminating the perfect 6.0 that wasn’t all that perfect in the end. And on the four skaters, 20 years later.

Lipinski notes that there had not been an in-depth look at the scandal in the past two decades. Even though it was a dominant theme during the Salt Lake City Games, an ongoing drama for days, the perception generally was that the French judge voted for the Russians that night under pressure from others.

“But detailing every facet was needed. It is a deep and responsible look at what happened,” she says of “MEDDLING.” “There are so many different layers of this story that I didn’t realize were happening.”

The docuseries is the first time Le Gougne has spoken to American media, Lipinski says. They did a sixhour interview.

“It affected her life so greatly,” Lipinsiki says. “She moved back in with her mom in France and feels like she was not able to live her life, misses her sport so much. Sadly, she even contemplated suicide.

“Twenty years later, we’re getting to look at where these people are now and how it affected their lives so deeply.”

Lipinski and Kapostasy are hoping to do more projects with their May Fifth Productions. Not necessarily focusing on figure skating, although it is ripe with potential.

“The reason I wanted to do it, I never want to back away from things that have happened in this sport, and that was a huge blemish,” she says.

“It is nice to not pretend it didn’t, but why not take a look at it and relive the story and find out more? At the same time, we can appreciate that this sport has evolved and has a new judging system.”

And, in recent years, no scandals.

FORMER figure skater Tara Lipinski smiles while video of her is shown on the large screen during a timeout in the first half of a National Basketball Association game between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers on November 10, 2019, at the Madison Square Garden in New York. AP

BusinessMirror

January 16, 2022

Here’s where (and how) you are most likely to catch COVID

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BusinessMirror JANUARY 16, 2022 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

DIFFERENT WORDS, SAME TUNE Just Stef on singing in a foreign language

S

By Stephanie Joy Ching

INGING in a completely different language is certainly a challenge. One has to take note of the pronunciation and accent of the target language in addition to the tune of the song. So when singer and TikTok sensation Just Stef found out that a lot of her fans came from the Southeast Asian region, she decided that singing in Tagalog was a challenge she could take on.

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

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: Aldwin M. Tolosa

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: Jt Nisay

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: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

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

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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

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According to the ArgentenianAmerican artist, the idea for “Miss You Miss Me” first came to her over three years ago after a break up.

“There were a couple of songs sent over to me and when I heard ‘Miss You Miss Me’, it kind of made me feel the way I felt in the beginning stages of the break up process. And it was about missing him and knowing he probably misses you too. I felt that it was super relatable,” she said.

Set to an upbeat yet sad tune, “Miss You Miss Me” is a plea for a second chance at love. It’s asking to make things right even though the situation seems hopeless. With the strong conviction in Stef’s vocals combined with the pulsating electro beat, it paints a clear picture of longing amidst chaos.

After posting the song on TikTok, she noticed that a lot of traffic came from Southeast Asia, which led her to look into other TikTok influencers in the area. This was where she came across AC Bonifacio.

“I started looking into influencers on TikTok and my For You Page had a lot from Southeast Asia. I had seen AC over there so we decided to collaborate and make a Tagalog version of it,” Along with acclaimed record producer Jonathan Manalo, Just Stef and AC somehow made Miss You Miss Me take a more hopeful tone in its Tagalog reincarnation.

Along with AC’s sunny sounding voice contrasting with Stef’s, the song’s upbeat tune becomes less of a “I miss you and you probably

miss me too”, but more of a “though I miss you, I am going to move on” narrative.

For Stef, she found that the hardest part of singing in Tagalog was trying to perfect the accent.

JUST STEF

“Jonathan Manalo was sending me demos so I can hear how it’s said correctly, and I also had a demo version sung in Tagalog. So I was going back and forth through both translations to hear the difference.

It took a couple of hours, but I was able to get through it,” she said.

“In my mind, I’m here so the audience would most likely be here, I’m Latin, so maybe it would only be the Latin crowd, so when I looked on Spotify and saw where it was coming from, I thought: ‘this is crazy.’ I was able to open up my eyes a little bit more and start looking into the culture and I was able to open my mind to something completely different,” she added.

“Miss You Miss Me” by Just Stef and AC Bonifacio is available for streaming in all major streaming platforms.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | JANUARY 16, 2022

BUSINESS

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

Your Sunday dose of ear-bending pleasures

CALIX Crash and Burn

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IKE its title Crash and Burn, rapper Calix’s new EP is propelled by music and ideas in motion. Its first two tracks banner pure pop and RnB energy in the service of words that occasionally lean towards hedonism and party celebration like there’s no tomorrow. Come the third and fourth canto, the progressive rapper takes a U-turn from what in interviews he describes as “cutesy pop shit” to deal with bigger populist albeit left-ofcenter issues in the national consciousness. In “Some of ‘Ya, Pt. 2,” he sneers “Tuta ng malakolonyal, tuta ng imperyalismo ang rosas na tutubo sa puntod n’yo.” The penultimate “K.A.C.” is in praise of guns “na pwede bang paputukin sa mga corrupt at abusado?” Calix may be offering a sneak preview of the culture/political clash that bedevils today’s millennials.

POW Quote unquote

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INOY rock comes in cycles of boom and bust and in a music scene that reveres copycats, it’s tough to offer game-changing

ideas in a genre dependent on local content as well as audience appreciation. Granted that freshman OPM rockers Pow have little to show that’s original but hey, you have to admire the execution and the artistry with which they overcome cultural barriers as well as physical lockdown to produce new music.

Their ersatz titled EP starts relaxed as most modest ventures go. Then things pick up upon the arrival of the dancepunk influenced “Things,” then on to the energetic rev up of “Summer” and finally, to the slow-fast-faster dash powering “Yearly.” There’s a glimmer of hope for homegrown Pinoy rock just yet.

OVLOV Buds

ADELE 30

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IX years after her last album, Adele, one of the artistic sensations of the new millennium, remains a moving musical force, one possessed of a voice that’s part Celine Dion and part Nina Simone. Not 30 seconds into her latest record and she’s already baring her innermost thoughts layer by layer soundtracked by vintage orchestral jazz. Best of the heart-tugging lot are the Internet gazillion hit “I Drink Wine,” the gospel tinged “My Little Love,” the RnB kiss-off “Woman Like Me” and the mournful opener “Strangers by Nature” with this chilling line: “I will take flowers to the cemetery of my heart.”

B

EAUTIFUL aggression is an apt sneak preview of the racket the four-piece heavy band Ovlov make. They’ve set up tent at some sort of crossroads where ‘90s shoegaze meets atmospheric metal. The harmonies slipping between peaks of thundering metal are mesmerizing while the hooks can be comparable to those in a pop song that’s been written by a certain Bob Mould. You get the attractive melodic rock of “Eat More” as well as the almost jazzy styling of “Wishing Well,” the likely constraint to less than fearless listeners being the awesome sonic volume that leads to every track’s best moments. Rest assured though, there’s no danger of getting tinnitus.

cover featured here being the most suggestive. Noise is almost consistent across every track i.e. imagine the roar made by a hundred screeching metal bats while leaving a cave at sundown.

You can surely skip the noise and simply enjoy the prurient promise behind the featured maiden.

MAU MAU Untitled

O

N digital music platforms such as bandcamp, Mau Mau has released at least 10 tracks in the past two months, all of them sounding the same. Take it from his/her self-description: Shit, Perv, Pink, Nude, and Noise, The available tracks are distinctive in terms of the noise part and the picture of a woman in various stages of undress, the

METALLICA The Metallica Blacklist

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OW, now, Metallica bashers, keep those knives sheathed. This is a covers album released last year in celebration of the 30th anniversary of release of the Black album, Metallica’s mainstreaming of thrash metal way back when.

For this Blacklist, the band enlisted 53 various acts to render Metallica originals like “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven” and “Wherever I May Roam” in their own unique light spread across four CDs. Not all are primed for heaviness but to these ears, Jason Isbell and the 400 Watts do a wonderful Blasters remake of “Sad But True,” Off! give “Holier Than Thou” a hardcore punk treatment, solo Dave Gahan reprises mothership Depeche Mode in “Nothing Else Matters” and Weezer inserts their trademark Buddy Holly stamp on the quintessential “Enter Sandman.” And get this, the videos that accompany each cover are simply mind-boggling.

Go, check the whole thing out!

Most of the albums reviewed are available on digital music platforms especially bandcamp.

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New study:

Here’s where (and how) you are most likely to catch COVID

By Trish Greenhalgh University of Oxford

Jose-Luis Jimenez Shelly Miller Zhe Peng University of Colorado Boulder

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wo years into the pandemic, most of us are fed up. Covid case rates are higher than they’ve ever been and hospitalization rates are once again rising rapidly in many countries.

Against this bleak picture, we yearn to get back to normal. We’d like to meet friends in a pub or have them over for dinner. We’d like our struggling business to thrive like it did before the pandemic. We’d like our children to return to their once-familiar routine of inperson schooling and after-school activities.

We’d like to ride on a bus, sing in a choir, get back to the gym, or dance in a nightclub without fear of catching Covid.

Which of these activities is safe? And how safe exactly? These were the questions we sought to answer in our latest research.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, spreads mainly by airborne transmission.

Thus, the key to preventing transmission is to understand how airborne particles behave, which requires knowledge from physics and chemistry.

Air is a fluid made up of invisible, rapidly and randomly moving molecules, so airborne particles disperse over time in-

“The new chart, adapted from our paper, gives a percentage likelihood of becoming infected in different situations.” doors, such as in a room or on a bus. An infected person may exhale particles containing the virus, and the closer you are to them, the more likely you are to inhale some virus-containing particles. But the longer the period you both spend in the room, the more spread out the virus will become. If you are outdoors, the space is almost infinite, so the virus doesn’t build up in the same way. However, someone can still transmit the virus if you’re close to them.

Viral particles can be emitted every time an infected person breathes, but especially if their breathing is deep (such as when exercising) or involves vocalization (such as speaking or singing). While wearing a wellfitting mask reduces transmission because the mask blocks the release of virus, the unmasked infected person who sits quietly in a corner is much less likely to infect you than one who approaches you and starts a heated argument.

All variants of SARS-CoV-2 are equally airborne. But the chance of catching Covid

depends on the transmissibility of the variant—delta was more contagious than previous variants, but omicron is more contagious still—and on how many people are currently infected (the prevalence of the disease). At the time of writing, more than 97 percent of Covid infections in the UK are omicron and one person in 15 is currently infected (prevalence 6.7 percent). While omicron appears more transmissible, it also seems to produce less severe illness, especially in vaccinated people.

Likelihood of becoming infected In our study, we have quantified how the different influences on transmission change your risk of getting sick: viral factors (transmissibility/prevalence), people factors (masked/unmasked, exercising/ sitting, vocalizing/quiet) and air-quality factors (indoors/outdoors, big room/small room, crowded/uncrowded, ventilated/ unventilated).

We did this by carefully studying empirical data on how many people became infected

in super-spreader events where key parameters, such as the room size, room occupancy and ventilation levels, were well-documented and by representing how transmission happens with a mathematical model.

The new chart, adapted from our paper and shown below, gives a percentage likelihood of becoming infected in different situations (you can make it bigger by clicking on it).

A surefire way to catch COVID is to do a combination of things that get you into the dark red cells in the table. For example: n Gather together with lots of people in an enclosed space with poor air quality, such as an under-ventilated gym, nightclub or school classroom n Do something strenuous or rowdy such as exercising, singing or shouting n Leave off your masks n Stay there for a long time.

To avoid catching Covid, try keeping in the green or amber spaces in the table. For example: n If you must meet other people, do so outdoors or in a space that’s well-ventilated or meet in a space where the ventilation is good and air quality is known n Keep the number of people to a minimum n Spend the minimum possible amount of time together n Don’t shout, sing or do heavy exercise n Wear high-quality, well-fitting masks from the time you enter the building to the time you leave.

While the chart gives an estimated figure for each situation, the actual risk will depend on the specific parameters, such as exactly how many people are in a room of what size.

If you fancy putting in your own data for a particular setting and activity, you can try our Covid-19 Aerosol Transmission Estimator. (https://bit.ly/3tnyeTj). The Conversation

Molecular biologist explains the difference between a PCR and antigen Covid-19 test

By Nathaniel Hafer, UMass Chan Medical School

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wo major types of tests are used to diagnose infection with SARS-CoV-2: molecular tests—better known as PCR tests—and antigen tests. Each detects a different part of the virus, and how it works influences the test’s speed and relative accuracy. What are the differences between these types of tests?

PCR tests The first step for either kind of test is to get a sample from the patient. This can be a nasal swab or a bit of saliva.

For PCR tests, the next step is amplification of genetic material so that even a small amount of coronavirus genes in the patient’s sample can be detected. This is done using a technique called a polymerase chain reaction. The goal is to create

two copies of coronavirus DNA from the original one piece of RNA. The amplifying property of PCR allows the test to successfully detect even the smallest amount of coronavirus genetic material in a sample. This makes it a highly sensitive and accurate test. With accuracy that approaches 100 percent, it is the gold standard for diagnosing SARS–CoV–2.

However, PCR tests have some weaknesses too. They require a skilled laboratory technician and special equipment to run them, and the amplification process can take an hour or more from start to finish. Usually only large, centralized testing facilities—like hospital labs—can conduct many PCR tests at a time.

Between sample collection, transportation, amplification, detection and reporting, it can take from 12 hours to five days for a person to get results back. And finally, they aren’t cheap at $100 or more per test.

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Antigen tests Antigen tests, while much faster, are less accurate.

Antigens are substances that cause the body to produce an immune response—they trigger the generation of antibodies. These tests use labmade antibodies to search for antigens from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

To run an antigen test, you first treat a sample with a liquid containing salt and soap that breaks apart cells and other particles. Then you apply this liquid to a test strip that has antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 painted on it in a thin line. Just like antibodies in your body, the ones on the test strip will bind to any antigen in the sample. If the antibodies bind to coronavirus antigens, a colored line appears on the test strip indicating the presence of SARS-CoV-2.

Antigen tests have a number of strengths.

They are so easy to use that people with no spe-

January 16, 2022

cial training can perform them and interpret the results—even at home. They also produce results quickly, typically in less than 15 minute, and can be relatively inexpensive at around $10-$15 per test.

Depending on the situation, however, they can be less accurate than PCR tests. When a person is symptomatic or has a lot of virus in their system, antigen tests are very accurate. But when a person is in the early stages of infection, not a lot of virus is in the nose and throat, from which the samples are taken. So, antigen tests can miss early cases of Covid-19. It’s also during this stage that a person has no symptoms, so they are more likely to be unaware they’re infected.

Understanding the strengths and limitations of both PCR and antigen tests, and when to use them, can help to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control. The next time you get a Covid-19 test, choose the one that is right for you. The Conversation