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HOUSE SPEAKER CALMS FEARS PHL ON THE CUSP OF RETURN TO IRON RULE

Empty threat?

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Rene Acosta

T

he leader of the House of Representatives has assured the public that President Duterte will not push through with his recent pronouncement that he will declare martial law.

President Duterte bows after delivering his first State of the Nation Address on July 25, 2016, as Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez applauds. Alvarez assured the public that Duterte will not push through with his recent pronouncement that he will declare martial law. “I know him personally, and I sincerely believe he will not declare martial law,” he said. Bullit Marquez/AP

Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, an administration ally, issued the assurance after Duterte, for the second time in a span of six months, said he will declare martial law if the drug situation in the country worsens.

“I know him personally, and I sincerely believe he will not declare martial law,” Alvarez said.

Article VII, Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution has laid down very strict requirements before martial law can be declared by the President. The provision is clear: Martial law can only be declared in cases of invasion or rebellion, and only when public safety demands.

Moreover, Alvarez said Duterte, as a lawyer, is well aware of the legal requirements, as well as limitations, regarding such a declaration.

“That is why, I believe all the apprehension about the prospect of declaration of martial law is largely unfounded,” Alvarez added.

Exasperated

National Police chief Director General Ronald M. de la Rosa said he believed that the Commander

in Chief was forced to reissue his statement about martial law in exasperation over the prevailing crime and security situation, highlighted by the illegal-drugs problem and the plague of terrorism in the South.

“By all means, we will support the President if he declares martial law. So long as I am the chief of the PNP, I will do everything so that it will not be abused,” dela Rosa said in a news briefing earlier this week.

“He [Duterte] said it because of frustration, apparently because of the situation—in anger—but I doubt if he would do it. But if ever he will do that option, that option is left to the Chief Executive, and we will support him,” the top police officer added.

Clapping

At Camp Aguinaldo, reactions from soldiers, however, vary.

“Let them do the clapping, let them have the limelight, and we will silently work doing our fair share,” one senior officer said, referring to dela Rosa’s readily Continued on A2

President Duterte gestures with a fist bump, as he poses with Philippine troops during his visit to the Philippine Army’s Camp Mateo Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, on August 24, 2016. Bullit Marquez/AP

PHL may have to deal with current-account deficit, weak peso this year

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By Bianca Cuaresma

raught with potential global shocks and volatile investor sentiment, the Philippine external sector is looking to face its worst performance in years this year, as analysts are almost certain of the deterioration of the economy’s current-account position and the further depreciation of the local currency’s value.

PESO exchange rates n US 49.9530

But, unlike textbook cases, experts also said the sinking numbers in the Philippines’s external position are not all that bad and are like growing pains that the country has to go through in the midst of strong economic expansion in recent years.

Depleted current account

The current account—or the component of the balance of payments (BOP) position—has been in surplus position since 2003, providing cushion to the Philippines in times of external stress, such as bouts with economic shocks in the global

economy that usually affect those economies with weaker currentaccount surpluses.

This means the Philippines is looking to break some 13 consecutive years of its external position sitting comfortably in the positive territory should the current account of the Philippines cross into the deficit territory this year.

And it will, actually, swing into the deficit this year, experts said. Since 2016, analysts have been saying Central Bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. will leave the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) office upon the end of his

term with a current account in a deficit territory, noting the declining trend of its surplus in recent months.

One of the most recent private-bank analyses on the Philippines that forecast a currentaccount deficit in 2017 came from German financial institution Deutsche Bank, with the shortfall likely to come this year, as oil prices rise and domestic demand continues to be strong.

Other economists, including Moody’s Analytics and global bank HSBC, also blamed the expected poor performance of the trade sec-

$1.6B

The current-account surplus accumulated from January to September, down 74% tor, as well as heavy importation ahead of a projected heavy infrastructure buildup in the country behind their lackluster view of the Philippines’s current-account position for 2017.

Earlier, the Central Bank also Continued on A2

n japan 0.4352 n UK 61.6020 n HK 6.4398 n CHINA 7.2659 n singapore 35.0449 n australia 37.7545 n EU 53.2549 n SAUDI arabia 13.3237

Source: BSP (20 January 2017 )

NewsSunday Empty threat?

BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, January 22, 2017

Continued from A1

available offer of support to the iron-fisted rule and the military’s ongoing campaign against terrorism in Mindanao.

As Duterte has declared, if he has to put the country under martial rule, terrorism—or the activities perpetrated by the different terror groups like the Maute, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Ansar al Khilafa Philippines and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters—and the need to decimate these groups have to be the primary reasons.

The President has brought the issue of martial law as a stronger or the toughest measure in dealing with terrorism, first, even before the bombing in Davao City in September last year, which killed 15 people and wounded at least 70 others.

Duterte had talked about the harsh enforcement of the law in response to the successive beheadings of two Canadian kidnap victims by the ASG.

Presidential prerogative

Putting the country under martial law is purely a decision of the Executive department, the military believed, and as an institution directly under and led by no less than the Commander in Chief, it will follow.

“It’s a political decision,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto C. Padilla said early this week.

“He [Duterte] also mentioned that if he needs and if he has to, he

may recourse [for] an action in order to save or help our country. So it is a decision that will be entirely by our political leader based on the route of information and the circumstances that he will face. So we cannot [second] guess him and we cannot know whatever it is that he may have right now that we may not even know,” he added.

Pressed further and even on their recommendation, Padilla stuck to their line that the declaration of martial law is solely a political decision, but added, “right now, we are not recommending any kind of military martial rule, if you may call it that.”

“Right now, we are able to operate and catch all the people who have been perpetrating violence, and we are operating within the bounds of law. So currently, we are able to accomplish our mission without the complexity of needing to have any kind of special rule applied,” he added.

Consistent

The House Speaker said he believes the recent pronouncement of Duterte on the possible declaration of martial law is consistent with the Chief Executive’s style of issuing dramatic statements to stress his message.

“That statement merely shows President Duterte’s resolve to end the scourge of illegal drugs in the country,” Alvarez said.

He added that even if his critics take the President seriously, it

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is far-fetched for him to declare martial law, because the administration is clearly gaining headway in its war against illegal drugs.

“Alam mo nagtataka talaga ako bakit gustong-gusto nating pagusapan ’yung martial law. Gusto ba talaga natin ng martial law? Kasi sa tingin ko naman ’yung statement nung Presidente, ang liwa-liwanag naman: If. Parang kanta lang ’yan: If a picture paints a thousand words…na imposibleng mangyari, malayong mangyari. So huwag na nating pag-usapan. Unless interesado tayong magkaroon ng martial law, di pag-usapan natin,” he said.

“Sinabi niyang if, ’di ba? Maybe it was done out of frustration. ’Yung pag, if kasi andaming ano, malayo pang mangyari ’yan, eh,” he added.

Preconditions

For his part, party-list Rep. Tomasito S. Villarin of Akbayan, a member of the minority bloc, asked Duterte to stop issuing threats about declaring martial law.

“It would not help the public to see through his policies. The police are saying they have been successful in the war against drugs, [so] what drives him to repeatedly raise that threat?” Villarin said.

Under the Constitution, within 48 hours from the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the President shall submit a report in person or in writing to Congress.

Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of at least a majority of all its

President Duterte salutes the troops with Armed Forces Chief Gen. Ricardo R. Visaya before boarding his flight for a three-day official visit to Japan at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City on October 25, 2016. AP/Bullit Marquez

members in regular or special session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the initiative of the President, Congress may, in the same manner, extend such proclamation or suspension for a period to be determined by Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist and public safety requires it.

Congress, if not in session, shall, within 24 hours following such proclamation or suspension,

convene in accordance with its rules without any need of a call.

The Supreme Court may review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen, the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ or the extension thereof, and must promulgate its decision thereon within 30 days from its filing.

Review

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker

and National Unity Party Rep. Fredenil H. Castro of Capiz assured the public that Congress will exercise its power to review the declaration of martial law.

“The President was right when he said no one can stop him from declaring martial law anytime he wishes to declare it. But the declaration on martial law will be reviewed thoroughly by Congress to find out if such declaration has basis and is in accordance with the Constitution,” Castro said.

PHL may have to deal with current account deficit, weak peso this year Continued from A1

conceded to a deterioration in the current-account position of the country, but maintained that the component of the BOP will still post a surplus for 2017, albeit at a meager volume of $800 million, compared to the $2.5-billion surplus earlier expected.

Latest data from the central bank showed that the country’s current account as of end-September 2016 remains in the positive territory, despite two months of dips to the deficit zone for the first nine months of the year.

However, the total $1.6-billion current-account surplus accumulated in the January-to-September period is a 74-percent decline from the $6.2-billion surplus on hand in the same nine-month period in 2015.

Weakening peso

The deterioration of the current account is also seen to spill over the performance of the already regional laggard local currency for the year, economists warned.

Analysts at the HSBC earlier said the weakening current account may pave the way for a weaker currency against the dollar, giving little wiggle room for the peso to regain strength of investor sentiment despite its positive growth trend.

“A peso strongly under pressure arising from a potential twin deficit in the current account and fiscal balances could prompt a rate hike by the BSP, especially against the backdrop of elevated inflation and robust domestic demand,” German financial institution Deutsche Bank also said.

“The deterioration of the current account, which we forecast to turn into deficit in 2017 as oil prices rise and domestic demand remains buoyant, could prompt the BSP to tolerate a weaker peso, as, of course, dictated by the market,” it added.

At the beginning of the year, international and local economists expressed their views that the peso

is set to perform worse than the government’s projection for the year, as international volatilities combined with the political concerns of investors in the country are seen to hound sentiment toward the Philippines.

In particular, as the economic managers of the government revised their projection of the peso for this year and 2018 to 48 to 50 against the US dollar, private economists see the peso performing worse, with forecasts for the year hitting above the 50-to-a-dollar ceiling set by the government.

Not all that bad

While concerns have been raised on the impending fall of Tetangco’s current-account fortress, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative to the Philippines Shanaka Jayanath Peiris told the BusinessMirror it is not all that bad for the local economy.

“We consider a moderating current-account surplus a healthy development and part of the natural development process of the Philippines if it continues to be related to a widening trade deficit linked to capital-goods imports and higher investment,” Peiris said.

“Overall, the external position of the Philippines is strong with high international reserves and relatively moderate foreign exposures and US dollar-denominated debt in comparison to other emerging markets. These factors should make the Philippines relatively resilient to external shocks, although policy-makers will remain vigilant,” he added.

The IMF resident representative also said the country is “well equipped” to respond as needed with suitable policies should any risk materialize, particularly given the strong fundamentals and ample policy space.

Central Bank Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo told the BusinessMirror they expect minimal impact of exchange-rate fluctuations on both output and

prices for the year.

“The exchange rate’s impact on real GDP growth and inflation has substantially gone down over the years. Strong domestic consumption and investment growth provide buffers against the adverse impact of external developments,” he said.

“As experienced during the global financial crisis in 2008, domestic demand has always served as a reliable source of economic resilience and 71 quarters of uninterrupted growth. This limited impact on the price level gives flexibility for monetary policy to refrain from reacting aggressively on such movements of the peso,” Guinigundo added.

The deputy governor, however, admitted that 2017 will be a “more challenging year for the peso” due to the prolonged uncertainties on the timing, magnitude and pace of the US Fed’s rate normalization, as well as the election of Donald J. Trump as US president, which puts into fore the conservative agenda on immigration, outsourcing and trade.

Guinigundo also said the ongoing rebalancing of the Chinese economy could also impact on the country’s external sector, given its increasing bilateral relations with the Philippines in recent years.

“These are short-term shocks with short-term impact. Shortterm volatility in foreign-exchange markets arose from perceived policy uncertainties. However, the long-term effects will depend on the interplay among trade, monetary and fiscal policies in the US, and in the country’s trading partners,” he said.

“It is emphasized that a weaker peso against the US dollar should benefit dollar earners, such as exporters, business-process outsourcing [BPO] firms and families of overseas Filipinos, thereby supporting increased private consumption,” Guinigundo added.

Remittances and BPO revenues are large parts of the country’s current-account position.

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Saudi’s Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih speaks on the third day of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. AP

Saudi oil shipment surged 13.5-year high in Nov. 2016

S

audi Arabia’s crude exports surged to a 13 and a-half-year high last November, just before it led global producers in restricting supplies to curb the worst glut in decades.

The world ’s biggest exporter shipped 8.26 million barrels a day, according to data published on Thursday on the web site of the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi) in Riyadh. That was the biggest outf low for any month since May 2003.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided at the end of November to restrict supplies by 1.2 million barrels a day starting this month, with Saudi Arabia instrumental in the plan.

Despite the extra barrels exported, Brent crude oil prices did rise that month, mostly because of the announcement of supply restrictions.

Non-member producers, including Russia, pledged additional curbs.

The initial signs are that producers are honoring their commitments to cut output this year.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday there’s been “very strong” compliance with the plan. The producers’ pledges are to restrict what’s pumped out of the ground, rather than what’s loaded on tankers.

Saudi Arabia’s oil production edged up to 10.72 million barrels a day last November, from 10.62 million last October, the Jodi data show. The output data tracked exactly what the country told the Opec, according to a monthly report the producer group published on Wednesday.

One reason for the increase in cargoes could have been a surge in natural-gas usage rather than crude domestically. The nation’s Wasit gas plant has had an “immense impact” since coming online last March, leading to the substitution of gas for oil in power generation, Opec said in its report.

That potentially frees up more oil for export markets. Bloomberg News

Sunday, January 22, 2017

A3

Markets to slump with Trump, EU faces disintegration–Soros

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t’s tough to be gloomier than billionaire George Soros right now.

America has elected a would-be dictator as president, the European Union (EU) is disintegrating, UK Prime Minister Theresa May won’t last long, as her nation prepares to secede from the EU, and China is poised to become an even more repressive society, the investor told Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua from the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“It is unlikely that Prime Minister May is actually going to remain in power,” Soros said. She has a divided Cabinet and base and Britons are in denial about the economic impact of Brexit, he said.

On Tuesday May, who took office last July after the UK voted to leave the EU, set out her strategy for a clean break from the 28-nation trade bloc and pitched the nation as open to making freetrade deals globally.

Soros had particularly harsh words for US President-elect Donald J. Trump, who was inaugurated

on Friday. Calling Trump a “con man,” Soros said the billionaire will fail because his ideas are contradictory, and his White House advisers and Cabinet members will fight with each other, an apparent reference to the conflicting views expressed during Senate confirmation hearings.

The stock market rally since the November election, spurred by Trump’s promises to slash regulations and boost spending, will come to a halt, Soros said.

“Uncertainty is at a peak, and actually, uncertainty is the en-

trading bloc has become dysfunctional because it is governed by laws that are “not appropriate to the current circumstances” and not easily changed, he said.

“If Europe breaks down, the consequences will be very dire,” the investor said. “But I do see a way it could be saved, and this is also recognized by many of the people in Brussels. They can’t say so publicly, but they know that Europe is not functioning.”

SORoS

emy of long-term investment,” said Soros, the chairman of Soros Fund Management. “I don’t think the markets are going to do very well. Right now they’re still celebrating. But when reality comes, it will prevail.”

Soros’s bad bet

Soros’s pessimism has been costly to him. He lost nearly $1 billion as a result of the rally spurred by Trump’s surprise win, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

The octogenarian’s wagers became more bearish immediately after Trump’s victory, but the S&P 500 Index has jumped 5.8 percent since election day.

The EU, Soros added, is disintegrating following last year’s Brexit vote and Italian referendum—a course that must be reversed. The

China pessimism

Soros continued to take a dim view on China, saying the nation is at a decision point and must choose whether to become a more open or closed society as it transitions to a consumer-led economy.

“China has not actually succeeded yet in changing its growth model and probably won’t do it in the next two years because Xi Jinping wants to maintain an unsustainable rate of growth,” he said.

Xi “is doing that by rekindling the furnaces and producing more goods that are already in supply.”

Soros’s outlook on China has yet to prove accurate. At last year’s Davos gathering, Soros said China’s economy is facing a hard landing, a situation that will contribute to global deflationary pressures and prompted him to wager against US stocks.

Bloomberg News

A4

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Sunday, January 22, 2017

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Superbug stowaways: India travel boom spreads stealthy, deadly germs

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mallpox, syphilis, plague, cholera—some of the planet’s most notorious scourges dramatically expanded their reach, thanks to unsuspecting travelers.

With a record 3.77 billion air passengers worldwide last year, new disease-causing microbes have never traversed the planet faster.

The recent case in Reno, Nevada, of a woman who died from a rare bacterial infection is a tragic reminder. She picked up a variant of a germ called Klebsiella pneumoniae, probably while she was treated in India for a leg fracture and hip infection, Washoe County health authorities said last week.

Tests found the bacterium was resistant to 26 antibiotics. In fact, no available drug could stop it from poisoning her bloodstream weeks after she was admitted to the hospital in Nevada.

The fatal case fits a pattern doctors in North America, Europe and Australia have observed for more than a decade: Travelers who have spent time in India have an especially high risk of returning home with unwanted germs. Most often, the drug-evading bugs are ingested in fecally contaminated food or water, and take up residence in the intestines, where they are incorporated into the body’s normal bacterial flora. The stowaways can be dangerous if they escape from the bowel into other tissues, like the bladder or bloodstream.

“There are lots of studies that show that being in India does put you at risk for these infections,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, a New Delhi-based director for the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in Washington.

Babies dying

India carries one of the highest

health-care burdens from antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world. Sepsis caused by drug-defying germs kills more than 58,000 newborns in India, according to Laxminarayan. The overuse of antimicrobial medicines, and the lack of toilets and clean water, helps propagate and spread the mutant microbes in the environment.

The Indian government is trying to counter that. The direct sale of antibiotics to the public was prohibited in March 2014 to halt excessive, unnecessary use. Later the same year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a program to wipe out open defecation within five years as part of a nationwide “Clean India” campaign.

Johann Pitout, a medical microbiologist at the University of Calgary, was one of the first doctors to make the link between travel and the spread of resistant germs. When he arrived in Calgary in 2002, the South Africatrained doctor noticed that his lab was receiving a disproportionately high number of supergerm-containing patient specimens from general practitioners and nursing homes, instead of hospitals—typically the biggest source of hard-to-kill bacteria.

The microbes that piqued Pitout’s interest were common intestinal-dwelling bacteria that harbored special enzymes, known as extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), which destroy

bacterial gene first identified in China that’s since turned up in at least 20 countries.

Trips to China

An Indian woman watches people scramble to enter a train in Hyderabad, India, on Thursday. Railway platforms and trains were overcrowded on Thursday, with many people traveling to their hometowns to celebrate the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti that falls on January 14. AP/Mahesh Kumar A.

most penicillin- and cephalosporin-based antibiotics.

“ESBLs were mostly in the community setting, which was the first time I’d ever seen that,” Pitout said in an interview. He began surveying patients to understand why, and found the answer in responses to a question on travel history. “The majority of patients had previously traveled to India and China. Those were the two places that stood out.”

Travel destination

India is predicted to be the world’s third-biggest air-travel market by 2035. Since Pitout noted the infection link, the South Asian nation has come up as the country from where travelers are

most likely to return with digestive tracts colonized by ESBL-producing bacteria in at least eight studies by research groups from Australia to New York City.

In one study, doctors in Sweden tested rectal swabs from 105 volunteers who were about to travel internationally. Only one already had E. coli with the drug-resistance enzyme before depar ture. Of the remaining 104 travelers, 100 provided a second rectal swab on returning to Sweden, 24 of whom were colonized with ESBL-producing bacteria. Of the eight who traveled to India, seven carried the superbug in their digestive tract.

Taking an antibiotic, such as for travelers’ diarrhea, significantly

There are lots of studies that show that being in India does put you at risk for these infections.”

—Laxminarayan

increases the risk because it disturbs normal gut flora, allowing new intestinal microbes to take hold, Pitout said.

Prostate biopsy

Once inside the bowel, the supergerms can migrate to cause a difficult-to-treat urinary-tract infection. They also pose a risk for men undergoing a prostate biopsy or anyone having bowel or gallbladder surgery, said Peter Collignon, head of infectious diseases at Canberra Hospital, who sits on a panel advising the World Health Organization about antimicrobial resistance.

Patients hospita lized w ith an invasive, ESBL infection are usually treated with a medicine f rom t he c a rbapenem c l a ss, though even those high-powered antibiotics are failing now that bacteria are increasingly harboring carbapenemase enzymes that neutralize these drugs. In many cases, that leaves just one antibiotic: colistin. That, too, is losing its potency, thanks to a

Donald the unready

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etsy DeVos, whom Donald J. Trump has nominated as education secretary, doesn’t know basic education terms, doesn’t know about federal statutes governing special education, but thinks school officials should carry guns to defend against grizzly bears.

Monica Crowley, selected as deputy national security adviser, withdrew after it was revealed that much of her past writing was plagiarized.

Many other national security positions remain unfilled, and it’s unclear how much if any of the briefing materials prepared by the outgoing administration have even been read.

Meanwhile, Rex Tillerson, selected as secretary of state, casually declared the United States would block Chinese access to bases in the South China Sea, apparently unaware that he was, in effect, threatening to go to war if China called his bluff.

Do you see a pattern here?

It was obvious to anyone paying attention that the incoming administration would be blatantly corrupt.

But would it at least be efficient in its corruption?

Many Trump voters certainly thought they were choosing a smart businessman who would get things done. And even those who knew better may have hoped that

the president-elect, his ego finally sated, would settle down to running the country—or at least delegate the boring business of governing America to people actually capable of doing the job.

But it’s not happening. Trump hasn’t pivoted, matured, whatever term you prefer. He’s still the insecure, short-attention-span egomaniac he always was. Worse, he is surrounding himself with people who share many of his flaws—perhaps because they’re the sort of people with whom he is comfortable.

So the typical Trump nominee, in everything, from economics to diplomacy to national security, is ethically challenged, ignorant about the area of policy he or she is supposed to manage and deeply incurious.

Some, like Michael Flynn, Trump’s choice as national security adviser, are even as addicted as their boss to Internet conspiracy theories. This isn’t a team that will compensate for the commander in chief’s weaknesses; on the contrary, it’s a team that will amplify them.

Why does this matter? If you want a model for how the Trump-Putin administration is likely to function (or malfunction), it’s helpful to recall what happened during the BushCheney years.

People tend to forget the extent to which the last Republican administration was also characterized by cronyism, the appointment of unqualified but well-connected people to key positions. It wasn’t as extreme as what we’re seeing now, but it was striking at the time. Remember “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”? And it caused very real damage.

In particular, if you want some notion of what Trump governance is likely to look like, consider the botched occupation of Iraq. People who knew anything about nationbuilding weren’t wanted; party loyalists—and corporate profiteers— took their place.

There’s even a little-known connection: Betsy DeVos’ brother, Erik Prince, founded Blackwater, the mercenary outfit that, among other things, helped destabilize Iraq by firing into a crowd of civilians.

Now the conditions that prevailed in Iraq—blind ideology, contempt for expertise, effective absence of any enforcement of ethics rules— have come to America, but in a far more acute form.

And what will happen when we face a crisis? Remember, Katrina was the event that finally revealed the costs of Bush-era cronyism to all. New York Times News Service

Uber driver Karim Amrani sits in his car parked near the San Francisco International Airport parking area in San Francisco. AP

Uber pays $20M to settle claims of driver deception

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AN FRANCISCO—Uber Technologies is paying $20 million to settle allegations that it duped people into driving for its ride-hailing service with false promises about how much they would earn and how much they would have to pay to finance a car.

The agreement announced on Thursday with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) covers statements Uber made from late 2013 until 2015, while trying to recruit more drivers to expand its service and remain ahead of its main rival, Lyft. The FTC alleged that most Uber drivers were earning far less in 18 major US cities than Uber published online. Regulators also asserted that drivers wound up paying substantially more to lease cars than the company had claimed.

“Many consumers sign up to drive for Uber, but they shouldn’t be taken for a ride about

their earnings potential or the cost of financing a car through Uber,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

In a news statement, Uber said it’s pleased to resolve the dispute.

“We’ve made many improvements to the driver experience over the last year and will continue to focus on ensuring that Uber is the best option for anyone looking to earn money on their own schedule,” the San Francisco company said.

Most of the proceeds from Uber’s settlement will be paid out to drivers.

Documents filed in San Francisco federal court didn’t spell out how many people will get a cut of the settlement or what the average payment will be.

Uber has grown into a cultural phenomenon largely by undercutting the prices typically

That finding and other recent studies show antimicrobial resistance is a growing worldwide problem, with an especially high incidence in countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, China and some areas in southern Europe, such as Greece, said Lindsay Grayson, head of infectious diseases at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.

“The extent of the spread of these organisms and the size of the problem is still being defined,” Grayson said in a phone interview from Geneva, where he is assisting WHO formulate clinical guidelines to control the spread. “In Austra lia we have increasing concerns about travelers, such as businessmen, who have recently returned from China who are about to undergo surgical procedures. They should undergo fecal screening to see if they have acquired similarly resistant organisms that could later affect their health care.”

Swedish patient

The bacterium that killed the woman in Nevada resisted carbapenem, as well as colistin. It was fortified with a gene dubbed NDM—short for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, a reference to the city where a Swedish man was hospitalized in 2007 with an infection that couldn’t be stopped by carbapenem or any commonly prescribed antibiotic treatment.

The gene is now found in bacteria worldwide, including in the US, making it impossible to prove whether the Nevada patient, who was in her 70s, picked it up during her extended visit to India, said Laxminarayan at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy. Even still, it’s plausible that India was the source.

“Carbapenem-resistance is rife in India—both in the community and in hospitals,” he said.

Bloomberg News

charged by taxis with rides that can be quickly summoned on its smartphone app.

To ensure cars are widely available, Uber has persuaded hundreds of thousands of people in the US to become drivers by dangling the lure of making money at any time that’s convenient for them. The drivers are treated as independent contractors, another contentious issue, because the classification excludes them from many of the benefits and protections given to fulltime employees.

As part of its recruitment efforts, Uber has floated enticing estimates about how much drivers can make picking up passengers in densely populated cities.

The FTC’s case took issue with how Uber presented its earnings estimates.

For instance, in a statement published on Uber’s web site from May 2015 through August 2015, CEO Travis Kalanick boasted that the mid-range annual incomes of the service’s New York city drivers exceeded $90,000 and the mid-range annual earnings of its San Francisco drivers topped $74,000, according to the FTC. The agency’s investigation determined that the mid-range income for the New York drivers was nearly one-third less, at $61,000, 28 percent less in San Francisco, at $53,000, during the year leading up to Kalanick’s statement.

In August 2015 Uber revised its statement to specify its estimates reflected drivers’ “potential” incomes in those two cities. The FTC says less than 10 percent of Uber drivers in New York and San Francisco hit the income levels circulated by the company.

Uber also exaggerated the average hourly earnings of its drivers in 16 other US cities and Orange County in California, according to the FTC’s complaint. AP

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

Sunday

Sunday, January 22, 2017 A5

Tagle to faithful: ‘Be disciples of mercy’

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oinciding with the second anniversary of Pope Francis’s visit to the Philippines, the Fourth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (Wacom4) opened with a message to the faithful to be “disciples of mercy”. “[W]e are the disciples who Jesus wants to be with His mercy….

We are the disciples of Mercy,” said Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, who gave the Homily during the opening Mass of the international event earlier on January 16 at the Manila Cathedral.

“Let us continue to show the face of the world through mercy. Like Mary, let us be attentive to those in need. We are made whole because God is merciful,” the prelate said.

Not about us

Speaking to thousands of official delegates of the worldwide congress on mercy, he, likewise, encouraged the faithful to live mercy with humility.

“When we do our acts of mercy, it is not about us, it is not your work, it is the work of Jesus. So that no one may boast,” Tagle said.

According to him, an individual’s belief in God’s personal signs of mercy to him is crucial to his own witnessing of mercy.

5,000 The number of delegates at the Fourth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy

“Please reflect on how God has been merciful to us; how God has revealed the faces of mercy…. So those who have been victimized, abandoned…would know that they have a family. A family born at the hour of Jesus, at the foot of His cross, the mercy of Jesus,” Tagle said.

“The Spirit who enables us to understand the work of the blessings that we’ve received shows God, with Jesus, is rich in mercy.”

According to Tagle, there is no crisis, issue or reality beyond God’s power.

the second day of Wacom4 at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion.

“In his apostolic letter Misericordia et Misera to mark the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis expressed his great desire that what we have celebrated during the Holy Year of Mercy, a time rich in mercy, must continue to be celebrated and lived out,” said the priest, who is part of the dicastery of the Roman Curia tasked to organize the Jubilee Year celebration.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle delivers the Homily for the opening Mass of the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy 4 at the Manila Cathedral on January 16. Michael Dalogdog

Faith as a response

“Even in death, Jesus comes with the mercy of God…. There is no human need or crisis or difficulty that Jesus cannot [touch]. Jesus is the face, the voice, the hands of the mercy of Father,” he said.

In the face of God’s far-reaching mercy, Tagle said, man’s response should be faith. “ T he i nv it at io n t o u s i s , ‘Would you put your faith in Him?’” he asked.

“Let us not be afraid to lift up to Jesus the situations we hide. Invite Jesus, He will reveal to us the face of the merciful Father,” he added.

Among the clergy and bishops present during the Mass were Apostolic Nuncio to the Ph i l i p p i n e s A r c h b i s h o p G i useppe Pinto; Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

President Archbiship Socrates Villegas; Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles; Balanga Bishop Ruper to Santos, Wacom-A sia episcopal coordinator; Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros, Wacom nat iona l episcopa l coord inator; Wacom Secretary-General Fr. Patrice Chocholski; and Fr. Prospero Tenorio, Wacom-Asia secretary-general.

Jubilee Year’s ‘call to mercy’ continues

Me a n while, the Holy Year of Mercy may have ended but the mission to live out mercy extends beyond it.

This was the message of Msgr.

Eugene Sylva, English-language official serving on the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, on designed gowns and costumes.

The Sinanduloy Cultural Troupe of Tangub City won as champion of the Sinulog-based category of the grand parade, while the Lanao del Norte contingent bagged the top prize in Free Interpretation of Sinulog category.

Religious festivities

The Sinulog grand parade, marked with colorful costumes, dances and loud sound of drums in Cebu City, is held every third Sunday of January. Contingents from many parts of Cebu province, the Visayas and Mindanao participate in the religious festival, although similar versions are held in many parts of the country to celebrate the feast of the Santo Niño. The word sinulog comes from the Cebuano sulog (like water-current movement) that describes the forward-backward movement of the sinulog dance. Stephanie Tumampos

Santo Niño draws devotees to renew their faith

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EBU CITY—Pilgrims and devotees sang “Bato balani sa gugma [Magnet of love],” a line from a Cebuano hymn. They waved their hands in honor and worship to the Santo Niño and asked for mercy, as they prayed the rosary inside the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu.

Thousands of devotees also prayed the rosary during a solemn procession of the miraculous image of Santo Niño de Cebu. Devotees carrying images of the Child Jesus along major roads of Cebu City converged at the basilica on January 14 before the celebration of the Vespers Mass, presided by Archbishop John Du of Palo.

The image of Santo Niño that is being revered by thousands of devotees and pilgrims drew them to renew their faith. Showing their fervent devotion to God on the feast day of Santo Nino on January 15, devotees flocked to the basilica.

Devotees lined the streets of Magallanes to celebrate the Mass presided by Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu, with concelebrants Bishop Christian Noel and Bishop Antonio Palang, Fr. Andres Rivera Jr., the prior provincial of

province of Santo Nino de CebuPhilippines; Fr. Pacifico Nohara Jr., the rector of the basilica, and 60 religious and diocesan priests.

Archbishop Palma said in his Homily, “Let us stop competing against each other but rather appreciate each one as God’s children.

Let us collaborate with each other so as to find progress and peace.”

Palma cited the Santo Niño as the faithful’s source of communion and holds all creation together.

Themed “Santo Nino: Source of Communion, Protector of Cre-

ation,” the feast of Santo Niño is about the care and stewardship of creation as described in Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si, and in observance of pastoral thrust of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines as Year of the Parish.

Colorful grand parade

The Sinulog grand parade in the morning of January 15 enthralled the 1.5 million Filipino and foreign devotees with street dancers from contingents from Cebu and other towns in colorful and intricately

The Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu is packed with devotees and tourists. Most devotees bring small Santo Niño replicas and have them waved and blessed during the celebration. Stephanie Tumampos

Thousands of devotees, holding their personal images of Santo Niño, eagerly waited and waved their hands to Santo Niño as they lined along streets of Mandaue Cit y for t he Trasl acion—t he transfer of the images of Señor Santo Niño and the Our Lady of Guadalupe from Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu to the Saint Joseph Shrine in Mandaue City on January 13 in a grand motorcade of devotees.

In the morning of Vespers Day, the reenactment of the first Mass, baptism and wedding in the Philippines was held at the Santo Niño Pilgrim Center.

History

The discovery of the wooden sacred image of the Santo Niño, or kaplag, by one of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi ’s soldiers is the same image believed by historians to be the religious icon given by Ferdinand Magellan to Queen Juana of Cebu in her conversion and baptism in 1521. It is also the same image that hundreds of devotees give reverence to each day in the basilica.

The basilica, the home of the image of Santo Niño—the first religious relic in the Philippines that led to the Filipinos’ Christianity—became the “cradle of Philippine Christianity.”

In 1565 early Augustinian missionar ies, who sowed the seed of Christian faith, led to the Christianity of the Philippine forefathers in Cebu. The presence of Augustinian friars in Cebu and in several places of our country continues to contribute in deepening the faith of the Filipinos.

Papal Legate Ildebrando Card ina l A ntoniutt i ca nonica l ly crowned the Santo Niño icon in the Santo Niño Church, which Pope Paul VI in 1964 conferred the title “Basilica Minore”. Vanessa M. Puno

4,000 volunteers

Sharing stories of 4,000 Jubilee volunteers from 37 countries, Sylva shared how they communicated the love and mercy of God to some 22 million people who undertook the pilgrimage of mercy.

R ang ing f rom 18 to 87 years old, t he volu nteers compr ised of men a nd women, you ng a nd old, m i l it a r y personnel, per sons w it h d isabi l it ies, senior c it i zens, col lege st udents, housew ives and an elderly couple, who celebrated t heir 65t h a nn iversa r y by volu nteer i ng for a week. “ T hese ju bi le e volu nte e r s were not seeking to be recognized or to have their names remembered on a plaque, but they did want to give more than just access to a holy door. By their presence, by their attentiveness, by their bright smiles, they

demonstrated to each pilgrim that his or her life has value and meaning,” Sylva said, lauding the volunteers who would become a familiar sight in Saint Peter’s Square because of their bright yellow vests and hats.

Exhorting some 5,000 Wacom4 delegates to imitate the Jubilee volunteers’ example, he explained the close connection between love and the spiritual life.

Love and faith

“It is love that generates love and faith that sustains love…. Someone believes if he or she knows that they are loved… Love and mercy provided the pilgrims with the reasons to believe.”

“Friends, what a continuation! May our time together this week encourage and strengthen each one of us to dress in yellow, to be a dazzling light of the mystery of our Christian faith, so that we can become ever more powerful and effective instruments and evangelizers of God ’s goodness,” he said He also expressed “the personal greetings and the prayerful best wishes” from President Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, who heads the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, which is tasked to “deepen the theological and pastoral sense of the New Evangelization.”

The Philippines hosted Wacom4 from January 16 to 20.

Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz/CBCPNews

Saint Vincent of Saragossa

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

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very creature on Earth is meant to survive. Among animals and insects, the fight or flight response is generally perceived. Fear of annihilation and death is a reality. In man, the capstone of God’s creation, the grit to live is not only instinctive but triggered by the body, as well.

When man’s well-being is threatened, the hypothalamus in the brain releases adrenalin in the blood stream. Blood is pumped faster into the muscles and limbs, and makes the body ready to respond to threats.

But the desire to escape death was not a concern among martyrs of the Catholic Church.

Church history is replete with stories of saints who embraced death willingly. Some saints even desired martyrdom.

Saint Laurence, who was roasted alive, even smiled and commented: “One side is cooked enough.”

Theopanic martyr

Medical experts agree there is a limit to man’s tolerance for pain, making executioners bewilder where martyrs drew their strength and perseverance.

J.D. Douglas and Merrell Tenny said martyrs are masterpieces of grace, thus, they can endure death to witness faith. That they can withstand prolonged, intense torture is unbelievable but awe-inspiring.

The reason, according to spiritual writers, is the presence of God in their persons, known as theophanic. Thus, it is not surprising that their tormentors are converted to the faith.

Saint Vincent of Saragossa, deacon and martyr, whose feast day is January 22, is an example of a Christian whose sufferings until death mirror God’s power to perfection.

Af te r e ve r y g ra d e d i nte n s i t y o f suffering, when asked in mockery by Emperor Dacian, governor of Spain, how he felt, Vincent joyfully answered: “He had always prayed to be as he was then,” which enraged his tormentors.

The Acts of the Martyrs recorded Saint Vincent’s response: “The more I witness your fury, Dacian, the greater is my pleasure.

Do not lessen in any way the suffering you prepare for me so that I can make my victory shine more resplendently.”

Unspeakable torture

V i n c e n t was born in Huesca, near Saragossa, Aragon, Spain, in the latter part of the 3rd century. His father is Eutricius and his mother is Enola of Osca. He spent most of his life in Saragossa.

He was ordained archdeacon by Bishop

Valerian of Saragossa. Because the bishop had speech impediment, Vincent preached for him.

When Emperor Diocletian started to persecute Christians in Spain, bishops Valerian and Vincent were brought to Roman Governor Dacian in Valencia.

The bishop was exiled but Vincent was imprisoned. He was offered release if he gives up his faith but he answered he was ready to suffer. He was so outspoken, which made Emperor Dacian angry.

Stretched on the rack, his limbs were almost torn apart. Then he was laid down on a bed of red-hot iron, which tore his flesh that was rubbed with salt and lard after the grilling. Amid all these sufferings, Vincent smiled cheerfully.

Saint Augustine in his writings said: “The flames, instead of tormenting, seemed to give the martyr new vigor and courage, for the more he suffered, the greater seemed to be the inward joy and consolation of his soul.”

Cast in a dungeon, his mangled body was laid on the floor with broken glasses. Emperor Dacian ordered that “his legs be set in wooden stocks and stretched very wide open.” Food and water were denied him.

In preparation for the second phase of torture, Dacian allowed the faithful to come and dress his wounds. Nil Guillemette in Stars Forever said they came in troops and laid him in a cot. But he died. It was year 304.

The jailer was converted when he saw Vincent exuded peace and tranquillity in death. His body was placed in a sack and thrown to the sea.

A legend narrated that ravens protected his body from being devoured by vultures until his followers recovered it.

Taken to a place now called Cape of Saint Vincent, a shrine was erected over his grave, still with flocks of raven at watch.

Arab geographer Al-Idrisi also noted that ravens were guarding the grave, so it was named Church of the Ravens.

Kind Alfonso I of Portugal had the body exhumed in 1173 and brought to the São Vicente de Fora Monastery in Lisbon.

Saint Vincent is the patron saint of wine and vinegar makers.

Guillemette commented: “If martyrs in the midst of the most cruel torture could be joyful because of their close union with God, we, who suffer far less in our daily lives, should all the more so be able to bear our sufferings serenely, if not joyfully.” n Santiago is a former regional director of

the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.

A6

Science

BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Sunday

Editor: Lyn B. Resurreccion

Can marijuana treat MS symptoms?

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n estimated 400,000 Americans are currently living with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune cells attack a fatty substance called myelin in the nerves. Common symptoms are gait and balance disorders, cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, pain and muscle spasticity.

Colorado has the highest proportion of people living with MS in the United States. It is estimated that one in 550 people living in the state has MS, compared to one in 750 nationally. The reason for this is unknown, but could be related to several factors, such as vitamin D deficiency or environment.

Currently, available therapies do not sufficiently relieve MS symptoms. As a result, many people with the condition are trying alternative therapies, like cannabis. Based on several studies, the American Association of Neurology states that there is strong evidence that cannabis is effective for treatment of pain and spasticity.

Although there are many anecdotal reports indicating cannabis’s beneficial effects for treatment of MS symptoms, such as fatigue, muscle weakness, anxiety and sleep deprivation, they have not been scientifically verified. This is because clinical trials—where patients are given cannabis—are difficult to do because of how the substance is regulated at the federal level.

To learn more, my Integrative Neurophysiology Laboratory at Colorado State University is studying people with MS in the state who are already using medical cannabis as a treatment to investigate what MS symptoms the drug can effectively treat.

Medical marijuana isn’t a prescription drug

Marijuana, or cannabis, contains over 100 compounds, but

400K

The number of Americans with multiple sclerosis

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) are believed to have the most medical relevance.

However, there is currently no information about the most effective ratio of THC and CBD, which form of ingestion (smoking or eating, for instance) is best, or how often people with MS should use cannabis products.

The main reason for the limited scientific evidence about how well cannabis can treat MS symptoms is because it is a Schedule 1 substance. This means that it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” This classification makes it very difficult to study cannabis in clinical trials.

Because cannabis is on Schedule 1, doctors can’t prescribe it, even in the states with medical marijuana laws, like Colorado. In those states doctors can provide patients with a “permission slip” for cannabis, which has to be approved by a state agency.

Because of the lack of scientific evidence, doctors can’t recommend a specific strain and dosage of cannabis to patients. Patients are left to choose on their own.

Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña (second from left) and Science Education Institute Director Dr. Josette T. Biyo (left) signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia’s Universiti Teknologi Petronas, led by Vice Chancellor Datuk Ir Dr. Abdul Rahim Bin Hj Hashim (second from right) and Associate Professor Dr. Fawnizu Azmadi B Hussin. The partnership will allow faculty members of Palawan State University and Batangas State University to have further studies in the fields of Petroleum Engineering and Energy Science.

PHL inks scholarship deal with Malaysian university

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he Department of Scie n c e a n d Te c h n o l o g y (DOST) recently inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP)—a Malaysian pr ivate universit y—that w il l allow Filipino teachers to hone their expertise in the fields of petroleum engineering and mechanical engineering through scholarships in masteral and doctoral education.

In a ceremony held recently at UTP in Perak, Malaysia, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña and Science Education Institute (SEI) Director Dr. Josette T. Biyo

led the Philippine contingent in signing the MOU with UTP’s Vice Chancellor Datuk Ir Dr. Abdul Rahim Bin Hj Hashim.

The agreement will allow faculty members from the Palawan State University (PSU) and Batangas State University (BSU)—the only universities in the Philippines offering BS Petroleum Engineering—to pursue graduate studies in the said fields under the Foreign Scholarship Component of the Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program of DOST-SEI. De la Peña said the agreement is a response to the immediate

Customers shop for marijuana inside a recreational marijuana store in Denver. AP/Brennan Linsley

Moreover, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that out of 75 cannabis products, only 17 percent were accurately labeled.

And 23 percent contained significantly more THC than labeled, possibly placing patients at risk of experiencing adverse effects.

How we are studying cannabis and MS

My lab’s long-term goal is to determine whether cannabis can safely and effectively treat MS symptoms. But because of current federal regulations our lab can conduct only observational studies at this time.

To conduct clinical trials with a Schedule 1 substance, investigators must have a special license, which my lab is in the process of applying for. At the moment, this means we study only people who are or are about to use cannabis and we do not provide cannabis to anyone for our studies.

We recently completed an online survey of 139 MS patients currently using cannabis to learn what types of products they used, how often need to build the capacities of BSU and PSU faculties to better train future petroleum engineers who will be exploring the oil-and-gas deposits and other energy resources of the country, and working in other areas of the energy sector.

“They will pursue MS Petroleum Engineering and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UTP. Hopefully, after four years we will be able to succeed in our desire to have enhanced the skills of these scholars, so that they will be more empowered to teach what they have learned to their students in their respective universities in the Philippines,” de la Peña said.

Datuk Abdul Rahim said that while UTP rarely partners with any government agency, the collaboration with Asian countries is a very important step for Malaysia to improve its industries and become globally competitive. “ There is always something to learn from each other, especially through these studentand staff-exchange programs,” Datuk Abdul R ahim said. “ The MOU is the beginning of a more and longer relationship.”

The six scholars who will take MS in Petroleum Engineering and the two to avail themselves of the PhD in Mechanical Engineering will begin their classes this month.

The target graduation is in 2021.

“We highly appreciate the fact that our scholars will be trained in one of Malaysia’s leading science and technology institutions of higher learning,” de la Peña said.

S&T Media Service

they used those products and for how long.

Our results, which have not yet been published, found that 91 of our respondents (66 percent) reported that they currently use cannabis, and 56 percent of the cannabis users reported using either smoked or edible products. Seventy-eight percent of the cannabis users also indicated that they reduced or even stopped other medications as a result of their cannabis use.

The survey respondents who are using cannabis reported lower disability scores on the Guy’s Neurological Disability Scale, a clinical scale used to evaluate neurological disability in people with MS, and they seem less likely to be obese.

However, these data are selfreported, which means objective longer clinical trials are required to confirm these results.

We are also conducting an ongoing observational study, set to be completed in mid-2017, on the effects of regular cannabis use on physical function and activity levels in people with MS. There are many studies on the influence of cannabis on cognitive

function in healthy and diseased populations. However, no study to date has used objective measures of motor function in people with MS who are using cannabis, such as muscle strength and fatigue tasks, walking performance and postural stability tests.

Our preliminary results indicate that people with MS using cannabis have greater physical activity levels, leg strength and walking speed, while also having less spasticity, fatigue and a lower perceived risk of falling.

It is of note that these individuals are rarely using only cannabis to help control their symptoms. They are often using cannabis alongside traditional medications.

More mportant, cannabis users did not perform worse than nonusers on any of our measurements.

These are very promising results, and we are expecting significant positive effects of cannabis at the end of this observational study.

Randomized control trials are needed

The outcomes of these observational studies will be the foundation

for larger randomized clinical trials, where some patients are treated with cannabis and others aren’t.

These types are studies needed to truly show the benefits and risks of consequences of cannabis use in this population.

Applying for the special license that investigators must have to conduct clinical research with a Schedule 1 substance is a lengthy process. Once granted, the Drug Enforcement Administration requires on-site inspections of the investigator’s facilities. Furthermore, it is also very difficult for these types of experiments to be approved and performed. These policies make conducting research on the medical benefits and side effects of cannabis in the US extremely hard. As a sad result, top researchers are looking to export their ideas outside the country.

We want to conduct clinical research to understand what cannabis products MS patients should use, in what dosage and in what form of ingestion. We also want to find out whether longterm cannabis use is safe, and if the effectiveness changes overtime due to increased tolerance.

Fortunately, our first intervention study, which will investigate the effects of different marijuana strains on motor and cognitive function in people with MS, has been approved by the CSU Institutional Review Board. This means that my lab can begin this research once our license is approved.

The answers to these questions w ill prov ide guidelines for health-care providers and people w ith MS on cannabis use. If these studies can demonstrate that cannabis effectively relieves and treats MS symptoms, they could help establish the medicinal value of cannabis. That could make a case for rescheduling cannabis, making it easier for physicians and researchers to establish cannabis’ true benefits and risks.

n This article was originally published on The Conversation. Thorsten Rudroff, Colorado State University/AP

PHL tackles food security through UK’s Newton Fund R

i c e researchers, scientists and funding partners from the Philippines and the United Kingdom, along with those from China, Thailand and Vietnam, converged early this month at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baños, to collaborate and share issues in sustainable rice production.

Thir teen projects funded through the Newton Fund UK-Philippines-ChinaThailand-Vietnam S ustainable R ice Programme presented the current outputs of their research which address real-world problems as varied as lowering the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases for rice consumers, to increasing rice plant drought tolerance.

The three-year research projects began in 2016 and will continue until 2019. The Newton Fund Sustainable Rice Programme showcases an innovative mix of regional and country approaches that aim to help solve core challenges in global food security.

About 60 researchers, joined b y r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m t h e U K ’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and each of the country’s funding par tners came together to explore ways to collaborate fur ther, including sharing resources, lessons learned and data that can add value to their current projects and strengthen l i n k s w i t h t h e i r co u nte r p a r t s f ro m participating countries.

Deputy Ambassador to the Philippines Nigel Boud, in his welcome remarks to the delegates, said: “This is the first regional

research program that we are running under the Newton Fund and it brings together countries to collaborate on work that is so important, like the sustainable production of rice. It demonstrates the kind of work that we want to be doing in the Newton Programme in the years ahead.”

Together with Dr. Bruce Tolentino, deputy director general of IRRI, the delegates noted the significance of rice research to the country and the region, noting the importance of rice and the regional collaboration being achieved through the projects.

O f the 13 projec ts, four involve s c i e nt i s t s f ro m t h e D e p a r t m e nt o f Agriculture (DA)-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). Two projects are working on improving the nutritional quality of rice and the other two focus on creating greater resilience of the rice plant to diseases and environmental stresses due to climate change.

One PhilRice researcher involved in the projects, Dr. Riza G. Abilgos-Ramos, said: “Our work will help to provide part of the solution in preventing type 2 diabetes and other chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular diseases, by increasing dietary fiber and enhancing rice-grain properties that would help to manage or prevent spikes in blood sugar increase after meals.

“The Newton Fund gives us the chance to do this with experts from different countries and allow us to expand our network in the UK and Southeast Asia.”

Ramos is a supervising science research specialist in the Rice Chemistry and Food

Science Division of PhilRice. The IRRI visit was highlighted by a tour of the research facilities, group presentations, postersharing sessions and clinic sessions.

Representatives from partners DAPhilRice, Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Philippine Council for Agriculture Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science, and Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency were among the delegates.

The Newton Fund builds scientific and innovation partnerships with 16 partnercountries to suppor t their economic development and social welfare, and to develop their research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth. It has a total UK government investment of £735 million up until 2021, with matched resources from the partner countries.

In the Philippines the program is known as the Newton Agham (Science) Programme to reflect the collaboration between the UK and the Philippines in science, research and innovation.

The UK delivery partners and the UK government, through its embassy, works with Philippine science and innovation institutions and funders, such as the DOST and the Commission on Higher Education, to codevelop and implement program that strengthen science and innovation capacity and create solutions to development challenges in the Philippines and in the region.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, January 22, 2017 A7

Cruise-Ship Traveling Isn’t Just for the Rich and Groovy Retirees Story & photo by Marky Ramone Go

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otwithstanding sans a honeymoon mate, I walked toward the gigantic ship bootlegging the swag of Mark Renton at the end of Trainspotting.

Star Cruises’ upper management team explain the perks of cruising with SuperStarVirgo

Star Cruises Makes Manila Cruise Home Port with Launch of SuperStar Virgo Story & photo

by Gretchen Filart Dublin

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The onboard happenings at SuperStar Gemini brought out our party instincts that we almost forgot about the shore incursions that awaited us at our daily dockings in Malaysia. Our first stop was the Unesco World Heritage city of Georgetown on Penang Island. We explored the city both on foot and by riding a rickshaw, thus affording us a feel of the place fused with lovely influences of its colonial past and of the modern times. The next day we docked at the island of Langkawi, where an outdoor jaunt aboard a small speedboat took us to the karstinfested surrounding of Kilim Geoforest Park.

Among the places we visited were a limestone cave and a fish and eagle sanctuary.

anila is now officially a cruise home port for Star Cruises as SuperStar Virgo fleet makes its first homeport deployment to Manila. The 13-storey cruise ship will sail from Manila’s south pier onward to Laoag, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and Hong Kong during a six-day journey.

The maiden voyage kicks off on March 19, with fifteen cruise ships voyaging from and to Manila until May 23, in time for the summer holiday.

“It’s the first time that Filipinos can cruise from your doorstep,” Star Cruises President Ang Moo Lim said in a press launch held at Resorts World Manila. “It is hassle-free, visa-free, and you don’t need to worry about documents or baggage – and at an affordable price.”

Star Cruises offers an early bird rate discount for all cabins for the entire month of March, starting at USD 490 per person on twin sharing. An additional 50 percent discount for the third and fourth guests in a quadruple sharing cabin can be enjoyed at only USD 245 per person.

Suites start at USD1,230. The rates include an all-inclusive stay in one of 935 deluxe oceanfront cabins and full-board meals (up to six a day), which they can enjoy in three non-chargeable restaurants: The Pavilion Room, Genting Palace, and the Mediterranean Buffet. A total of 11 restaurants can be found on site including specialty diners serving Indian, Western, and Japanese buffet.

Also part of the fare are guided city tours in each destination. The ship docks in the morning in each destination, allowing guests an eight to 10hour leeway for explorations. Guests will visit historical UNESCO heritage sites and chalky beaches in Ilocos, while in Kaohsiung, they will be taken to renowned Taiwanese temples, museums, eateries, and shopping spots. Filipino passport holders need not obtain a visa for Taiwan, as such requirement is waived for those aboard the SuperStar Virgo. Next, the ship docks at Hongkong’s ocean terminal where guests can explore retail outlets, Cantonese food stalls, and futuristic skyscrapers surrounding Victoria Harbor. The ship will stay at high sea for a day before returning to Manila.

There is no idle time either in between tours

Is cruise-ship traveling worth the try?

Okada Manila awards first P30-M grand jackpot winner

Guests can choose from more than 600 rooms in Newcoast Boracay.

Star Cruises‘s SuperStar Gemini ship

Only this time, I am ship-spotting. Unflappably sliding my feet over the smooth carpet of the hallway of Harbour Front in Singapore, I silently declaimed my own version of the film’s famous quote. “Choose Cruise Life. Choose Traveling. Choose a big ship to sail. Choose onboard parties, choose an island to explore.”

Finding myself separated only by a thick glass and a couple hundred meters of pathway ahead, I stopped on my tracks and laid eyes on the sheer beauty of the docked ship that awaits my first ever cruise-ship experience.

The vibe certainly delivers the fervor of choosing life and embracing the good karma unfolding. I was telling myself in disbelief that “I am going cruising” even if I am nowhere near hitting 40 years old. Since my younger years I have always associated this method of traveling with hip retirees and to episodes of the late-1980s TV show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, sounding off host Robin Leach’s narration on how one cruise ship trip would cost an arm and a leg for ordinary folks like us. That old-school idea about cruise traveling is nevermore.

Things have changed mightily since then— as millennial travelers and backpackers like me can now easily afford a three to four night jaunt aboard these fancy ships such as Star Cruises’ SuperStar Gemini.

Aboard ‘SuperStar Gemini’: A floating cultural melting pot

Rising 10 passenger-accessible decks high and spanning 229.84 meters, the SuperStar Gemini can accommodate up to 2,156 guests and 700 crew members. The moment I stepped inside I felt being transported into another realm; a miniscule city popping with a sparkling setting.

As the staff ushered us deeper inside into the sprawling casino floor and unto the Stardust theater lounge, I was immediately astonished.

“Kyla will perform here tonight,” a Filipina ship staff told us. It didn’t take long for me to notice the presence of many Filipinos working aboard the ship. The lady crew, named Melanie, told me that more than 50 percent of the ship’s crew are Filipinos. The rest comes from different countries in Asia, such as Vietnam, Japan, China, Nepal, India, Indonesia and a lot more.

The diverse ethnic composition of the ship’s work force is enough to create a cultural melting

pot where the guests can easily feel at home and, at the same time, learn more about the various aspects of Asian culture.

That colorful Asian culture would come to play during the various parties held at night where Bollywood, Nepalese, Japanese, English and even Tagalog songs are performed by the musical performers and dancers. Even the cuisines served aboard the SuperStar Gemini’s 11 bars and restaurants are a representation of the rich culinary culture not only of Asia, but the rest of the world. The ship’s other amenities includes a topside pool for both the adults and kids, a half-basketball court, Jacuzzi, physical fitness and spa centers, duty-free shops, hair salon and various charming corners where one can chill and relax. The onboard atmosphere creates a rousing city-like feel where guests can truly enjoy the life on the high seas with endless entertainment and heaps of things to do.

Settling in my Superior Oceanview Stateroom

Living a temporary cruise life will never be complete without the fancy cabin room. Upon stepping inside my Superior Ocean View Stateroom, my elevated expectations were even exceeded by the appealing interior that greeted me inside. Ergonomically spread out and designed to provide adequate space for a convenient set of movements, my room is highlighted by the floor to ceiling glass window that afforded a beautiful view of the blue waters of the sea and the Harbour Front hub of Singapore.

I stood by the window for a few minutes and stared at the fading skyscrapers of Singapore from the distance and the waters of Melaka Strait ahead. Looking down, I noticed the calmly manner to which our ship was threading the deep waters—like a hot knife cutting through butter, we sailed smoothly. “This is not bad,” I told myself. “In fact, it is effing amazing.”

I sat on the couch near my bed and settled my things. Checking my clock and realizing not even an hour has passed, a burst of excitement shoot up my body. I became giddy with anticipation of the fun events about to happen on course of our four-day cruise ship adventure.

Food-tripping and the (epic) 10 a.m. pool party

What to do aboard a ship that will sail overnight

to its first destination in Penang, Malaysia? It turns out there are oodles of things to do and sumptuous cuisines to try on the ship. Our first morning couldn’t have started more festive when a simple chill out on the upper deck main pool instantly became a 10 a.m. pool party.

A member of the ship’s crew played music on the elevated platform—blasting off a blend of American pop songs and Bollywood music. In no time, it infused a revelry vibe to the sunny morning. Not soon after, I and my fellow travel writers were strutting dance moves near the pool as another crew of the ship hosed us down with water. As more kids jumped into the pool, some of their parents joined the minipool party and even passing guests would look at us with a bright look of marvel in their faces.

10 a.m. aboard SuperStar Gemini just became one epic pool party.

Of the 11 bars and restaurants onboard SuperStar Gemini, at least four restaurants serves complimentary buffet meals Bella Vista (western food), Mariners (Asian), Dynasty (Chinese) and Oceana (nighttime barbecues and cocktails). We would be seen huddled around a table at each of these four restaurants every day—enjoying a good ole talk about whatever over plates of sumptuous dishes. Sandwiching the parties and witnessing the other on-ship events, food-tripping became a favorite activity of ours. The fusion of cultures aboard SuperStar Gemini isn’t only present in the diverse composition of its crew, it is also in display in the many delectable cuisines served on board.

Onboard happenings and the party pirates of Melaka Strait

The expansive Stardust Lounge is the placeto-be when nighttime falls. The first night we watched Kyla, the Philippines’s R&B Princess, perform romantic songs while playfully mingling with the crowd. Earlier in the night, illusionist couple Richard Burr and his enigmatic wife, Josette, wowed the crowd with their performance.

The next night we became witness to a spectacular acrobatic slash musical show showcasing elegant movements, sultry singing and colorful radiance of beaming lights. We capped our second night with a “neon party” that lasted just after midnight.

There was no down time aboard the ship as during the afternoon, film showings are held inside the Stardust Lounge. There are also a few entertaining games the guests can participate in, such as the lip-sync battle and other on board games hosted by the ship’s entertainment crew.

as passengers will be treated to a slew of entertainment choices. “There are 1,001 things to do in our cruise ship,” Lim enthused. Among these are nightly live shows at Lido Theater and an elegant gala dinner at the Grand Piazza, where guests can dine with the ship officers. Afterwards, they can grab a drink at the Liquid Nitrogen Bar or watch musical performances at Celebrity on deck 13.

Senior Vice President Michael Goh shared that SuperStar Virgo’s entertainment decks are designed to resemble the vibrant atmosphere in Zouk, a hugely popular club in Singapore. “The whole concept is for guests to enjoy and dance under the stars.”

Children are also in for a treat with recreational activities such as basketball, cooking demos, and swimming at the Parthenon Pool, which features a 100-meter mega slide alongside four Jacuzzis.

Meanwhile, customized Visita Iglesia activities await those who will be cruising during the Holy Week. Other onboard amenities include duty free shops, a salon, library, and spa that offers pampering services infused with Asian hospitality.

The first international cruise to bring holiday makers to international destinations from Manila, SuperStar Virgo’s launch is expected to boost the Philippines’ tourism appeal.

“We are confident that the inclusion of the Philippines in the itinerary of SuperStar Virgo will help strengthen the country’s position as a competitive cruise destination in the region,” said Department of Tourism (DOT) Undersecretary Benito Bengzon, Jr. DOT Director Maria Corazon Jorda-Apo noted a 52.5 percent increase in cruise calls to the country in the five years. This year alone, foreign tourists from cruises are estimated at 117,000 – a figure that, according to DOT, is partly due to the agency’s strong partnership with Star Cruises.

“Five years ago, there were only 20 ports of call. We now have 117 calls - 30 of which are contributed by Star Cruises,” Assistant Secretary for Tourism Development Maria Lourdes Japson said.

She adds that “the homeporting of SuperStar Virgo here supports the DOT’s National Cruise Tourism Development Strategy, which defines our directions and plans to make the Philippines a major player in the regional cruise industry arena.”

My favorite was the adult show Marionettes. Featuring most of the male and female performers of the previous’ nights acrobatic and musical show, the spectacle showcases an artistic set of graceful choreography and stunts that will make you appreciate the casts’ inventive performances and make you even forget that most of the female stars appeared on stage topless.

On our last night we rolled at least three parties to bookend our wonderful experience; kicking off with the Captain’s Cocktail Party, followed by the Gala Dinner and Show, and for the finale, the Grand Farewell Party.

Shore incursions to Penang and Langkawi Island in Malaysia

My answer to that is an absolutely and positively resounding, yes! I noticed the rest of the guests were a mixture of retirees, young couples, families and group of friends. This fact assured me that the prevailing idea of cruise-ship travel is not anymore reduced to groovy retirees, of titas and titos and the likes. Cruise-ship traveling has become this wonderful option to bond with your love ones and friends—or better yet, a special someone.

As I walked out of the ship for one last time after we docked back at Harbour Front in Singapore—and yet again minus a girlfriend—I told myself to experience another get-go at cruise living in the near future. Hoping next time, it will be with a honeymoon mate. “Choose life, choose a girl to cruise with, choose Star Cruises.” I smiled at the idea and, as I turn my head for one last look, I see the gigantic SuperStar Gemini gleaming its lights against the dark skies—appearing before me is not only a picture of a marvel of marine engineering, but also of a blissful place that sails in the middle of the sea.

O

ver 30 million pesos was recently handed over to Okada Manila’s first grand jackpot winner, 19 days after start of its casino operations.

A newly-registered Okada Manila Reward Circle member, the lucky 45-year-old Filipino woman won the integrated casino resort’s progressive jackpot prize on her sixth spin at her favorite slot game, Da Fu Da Gui, on January 17.

“Hitting the grand jackpot and other major prizes this early is such a good start for our casino operations and it signals a promising and bountiful year ahead,” said Okada Manila chief marketing officer Andy Chang.

Two more lucky winners literally had a prosperous new year as both bagged one million pesos each at slot game, Brothers of Fortune, early this month. One of which was an Okada Manila Reward Circle inaugural member.

Commencing its casino operations at the end of December last year, Okada Manila has been well received by the local gaming enthusiasts which, in fact, led to a milestone of reaching 10,000 Reward Circle members during its first week of operations.

“Our Reward Circle program allows members to earn valuable points for most gaming play and transactions at our restaurants, clubs, retail shops, spa and hotel. They can use any amount of earned points just like cash for whatever rewards they would like resort-wide,” Chang added.

Becoming a member of the integrated resort’s Reward Circle program can be done in a breeze by visiting the Reward Circle Member Services counter conveniently located inside the casino, where guests can register and instantly receive their personalized Reward Circle membership card. The membership program is free to join and open to persons ages 21 and above.

Sports

BusinessMirror

A8 Sunday, January 22, 2017

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

ODDMAKERS FAVOR NEW ENGLAND, ATLANTA

PATRIOTS A SURE THING?

By Victor Mather

A

New York Times

LOT of different things could happen in the National Football League (NFL) conference championship games on Sunday.

But oddsmakers are pretty sure what is likely to happen. The New England Patriots will beat the Pittsburgh Steelers by about 6, and the Atlanta Falcons will defeat the Green Bay Packers by 4 or 5 in a high-scoring affair.

One of the truisms of gambling is that it is difficult for a team to be a great bet week in and week out. That’s because the more a team wins and covers the spread, the higher its spread will be the next week and the week after that. Eventually, most teams congregate close to .500 against the spread for the season.

That makes this season for the Patriots all the more remarkable. Despite being favored in 15 of 16 games by as many as 17 points, the Patriots finished 13-3 against the spread, earning a tidy profit for those who bet them blindly. That was the best record in the league.

It seems hard to remember, but in Week 1, the Patriots were 8 1/2-point underdogs to an Arizona Cardinals team that had impressed last season. Part of that gap was no doubt attributable to the status of quarterback Tom Brady, who was sitting out the first game of his four-game suspension for his role in the scandal involving the deflation of footballs.

The unheralded backup Jimmy Garoppolo was up to the task, though, and the Patriots won

in an “upset” that later events proved wasn’t so much of one. The Cardinals finished 7-8-1.

Favored in every game for the rest of the season, the Patriots won 14 of 16 regularseason games and covered the spread in 13 of them. The only time they did not was in Week 12, at the New York Jets, when the spread was 9 1/2 and they won by 5.

The Patriots more than made up for that four weeks later, when they faced the Jets at home and were stuck with their biggest spread of the season, 17 points. Bettors reluctant to lay so many points were burned when the Patriots romped to a 41-3 win.

By the time of the playoffs, the bookmakers were well aware of the Patriots’ tremendous record and posted a huge number, 16 1/2, for their game against the Houston Texans. The line seemed somewhat insulting to Houston, which, after all, had won its division and beat the Oakland Raiders in the wild-card round. But the Patriots covered again, winning by 18.

Before you mortgage your house to bet on every Patriots game next season, be aware that trends like these seldom last more than a year.

Last season’s best team against the spread, the Minnesota Vikings, at 13-3, did post a winning record again this season, at 9-7. But the Cincinnati Bengals, who were 12-3-1 in 2015, staggered to a 6-9-1 record against the lines this season.

NFL games this season averaged a total of 45.6 points scored. So the bookmakers’ over/ under of 51 on the Patriots game indicates they expect it to be somewhat high scoring.

But it should be nothing compared with the

Falcons-Packers game, which has a whopping over/under of 61 points.

That’s the highest over/under ever for a playoff game, Bookmaker.eu reports. The previous high was 59.5, for the 2011-2012 wild-card round between the New Orleans Saints and the Detroit Lions. (They scored 73 and went over.)

The highest regular-season total came in 2000, between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. That total closed at 61.5, and the teams combined for 58 points, just going under. “Bettors perceive these teams as two of the most potent, pass-happy teams in the league, and they witnessed them score 65 points in a Week 8 shootout,” Scott Cooley of Bookmaker.eu said.

He also noted that “football rules have changed to enable more scoring.” He added: “The quarterbacks and pass catchers are protected in a way they weren’t in the past. We are also seeing more pass-interference calls with the new rules that cater to the offense.”

Big over/under totals are often not big enough. Oddschecker reports that of the 10 highest totals in history, eight ended up going over.

In general, totals for college and NFL games have been creeping up every year as high-powered offenses increasingly dominate.

The Falcons led the league in scoring at 33.8 points per game, and the Packers were fourth at 27.0. The two teams have gone over in all three of their playoff games this season.

If the game ends 14-7, regardless of who wins, we’ll have the biggest surprise of the season.

THE National Football League says Lady Gaga is not banned from talking about Donald J. Trump.

Gaga won’t be gagged

T

HE National Football League (NFL) has denied that it asked Lady Gaga to avoid talking politics as part of her Super Bowl halftime show appearance in February.

“Lady Gaga was told by the NFL that she cannot say anything or bring anything up about the election, or mention Donald Trump,” an anonymous source told Entertainment Tonight in an article published on Tuesday. The news story swiftly gained traction on the Internet.

But the football league flatly denied the

report later that day. “This is unsourced nonsense from people trying to stir up controversy where there is none,” Natalie Ravitz, a spokesman for the NFL, said in a statement.

The statement continued, “Lady Gaga is focused on putting together an amazing show for fans and we love working with her on it; we aren’t going to be distracted by this.”

Lady Gaga was a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton during and after the campaign, performing at rallies for the candidate and,

memorably, in the wake of the election, standing on a giant sanitation truck outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan, holding aloft a “Love Trumps Hate” sign. (The image of the distraught singer was widely circulated online, including by far-right media outlets like the Breitbart News Network).

The singer had not posted about the reports to her social-media accounts as of Wednesday morning. Her representatives had no comment beyond the NFL’s statement. New York Times

Sunday, January 22, 2017 A9

History, Journalism and the Nation-Machine in Joel Pablo Salud’s Blood Republic»A12

SUPERSTAR

H

By Ambrosio N. Flores III

e stood there majestically unmoving, his long white hair waving slowly in the dimness, covering his forehead, his beard waving in ripples. He was wrapped in long, flowing, almost diaphanous robes, his arms covered by the robes as they stayed firmly crossed on his chest.

His eyes were closed, breathing in and out slowly. But of course, creatures like him really didn’t have a nose to breathe with, they pulsated.

He was there, but he also wasn’t.

One moment in his time, and he seemed solid; another moment in his time, he seemed translucent. The next moment, he seemed gaseous. The flow of this transfiguration was one pulse.

And his pulsating never ceased. So without even moving, it seemed he was moving.

And he really wasn’t standing on anything. He was floating in this black abyss. And his robes, not really robes, but an extension of his existence.

His robes had tendrils gracefully reaching in and out from all sides of his being into the abyss, like thin grasping little fingers.

These tendrils moved slowly, slowly here, slowly there, reaching out deliberately, confidently, with a determined sentience and curiosity, extending his perception of time, space, heat, cold, light, dark, movement, solid, gas, liquid, adding to his awareness, his knowledge, his understanding, his unity. Once they were able to pluck knowledge out of the ether, they would retract and disappear into his robe,

then new tendrils would emerge and reach out again. His robes seemed eeriely alive.

He was surrounded by millions of small blinking lights, but the darkness was still overpowering those millions of lights, even if they hung in clusters slowly whirling around him ever, ever so slowly it was imperceptible, you would think they were not moving.

You’d think he was one of those blinking stars because of his pulsating, but he had a different glow—the glow of all-consuming power, of omniscience.

He looked magnificent and glorious. And terrifyingly beautiful.

And he was contemplating everything. Like a God would do. In this part of the universe. His part. But Am was not a god. And that irritated him. He had made another mistake.

He opened his eyes and gazed

with a frown at this small round rock in front of him, rotating on its axis as it revolved around this little ball of fire. He peered into it without stooping closer to this small round rock, and he saw….primordial plains rising above the liquid that covered its surface.

He sighed. “Too much liquid,” he thought.

He saw that only a small portion of the solid base was above the rippling liquid. Peering much closer, he saw a close-up vision of gusts of gas blowing over the liquid and the exposed solid. It was throwing up thin clouds of dust all around.

He muttered a “tsk” and bit his lips, his sigh resounding across the abyss like a dirge. And closed his eyes again.

“Your Grace…!”

Am looked startled as he turned

to look at the short figure beside him.

“What is it, To?” he asked, his frown getting more furrowed.

“The Revered One is coming!” fearfully whispered To, eyes locking into his. His head was at level with his shoulders, and a couple of tendrils reached out and caressed his taupcolored face.

Am groaned, and no sooner than he did so, a gentle voice wafted to his hearing, although he needed no ears to hear: “How goes your project, Am?” The gentle query was warm and modulated and soothing. It made Am feel something crawl up the back of his robe. Here was limitless power floating in front of him.

For a moment, Am looked thoughtfully away into the abyss, then his eyes turned back to the Revered One, answering with a cordial grin,

A10

Sunday, January 22, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

SUPERSTAR “The project has been re-booted, and I am expecting genesis any moment!” He felt his grin was frozen on his bearded face, and he tried to relax it.

Before him was a bright formless light, much bigger than he was, and shimmering at the edges. The Revered One was dazzling, literally. There seemed to be an opaque figure cocooned in this bright light, but there was only a hint of a thin silhouette with six arms and thin legs and a large head.

The Revered One projected a smile towards Am and Am saw it in his mind. He asked, “Oh? Re-booted? And this is…?”

“…The eighth time, oh Revered One,” volunteered To. To caught Am staring at him with an even bigger frown, his white hair parted from his forehead in the middle by a pair of tendrils rising up from each of his shoulders exposing his third eye, and this eye was as equally wide open in surprise as the first two. All three eyes blinked together.

Am cleared his throat and looked back towards the Revered One, the tendrils allowing his hair to cover his forehead again. “It has come to my realization that repeatedly constructing and deconstructing my project allows its elements to integrate into itself the best permutation to aspire for. To has entertainingly referred to it as ‘practice makes perfect.’”

“And the elements retain the knowledge of what went before,” To volunteered again, causing Am to close his eyes for a moment before assuming a more placating look.

“But beloved Am, are we not perfect already?”

The dazzling formless light approached the little round rock. Three brightly-lit tendrils extended from him and hovered in a criss-crossing pattern over the rock. Am and To watched, unmoving and eyes struggling hard not to enlarge. Am’s third eye was again peering out with the help of two tendrils from his shoulders.

“Ahhhh…” Said the Revered One. He sounded…pleased.

“Ahhhh…” he repeated, to underscore the moment. “You have compressed a minuscule singularity into a dense speck inside this sphere’s core, and…” the Revered One motioned towards the ball of fire hovering nearby “…and this one is placed just so to counteract any indication of instability. Hmmm. Balance is attained.” The silhouetted head was nodding.

Am was smiling broadly, but had to swallow first before he could say, “Yes, that was the intention of the project, Revered One.” To was staring sideways at him with quizzical looks. No, it was not, he thought. Am caught the discreet thought and without looking at To flicked one of his tendrils at his back.

“Clearly, yes, you struck an appropriate balance,” continued The Revered One. “One singularity powering the fiery ball, and another speck imbedded in this little rock. But how long will it take to proceed to the next grade?” The Revered One sounded so gentle when he asked that.

“Ahmmm,” Am looked at To helplessly, but the Revered One had already started moving away, nodding.

“Nevertheless, your project will be completed in time, I am sure. Seven cycles of deconstruction is somewhat…unorthodox, especially if your preferred process seeks to purify first the random elements that will germinate, in time. The singularity speck will hasten the germination…” The Revered One stopped and turned to “look” back at Am. “However, the others felt no need to include this though. That was your intention, wasn’t it?”

Am nodded once with a slight smile, but To stood behind him hiding his puzzlement.

The Revered One considered Am, and was in thought. “Very well,” the Revered One finally resumed speaking as he moved away. “But you must know, there might be consequences using a speck, even if it is just a speck. The projects being conducted by Se, by Lo, by Kri and the partnership of Nal and An, your former understudy, needed only one deconstruction and they are germinating, I’m sorry, have germinated their designed pods. Their pods are in flux, evolved and have even started multiplying!

No…specks…involved.”

“Really? I am impressed!” Am said in forced admiration. What does that make me? he thought. Am felt something clench somewhere down there.

The Revered One’s gentle voice was becoming distant. “Of course, each project has its own beauty and trait. I am sure yours will be unique as well, and the outcome fit to be our vessels….”

Am called after him, “Yes, Revered One, they most certainly will be…!”

The Revered One paused again. Without looking back, he called out, “Remember that your little speck can contaminate your pods and hunt them down, convert them not into the pure pods you are hoping for…” The Revered One’s voice trailed off into a haunting echo in the dark abyss as his light faded. He was gone.

Am continued looking at the spot where his visitor disappeared. To looked puzzled and turned towards Am.

“To, we are in deep shit.”

A

RECTIFICATION

m and To were peering into the round rock, excited by what they saw.

“Your Grace, I can’t believe the fast development of the rock!” exclaimed in a whisper as his eyes looked in wonderment at the tiny things moving about on the surface of their project.

“I agree, my To, finally this is quite a pleasant turn of circumstances,” Am replied. Both of them had tendrils reaching down into the rock, and invisibly exploring the surface, probing the depths of the liquid, stabbing gently to peer under the surface of the rock. “But of course, we must be cautious. The Revered one is right: to have a speck inside the ball may have effects that may ruin our pods.”

They hovered over the round rock and watched as it revolved again and again around the ball of fire nearby. They stretched out their tendrils as well from where they were to monitor the exterior and interior of the ball of fire, making sure no

untoward activity of the singularity was developing. But everything was stable, so far.

“Look, look!” To said excitedly, “there are things swimming in the liquid! And things crawling on the surface!”

“Hmmm, not only that, I see things flying around above them. See those green things? Once the dry mass above the liquid broke up and parted, these…things appeared. And they seem to be spreading all over.” He bent down a bit to look at the other areas.

“There are white mists floating around.

To, we need to go in for a closer look…”

And so it was that Am and To sent their avatars through their tendrils unto the rock’s surface. There at close hand the avatars touched and saw and smelled everything. Their tendrils tasted each item and found that it was good. They could also hear strange noises reverberating around the rock.

A lot was happening, and they wanted to take everything in.

Their avatars travelled together far above the land, and on it; they separated to trek and explore the nooks, caves, and crannies, marveling at the new verdant things sprouting.

Each experience was sent back up through their tendrils to their essences hovering in the abyss, and shared their discoveries with each other. They were relishing their creation, so pure and dynamic, and…alive.

“These are the requisites to support our project,” declared Am to To when they converged on one of the mountaintops. Together they looked down over the plain and appreciated the undulating liquid ebbing, swelling, and flowing, the corrugated surfaces of the plain, the precipitation (wet and cold), the jagged flashes of light, the invisible gases twirling and blowing, the things that were alive and moving: on the surface, under the liquid, floating in the air. “But,” predicted Am, “I expect the pods to be making their appearance soon.”

“Yes”, said To, “I saw some bipeds lumbering around in small groups in one of the larger cuts of the rock surface. But my probe did not detect any indication of sentient thought.”

“Not yet time, I suppose, dear To. It will be here soon, I am sure…”

“Did you notice these bipeds are drinking the liquid, and eating those other quadrupeds? And those things streaking above the plain…”

“Am!” A strident call suddenly reverberated through their tendrils, and echoed across the surface of the round rock and its rippling liquid. “AM!”

Their avatars had been too engrossed in the sensations they were feeling, their actual beings had been oblivious to the arrival of visitors.

Immediately, Am and To retracted their tendrils from the round rock, now teeming with activity and vibrance.

In that very brief instant when they ascended from the ground, pulling up their avatars from the surface—just before they pierced through cloud cover, they saw their handiwork and marveled at their creation, with all the colors, the brightness, the movement, the smells, EVERYTHING.

“This is really good…!” gushed Am, and To nodded. “We will have to give names to everything we see here.”

“Yes, your Grace,” he smiled in agreement.

Their tendrils pulled them back into their essences and, as they regained their bearings, were greeted by two beings, much like Am, although the other smaller one seemed similar to To.

“Hello, Nal, hello An” extended Am with a slight bow, still cheerful with his visit into his small rock. “You are here.”

“Yes, we are,” replied Nal, returning his bow. “My apologies for the intrusion of your project inspection.” Yes, Nal looked a lot like Am but their differences could be seen, as in all beings at their stage of growth, by the clarity of their third eye.

Nal’s was bigger and had a grayer, more senior and piercing gaze. His tendrils kept his hair parted in a permanent way, while Am always felt it the better part to not display his third eye (because his was a little smaller. Just a bit.).

“Hello, To,” An, the second being said, and bowed slightly to his co-understudy as a friendly gesture. He had bowed much lower to Am when Am acknowledged him, and To knew it was out of deference that An did not feel worthy to utter Am’s name.

“Let us get to the point, now: I heard you injected a speck of singularity in your project,” Nal began, “ I wish to know and understand why you did it.”

To glanced briefly at Am, who ignored him; An caught that quick look and noted it.

“Why do you inquire, dear Nal? I hear your project is proceeding quite well. You have had genesis already, I believe?” Am was not ready to share anything yet.

“Ah, the Revered One has mentioned it.” There was a benevolent smile on his face, and even his third eye showed it. A smugness, actually.

“As he has of mine, obviously,” Am smiled.

The two understudies merely listened and observed the exchange.

Notably, Nal and An had had a breakthrough of sorts, much motivation to be jubilant, correct? Yet why, thought To, would they need to ask about the speck…? Hmmmm….

To noticed the tendrils from both beings were extended toward each other and almost touching, almost intertwining, but not really connecting.

They were probing each other in an open diplomatic way, but not secretly intrusive.

An’s tendrils were retracted and quite behaving properly, not surprisingly, being an understudy like himself. Protocol dictated that they not participate in the melding of thoughts of two eternal beings. Nor that they should extend tendrils with co-understudies while the elders were in conversation.

But To sensed a lack of affection towards each other, between Nal and An, not like what he observed between Am and An before An was pulled away from his Grace, and he was granted the honor of taking over. Not that he cared, since their project was almost at the opposite end of this vast abyss.

There must be something wrong, he thought.

“The speck was an afterthought,” declared Am honestly, “and I placed one in the larger ball of fire, because I felt it prudent to ensure a backstop to address any disturbance in the speck.”

“My pods have developed sentience already,” announced Nal, as if he didn’t hear Am’s declaration.

“What?! That is very good, then!” exclaimed Am, and he made a slight bow, but he felt that familiar clench down there again at this bit of news. “Your project has succeeded. My felicitations. What is the level of their sentience, may I ask?”

“I nudged them into unity and

they all act as one now,” Nal replied, still not hearing. “They are not a swarm, but their unified state has made them progress beyond what I expected…”

Am noticed a hesitation. “But…?”

Nal sighed, and his tendrils slightly lost their vigor, exhibiting some sign of surrender. “The pods. They have developed an intelligence. But no souls.”

To glanced at An and caught his look. An avoided his gaze and looked down. Aha, he thought, so he does have a problem.

“The pods are very adept in their replicating the creation process.

They design, they plan, they build. They have collegial minds sharing ideas through primitive means. Of course their means are not at the level that we exercise them, but their efforts, while definitely primitive, are indicative of an ability to learn and grow and expand and rely too much on their abilities.”

“What’s the matter with that? You say it as if it’s a bad thing” Am asked.

“Am,” he moved closer to him. “They are growing too fast and seem not to see beyond what they can hold and understand. They are too empirical and…void of spirit. That’s the whole object of our projects, right? To develop pods who can see beyond their mere existence.”

Am frowned. “But from an eschatological perspective, they must realize they have finite lives, do they not? Does this not have any effect on your pods?”

Nal shrugged. “They have discovered the cyclic nature of their existence, but even in that they are too rational in their regard. They care not; they are automatons. Empty, yet unfillable. They live. They multiply.

They die. That is that, for them.”

“So why do you come to our humble project? We haven’t even achieved genesis, Nal.”

Nal looked at Am, saying, “To see how your creation is doing, actually.

The Revered One has made mention of your use of a latent speck, and that we wish to understand. But I see you have had no genesis yet. Pity.”

“It was not an inspired act, Nal” Am sighed. “I must confess that I merely…” a brief glance at To with a sheepish grin“…improvised.”

“Improvised?! So, you never intended…?” Nal was frowning. His third eye, too.

“Yes.” Am paused, looked at the two understudies, as if to defend himself. “I have noticed that most of the other projects have strictly followed the same procedure. You must be aware, this is my eighth construct. This time, I merely became…creative. Accidentally, at that, too. “

To raised his eyebrows in surprise, and his still-developing third eye blinked once

“We are CREATORS, are we not?” Am continued. “That speck is still just a speck. I harvested a very tiny amount of singularity when I visited the Center of our dimension. It may help in my genesis process, it may not.

“The singularity in the ball of fire, however, is a source and giver of potential genesis, I suspect. Look at the outcome of your project. Your pods have become ONE, even without the use of a singularity, neither speck nor lump. That is the goal, correct? As for my project, I still do not know what will be my outcome, and if my intervention will still be needed.”

“Your Grace,” An finally spoke. “But your speck in the ball of rock is contrary to the singularity in your ball of fire. Will there not be a conflict in the way your genesis will come about?”

“Yes, my dear An, you are correct,” Am answered. “That speck may spell trouble for my pods when they rise up, but do not discount the power of the singularity in the ball of fire. Two singularities cannot co-exist near each other, lest one consumes the other. There is that duality.”

“I do not understand any of this,” To commented. The other three looked at him.

“As do I, To.” Nal sighed. “But then, as Am said, we improvise as the spirit moves. Am,” he addressed his peer, “…promise to share your discoveries with me? Please? If there is any way I can remedy my project, I should so wish to be able to do so. Although my instincts tell me it is too late to remedy my project and provide its needed soul. Empty unusable pods will not benefit our ilk. As we look forward to our own endtimes, we necessarily MUST find suitable vessels that can carry forward the bits of our essence, if we are to be able to sustain our heritage lines.”

“For our heritage lines. Yes, I will, Nal. I will.” Am said in conclusion.

To realized the meeting was at an end, and, facing An, gave a sincere bow.

“Farewell, Am, Farewell, To.” The two beings turned and floated off, and vanished at a distance.

To looked at Am when they were finally alone. “Your Grace. That speck may contaminate our pods when they do arise.”

“Let us see, then, To.”

Am turned and went back to the ball of rock which unexpectedly was now glowing, seemingly alive.

“Ahhh, it helps when we are not watching, To. Look! The pods have finally arisen!”

Both of them hovered over the rock and their eyes filled by awe and joy. To’s third eye was fluttering and blinking tears, like a parent over a newborn.

Sunday, January 22, 2017 A11

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SUPERSTAR “T

FLAWED HUMANITY

his is getting to be too much, your Grace!” To was scratching his eyebrow in frustration. His tendrils were decidedly agitated as well.

The humans they had created had become a war-like species of animals. From the very start, instead of living in harmony as a unified whole like Nal’s creations, these creatures were destructive, covetous, murderous, lecherous, and insatiable hordes that would engulf whole tribes and assimilate them into their way of life, or kill them all if they refused to adapt.

It had not been apparent at first, and To believed it was a failure for them not to have noticed the blood-thirsty propensities of their pods. They looked so much like such gentle creatures when they were isolated from each other. But when they formed groups, their social interactions metamorphosed.

Even in the nascent stage of their new communities, these pods suddenly showed brutality in their small family units. They were always bickering, there was no inherent desire to communicate, and desires powered their every move, which usually exploded in the form of violence if they could not get what they want. Be it food, sex, shelter. And they multiplied…! The understudy was aghast. Their project had turned into a behavioural sink. At one point, To had deliberately tapped a crack in one of the mountains, causing an avalanche to bury a particularly aggressive tribe about to overrun another tribe. It was an act he thought would strike a fair balance.

But to his horror, the weaker tribe he had spared became emboldened, and became an even fiercer, much ruthless tribe than the one before them! And when To caused a tsunami to drown this tribe after it had established itself as a terror clan, another one found their spirit and took over as the reigning bullies. To was exasperated and wanted to crush all of the tribes altogether before they even turned barbaric. There was no end to the cycle, it seemed.

“Now, now, To, be patient. This IS a work-in-progress, but I suspect An was correct in saying that the speck we injected is influencing the behavior of our humans.” Am was hovering over his planet Earth and his tendrils were reaching down unto the world, feeling the pulse of all the living creatures there.

“They are worse than Nal’s pods, your Grace, because their pods at least know how to cooperate with each other!”

Am looked up at the flustered To, amused, and reassured him, “Nal’s pods have no souls, To. And that is tragic. It would appear ours, although you find it difficult to see, have souls. Come and observe…” Am gestured for him to peer at a particular area. Their gigantic faces looked down upon the earth (although the denizens of the rock could not see them).

“See these groups of people? Although brutal against those not of their tribe, they observe rules among their members. Once accepted, they take care of their own, and they have even acknowledged their mortality by attributing their existence as being brought about by a higher being.

“They sense US, To! This happy thing resulted when you started intervening in their battles. And in acknowledging US, they aspire to be favored and desire their spirits (you see, they sense that there is something inside themselves other than just their bodies!) to be taken by US when their lives end, to live with US in an idyllic kingdom they believe is so much better than the wretched environment they are in now! I’ve spoken to Nal; his pods don’t even consider an afterlife. They are really just automatons. But our creations…? Ahhh, I see potential here,” Am chuckled, very pleased at his observations.

“But the speck? I believe it’s affecting them, your Grace.”

“Oh, I do not dispute that. In fact, I believe that speck is, regretfully, truly a negative force with a life of its own, a devil prowling the surface of the earth, searching for prey. That is another surprising outcome of our experiment. I think the speck in the earth, being a latent force similar to the one in the Sun, has turned somehow into a conjurer of evil, gathering and drawing its energy from the basic drives of these pods. It builds up its energy by inciting the baser drives of these humans, especially when it comes to their needs.

“But in spite of that, I have observed these pitiful creatures searching for a higher being to guide them. Heve you tried listening to their cries? Their lamentations? There are many who are taunted by this evil, afflicted by it, so much so that they want, they seek to be liberated from its presence. This search is a POSITIVE force, but they have been channeling it into so many directions. See how they worship the trees? The mountains? Even the animals they worship, and it doesn’t even have to be large, because what they respect is strength! Anything that is more powerful than they are, that is bigger than they are, they kowtow to and worship. They make that thing their king, their god! A god who can rescue them from their misery and lift them up to a better way of life.

“For example, look how their lives are so dependent on the sun. Do you remember how these humans panicked when we put the moon in-between them?”

Am gave out a light laugh, “Those caught in the shadow practically lost their minds! They wanted to slay themselves, throw themselves on their swords and spears rather than be punished by an angry deity. But what did they do as soon as the sun came out again? They bowed lower and prayed even more fervently than before! Such a fruitful prank. They have souls, To, to be sure: souls that seek absolution, souls that yearn for mercy, souls that we can mold. We just have to find out how to channel their drives so they will overcome their damned basic instincts.”

“Negative? Positive? Evil and Good? Your Grace, how does one inculcate such concepts into these creatures?” To was really skeptical of humanity’s malleability.

“To, it’s all aspirational. It’s a given that there is evil and their being physical, being material, makes them easy prey for the negative forces that the evil speck has been harboring. I have noticed that those who persist in their evil, propagate their evil in their tribe. The speck has found form as a spectre in their minds that they have given form to to worship if they are to survive. Such a waste of energy.

“But even in their tribe, there are those who aspire to rise above their own evil, and abandon the evil that their companions commit, in the name of that spectre. So what are we to do? We give them something else to hold on to, to help them rise above their instincts and desires, to control themselves.”

“ ‘Hold on to’?” To was puzzled.

“We let their minds form another thing to worship?”

“Yes! A promise!” Am said, eyes beaming.

“A ‘promise’. How can they worship a promise?” To heaved a deep breath, as if preparing for the punch line. “All right, your Grace. What ‘promise’?”

“My dear To, as they are, these humans can be considered failed pods like Nal’s pods. Now ours may be violent pods, but they have souls, something Nal’s pods do NOT have.

Why do I say that?

“Because they exhibit PASSION. We need to harness that PASSION for basic violence and greed and all things negative, and divert it. Divert to where, you will ask. We have seen how our humans aspire to be taken up by their powerful gods into the kingdom where they sit in judgement. They want to live with their gods when they die, along with all the other members of their tribe who died before.

“So they believe in the afterlife.

That belief we need to capture, and mold, and divert their old PASSION and turn into FAITH that there is indeed a better path they can follow!”

“How does one do that? These creatures are so petty and selfish.

They are dominated by the evil of the spectre. How can we expect them to think beyond their own selfish wants and be…selfless?”

“We heighten expectations, To.” He was moving around now, pacing with his robes flowing around, tendrils spasmodic with excitement at the prospect. “And heightening expectations will take time. We give each generation of all these tribes bits and pieces of HINTS of a promise, a promise of something better, something much greater... !”

“I don’t understand…” To bit his lips with the exertion to grasp Am’s declarations.

Am stopped moving and looked at his troubled understudy. “It’s easy, the how. We select specimens from each generation, imbue them with additional gifts or powers not existing in the others and use them as our mouthpiece. We inspire these mouthpieces with the right phraseology to elicit an interest and yearning.”

“ ‘Mouthpiece’ suggests they will speak for us?”

“Yes!” Am was pleased to be able to get his message across. “And no.

Preferably these mouthpieces can spout off whatever we spur them on to say, but I would rather they find their own inspiration within themselves so that

they can better connect with their people, based on their own shared sufferings and achievements. They will create an awareness that they must follow this way of life, because their god (that’s us) will be sending a gift.”

“A ‘gift’?”

“Yes! A gift!” Am started pacing again, if you can call his moving around in the black abyss as pacing. “We come to the what. They need a better god to lead them, help them get to the next life, right? So our mouthpieces, we’ll call them prophets, will declare prophecies on the arrival of our ‘gift’.”

“You’re saying we are their god and we are sending them a…gift?”

“To, we created them, did we not? Sure they have their own version of their gods, but we are their de facto AND de jure god, are we not? I hope you are not uncomfortable with this. If they don’t listen, well, we can always wipe out that whole generation with a flood or some other catastrophe (much like what you did with those bully tribes), but we let the survivors carry on with the messages our prophets leave with them. Of course, we select who will survive after the purge, and make sure they are the ones who will carry on the messages of the prophets.”

“My Grace, forgive me.” To stood in front of Am to stop him from pacing. He chose his words carefully. “But what is this ‘gift’ you are talking about?”

Am beamed at him and his third eye was also beaming at him. “It’s really not a ‘what’, To. It’s a ‘who’. And when he arrives, they will sing hymns about him and praise him and listen to his teachings and see him display his powers. He will be miraculous! And all of their spirits, their souls will be saved if they abandon their evil ways and follow him! We will be sending them a King! A KING of kings! THE King.

A Son of God. A Superstar!”

To had his arms on his hips, looking sideways thoughtfully, through three halfclosed eyes. “A Superstar.”

“Yes! Isn’t that GREAT?”

I

EPILOGUE

t was a silent and holy night. All was calm, all was right. The Nativity Scene was just…perfect.

Am and To had their tendrils hovering above this small town, one invisible tendril secretly guiding an augmented star to light up this special tableau with a special glow.

They were watching a small group of people gathered around an animal barn.

The cries of a new born babe could be heard resounding in the meadow. Everyone was relishing the sound of its pure and innocent cry.

Their chosen vessel was radiating power and the humans could not help but be drawn to him. He had a glowing aura that only their eternal eyes could see and they could see the rays of his aura reaching out like tendrils and touching the souls of each of those present there, and caressing them all, filling each one with a supernatural form of joy, a spiritual joy they could not as yet understand. It was a new feeling, and they knelt before this babe. Shepherd boys were inspired to sing hymns with angel voices.

Am leaned towards his companion and said, in a whisper, “This is so… significant, To.”

“Yes, your Grace,” To whispered back. “It’s finally done. How could we have known all the trouble we had to deal with just to bring this ‘King’ into our project?

These humans can be so creatively destructive and resistant even when they are being saved. I pity all the poor babies they killed.”

“They are hard-headed AND hard-hearted. Nevertheless, I told you, our pods have souls. And I was right. They do have the potential for higher things, you really just have to be extra patient with them…” Am craned his neck to peer into the manger and the infant lying therein. “…and now, given the next phase of our plan, we need to hone our ‘King’ for the role he has to play, say in 20 or 25 years? What do you think, To?”

“I believe we need to be realistic and peg it at 30 years, your Grace. I have not yet set up the teachers in the Himalayas and in the Far East. The main Guru I had developed fell short and has violated his vows of celibacy.”

Am shook his head as a tendril reached up and wiped a tear from his eye. “ Well, basic instincts are indeed difficult to overcome, but I believe his ward is next in line?”

“With a little ‘encouragement’, planted dream-suggestions, and assistance, he will be ready, your Grace,” nodded To.

“Send some angels too, if you can, for effect. Look, look!” exclaimed Am, excitedly. “There’s a new group arriving, those are the seers we dream-suggested the most obvious hints to. And my, they look so wealthy. Our pods have certainly learned how to dress up well.”

“My Grace, how soon do you believe our anointed ‘King’ will be able to extend his influence over the rest of humanity. You know, instill the ‘faith’…?”

“To be honest, To, humankind has proven hard-headed AND hard-hearted. But I said that already, didn’t I? It will take a lot of years before his influence will pervade all of the earth. He will need help to ensure the propagation of his tenets, but I am sure he will attract all the support he needs. His followers will need help as well, until such time.

“We’ll send a different kind of advocate after he has accomplished his mission, share his power with the spirits of his most ardent followers, clarify their minds.

But I extrapolate that half of the earth’s population shall be assimilating his beliefs and faith, say in around 2,000 of this planet’s years, give or take a hundred. Unless the spectre gets wily and forms its own religion and concept of heaven and orders genocide of all non-believers…”

“Am!” A familiar voice boomed in the distance.

“AM!” the voice said again, closer now. Am and To turned around and they saw Nal and his understudy An in tow, approaching them.

“Nal, I am glad you chanced by! Come, watch and see how we have steered and equipped our pods so they can level up to a higher state. With this turn of events, we can expect to develop equally-higher quality vessels…!” Am extended an arm to invite his visitor to stay beside him.

“That is all so well and good, Am.” Nal said, nodding, but paused and added gravely. “I have come to bring you some updates about our project.”

“Really? Must be good news as well! I am so happy for both of us Nal, and for you, An.” He smiled benevolently at his former understudy.

Nal paused before saying, “Actually, I regret it’s not so good a development for my project as it is a portent for yours.”

This stopped Am and he looked at him with one eyebrow raised and his third eye, likewise squinting at him suspiciously. “You are being cryptic, Nal. Please, do be direct and tell us.”

An also shared a concerned look with To, and ths made him apprehensive.

“Our project… Am, remember our pods have become a unified albeit soulless race, intent on increasing their knowledge and elevating themselves by learning as much as they can about this universe?”

“Yes? That is a good thing, is it not? With self-knowledge, it is possible they may finally discover their souls, correct?” Am said.

Nal stifled a nervous cough. “My dear Am. You are aware that the Revered One has given the edict that all projects should be allowed to take its course, wherever it may take them and none are allowed to interfere.”

Am eyed him. “So…?” He sensed a chastisement coming up.

Nal continued. “You have been interfering with the progression of your project, at every step of the way, but the Revered One has not taken you to task.”

Am thought about that for a moment, then returned to Nal. “And…?”

“Our pods have become colonizers. Systematic invaders, expanding their reach in our end of the universe. They are not content.

They are en route to your side of the universe. They have evolved into an insatiable species. They are occupying all planets they come across, stripping them of their resources to further their reach.

“It is taking time for them of course, if it is any comfort” Nal continued, paused, then delivered the final blow: “But we have extrapolated their journey from their current location to your project to be in 2,000 of your planet’s years. Your planet Earth will soon be next, Am.”

Nal swallowed hard, and bowed down his head. “I am truly sorry, Am. There is no stopping their advance.”

Am’s three eyes were staring at him, for what seemed an eternity, as an eternity goes for eternal beings such as themselves.

Then Am slowly turned to a terrified To, who had all three eyes wide open. He breathed in hard, and, said:

“To, we are in deep shit.” n

A12

Sunday, January 22, 2017

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History, Journalism and the Nation-Machine in Joel Pablo Salud’s Blood Republic

By Marius Carlos, Jr. “A book itself is a little machine; what is the relation of this literary machine to a war machine, a love machine, revolutionary machine, etc.—and an abstract machine that sweeps them along?”

Deleuze & Guattari (Mille Plateaux)

T

he non-fiction genre in the Philippines has always been a point of contention for many critics because it has been literally dominated by “pop” books that are churned out, seemingly, every week and month, in a fashion that reminds one of a drunken sailor folded over the deck of a ship. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting teenagers to start reading, it appears that the pantheon of “pop” writers that are being brought in front of the public all want to do the same things over and over—until the saturation creates permanent brain damage to the readers.

Once in a while, a “newcomer” disturbs the dominant order of things, in an effort to stem the tide of superficiality that is creating permanent harm to the collective national psyche. Enter Blood Republic, a collection of nonfiction essays published in 2013. The collection is split into three books or mini-collections: Heartspeak, Soulspeak and Bloodspeak.

Written in a fashion similar to an all-out attack from the sea, land and air, with an abundance of ICBMs and mortars, Joel Pablo Salud’s Blood Republic generously dishes out literary badassery that grabs the reader by the hair and transports him to various points in history in the nation and beyond, in what one can only see as the author’s unique method of recuperating the discourse of the nation-state from the greedy hands of the oppressors.

The French thinker Jean Paul Sartre once said that to write something is to essentially demand change from the world. One cannot write without saying and meaning something, for one falls into the cheap illusion of “art for art’s sake.” So what does Blood Republic want to say? What does this mean collection of essays, strategically effusive as they are and landscaped with such ideological depth that you’d need an industrial drill to get out convey to the nation?

The thousandth cut ________ you.

Salud’s prose is anything but straightforward—and for good reason.

It is in the deconstructive synapses that we find meaning-making in its most volatile and fertile state. The first part of the collection, Heartspeak, contains narratives from the author’s life as a journalist as the decades flip the pages of time. The essay “A Venusian Tale” exemplifies the Salud’s mastery of the essay form. Gripping and fresh, it recounts the author’s chameleon-like ability to enter the underworld of Philippine society and make sense of the larger mechanisms that are allowing illicit “hidden economies” to work.

As an undercover journalist, he explored the minute details that contributed to the survival of the prostitution trade in Ermita. “A Venusian Tale” reads like a modern detective story but is actually a deconstructive effort that makes us understand, once and for all, the logics that drive the highly feminized economy of prostitution. The human touch, as exhibited by the way the author made contact with Venus, catapults the reader to the painful, personal realities contained within the larger ambit of the illegal trade – that victims of prostitution represent each and everyone one of us and there is no logical nor humane reason for people to continue suffering in its greedy clutches.

The shorter “Souls of Revolt” tackles a part of the author’s development as a writer and reveals a side that few see or realize that was there: Salud as a learner, an eternal student and someone who takes the concept of family and expands it to the people who have contributed to his growth as a thinker/author.

It is in his courage to reveal his writerly vulnerabilities that the reader is faced with the reality that successful writing doesn’t happen overnight. A writer’s development is more organic in nature and literally takes a lifetime to come to fruition. There are no shortcuts and the unseen and the unheard parts of a writer’s life are all one needs to see or read to realize that writing as

a form of labor deserves just valuation in a society that is slowly losing sense of what is truly valuable in the first place.

Which Souls?

Book II, Soulspeak, contains essays that have to do with the wide vista of religious belief, ideology and what we know commonly as spirituality. This collection reveals frequent textual recentering and decentering, not uncommon in Derridaic attempts to unearth the hidden logics of old systems.

The essay “Gospel according to Joel,” is a humorous yet critical cartography of the Messiah’s crucifixion, turned sideways and refracted through a modern journalist’s eye. Salud dramatizes the crucifixion of Christ as a global event that shook the world and I quote “According to the Israeli Seismology Bureau, the epicenter was pegged at 15 miles down, right below the center of the philanthropist’s cemetery. The head of the bureau said this was odd as there is no reported fault line that traverse that piece of prime real estate.”(Salud 69)

Of particular interest to me were the “interviews” with various characters, which is reminiscent of how thought pieces are propelled across ideological boundaries of nation-states to create a global resonance, especially if the purpose of the thought piece is to gain support from a global audience.

Salud reopens the Messiah’s historical dossier and shakes out the dust before projecting it in a way that makes it more understandable, in both scope and meaning, to the modern reader.

Relieving the Dystopian

The final book, Bloodspeak, collects the author’s political imagination and knowledge and condenses some of it in narrative pieces that revolve around governance, tyranny and dystopian projections. The epicenter of the bleeding national fracture is the tendency of democracies to transmogrify into tyrannical rule and Salud minces no words in “Memories of Martial Law” in describing the dark days brought about by the dead dictator.

Tyranny takes on multiple forms at any time and “Tyrant’s Wet Dream” clearly demonstrates how legal codes can easily stifle the crux of journalism and human expression in a manner that interpellates all journalists, regardless of the institutions they serve.

“2025,” the most dystopian of pieces in the collection, recounts the horrifying muck that the Philippines finds itself in as it descends upon the final stages of necrotization. With printed books being outlawed and local judges parroting that all you need is the Internet, the author comes to terms with the evolved landscape of cyberspace and the ideological backlashes that come with it—the wide availability of non-information, the eternal hypnosis in front of the computer screen and underneath it, the larger structure benefitting from the accelerated rotting of national intelligence.

Welcome to the Blood Republic.

S

alud’s prose is anything but straightforward— and for good reason. It is in the deconstructive synapses that we find meaningmaking in its most volatile and fertile state.

Tyranny takes on multiple forms at any time and “Tyrant’s Wet Dream” clearly demonstrates how legal codes can easily stifle the crux of journalism and human expression in a manner that interpellates all journalists, regardless of the institutions they serve.

About the author:

Marius Carlos, Jr. is a freelance writer and digital consultant for global education media. He is also an independent researcher and political analyst, a graduate of Comparative Literature specializing in European literatures, migration literature and the nation-state at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He reviews foreign and local literature on social media.