BusinessMirror January 31, 2021

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By Marilou Guieb

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AGUIO CITY—It was an afternoon of a heavy downpour as Steve Abanag led me through a stonepaved stairway down to his backyard where he had his aquaponics garden.

STEVE ABANAG pulls out an ashitaba plant from his aquaponics garden. MARILOU GUIEB

The rain pounded on the plastic roofing of his unpretentious greenhouse where the water dripped through a few leaks, but the modest self-made structure has inspired many like projects, and Abanag is known in the agricultural department for his innovative aquaponics design.

It is quite a common story that a gardener would venture into organic farming out of personal health reasons, and for Abanag, it was two instances of food poisoning after eating out that made him decide to raise his own veggies.

When the electronic company he worked with closed some years back, Abanag turned to the Internet for some business ideas, which to date are roasted garlic bits, chiligarlic oil, honey under the brand name Hot Bee because he has both chili and honey products, the honey harvested from an apiary also in his backyard.

It was also the Internet that he turned to to start an organic garden and found the hydroponics method, but an agent told him this required more synthetic fertilizers and advised him to go into aquaponics instead.

“This is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics,” Abanag said. He went on to say that he started with a pail of fish and a box of styrofoam in 2016 and grew the project on a staggered basis, partly from the savings of his aquaponics project.

“People who know about my organic produce come to purchase, like the teachers in two nearby schools, one the Lindawan High School.” In fact, these two schools already have aquaponics, which he helped set up at their request. Even happier, Abanag said that his water bed garden provides his family more than 50 percent of their vegetables and some tilapia, too.

Growing your own food is right along the alley of the Department of Agriculture. Reading through the writings of Agriculture Secretary William Dar, his heart for small farmers is evident, embracing basic techniques to modernization, giving them access to training, funding and other technical support that can possibly be handed to small-holding farmers.

Dar founded InangLupa to achieve some of his dreams for Philippine agriculture. “Founding InangLupa was also the way forward in sharing the vast experience, knowledge and wisdom I gained from heading Icrisat [International Crops Research Institute

A broader look at today’s business

PLANT.

n

Sunday, January 31, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 112

SURVIVE.

PRAY.

THE Survival Gardens program turned every available space in the city’s backyards into food-producing gardens. BAGUIO CITY VETERINARY AND AGRICULTURE OFFICE

Ideas bloom in lockdown crisis

ABANAG’S aquaponics project started from just a pail of fish and a box of styrofoam on a single water bed. MARILOU GUIEB

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.1210

SO too did many urban people suffer, and Dar’s vision on food for all came to play by encouraging households to keep backyard gardens during the pandemic. Lockdowns gave birth to Dar’s Plant, Plant, Plant project,

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A city solves food security in the time of Covid-19

for the Semi-Arid Tropics] for 15 years, and I knew that much needs to be done for Philippine agriculture so the country can eradicate poverty, and create more jobs and wealth,” he said.

In Dar’s book The Way Forward, under the section Smart Cities, aquaponics and home gardening were highlighted. Growing one’s own food must also be coming from memories of a childhood as he described in his book The Forgotten Poor, where his experience growing up in a farm remains vivid in his heart.

This sentiment finds no better meaningful context as in the Covid-19 issue on food security. Access to food came to a crisis when travel and border restrictions were imposed, deliveries to markets were scheduled, and people were told to stay home. Farmers suffered, as seen in Facebook postings of their perishable goods thrown on roadsides and prices plummeting below production cost.

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which in turn inspired Baguio City to mount its Survival Gardens program—including rooftop, ground, vertical gardens and aquaponics that considered shortage of space in urban settings.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Cordillera (BFAR-CAR) is keen on promoting aquaponics in the region, giving support to both institutional and individual requests for a setup and for fingerlings. While it is to help food security and to increase incomes, it also supplements the fish protein requirement for the region, which understandably is insufficient given its mountainous terrain as compared to coastal areas. The need is even bigger in this pandemic, and the agency has a proposed budget of P2,750,000 to finance aquaponics for 2021.

At the BFAR-CAR grounds stand models of aquaponics using the nutrient film technique where water from a fish tank is passed through a filtration system then pumped into PVC pipes with holes drilled on top where the plants are grown. It can be set up on walls or hung from ceilings in places without much ground space.

Abanag’s aquaponics reflects how he experimented with the

media-based system, where he has tomatoes, gabi, cucumber and even a papaya tree dug into stones a foot deep and submerged in water. But about eight or 10 of his aquaponics beds are of the floating raft or deep-water-culture type with improvised material of styrofoams that were once grape containers with holes cut on top from where he has his plants growing. The foams floating on one-foot-deep water are weighed down with water-filled one-liter plastic soda containers.

Abanag has four fish tanks that accommodate about 300 tilapia fingerlings to grow. He said that the water from the fish tanks passes through a net to filter waste, then goes to the water beds where nutrients from ammonia are converted into nitrates which the plants absorb, and the water is then pumped back into the fish tanks. It is a symbiotic system, Abanag explained, because too much ammonia, if trapped in the tanks, would otherwise result in a fish kill. “It’s pretty much like a home aquarium system,” he said.

It was quite a thrill to see the wide varieties of plants Abanag was growing in his garden. Lettuce, pechay, strawberries, kale, among others. I marveled at the long roots of ashitaba that he pulled out of its styrofoam hole to show me. “A cousin gave me some seedlings and I tried to experiment if it would thrive well in the water,” he said. He added that it may no longer grow on ground if transferred as matured plants. One bed with kangkong (water hyacinth) plants had goldfish that Abanag is propagating as a hobby. “I found that goldfish don’t like eating the kangkong roots, unlike other plants,” he said. There is also a water bed covered with a carpet of emerald colored azolas which he feeds his fish with.

It is the simplicity of his backyard project that has actually served as an inspiration to some of his neighbors and nearby towns, seeing how doable and productive aquaponics can be. Impressed by his endeavor of establishing an aquaponics project starting from just a pail of fish and a single water bed, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) under the DA gave him a little funding in 2017 to set up a modest greenhouse.

And this is what the DA-CAR is intensely doing in this time of the pandemic, giving every bit of support to every household to grow their own food.

Survival Gardens

TO help solve the problem of access to food, Secretary Dar came up with his Plant, Plant, Plant project. In turn this gave Baguio City the idea of Survival Gardens, where individuals and households are provided with vegetable seeds that they can sow and grow in their own backyards. Survival Gardens was implemented almost a week or two after a lockdown was declared in March with a budget of over P84,750 for seed distribution, which was supplemented with another P151,700 as the program gained popularity.

The project was handled by the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office with significant support from the DA-CAR and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI). Dr. Brigit Piok, head of the City Veterinary Office, said the project was a success with all 128 barangays in the city participating. They had seeds distributed to 4,000 recipients from March to December 2020.

As envisioned by Dar, the project also became a way to have residents separate their biodegradable kitchen waste for their compost.

“This reduces foul smell and pressure on landfills where only residuals should be dumped. There will also be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions because food scraps are also a source of methane emission from landfills,” he said in The Way Forward. He also noted that surface and ground water are protected because leachates are minimized or eliminated with segregation.

Survival Gardens became a family activity as well, getting many youth involved in planting, Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4618 n UK 66.0316 n HK 6.2072 n CHINA 7.4606 n SINGAPORE 36.2111 n AUSTRALIA 36.9521 n EU 58.3467 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8306

Source: BSP (January 29, 2021)

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Under Biden, China faces renewed trade pressure

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By Joe McDonald & Paul Wiseman

Scorecard

The Associated Press

EIJING—The US-Chinese trade war isn’t going away under President Joe Biden.

Biden won’t confront Beijing right away, economists say, because he wants to focus on the coronavirus and the economy. But he looks set to renew pressure over trade and technology grievances that prompted President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on Chinese imports in 2017.

Negotiators might tone down Trump’s focus on narrowing China’s multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States and push harder to open its state-dominated economy, which matters more in the long run, economists say. But no abrupt tariff cuts or other big changes are expected.

“I think Biden will focus more on trying to extract structural reforms,” said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics. “It’s going to take some time before we get any shift or explicit announcements.”

Biden is evaluating tariffs on Chinese goods and wants to coordinate future steps with allies, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday. She gave no indication of possible changes.

“The President is committed to stopping China’s economic abuses,” Psaki said.

Learning from Trump

A CHINESE foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, appealed

to Washington to learn from Trump’s “erroneous policies” and adopt a “constructive attitude” but gave no indication of possible changes by Beijing.

“Cooperation is the only correct choice for both sides,” Zhao said Tuesday.

Trump acted on complaints that are shared by Europe and other traders, but Washington has little to show for its bruising war. It brought President Xi Jinping’s government to the bargaining table but roiled global trade, raised consumer prices and wiped out jobs.

The last major development was a year ago, when Beiing promised in the “Phase One” agreement of January 2020 to buy more soybeans and other US exports and stop pressuring companies to hand over technology.

China fell short on those purchases. Amid the coronavirus turmoil, it bought about 55 percent of what it promised. As for tech policy, some economists say those changes matter but question whether it counts as a win. They say Beijing might have made them anyway to suit its own plans.

Ground shift

CHINA faces more opposition than ever in Washington due to its trade record, territorial disputes with

AUTOMATED vehicles move shipping containers in a container port in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong Province on Thursday, January 12, 2021. AP

neighbors, crackdown on Hong Kong, reports of abuses against ethnic Muslims and accusations of technology theft and spying.

“The ground has shifted in a significant way,” said Nathan Sheets, a former Treasury undersecretary for international affairs in the Obama administration.

Katherine Tai, Biden’s choice to succeed US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, sounded a hawkish note on China in a speech this month.

“We face stiffening competition from a growing and ambitious China,’’ said Tai. “A China whose economy is directed by central

planners who are not subject to the pressures of political pluralism, democratic elections or popular opinion.’’

That means China has to make changes if it wants to make progress, said Raoul Leering, global trade analyst for ING. He said that while many of Trump’s statements were “close to nonsense,” he was right that China has more trade barriers and official intervention in the economy than the United States.

“It will depend on China, the speed at which they reform and change policies, to see whether Biden will roll back trade barriers,” he said.

After two-and-a-half years and 13 rounds of talks, negotiators have yet to tackle one of the biggest irritants for China’s trading partners—the status of politically favored state companies that dominate industries from banking to oil to telecoms.

Europe, Japan and other governments criticized Trump’s tactics but echo complaints that Beijing steals technology and breaks market-opening promises by subsidizing and shielding companies from competition.

Those complaints strike at the heart of a state-led development model Communist Party leaders see as the basis of China’s success.

Much-awaited gesture

THEY are building up “national champions,” including PetroChina

Ltd., Asia’s biggest oil producer, and China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone carrier by subscribers.

The party in 2013 declared state industry the “core of the economy.”

Outside the state sector, the party is nurturing competitors in solar power, electric cars, next-generation telecoms and other fields.

Beijing could offer to drop its claim to being a developing economy, a status it insists on despite having become one of the biggest manufacturers and a middle-income society, Leering said. Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, that allows the Communist Party to protect industries and intervene more in the economy.

Giving that up “would be a very important gesture,” Leering said.

Trump’s opening shot in 2017 was a tax hike on $360 billion worth of Chinese imports. Beijing retaliated with tariff hikes and suspended soybean imports, hitting farm states that voted for Trump in 2016.

The US trade deficit with China narrowed by 19 percent in 2019 over a year earlier and by 15 percent in the first nine months of 2020.

That failed to achieve Trump’s goal of moving jobs to the United States. Importers shifted instead to Taiwan, Mexico and other suppliers. The total US trade deficit dipped slightly in 2019, then rose nearly 14 percent through November last year.

MEANWHILE, the Congressional Budget Office estimates tariff hikes cost the average US household nearly $1,300 last year. Businesses postponed investments, undoing some of the benefits of Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cut.

A study by the US-China Business Council and Oxford Economics found the US economy lost 245,000 jobs due to the tariffs.

It said even a modest reduction would create 145,000 jobs by 2025.

Trump stepped up pressure by cutting off access to US technology for telecom equipment giant Huawei Technologies Ltd. and other companies seen by American officials as possible security risks and a threat to US industrial leadership. Americans were ordered to sell shares in Chinese companies Washington says have links to the military.

The Communist Party responded by vowing to accelerate its twodecade-old campaign to make China a self-reliant “technology power.”

Psaki, the White House spokeswoman, said Biden also was reviewing those issues but gave no indication of possible changes.

Biden wants to hold Beijing accountable for “unfair and illegal practices” and make sure American technology doesn’t facilitate its military buildup, Psaki said.

Zhao, the Chinese spokesman, called on Washington not to “politicize or weaponize” science and technology and to avoid “groundless accusations to smear China."

Biden’s envoys have the option of fine-tuning Trump’s penalties by dropping some in exchange for Chinese policy changes, said Kuijs.

But he and other economists say rolling back tariffs and curbs on access to technology and financial markets is unlikely to be a priority.

“It is difficult to see a US reversal of the recent hawkish trends in China policy,” Sylvia Sheng of JP Morgan Asset Management said in a report.

Tech curbs are unlikely to be eased because Washington “regards China as a competitor,” said Tu Xinquan, director of the Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Tariff cuts look like the only short-term option, Tu said. He said Biden could defend getting rid of taxes the WTO says were improperly imposed.

“In that case, he wouldn’t lose face,” said Tu.

PLANT. SURVIVE. PRAY. Continued from A1

an advocacy also close to Dar’s heart. In fact, his Plant, Plant, Plant program embraced many of his basic dreams for agriculture.

Eventually, gardening also proved to be a therapeutic approach in raising the spirits of residents in the city where despondency was slowly creeping in due to loss of income, feelings of isolation and anxiety brought about by the fear of getting infected with Covid-19, for as many have said, there is indeed a feeling of happiness, almost divine, in watching a plant grow from seed to plant.

The sweeping fever to plant may be attributed to Dar’s Plant, Plant, Plant concept, as they were not mere words but had actual support. DA-CAR, according to Regional Director Cameron Odsey, established demo sites and online training for vegetable production and chicken raising, models for aquaponics, provided seeds and fertilizers, among other services, to help households have direct access to food. In the city alone, DACAR since March last year, aside from livestock and chickens, has so far distributed 862.7 kg of seeds to 15,491 individuals. No wonder the fever has swept across the city, from executives to housewives, seniors and the young. This eventually gave way to the phenomenon

of plantitas and plantitos, now a big business in the city. But that’s another story.

Survival Gardens in 2020 was capped by a contest that selected 93 participants from the barangays.

Their scrapbooks paint the happy success story of the program.

Amelia Montes won under the container category of the contest.

Her scrapbook showed her harvests of a variety of beans, lettuce, arugula, corn, squash, spinach, kangkong, and colorful ornamental plants and orchids grown in plastic gallon containers and placed on her rooftop or her limited garden space. She also showed pictures of her young granddaughter transferring seedlings to pots. Her produce not only feeds her family, but she also has a little sold and shared with friends.

“Composting and making concoctions are my favorite sustainable gardening practices,” she said.

She makes her own fermented plant juice and fish amino acid to give nutrients to her plants. She also keeps catnip and dora plants to keep plant-eating insects away.

She has a simple rain-harvesting device and an improvised water purifier using stones. She also entertains herself by painting her hanging plastic pots into scary faces to keep birds away.

Veronica Mat-an and her husband, meanwhile, took the grand

prize for ground gardening. Their scrapbook also showed second cropping from seeds taken from plants grown from seeds originally given by the DA-CAR. Their garden continues to produce pechay, a variety of beans, kale, amaranth, onion leeks, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, bitter gourd, cucumber, strawberries, gabi, bottle gourds, squash, and many others with most of the seeds given by the DA-CAR. Marcelina Tabilin, agriculturist at the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office, said they are heartened by the success of the Survival Gardens program and will find ways to continue it. She is now monitoring how many of the participants continue to maintain their vegetable gardens.

Agriculture and markets have somewhat returned to normal; but then again, the virus keeps the population wary of yet impending lockdowns that may spell another crisis in food security. Fortunately, Dar’s outlook through his Plant, Plant, Plant program has given confidence that food can just be grown in your own backyard. “My aim is to develop a love for planting in everyone and that growing one’s food is good for the health and the spirit,” he once said in an interview.

And Montes and Mat-an tell us that their stories can easily be the story of one and all.

TheWorld

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Sunday, January 31, 2021 A3

South Africa virus variant detected in US for 1st time

By Michelle Liu & Mike Stobbe

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The Associated Press

OLUMBIA, S.C.—A new variant of the coronavirus emerged on Thursday in the United States, posing yet another public health challenge in a country already losing more than 3,000 people to Covid-19 every day.

The mutated version of the virus, first identified in South Africa, was found in two cases in South Carolina. Public health officials said it’s almost certain that there are more infections that have not been identified yet. They are also concerned that this version spreads more easily and that vaccines could be less effective against it.

The two cases were discovered in adults in different regions of the state and do not appear to be connected. Neither of the people infected has traveled recently, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said Thursday.

“That’s frightening,” because it means there could be more undetected cases within the state, said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases physician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “It’s probably more widespread.”

The arrival of the variant shows that “the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, South Carolina’s interim public health director, said in a statement. “While more Covid-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited. Every one of us must recommit to the fight by recognizing that we are all on the front lines now. We are all in this together.”

Viruses constantly mutate, and coronavirus variants are circulating around the globe, but scientists are primarily concerned with the emergence of three that researchers believe may spread more easily. Other variants first reported in the United Kingdom and Brazil were previously confirmed in the US. As the variants bring a potential for greater infection risks in the US, pandemic-weary lawmakers in several states are pushing back against mask mandates, business closures and other protective restrictions ordered by governors.

States including Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky and Indiana are weighing proposals to limit their governors’ abilities to impose emergency restrictions.

Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Assembly had been expected to vote to repeal Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ mask mandate, but lawmakers abruptly called off the vote Thursday in the face of broad criticism and out of concern it would jeopardize more than $49 million in federal aid. Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a constitutional amendment to strip the governor of many of his emergency powers.

Governors argue that they need authority to act swiftly in a crisis, and limitations could slow critical emergency responses.

Meanwhile, Nebraska health officials said the state could be days away from lifting restrictions on indoor gatherings, citing a low percentage of Covid-19 hospitalizations. Other states seeing declining infections are also loosening limitations on restaurants and other businesses, though experts have warned the public to stay vigilant about masks and social distancing or risk further surges.

In South Carolina, the state health agency said the variant was found in one person from the state’s coastal region and another in its northeastern corner. The state gave little other information, citing privacy concerns, though Traxler said neither of the people was contagious any longer.

“Both were tested very early in the month, and my understanding is that both are doing well,” Traxler said.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, loosened most of the state’s remaining pandemic restrictions in the fall.

Spokesman Brian Symmes said McMaster does not plan to order new restrictions based on the discovery of the variant.

“This is important information for South Carolinians to have,” McMaster said in a tweet, “but it isn’t a reason for panic.”

Scientists last week reported preliminary signs that some of the recent mutations may modestly curb the effectiveness of two vaccines, although they stressed that the shots still protect against the disease. There are also signs that some of the new mutations may undermine tests for the virus and reduce the effectiveness of certain treatments.

The coronavirus has already sickened millions and killed roughly 430,000 people in the United States.

While the rollout of vaccines has been slow, President Joe Biden has pledged to deliver 100 million injections in his first 100 days in office—and suggested it’s possible the US could reach 1.5 million shots a day.

While some European countries do extensive genetic testing to detect these variants, the US has done little of this detective work. But scientists have been quickly trying to do more, which has revealed the more contagious variants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported at least 315 cases of the UK-discovered variant in the United States. Those reports have come from at least 28 states, and health officials believe it could become the dominant strain in the US by March. That variant has been reported in at least 70 countries.

The first US case of the variant found in Brazil was announced earlier this week by health officials in Minnesota. It was a person who recently traveled to that South American nation. That version of the virus has popped up in more than a half-dozen countries.

The variant first found in South Africa was detected in October. Since then, it has been found in at least 30 other countries.

Some tests suggest the South African and Brazilian variants may be less susceptible to antibody drugs or antibody-rich blood from Covid-19 survivors, both of which help people fight off the virus.

Health officials also worry that if the virus changes enough, people might get Covid-19 a second time.

Biden on Monday reinstated Covid-19 travel restrictions on most non-US travelers from Brazil, the UK and South Africa.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans avoid travel. AP

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Why Biden’s immigration plan may be risky for Democrats

By Will Weissert

The Associated Press

W

ASHINGTON—President Joe Biden is confronting the political risk that comes with grand ambition.

In this January 20, file photo, President Joe Biden waits to sign his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. As one of his first acts, Biden offered a sweeping immigration overhaul that would provide a path to US citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who are in the United States illegally. It would also codify provisions wiping out some of President Donald Trump’s signature hardline policies, including trying to end existing, protected legal status for many immigrants brought to the US as children and crackdowns on asylum rules. AP/Evan Vucci

As one of his first acts, Biden offered a sweeping immigration overhaul last week that would provide a path to US citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who are in the United States illegally. It would also codify provisions wiping out some of President Donald Trump’s signature hardline policies, including trying to end existing, protected legal status for many immigrants brought to the US as children and crackdowns on asylum rules.

It’s precisely the type of measure that many Latino activists have longed for, particularly after the tough approach of the Trump era. But it must compete with Biden’s other marquee legislative goals, including a $1.9-trillion plan to combat the coronavirus, an infrastructure package that promotes green energy initiatives and a “public option” to expand health insurance.

In the best of circumstances, enacting such a broad range of legislation would be difficult. But in a narrowly divided Congress, it could be impossible. And that has Latinos, the nation’s fastestgrowing voting bloc, worried that Biden and congressional leaders could cut deals that weaken the

finished product too much—or fail to pass anything at all.

“This cannot be a situation where simply a visionary bill—a message bill—gets sent to Congress and nothing happens with it,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, which advocates for low-income immigrants. “There’s an expectation that they will deliver and that there is a mandate now for Biden to be unapologetically pro-immigrant and have a political imperative to do so, and the Democrats do as well.”

If Latinos ultimately feel betrayed, the political consequences for Democrats could be long-lasting. The 2020 election provided several warning signs that, despite Democratic efforts to build a multiracial coalition, Latino support could be at risk.

Biden already was viewed skeptically by some Latino activists for his association with former President Barack Obama, who was called the “deporter in chief ” for the record number of immigrants who were removed from the country during his administration. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont defeated Biden in last year’s Nevada caucuses and California primary, which served as early barometers

of the Latino vote.

In his race against Trump, Biden won the support of 63 percent of Latino voters compared with Trump’s 35 percent, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. But Trump narrowed the margin somewhat in some swing states such as Nevada and also got a bump from Latino men, 39 percent of whom backed him compared with 33 percent of Latino women.

Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1996 to carry Arizona, in part because of strong grassroots backing from Mexican American groups opposed to strict GOP immigration policies going back decades.

But he lost Florida by underperforming in its largest Hispanic county, Miami-Dade, where the Trump campaign’s anti-socialism message resonated with Cubanand some Venezuelan Americans.

Biden also fell short in Texas even though running mate Kamala Harris devoted valuable, late campaign time there. The ticket lost some sparsely populated but heavily Mexican American counties along the Mexican border, where law-enforcement agencies are major employers and the GOP’s zero-tolerance immigration policy resonated.

There were more warning signs for House Democrats, who lost four California seats and two in South Florida while failing to pick up any in Texas. Booming Hispanic populations reflected in new US census figures may see Texas and Florida gain congressional districts before 2022’s midterm elections, which could make correcting the problem all the more pressing for Democrats.

The urgency isn’t lost on Biden.

He privately spent months telling immigration advocates that major overhauls would be at the top of his to-do list. As vice president, he watched while the Obama administration used larger congressional majorities to speed passage of a financial crisis stimulus bill and its signature health-care law while letting an immigration overhaul languish.

“It means so much to us to have a new president propose bold, visionary immigration reform on Day 1. Not Day 2. Not Day 3.

Not a year later,” said New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, his chamber’s lead sponsor of the Biden package.

Menendez was part of a bipartisan immigration plan championed by the “Gang of Eight” senators that collapsed in 2013. Obama

then resorted to executive action to offer legal status to millions of young immigrants. President George W. Bush also pushed an immigration package—with an eye toward boosting Latino support for Republicans before the 2008 election—only to see it fail in Congress.

Menendez acknowledged that the latest bill will have to find at least 10 Republican senators’ support to clear the 60-vote hurdle to reach the floor, and that he’s “under no illusions” how difficult that will be.

Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a moderate Republican from Florida, said Biden may find some GOP support but probably will have to settle for far less than what’s in his original proposal.

“Many Republicans are worried about primary challenges,” Curbelo said, adding that Trump and his supporters’ championing of immigration crackdowns means there’s “political peril there for Republicans.”

But he also said Democrats could alienate some of their own base by appearing to prioritize the needs of people in the country illegally over those of struggling US citizens and thus “appearing to overreach from the perspective of swing and independent voters.”

Indeed, Democrats haven’t always universally lined up behind an immigration overhaul, arguing that it could lead to an influx of cheap labor that hurts US workers.

Some of the party’s senators joined Republicans in sinking Bush’s bill.

Still, Latinos haven’t forgotten past immigration failures and have often blamed Democrats more than Republicans.

Chuck Roca, head of Nuestro PAC, which spent $4 million on ads boosting Biden in Arizona, said that while Hispanics have traditionally tended to support Democrats, he has begun to see trends in the past decade where more are registering as independent or without party affiliation.

Those voters can still be won back, he said, but only if Latinos see real change on major issues such as immigration “even if it’s piecemeal.”

“They have to get something done if they want to start to turn around the loss of Latino voters,” said Rocha, who headed Latino voter outreach for Sanders’ presidential campaign. “They have to do everything in their power now to get Latinos back.”

The Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.

UNCTAD says China overtook US in foreign direct investment in 2020

C

hina overtook the US as the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2020, a year in which overall global flows cratered by 42 percent as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a United Nations trade agency said.

Flows fell to an estimated $859 billion from $1.5 trillion in 2019, according to the

UNCTAD Investment Trends Monitor. It was the lowest level since the 1990s and 30 percent below the investment trough that followed the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

While the world as a whole struggled, China held on, said UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

It became the world’s largest FDI recipient with flows rising by 4 percent to $163 billion.

A return to positive GDP growth and a targeted investment facilitation program helped stabilize investment in China after

the first coronavirus lockdowns there, the agency said.

Among Chinese sectors, high-tech industries saw an FDI increase of 11 percent in 2020, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions rose by 54 percent, mostly in information and communications technology, and pharmaceutical industries.

Flows to North America slid by 46 percent to $166 billion, and those to the US alone fell 49 percent to an estimated $134 billion in 2020.

Europe fared worse, with flows down by two-thirds to a negative $4 billion. In

the UK, FDI fell to zero, and declines were recorded in other major countries.

Elsewhere, flows to Australia slumped but those to Israel rose.

Globally, the UN agency expects foreign direct investment to remain weak in 2021 due to uncertainty over the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The effects of the pandemic on investment will linger,” said James Zhan, director of UNCTAD’s investment division.

“Investors are likely to remain cautious in committing capital to new overseas productive assets.”

Bloomberg News

In this January 25, 2012, file photo, people wave flags in Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of the popular uprising that led to the quick ouster of autocrat President Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt. A decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape a state, headed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, that is even more oppressive. AP/Amr Nabil

Arab Spring exiles look back 10 years after Egypt uprising

By Sylvia Hui

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The Associated Press

ONDON—The Egyptians who took to the streets on Jan. 25, 2011 knew what they were doing.

They knew they risked arrest and worse. But as their numbers swelled in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, they tasted success.

Police forces backed off, and within days, former President Hosni Mubarak agreed to demands to step down.

But events didn’t turn out the way many of the protesters envisioned. A decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi that is considered even more oppressive. The significant loss of academics, artists, journalists and other intellectuals has, along with a climate of fear, hobbled any political opposition.

Dr. Mohamed Aboelgheit was among those jailed in the southern city of Assiut in 2011 after joining calls for revolt against police brutality and Mubarak. He spent part of the uprising in a cramped cell.

Released amid the chaos, he reveled in the atmosphere of political freedom in the Arab world’s most populous country—protesting, working as a journalist and joining a campaign for a moderate presidential candidate. But it did not last.

Interim military rulers followed Mubarak. In 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a member of Egypt’s most powerful Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected as the first civilian president in the country’s history. But his tenure proved divisive. Amid massive protests, the military—led by then-Defense Minister el-Sissi—removed Morsi in 2013, dissolved parliament and eventually banned the Brotherhood as a “terrorist group.” A crackdown on dissent ensued, and el-Sissi won two terms in elections that human-rights groups criticized as undemocratic.

“I began to feel, by degree, more fear and threats,” Aboelgheit said. Friends were jailed, his writings critical of the government drew attention, and “I wasn’t going to wait until it happened to me,” he added.

After el-Sissi came to power, Aboelgheit left for London, where he’s published investigative reports on other parts of the Arab world.

At his former home in Egypt, national security agents asked about him. When Aboelgheit’s wife last returned to visit relatives, she was summoned for questioning about his activities. The message was clear.

No one knows exactly how many Egyptians like Aboelgheit have fled political persecution.

Data from the World Bank shows an increase in emigres from Egypt since 2011. A total of 3,444,832 left in 2017—nearly 60,000 more than in 2013, the years for which figures are available. But it’s impossible to tell economic migrants from political exiles.

They relocated to Berlin, Paris and London.

Egyptians also have settled in Turkey, Qatar, Sudan and even Asian countries like Malaysia and South Korea.

Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that there were 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Egypt third, behind China and Turkey, in detaining journalists.

El-Sissi maintains Egypt has no political prisoners.

The arrest of a journalist or a rights worker makes news roughly every month. Many people have been imprisoned on terrorism charges, for breaking a ban on protests or for disseminating false news. Others remain in indefinite pretrial detentions.

El-Sissi maintains Egypt is holding back Islamic extremism so it doesn’t descend into chaos like its neighbors.

“Sissi wants not only to abrogate the rights of the opposition and to prevent any critical voice from being uttered, Sissi doesn’t actually believe, not only in the opposition, but he doesn’t believe in politics,” said Khaled Fahmy, an Egyptian professor of modern Middle Eastern History at Cambridge University.

Fahmy believes this is the worst period in Egypt’s modern history for personal rights.

“It’s much more serious, it’s much deeper and much darker, what Sissi has in mind,” he said.

Those abroad who could challenge el-Sissi have

chosen to not return.

Taqadum al-Khatib, an academic who also worked in the nascent political scene after 2011, was researching Egypt’s former Jewish community in Germany when he learned that returning to his homeland was no longer an option.

The Egyptian cultural attaché in Berlin summoned al-Khatib for a meeting, and an official questioned him about his articles, social-media posts and research. He was asked to hand over his passport but refused. Shortly thereafter, he was fired from his job at an Egyptian university. He feels lucky to be able to work toward his doctorate in Germany but misses Cairo’s bustle.

“It’s a very difficult situation. I couldn’t go back to my home,” al-Khatib said.

Fahmy said he’s seen outspoken expatriates have their Egyptian citizenship revoked.

A government press officer did not respond to a request for comment on targeting and intimidating Egyptians—either abroad or at home—based on their work as journalists, activists or academics, or for expressing political opinions.

Journalist Asma Khatib, 29, remembers the heady days of 2011, when young people thought they could bring change.

A reporter for a pro-Muslim Brotherhood news agency, Khatib covered Morsi’s short presidency amid criticism the group was using violence against opponents and seeking to monopolize power to make Egypt an Islamic state. After Morsi’s ouster, his supporters held sit-ins for his reinstatement at a square in Cairo. A month later, the new military leaders forcibly cleared them out, and more than 600 people were killed.

Khatib documented the violence. Soon, colleagues started being arrested, and she fled Egypt—first to Malaysia, then to Indonesia and Turkey.

She was tried in absentia on espionage charges in 2015, convicted and sentenced to death. Now, she and her husband Ahmed Saad, also a journalist, and their two children are seeking asylum in South Korea.

They expect they’ll never return, but also realize they’re lucky to be free. On the day the ruling was announced, the journalist remembers telling herself: “You don’t have a country anymore.”

“I know that there are lots of others like me. I’m not any different from those who are in prison,” she said.

The exiles have had ample time to think about where Egypt’s uprising failed. The broad alliance of protesters—from Islamists to secular activists— fractured without a common enemy like Mubarak, and the most extreme voices became the loudest. The role of religion in society remained largely unanswered, and liberal secular initiatives never gained traction. No one accounted for how many people would embrace former regime figures, especially in a crisis.

Most Egyptians abroad have not been politically active, fearing for family and friends back home. But some have continued on the path begun on January 25.

Tamim Heikal, working in the corporate world when the protests erupted, had doubted the government could ever reform. But he soon became a communications manager for an emerging political party. Later, he watched others being locked up, and knew his turn had come when he got an invitation from intelligence officers in 2017 to “come have coffee.”

He booked a ticket to Paris and hasn’t gone back.

Now, at age 42, he wants to educate himself and others for when a popular movement re-emerges in Egypt. He makes ends meet by editing, translating and doing consulting work for rights groups, and tries to network among the diaspora.

“It’s as if I was infected with a virus, after the revolution,” he said. “I don’t know how to go back. I won’t be able to relax until change happens.”

Others try to cope in strange lands. Asma Khatib and her husband aren’t sure what to say to their young children when they ask where they’re from.

Abouelgheit, the doctor-turned-journalist, worries his son won’t speak Arabic after so much time in the United Kingdom.

He hopes to go home one day, but in the meantime, he’s considering returning to the medical profession.

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Sunday

Sunday, January 31, 2021 A5

Promotion of science, innovation goes TikTok F

ilipinos have resorted to TikTok dancing or comedy to overcome boredom or hone their artistic talents during the lockdown and quarantine periods that were imposed to prevent the spread of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Thus, TikTok has become viral, especially among the youth.

TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance, Internet sources said. The social media platform is used to make a variety of short videos, from genres like dance, music, comedy and education, that have a duration from 3 seconds to 1 minute.

But wait, TikTok use is now levelling up.

TikTok users will now learn more Filipino scientific achievement s a nd de ve lopment s a s the Department of Science and Technology Research and Development-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development partnered with TikTok

The virtual signing of the memorandum of understanding led by TikTok Philippine Public Policy Head Kristoff Rada (lower left) and DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit (lower right). DOST-PCIEERD photo

to boost the promotion of Filipino-made technologies, a DOSTPCIEERD news release said.

Du r i ng t he recent v i r t u a l launch, DOST-PCIEERD inked a memorandum of understanding with TikTok to promote Filipino technologies through its science communication TikTok account @pinoyscience.

The collaboration involves the

Vegetable production projects to aid Isabela, Leyte communities launched

training for researchers and the holding of contests.

DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit said the collaboration is a big boost for the scientific community as it continues to reach out to Filipino netizens and garner support for innovations developed

by Filipino researchers.

“Communicating science to

Photo from Crops Research Division, DOST-PCAARRD

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wo projects that will aid communities in Isabela and Leyte in terms of injecting science and technology (S&T) in vegetable production were recently launched virtually by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).

The projects are part of the program, “Good Agri-Aqua Livelihood Initiatives Toward National Goals (Galing)-PCAARRD Kontra Covid-19,” which started in 2020.

Under the ”Pagkain at Kabuhayan sa Pamayanan” component, the projects titled, “Intensifying Vegetable Production to Mitigate Crisis Brought about by Covid-19” and “S&T-based Home Gardening Toward a Sustainable Source of Food for Families” are being implemented by the Visayas State University (VSU), and Isabela State University (ISU), respectively.

According to Dr. Edna A. Anit, director of the Crops Research Division of DOST-PCAARRD, the short-duration livelihood projects were funded by the council to address the immediate challenges on food security and livelihood brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an inception meeting, ISU Director for R&D

and Project Leader Dr. Florenda B. Temanel discussed her team’s initial social mobilization activities with partner cooperators in selected barangays of Isabela.

Among the target outputs of the project are to establish 60 community gardens and train at least 500 people in Isabela on vegetable production, gardening, and food processing.

Meanwhile, Dr. Othello B. Capuno, project leader and VSU vice president for R&D, reported the production and distribution of more than 15,000 seedlings and 11 metric tons of assorted vegetables to around 6,000 beneficiaries.

VSU targets to curb the adverse impact of the pandemic on food supply by planting assorted vegetables and other short-term crops. This will also address the needs of communities and selected institutions in Leyte for fresh and healthy vegetables.

Other par ticipants of the meeting were the project team members and administrative staff from VSU and ISU, and DOST-PCAARRD representatives led by Dr. Edna A. Anit and Ramon A. Oliveros, supervising science research specialist of the Office of the Executive Director-Administration, Resource Management and Support Services.

Ma. Cecilia S. Alaban/S&T Media Services

the public has always been a challenge for our researchers.

As a leader and partner in enabling innovations, we are excited w ith this col laboration with TikTok as a new avenue for us to share distinctly Filipino innovations through this social media platform,” he said.

The partnership is a six-month

July 2021. Three winners will be announced every month starting May 2021.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with the DOST PCIEERD to help promote awareness and understanding for sc ie nce a nd i n no v at ion , as well as inspire the Filipino yout h to d iscover t hei r c re ativity and talents. Inspiring creativity and bringing joy is at the heart of what we do at TikTok,” said K ristoffer R ada, TikTok head for Public Policy.

“TikTok is committed to helpi ng fac i l it ate educ at ion a nd lea r n i ng i n t he Ph i l ippi nes.

Through our #LearnOnTikTok series, we will be working with creators to produce more educational content on the platform,” he added.

For more infor mation follow DOST-PCIEERD at https:// www.tiktok.com/@pinoyscience.

For inquiries or request for collaborations, an e-mail may be sent to pinoyscience.dostpcieerd@ gmail.com.

Why it takes 2 shots to make mRNA vaccines do their antibody-creating best

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The participants at the inception meeting of CRD-monitored projects under the GalingPCAARRD Kontra Covid-19 Program that was held recently via Zoom videoconferencing.

Pinoy Science TikTok account (tiktok.com/@ pinoyscience). DOST-PCIEERD photo

collaboration where TikTok will be providing training for researchers on how to use the platform for science communication, promotion of Filipino technologies and conduct contests for the Filipino TikTok community, the news release said.

The first contest is through the #PinoyInnovator hashtag challenge which intends to show how creative and resourceful Filipinos are.

Through this challenge, common household items will be creatively used to develop a nifty innovation.

The winners of the challenge will be hailed as the “Pinoy Science Innovator 2021.” They will be announced in April 2021.

A not her contest t h at w i l l b e l au nc he d i s t he #P i no y Science hashtag c ha l lenge which cha l lenges Ti kTok users to e x pl a in t he sc ience beh ind D OS T P C I EER D ’s s up p or te d sc ient if ic projects.

The #PinoyScience hashtag challenge will run from April to

i t h t he US fac i ng vaccination delays because of worker shortages and distribution problems, federal health officials now say it’s OK to push back the second dose of the two-part vaccine by as much as six weeks.

As an infectious disease doctor, I’ve been fielding a lot of questions from my patients as well as my friends and family about whether the Covid-19 vaccine will still work if people are late receiving their second dose.

Why you need two doses 3 to 4 weeks apart

Two doses, separated by three to four weeks, is the tried-and-true approach to generate an effective immune response through vaccination, not just for Covid but for hepatitis A and B and other diseases as well.

The first dose primes the immune system and introduces the body to the germ of interest. This allows the immune system to prepare its defense.

The second dose, or booster, prov ides the opportunity for the immune system to ramp up the quality and quantity of t he antibod ies used to f ight the virus.

In the case of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, the

second dose increases the protection afforded by the vaccine from 60 percent to approximately 95 percent.

Why the CDC’s second dose within 42 days is OK

In the clinical trial, the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine was administered as early as day 19 and as late as day 42 to 93 percent of the subjects.

Since protection was approximately 95 percent for everyone w ho w a s v a c c i n at e d w it h i n t h is t ime “w indow,” t here is l itt le reason not to a l low some f le x ibi l it y in t he t iming of t he second dose 2.

A s more v acc i ne b e comes ava i l able, t he t i m i ng of t he second dose should be close to four weeks for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

But the good news is that even while supplies remain limited, the science suggests that there’s nothing bad about getting a second dose as late as 42 days after the first.

The immune system between the 1st and 2nd dose

T he biolog y t h rough wh ic h the messenger Ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines induce their protection from Covid-19 is fundamentally different from that with other vaccines.

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA that encodes the spike glycoprotein.

Upon injection of the vaccine, the mRNA enters into immune cells called dendritic cells. The dendritic cells use the instructions written in the mRNA to synthesize the hallmark spike glycoprotein, which characterizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.

T he s e i m mu ne ce l l s t he n show t he spi ke glycoprotei n to B - cel ls, wh ic h t hen ma ke a nt i-spi ke a nt ibod ies.

The mRNA vaccines are uniquely capable of inducing a special kind of immune cell—called a Tfollicular helper cell—to help Bcells produce antibodies.

The T-cells do this through direct contact with the B-cells and by sending chemical signals that tell the B-cells to produce antibodies. It is this help in antibody production that makes these vaccines so effective.

But not all B-cells are the same. T here are t wo k inds that make anti-spike antibodies: long-lived plasma cells and memor y B-cells.

The long-lived plasma cells, as their name implies, live in the bone marrow for years after vaccination, continuously churning out antibody—in this

case anti-spike antibody. These long-lived B-cells do not need to be boosted.

The memory B-cells, on the other hand, live in a state akin to hibernation. They do not produce antibodies until stimulated by a booster of the vaccine, or are exposed to infection with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

That is the reason we need that second dose. Together, these two types of B-cells provide a constant level of protection.

What happens if you don’t get the Pfizer or Moderna second dose on time?

W ith current vaccine shortages, and problems with setting up the infrastructure to vaccinate millions of people, many physicians are concerned that the second dose of vaccine won’t be delivered in the prescribed three-to-four-week window.

T h at b o oste r shot i s ne ce s s a r y for t he T- c e l l s t o s t i m u l at e t he me mor y B - c e l l s t o p r o du c e m a s s i v e q u a nt it i e s of a nt i b o d ie s .

I f t he booster i sn’t g iven within the appropriate window, lower quantities of antibodies will be produced that may not provide as powerful protection from the virus.

William Petri/The Conversation, CC via AP

Quezon govt, Searca partner for coconut industry devt T

he development of the coconut industry in growth areas in Quezon province was planned in collaborative projects that were formalized through agreements signed recently between the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) and the provincial government of Quezon.

“Searca’s priority is to extend its expertise to its neighboring communities in Region IV-A,” Searca Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio said in a news release.

Gregorio said the partnership between Searca and Quezon provincial government is an ex-

pansion of an alliance that was started in 1985, with a parallel objective of linking the farmers to modern networks and innovative markets.

To develop enterprises and the capabilities of Quezon farmers through agricultural innovation, Gregorio explained that the Quezon provincial government and Searca have agreed to collaborate on product development, strengthening of market linkages and capacity building of farmer organizations.

Dr. Pedcris M. Orencio, Searca program head for Research and Thought Leadership, said the collaborative activities will be

carried out using Searca’s agricultural and rural development (ARD) model.

He explained that at the heart of Searca’s ARD model are participatory development approaches and sustainability strategies that strengthen farmer organizations while linking them with national and international organizations, academe and local government units for technical and material support, the Searca news release said.

T hese touc h stones of t he Searca ARD model are detailed in Searca’s “SEED: Scaling and Expanding for Effective Development” guidebook, which captures

the lessons and results of piloting effective models of inclusive and sustainable ARD. “Searca is keen to help Quezon [prov inc ia l gover nment] realize its vision of a marketdriven coconut industr y with empowered and resilient farmers, engaging in profitable coconut-based enterprises, contributing to inclusive and sustainable agricultural development,” Gregorio said.

O renc io u nderscored t h at Searca can complement the program through interventions that will lead to agricultural systems transformation and increase the level of agricultural investments.

He also stressed the importance of academe-industry-government interconnectivity in the project design.

Gov. Danilo E. Suarez affirmed the value of the partnership between Quezon province and Searca to establish an inclusive and sustainable ARD system in the province, the news release said.

He commended Searca’s aim to contribute to the country’s food and nutrition security and poverty reduction.

He also shared Quezon province’s agricultural programs to help improve the socioeconomic condition of the farmers, fish-

erfolks, and rural communities.

These include farm mechanization, enterprise development, and marketing.

Suarez expressed his intent to further solidify the status of Quezon province as a top producer of agriculture and fishery commodities and become known as the “food basket” in the region. He said this is where Searca can be of best assistance, with its knowledge and expertise on extensive research.

Orencio said Searca and Quezon province will conduct a scoping of the coconut industry growth areas in the province together with the stakeholders to establish their project’s baseline.

Faith A6 Sunday, January 31, 2021

Sunday

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

Parishes in Novaliches, abroad allow vaccination in churches

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Vatican, CBCP, Christian

By Lyn B. Resurreccion

he Diocese of Novaliches allowed its parishes to open their church doors to have their premises be used for the coming vaccination against Covid-19 in the country.

In response to this gesture, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte recently expressed her gratitude to Diocese of Novaliches led by Bishop Fr. Roberto Gaa. At their breakfast meeting, Gaa said the city could use the diocese’s facilities as vaccination sites.

“The city is very grateful to the Diocese of Novaliches, especially to Bishop Most Rev. Fr. Roberto Gaa for letting us use their parishes’ facilities for our Covid-19 vaccination drives. Since the community quarantine was implemented, they have been closely working with us and they do whatever they can for our city,” Belmonte said in a news release.

“With some of our residents expressing hesitancy to be inoculated, the strong support and active participation of the church in the government’s vaccination drive will definitely help raise the confidence and trust of our people in vaccination,” she added.

The diocese also agreed to use KyusiPass, the city’s contact tracing application, in their parishes to help the city in its contact tracing efforts.

According to Diocese of Novaliches Vicar General Fr. Tony Labiao Jr., besides the facilities, the church will also help the city in mobilizing its parishioners to take part in the city’s vaccination.

“There will be a big impact if the church unites in this government program for the parishioners. The diocese is always willing to help the city especially if it is for the common good of the community,” Labiao said partly in Filipino.

Novaliches has 15 big parishes that the city can utilize when the vaccination drive takes place.

“Once our parishes are utilized as inoculation sites, we assure everyone that we will comply with the Department of Health’s standards to ensure the safety of our citizens and health ww zzworkers,” Belmonte added.

T he c it y go ve r n me nt h a s been working side by side with the Diocese of Novaliches in ensuring good governance, as well as in the city’s community drug rehabilitation program.

Some of the parishes served as the city’s payout sites during the distribution of its Social Amelioration Program-Kalingang QC. In July, the city government has also partnered with the diocese in utilizing the 5,000-square meter unused land in Novaliches as a model community farm as part of the city’s food security program.

Many Filipinos anxious of safety of Covid-19 jabs

The move by the Diocese of Novaliches to open its churches’

Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI received their anti-Covid-19 vaccination in the middle of January. Vatican Media

doors as vaccination sites was a welcome development to urge the residents to have themselves vaccinated.

This came as many Filipinos have expressed concern about the safety of the vaccine against the coronavirus.

According to the Veritas Truth Survey (VTS) of church-run Radio Veritas, 67 percent of the respondents are concerned about the protection of the people against the possible side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines, a Philippine News Agency report said.

It added that 17 percent are for the efficacy of the vaccine while 8 percent would like to know first the country that manufactured the vaccine.

Only 6 percent would like to know testimonies of those who have received the vaccine, and 2 percent are in favor of the use of the vaccine.

The VTS was conducted from January 4 to 22 through text and online data gathering from 1,200 respondents in the country.

The concern against the vaccine came even after the Vatican, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and other Christian denominations, such as the Protestants and the The Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints, among others, have expressed support for the vaccination, especially for the poor, the frontliners and the others in need.

At the Vatican, both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have received their first doses of the vaccine in the middle of January.

The Vatican News quoted the pope as referring to the vaccination as “an ethical action, because you are gambling with your health, you are gambling with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others.”

The Catholic News Agency also reported last week that the Vatican began vaccinating homeless people in its care against Covid-19 on January 20.

An initial of around 25 homeless people had received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the atrium of the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. They were permanently housed in the care and residence facilities of the Office of Papal Charities, the Vatican department that offers charitable assistance to the poor on behalf of the pope.

Among the The Church of Jesus Christ, eight of its senior leaders received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine recently in Salt Lake City. They qualify for the vaccine in Utah because they are over the age of 70.

The Church of Jesus Christ has recognized the importance of vaccinations and immunization for decades, according to a Newsroom article.

Archbishop Romulo Valles (left), CBCP president, listens to Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles John Brown from the conference room at his residence in Davao City during the start of the bishops’ virtual plenary assembly on January 26. CBCP News

CBCP head: Celebrate 500 years of Christianity with good deeds

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he best way to celebrate 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines amid the health crisis is “to make our faith shine in deeds of charity and mercy,” a top church official said this past week.

Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the “gift of faith” must be shared with others.

“Anyone of us can take up this challenge— to serve the least and lowest of our brethren,” Valles said in his opening remarks for the bishops’ virtual plenary assembly.

While plans for the celebration have been changed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the Church and the faithful “cannot take this precious gift for granted”.

“For if we do not, we may no longer be ‘gifted to give,’” Valles referring to the theme of the Great Jubilee.

“We might wake up one day, like other peoples have, no longer able to share this gift with others, for our hearts and souls have been hijacked by other beliefs, ephemeral if not empty,” he said.

Due to the pandemic, the bishops have earlier announced that the Great Jubilee will be extended for another year.

The original culmination of the celebration in April 2021 will now be the launch of a yearlong celebration that will end in April 2022.

Pope calls PHL bishops to ‘evangelical charity’

M e a n w h i l e , Po p e Fra n c i s ca l l e d o n

P h i l i p p i n e b i s h o p s to co nt i n u e t h e i r effor ts in giving concrete witness to “evangelical charity” amid the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.

In his message for the bishops’ virtual plenary assembly this past week, the pope expressed hope that their deliberations will lead to “more creative expressions” of pastoral charity.

In doing so, he said it would enable t h e Ch u rc h i n t h e P h i l i p p i n e s “ to b e recognized as ‘a home with open doors,’ offering hope and strength to the suffering and to all who seek a more humane and dignified life.”

The pope also assured his support and blessings to members of the CBCP as they discuss matters that affect the Church and the country.

His message was read to the assembly

by Archbishop Charles John Brown, the apostolic nuncio to the Philippines.

The bishops’ 121st plenary assembly was held in an online format on January 26 and 27 because of the health crisis due to Covid-19.

More than 80 bishops gathered for the biannual meeting, which is usually held in January and July.

Among the items in the agenda were the reports from the nine regional representatives of the CBCP Permanent Council about their situation amid the pandemic, their responses and plans of action. CBCP News

How ‘prophets’ from Christian movement provided motivation for US Capitol riot

I

San Pascual Baylón Parish-Diocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepcion de Salambao in Obando, Bulacan. PHOTO FROM OBANDO CHURCH

CBCP elevates Obando Church to national shrine status

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popular pilgrimage site widely known for its fertility festival in Bulacan province has been designated a national shrine by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

The San Pascual Baylón Parish-Diocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepcion de Salambao in Obando town now joins the 26 other churches across the country with such a title.

It is also the fourth national shrine in the Diocese of Malolos, located just north of Manila.

The bishops on Wednesday voted in favor of the petition to declare the parish as a national shrine during their online plenary assembly.

The Obando Church was founded by the Franciscan missionaries on April 29, 1754.

Its humble beginnings came with the settlement at the small chapel dedicated to St. Clare of Assisi, which was then already established in the town in order to Christianize the local pagan rituals connected to fertility.

The missionaries chose St. Paschal Baylón, a Spanish lay Franciscan friar, as the titular patron of the parish. His surname Baylón means to dance, identifying the saint as a dancing devotee to the Blessed Mother.

On June 19, 1763, three fishermen brothers discovered an image of Nuestra Señora de la Conception while fishing in waters near the borders of Obando and Malabon City using a large net attached to a bamboo raft called salambao.

Just like how Jose Rizal stated in Noli Me Tángere, Obando has been a pilgrimage site for

barren couples and their families.

In the middle of May, devotees dance to the tune of “Santa Clara pinong-pino...“following the steps of the traditional “Pandanggo.”

The Obando fertility dance is celebrated in three consecutive days from May 17 to 19, honoring St Paschal Baylón, St. Clare of Assisi and Our Lady of Salambao, respectively.

With profound faith and devotion of pilgrims and locales alike, the tradition of the fertility dance and its Marian following continues to grow through the ages.

In the 250th year of the parish in 2004, the venerated image of Our Lady of Salambao was granted an episcopal coronation, the first of its kind in the Diocese of Malolos, by Bishop Jose Oliveros.

In 2007, the same bishop elevated the parish as a diocesan shrine in honor of Our Lady as Nuestra Señora de la Immaculada Concepcion de Salambao.

Between the years 2014 to 2020, the church’s patio, interior and ex terior had undergone continuous development through the generosity of pilgrims from across the nation.

On December 19, 2020, the parish also opened to the public a 2-stor y museum, which houses devotional ar t work, antique images, treasured attire of Our Lady and a visual presentation of Obando’s histor y as pilgrimage center.

No date has been set yet for the rite to formally declare the parish as a national shrine.

Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

n addition to symbols of white supremacy, many of the rioters at the Capitol on January 6 carried signs bearing religious messages, such as “Jesus Saves” and “In God We Trust,” while others chanted “Jesus is my savior and Trump is my president.”

In a video interview, one of those who breached the Senate floor describes holding a prayer to “consecrate it to Jesus” soon after entering.

Many white evangelical leaders have provided religious justification and undying support for Trump’s presidency, including his most racially incendiary rhetoric and policies.

But as a scholar of religion, I argue that a particular segment of white evangelicalism that my colleague Richard Flory and I call Independent Network Charismatic (INC) has played a unique role in providing a spiritual justification for the movement to overturn the election, which resulted in the storming of the Capitol.

INC Christianity is a group of high-profile independent leaders who are detached from any formal denomination and cooperate with one another in loose networks.

Prayer marches

In the days and hours leading up to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 the group Jericho March organized marches around the Capitol and Supreme Court building praying for God to defeat the “dark and corrupt” forces that they claimed, without evidence, had stolen the election from God’s anointed president—Donald Trump.

Jericho March is a loose coalition of Christian nationalists formed after the 2020 presidential election with the goal of overturning its results.

Leading up to and following the Capitol violence, their web site stated: “We are proud of the American system of governance established by our Founding Fathers and we will not let globalists, socialists, and communists destroy our beautiful nation by sidestepping our laws and suppressing the will of the American people through their fraudulent and illegal activities in this election.”

This statement as well as others were removed after the Capitol riot.

Jericho March’s main activity has been organizing prayer marches around Capitol buildings throughout the nation after the election, imitating the “battle of Jericho” in the Bible.

In this biblical battle, God commanded the army of his chosen people, the nation of Israel, to blow trumpets and then march around the city walls until God brought the walls down and allowed Israel to invade and conquer the city.

According to the Bible, this was the first battle that the nation won in its conquest of Canaan, the “promised land” that it occupied afterward.

Jericho March’s activities culminated in a large prayer rally on December 12 in Washington, D.C., that included prayer marches and speeches on the mall by convicted and pardoned former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, former US Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Trump-supporting founder of MyPillow Mike Lindell and far-right Oathkeepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes.

They also held prayer marches and vigils around the Supreme Court and Capitol surrounding the January 6 election certification.

Jericho March members believe that their prayer marches will help defeat the corrupt forces they claim, without the basis of any evidence, “stole” the election and that God will install Trump in his rightful place as president on January 20.

Their strategy is peaceful prayer marches, however. After the Capitol violence they released this statement: “Jericho March denounces any and all acts of violence and destruction, including any that took place at the US Capitol.”

There is no evidence that anyone affiliated with the Jericho March organization took part in the Capitol breach. However, their leaders, I argue, are providing the religious motivation for the fight to overturn the election. Here’s why.

‘Prophets’ and Charismatic Christianity

A key part of the Jericho March events has been a group of INC Christians, who claim to be modern-day “prophets,” including Lance Wallnau, Cindy Jacobs and Jonathan Cahn.

Charismatic Christianity, similar to Pentecostal Christianity, emphasizes the “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” which include healing, exorcism, speaking in spiritual languages, and prophecy—defined as hearing direct words from God that reveal his plans for the future and directions for his people to follow.

Scholars use the term Charismatic to describe Christians in mainline or independent churches that emphasize the gifts of the spirit as opposed to Pentecostal Christians, who are affiliated with official Pentecostal denominations.

Independent Charismatic Christians tend to be more unorthodox in their practices, as they are less tied to formal organizations.

In our research, we found that in most Charismatic churches, those who receive visions or direct words from God that make predictions that later correspond to events or have uncanny insights into people’s lives are seen to have the “gift of prophecy.”

Some particularly gifted “prophets” are seen as being able to predict world events and get directions from God regarding entire nations.

While most Charismatic churches do not engage in this world-event predicting type of prophecy, some independent, high-profile leaders that do have become increasingly important in INC Christianity.

‘Seven mountains of culture’

Before the 2016 election a group of INC “prophets” proclaimed Trump to be God’s chosen candidate, similar to King Cyrus in the Bible, whom God used to restore the nation of Israel.

After their prophesies of Trump’s winning the election came true, these “prophets” became enormously popular in INC Christianity.

In our book, we showed that INC Christianity is significantly changing the religious landscape in America—and the nation’s politics—by providing an unorthodox theology to promote conservative Christians rising to power in all realms of society.

It is the fastest-growing Christian group in America.

Between 1970 to 2010, the number of regular attenders of US Protestant churches as a whole shrank

by an average of .05 percent per year.

At the same time, independent Charismatic churches, a category in which INC groups reside, grew in attendance by an average of 3.24 percent per year.

According to the World Christian Database there are over 36 million people attending US independent Charismatic churches—that is, those not affiliated with denominations.

INC beliefs are different from those of most traditional Christian groups, including those affiliated with official Pentecostal denominations.

INC promotes a form of Christian nationalism the primar y goal of which is not to build congregations or to convert individuals, but to bring heaven or God’s intended perfect society to Earth by placing “kingdom-minded people” in powerful positions at the top of all sectors of society, the so-called “seven mountains of culture” comprising government, business, family, religion, media, education and arts/entertainment.

One INC leader we interviewed in 2015 explained, “If Christians permeate each mountain and rise to the top of all seven mountains...society would have biblical morality, people would live in harmony, there would be peace and not war, there would be no poverty.”

They see Trump as fulfilling God’s plan to place “kingdom-minded” leaders in top government positions, including Cabinet members and Supreme Court appointments.

Trump as God’s chosen president

Many of those referred to as prophets in INC Christianity predicted another Trump victory in 2020.

After his November 3 loss, many we have studied have not recanted their prophecies, and have adopted Trump’s conspiratorial rhetoric that the election was fraudulent.

Many believe that the demonic forces that have stolen the election can still be defeated through prayer.

For INC Christianity’s “prophets,” Trump is God’s chosen candidate to advance the kingdom of God in America, so any other candidate, no matter what the vote totals show, is illegitimate.

Brad Christerson/The Conversation, CC, via AP

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday, January 31, 2021

A7

Philippine eagles given second chance

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

A

nother Philippine eagle was recently found and rescued in the hinterlands of Maitum town in Sarangani province.

It was the first eagle rescued this year, and after seven were rescued from several areas in Mindanao last year.

A municipal government team retrieved the eagle that was trapped in thorny rattan vines while preying on a monkey.

The rescue was relayed to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office for its proper handling and turnover to the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Davao City, said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region-12 in a news release.

It was found out that a piece of marble, which was used as a bullet in an improvised rifle, was recovered embedded near the eagle’s right clavicle or collarbone, the DENR-12 said.

The bird was found near Mt. Busa complex, a declared key biodiversity area and home to critically endangered, threatened, vulnerable and rare fowl species.

The rescued Philippine eagle was the third found in Sarangani in a span of four years, the DENR-12 said. The two previous eagles were found on January 2, 2017, and December 13, 2019, and were likewise turned over to the PEC for rehabilitation.

7 Philippine eagles rescued in 2020 The nonprofit Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), which runs the PEC, said it received a call about the rescued Philippine eagle on January 9.

The still immature eagle, about 3 years to 4 years old, was entangled in thorny vines near Salagbanog Falls.

It was thereafter named “Salagbanog” after the falls, where it was rescued by T’boli farmer, Mang Gamang, of Barangay Ticulab, Maitum, Sarangani province, according to PEF. Salagbanog is the first rescued Philippine eagle this year.

Last year, the PEC reported a record-high of seven rescued eagles amid the travel restrictions and community quarantine because of the

2019 coronavirus pandemic.

DENR authorities attribute the frequent sightings of the country’s national bird in the mountain area to the healthy biodiversity of its forests, which also host endemic flora, fauna, and hardwood species.

In a telephone interview on January 26, PEF Director for Research and Conservation Jayson Ibañez said that of the seven rescued eagles last year one died due to malnutrition, three were successfully released back into the wild, while the remaining three are currently under rehabilitation.

The Philippine eagle that was recently found and rescued early this month in Maitum town in Sarangani province. A piece of marble, that was used as a bullet, was recovered embedded near the eagle’s right collarbone. Photo from DENR-Region-12

Survived 2 hunting attempts Taking its X-ray after the turnover, the PEF team discovered that Salagbanog, believed to be a male based on its weight, appeared to be one tough eagle.

It has survived two hunting attempts as evidence suggested.

The marble that was used as a bullet and found embedded near its collarbone was removed in a surgery.

Another bullet, a pellet from an air rifle, was also embedded near its neck. The veterinary team decided it is better left untouched.

“Our veterinary team had successfully removed the marble as it was not deeply embedded. But the pellet, we decided to leave it as is,” Ibañez told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on January 26.

Both “bullets” have no visible entry wounds, meaning the injuries they caused had already healed.

Hunted for food Like an ordinary slingshot used by villagers in upland areas in hunting small birds, marble guns that is about 10 times more powerful can cause serious injuries and possibly maim for life, if not kill, even a Philippine eagle, the largest bird of prey in the world.

Anson Tagtag, chief of the Wildlife Conservation Section of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on January 26 that like other guns used in hunting, marble gun is illegal and should be confiscated by authorities.

He said hunting in the Philippines using deadly weapons are meant to kill

the target on site.

“Most of the hunters using guns are hunting for food out of necessity,” he said partly in Filipino.

Besides hunting animals with deadly firearms, some hunters also use traps, which are equally harmful, if not deadly.

Second chance Salagbanog was fortunate to have survived not only one, but two attempts on its life. At the PEC, rescued eagles are given a second chance.

Not all rescued eagles, however, are released back into the wild, Ibañez said, as some that were turned-over to the PEC were maimed and could not survive in the wild.

“If they are not fit for release, they end up either as a breeder or as an education eagle,” he said.

Wild and free Among last year’s rescued Philippine eagles that were released back into the wild is “Siocon.” It was found by a farmer while it was hiding in the bushes in the forest of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, in April.

But because of the travel ban and community quarantines imposed by the government then, the PEC veterinary team and the DENR office in Siocon decided to provide the eagle the next best thing—telemedicine and online rehabilitation guidance.

After recovering, Siocon was released back into the wild on May 21.

The eagle’s solar-powered GPS/

GSM tracker indicated the eagle has settled inside the forests of Balingoan town, some 3 km away from its release site.

Philippine eagle “Makilala-Hiraya” that was retrieved from its rescuers in Barangay Kisante in Makilala, North Cotabato, was pinned to the ground by a flock of crows when rescued by three residents who handed it over to local officials.

After getting cleared of viral diseases and over a month of rehabilitation at the PEC, the female eagle was finally released back to its forest home in Mt. Apo on July 28, 2020.

Makilala-Hiraya was last located within the protected ancestral domain of the indigenous Obu Manobo in Magpet town, 13km north of her release site.

The third rescued eagle that was released into the wild last year, “Mal’lambugok” was trapped allegedly after it killed a resident’s livestock.

The captor claimed it was already the fourth piglet killed by the eagle before its capture in July.

Cleared for release after less than two months of rehabilitation, Mal’lambugok flew to her freedom on September 26, 2020, as the world celebrated World Env ironmenta l Health Day.

To serve a higher purpose According to Ibañez, eagles that can no longer be released back into the wild, when badly injured or has become domesticated after many years

in captivity, serve a higher purpose.

They are either used for breeding under the PEC’s captive breeding program or become “ambassadors” of biodiversity and become part of the information, education and communication campaign of the PEF to save the iconic Philippine eagle from extinction.

Such would most likely happen to three of last year’s rescued eagles.

Philippine eagle “Balikatan” that was rescued with the help of a concerned citizen.

The PEF was informed on August 28, 2020, about an eagle that was under the care of his cousin in Bacuag, Surigao del Norte.

The eagle was bought by his cousin from an indigenous Mamanwa trapper for P8,000 apparently to save it from harm.

Together with DENR staff in Butuan City, a PEC team retrieved the already docile Philippine eagle.

“It seemed comfortable being handled by [humans],” Ibañez said.

While the subsequent X-ray test showed no injuries or abnormalities in its body, it was found that the eagle was half blind. Its left eye could not see, while the other eye is also showing early signs of a possible cataract.

“Our rehabilitation team at the PEC is working remotely with two US veterinary consultants to save the bird’s right eye. But with its current condition, it could no longer be released back to the wild,” Ibañez said.

Philippine eagle “Caraga,” on the other hand, has its right leg fractured by gun pellets.

On September 25, 2020, a day before Mal’lambugok’s release back to her forest home in Barangay Sobrecarey in Caraga, the PEC got a phone call that another eagle was trapped at Sitio Tagbanahao, the same place where Mal’lambugok was rescued.

It also reportedly killed a piglet, making its captor retaliate by trapping the bird.

Ibañez said a wild eagle with leg injury could not hunt and survive in the wild and that the only way it could make it this far is if someone cage and feed it.

Philippine eagle “San Fernando,”

another immature eagle needing rescue, was the last to be rescued in 2020. The PEC learned of the captive eagle from DENR’s Edgar Agbayani on October 4, 2020.

Two residents gave information about the captive eagle that was caught in a trap intended for palm civets on the Pantaron mountains in San Fernando town in Bukidnon last October 1.

The bird was turned over to the PEC staff in Malaybalay City on October 5. Its X-ray showed an air-gun pellet lodged at the eagle’s right wing.

The eagle could now eat on its own but has to undergo further tests at the PEF’s quarantine area, just like eagle “Caraga.”

According to Ibañez, all rescued eagles turned over to the PEC undergo thorough evaluation. But all, if not fit for release, will serve a higher purpose, eventually, after their rehabilitation.

Protected by law Ironically, the Philippine eagle is supposed to be protected by law The iconic Philippine eagle, like other endangered wildlife, is protected by several environmental laws, foremost of which is Administrative Order 235, s. of 1970 that prohibits the wounding, taking, selling, exchanging and exporting, possessing and killing of the Pithecophaga Jefferyii.

Likewise, Republic Act 9147, or the Wildlife Act, provides for the conservation and protection of wildlife resources and their habitats, and penalizes violators depending on the gravity of the offence.

A critically endangered species, only about 400 pairs of the Philippine eagle is left in the wild.

Community awareness Tagtag said it is apparent that in some areas, lack of community awareness remains a problem.

“Without the community’s support, all our efforts [in conservation] are doomed to fail,” he said.

It is for this reason that the DENR-BMB continues to engage the communities who are at the forefront of the campaign to protect and conserve the country’s rich biodiversity, he said.

French lawmakers debate ban Invasive tawny crazy ants have an intense craving for calcium on wild animals in circuses

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ARIS—French lawmakers this past week debated an animal welfare bill that would ban using wild animals in traveling circuses and keeping dolphins and whales in captivity in marine parks, amid other restrictions.

Circus workers held a protest against the bill outside the National Assembly, saying the measure would cause circuses and jobs to vanish, if it becomes law.

“That’s death for circuses,” Royal Circus director William Kerwich told The Associated Press.

The bill, which also bans the use of wild animals in television shows, nightclubs and private parties, calls for a transition period of five to seven years depending on the location.

The wild animal ban would not apply to permanent shows or to zoos.

Anther provision of the legislation is aimed at shutting down mink farms within the next five years.

The bill would also require new pet owners to obtain certificates guaranteeing they have the specific knowledge needed to care for their animals.

It would stiffen penalty for committing abuse that leads to the death of pet animals to up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of €45,000 ($54,750.)

Protesting circus workers said French law is already strict enough to ensure the welfare of the animals appearing in their shows.

Kerwich, the Royal Circus director, said he is worried about what would happen to the 800 or so animals owned by French circuses.

“They are alive, we won’t be able to reintroduce them in nature and we won’t be able to keep them. Who will pay?” he asked. “We don’t want to abandon them.”

Kerwich said that about 14 million spectators attend traditional circuses featuring animals in France while 1 million go to circuses with only human acts.

Frederic Edelstein, a lion trainer for the Pinder Circus, advocated for “an art that is part of our country’s culture.”

“A trainer doesn’t hurt an animal, he seeks complicity, respect between humans and animals,” Edelstein said. “I have 12 magnificent white lions.

They love me.... It is out of question for me to let my animals go away.”

Animal-rights activists also organized a gathering near the National Assembly last Tuesday, saying they think the proposed law does not go far enough.

“There’s nothing about hunting. There’s nothing about intensive farming.... So we are here to demand that these gaps be filled,” Muriel Fusi, a representative of the Animalist Party in Paris, said.

One Voice, an animal defense organization, called the bill “a big step in the right direction,” but said it wants the wild animal ban to be extended to nontraveling circuses and shows.

“Maybe we won’t see elephants, lions and hippopotamuses on the roads any more, but a new category of sedentary circuses will be allowed to multiply,” it said in a statement.

Lawmakers in French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, which has the majority at the National Assembly, support the measure. After the lower chamber votes, the bill will go to the Senate.

Most European countries have partially or totally banned the use of wild animals in circuses.

In recent years, some major circuses in France announced they were voluntarily ending such acts.

An amusement park north of Paris recently announced it was shutting down its dolphin show.

The Asterix park said its eight dolphins would be transferred within two months to other aquariums in Europe because they could not be reintroduced into their natural environment. AP

I

n a recent study, my colleagues and I discovered micronutrients in the ground can control populations of invasive crazy ants (Nylanderia fulva).

Tawny crazy ants—named for their fast, erratic movements—can blanket the ground by the millions.

Originating in South America and now established in parts of the southern US, they harm other insects, asphyxiate chickens and even short-circuit electronics in homes.

Crazy ants are liquid feeders that consume nectar from plants—and honeydew (or secretions) from certain insects.

Ants crave these sugary resources, which boost their colony growth, enabling them to outcompete native species and ultimately spread.

The nutritional content of nectar and honeydew vary widely, however, depending on the nutrients available in a particular ecosystem.

There are 25 chemical elements required to build life—too much or too little of one may cause disease.

So far, ecologists only really know about the importance of macronutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, that are abundant in living tissue. My team wanted to learn more about what micronutrients might be important to crazy ants.

We conducted a fertilization experiment at the University of Houston’s Coastal Center and were able to demonstrate that the abundance of tawny crazy ants decreased 24 percent where there was more potassium, and 45 percent where there was more sodium and potassium.

What greatly surprised our team was the discovery that ants were 13 percent more abundant in areas where there was more calcium—even in areas that had more sodium and potassium.

This finding, published in the journal Ecology, could have big implications for the continued spread of crazy ants.

Why it matters

Ours is the first study showing calcium is important to an invasive ant, which is somewhat surprising given ants don’t have bones.

destruction of buildings.

Tawny crazy ants not only are a major threat to the biodiversity and conservation of ecosystems but also cost the US billions of dollars in damage annually.

What still isn’t known Tawny crazy ants

Wikimedia Commons

It turns out, though, calcium is important in their egg production, larval development and physiological regulation.

If the spread of crazy ants continues north, the calcium-rich limestone bedrock of the lower US Midwest may provide ideal conditions for populations to explode.

Farmlands may be at risk because calcium is found in many fertilizers. Additionally, cities often have more calcium than surrounding areas, thanks to heavy cement use, limestone quarrying and

Our results add to a small but growing list of other experiments that show the importance of micronutrients to insects.

How far will tawny crazy ants make it in the United States? Will calcium influence their spread?

Could other micronutrients like magnesium or iron be important to crazy ants?

In a world where humans are changing the “ingredients” of Earth’s surface soils at an alarming rate, people may be unwittingly creating more favorable habitats for some invasive species.

Figuring out which elements are most important to invasive species will be key to predicting, preventing and managing their spread.

Ryan Reihart/The Conversation

Maynilad wins award for innovation

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est Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Ser vices Inc. (Maynilad) was recently conferred the 2020 Philippine Enterprise Innovation Award for its adoption of digital technology in the design, construction, o p e rat i o n a n d m a i nte n a n ce o f t re at m e nt facilities that require more complex processes.

The award recognizes organizations that t ra n s f o r m t h e i r b u s i n e s s t h ro u g h d i g i t a l technology, a news release said.

Nominations were shor tlisted by a committee of Information Technology experts, and two winners per Asean country were chosen during the Asia IoT Business Platform (AIBP) regional conference in Singapore.

Maynilad’s winning entry focused on its use of the “Building Information Modeling”

(BIM) and “Distributed Control System” (DCS) technologies, which allowed for enhanced operational efficiency in running technologically complex facilities.

It bested other entries in the Philippine segment of the Asean Enterprise Innovation Awards.

The Putatan Water Treatment Plant 2, which sources raw water from Laguna Lake to provide potable water for Maynilad customers in the south, was featured as its model facility for the effective adoption of DCS. The water company is also using the BIM and DCS tools in the construc tion of new treatment plants.

“We are always on the lookout for new technologies that can enhance our business

processes and, ultimately, enable us to improve customer service. This innovation award is proof that we are on the right track as far as the adoption of digital technology is concerned,” said Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez.

The Philippine Enterprise Innovation Award is organized by the AIBP, a premier business program that drives enterprises to learn about the adoption of Internet of Things for their businesses.

Sports

THE Finnish Arctic town of Salla bids for 2032 Olympics in a climate move. AP

BusinessMirror

Fifa bares program against abuse

F

ifa is unveiling a program to educate its member associations worldwide about how to properly handle player harassment and abuse.

The program, announced Wednesday, is an extension to Fifa Guardians, an initiative announced following the 2019 Women’s World Cup to ensure player safety.

Fifa has aimed the five-part course, Fifa Guardians Safeguarding in Sport Diploma, at player safety officers across its 211 member associations, although aspects of the course—developed in conjunction with the Open University—will be made available to everyone, including other sports federations.

“Anyone who plays football, or indeed any sport, is entitled to enjoy it in a safe and supportive environment that, first and foremost, protects their well-being, especially where children are concerned. This is the objective of the Fifa Guardians Programme,” Fifa President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “Today, football is taking another important step in delivering on this objective, as well as on Fifa’s pledge to embed safeguarding measures across our game.”

The announcement of the education program comes in the wake of allegations of systematic sexual abuse of players in Haiti. Fifa detailed the allegations earlier this month.

The Fifa ethics committee said Yves Jean-Bart, the president of the Haitian soccer federation for 20 years, allegedly raped girls as young as 14 and took “habitual mistresses” among players. JeanBart was banned from soccer for life in November.

The Fifa program also addresses physical abuse and other forms of harassment.

Joyce Cook, Fifa chief social responsibility and education officer, said the organization has invested $1 million in the courses, which will start next month.

So far 160 federations are lined up to take part.

Cook said the Fifa Forward program obligates member federations to participate, although the organization may introduce more strident mandates.

“If they invest those [Fifa Forward] funds in youth football, in projects to build youth academies and so on, then they are required to have proper safeguarding measures,” she said.

Former US national team goalkeeper Mary Harvey, chief executive of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, praised Fifa’s initiative.

“There are a couple things specifically: One is that they’re committing resources to the implementation of their policy around safeguarding, safeguarding children and vulnerable adults,” Harvey said. “That’s important. Also what they’ve done, is with Open University they’re making this available to other sports bodies. So Fifa alone doesn’t have this problem, everybody has this problem. So their willingness to make what they’re doing available to others is terrific.” AP

A8 | S

unday, January 31, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ARCTIC TOWN’S FRANTIC CALL

By Jari Tanner

The Associated Press

Fifa President Gianni Infantino says the program addresses sexual and physical abuse and other forms of harassment. AP

H

ELSINKI—A tiny town in Finland’s Arctic Lapland region is bidding to host the 2032 Summer Olympics, in a tongue-in-cheek awarenessbuilding campaign with serious undertones to draw attention to the effects of global warming.

Salla, the self-proclaimed coldest place in Lapland located just north of the Arctic Circle, launched the international “Salla 2032 Summer Games Candidate City” campaign this week complete with a news conference and a promotional video on YouTube.

In the video, residents of Salla, where temperatures can dip to -50 degrees celsius (-58 degrees fahrenheit), are seen practicing summer sports in full-fledged winter conditions and wondering whether there will any ice and snow left in the area by 2032.

Salla Mayor Erkki Parkkinen told Finnish media that the campaign aims to draw attention to the consequences of climate change. He described 2032 as a turning point after which Salla, with its population of 3,400 people, and other Arctic locations will “cease to exist as we know them” with the melting of ice and snow amid ever-warmer winters.

“If we haven’t succeeded in halting climate change by then, it is too late. We want to keep Salla as it is, and our winters cold and full of snow,” Parkkinen said in a statement. “So, there was this crazy idea to host the Summer Games in one of the coldest towns on the planet.”

A separate Save Salla campaign has been launched with support from Fridays for Future, the youth-led environmental movement set up

by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

On Thursday, Salla’s Facebook page urged people to get acquainted with the Games’ dedicated mascot, a reindeer named Kesa— summer in Finnish—“and the other 10,000 reindeers in Salla.”

Lapland makes up over a quarter of the Nordic country’s surface and is home to some 10,000 indigenous Sami people. Reindeer

herding offers an important means of living for hundreds of Laplanders.

The area of Salla is known among Finns for its pristine nature, consisting of one of Europe’s largest wilderness with national parks ideal for hiking, cross-country skiing and other sports and outdoor activities.

HELSINKI MAKES BID, TOO

HUNGARY’S Olympic committee is preparing a bid to host the 2032 Summer Games in Budapest.

When the Hungarian capital dropped out of the 2024 Olympics hosting contest in 2017— under pressure to call a referendum—it left the International Olympic Committee (IOC) clear to reward both candidates left. Paris got 2024 and Los Angeles took the 2028 Games.

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, supports sports hosting, including the swimming world championships for 2017 and 2027 in Budapest, and games at soccer’s 2020 European Championship postponed to this year.

Hungarian Olympic officials appointed economist Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy to lead a panel making a feasibility study.

Szalay-Berzeviczy, a former chairman of the Budapest Stock Exchange, said on Thursday the study should take until next year.

The International Olympic Committee has created a new bidding process aiming to be more pro-active and cut costs.

It will approach favored cities in a rolling dialogue and could decide before the traditional deadline seven years before the games open.

An Australian bid centred on Brisbane has been an early front-runner for the 2032 Olympics contest.

Osaka invests in women’s soccer club

T

HREE-TIME Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka has invested in the North Carolina Courage of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), citing a desire to support women as role models and leaders.

Osaka is the first investor in the Courage since Steve Malik acquired the Western New York Flash and moved the team to North Carolina in 2017. The Courage have won two NWSL titles since the move.

“The women who have invested in me growing up made me who I am today and I cannot think of where my life would be without them,” Osaka said in a statement.

“My investment in the North Carolina Courage is far beyond just being a team owner, it’s an investment in amazing women who are role models and leaders in their fields and inspirations to all young female athletes. I also admire everything the Courage does for diversity and equality in the community, which I greatly look forward to supporting and driving forward.”

Osaka is not the only prominent tennis player to own a stake in an NWSL team. Serena Williams is among a group of prominent investors in Angel City FC, a Los Angeles expansion club set to start play in 2022. Other athletes have also invested in soccer teams, including LeBron James (Liverpool) and Kevin

Durant (Philadelphia Union).

Osaka, who was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year in 2020, is preparing for the Australian Open, set to start February 8. The 23-year-old won the event in 2019, and has also won two US Open titles. She ended last year ranked No. 3 in the world.

Osaka has also used her voice for racial justice. She joined athletes in the NBA and other sports last year when she decided not to play in a tune-up event for the US Open in protest of the shooting of James Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

During the US Open, she wore face masks bearing the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and others.

“Naomi is the perfect fit as an owner because her values sync so well with our club,” Courage President Curt Johnson said. “A team with an exemplary and trailblazing roster of world-class professional athletes supported by a globally influential icon is a seminal moment for our sport and the Courage organization.”

The 10-team NWSL, with Racing Louisville joining this season, is set to open its ninth season May 15. Each team will play 24 games, with six reaching the playoffs. The regular season will end October 30.

The league will stage the preseason Challenge Cup tournament in local markets starting on April 9. AP

Parkour worlds postponed again

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AUSANNE, Switzerland—The first parkour world championships organized by the governing body of gymnastics was postponed a second time because of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) cited “current travel restrictions and difficulties” for the championships not taking place from March 26-28 in Hiroshima, Japan.

No new date was suggested for an event

originally scheduled in April last year.

FIG has faced resistance from national parkour bodies worldwide while trying to establish control over the street-running sport.

The gymnastics body hoped to organize a recognized world championships as a step toward gaining Olympic recognition. FIG’s request to add parkour to the 2024 Paris Games was declined by the International Olympic Committee last month. AP

BusinessMirror

January 31, 2021

Does ‘deplatforming’ work to curb hate speech and calls for violence?

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BusinessMirror JANUARY 31, 2021 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

TASTEFUL MUSIC VIDEO Gloc-9 and guests spice up new commercial jingle

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By Edwin P. Sallan

OT even the pandemic can stop Gloc-9 from making his presence felt.

COVER Art

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

: Niggel Figueroa Anabelle O. Flores : Tony M. Maghirang, Rick Olivares, Darwin Fernandez, Leony Garcia, Stephanie Joy Ching

In recent months, the celebrated hip-hop superstar has continued to perform online and collaborated with some of the most promising young artists as diverse as singersongwriter Keiko Necesario and the UE Jam Sessions.

Now, Gloc-9 has become a household name again, thanks in large part to “Macho Rap,” his latest music video which also happens to be the very first jingle of the iconic brand Mang Tomas All Around Sarsa.

Even as most music fans now miss the excitement of witnessing a live performance, music videos serve as welcome — if not essential — respite that somehow help many get through these challenging times.

The ability to “cast” or mirror such videos on a big screen TV in order to sing along and dance to them has certainly made those recent lockdowns a lot more tolerable.

It was no surprise that Gloc-9’s buoyant music video, “Macho Rap” was almost immediately well-received when

Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez : Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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GLOC-9

it first debuted on YouTube just last December. Produced by Insight 360 and directed by Chris Cahilig and Ice Idanan, the video also featured the delightful father and son tandem of Benjie and Andre Paras and quirky young actress Kat Galang, best known for her online persona, Tassel Girl.

Composed by Cahilig himself and Urie Tesorio, the song “Macho Rap” is an LSS-inducing jam that also features Lirah Bermudez, runnerup of GMA Network’s now defunct talent search series, Protégé: The Battle for the Big Break.

Taking Lirah under his wing, Gloc-9 relaunched her music career in 2019 with her anthemic single, “Sahod.”

During the record’s launch, Gloc-9 marveled at how Lirah has grown both as an artist and as a performer.

For her part, Lirah was also allpraises to the rapper she now considers as her mentor. “I already wanted to work with him during Protégé. I feel blessed that I was able to work with people who saw in me what I wanted to see in

myself,” Lirah said at the time.

Benjie and Andre Paras likewise admitted to have enjoyed working with Gloc-9 for the “Macho Rap” video.

“Shooting this video was such a joy,” said Benjie who also admitted that he initially had a hard time rapping with Gloc-9. “But it wasn’t that hard, it was actually a fun.”

Amplifying things further is the guest appearance of Kat, who has already made a name for himself as a popular comedic and indie film actress.

Her penchant for theatrics adds a perfect punch to the already bouncy, happy vibe of the video. Admittedly, it was a bit nerve-wracking for Kat to lip sync in front of Gloc-9 himself.

“At first, I was a bit tense because it’s a lot of pressure to do the rap song when you know that the original composer and the rapper of the song are both on the set,” said Kat.” But, the directors were very helpful and patient, so that made it a lot easier for me.”

Kat and the rest of cast are also quick to admit that it certainly didn’t hurt that all the Mang Tomas dishes were available for all of them to sample during the shoot.

“I could never say no to the free lumpiang shanghai and Mang Tomas combo that was on set. This is definitely one of the best prods I’ve ever worked with,” Kat concluded.

To date, the official music video and music only video of Gloc-9’s “Macho Rap” has over 68,000 views.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | JANUARY 31, 2021

BUSINESS

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

New from Sleep Kitchen, Mindless Pop, Catpuke, Nubya Garcia and Gorillaz SLEEP KITCHEN Songs to be weird to

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MINDLESS POP Drivel

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HE cracks in emo as indie rock experience are showing especially in the debut of fourpiece Mindless Pop who describe themselves rather frivolously as “Your sixth-favorite Metro Manilabased indie punk rock band. For starters, there’s hardly any hint of punk right in the band’s song titles like “Dent”, “Floating Point Tremolo” or “Patience.”

Starting with “Wonder Why,” the foursome pitch their tent on the emo side of early ‘00s alt-rock of the Dashboard Confessional variety while reminiscent of rock ballads from the stable of the late lamented Laguna’s Railroad Records. The harmonies at the end of the first track hardly saves it from soundalike ignominy though.

Mindless Pop still manages to introduce fresh ideas in their emo/ indie rock coupling (the danceable groove of “Blindsight,” the “Ramblin’ Man wannabe riffage in “Demolish”) but these instances don’t merit a full album of mere reminders of a fading scene. Not quite hogwash, “Drivel” is still a long way off from a three-star attraction.

HE weirdness here is relative.

Well, the band’s name is creatively weird but the music of Sleep Kitchen barely ranks as weird. It’s an amalgam of soul jazz//lounge jazz that once characterized a minor indie-affiliated movement hereabouts.

In fact, lead singer Tao Aves’ performance is “weird” with her taking an eclectic revision of what it takes to a modern jazz/pop vocalist.

Opener “Andun Ka” displays her inner Kat Agarrado. She injects a childish playfulness to “Coffee Tea” then sing songs her way essaying existential woes in “Mukha” with these lines: “Lahat ng beses na di ko ginawa ang dapat kong gawin/Lahat ng pagkakataong di ko nailigtas ang mundo.”

If only for those precious moments, there’s some weird riot going on here that’s worth checking out.

tantrums. The titular track finds these feisty feminists messing with the rough-melodic-rougher reformulation of punk and at the same time, brave enough to shout “I’m gonna kill the man and if I die may I die with hands curled into a fist.” They’re just as cool to start the proceedings with “00:00” followed by the shoot-out in “Pulse” to the revolutionary fervor of “Eat The Rich” and the battle zone in “Warsuxx.” As such, “R.T.M.”, the album, alludes to a ticking time tomb.

What a way to relieve Covid tension and uncertainty!

NUBYA GARCIA Source

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GORILLAZ Song Machine, Season One Strange Timez

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CATPUKE R. T. M.

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HIS Pinay feminist hardcore punk band tells on their FB page a mission to “makikipag suntukan sa mga fucking mayayaman na stupid motherfuckers.” On their first album after a batch singles in the second half of 2020, they spew venom on more concrete targets – politicians, the rich, the anonymous man who gets to decide on the fates of others, and lace them deadly discharges that are as much noisefest as Oi! punk firecrackers.

In words and music, Catpuke take ‘90s riot grrl tirades beyond bratty

disco stomp underscoring “Valley of The Pagans,” featuring Beck.

Here’s a various artists compilation brimming with pop brilliance.

REATED by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, virtual band Gorillaz started with singer 2D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs. Their acclaimed eponymous debut album released in 2001 had the unfortunate impression, at least to serious pop music fans, that the collective had an amorphous personality, aggravated by cartoonish promotional videos. With their latest album, Gorillaz collaborates with a variety of artists including Sir Elton John and The Cure’s Robert Smith and incorporates genres from trip hop to punk rock to lift their haphazard personality even higher. Actually, presumed amorphous quality and cartoonish presentation don’t mean much in the face of the seductively smooth “The Lost Chord,” the New Order resounding Aries, and the elegant

ULTI award-winning saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia is back with her much anticipated debut album, Source. A collection of expressive jazz passages, the album melds old school jazz progenitors to its new school innovators.

Thematically, Nubya is adding her music to the ongoing conversation of the Black people’s diaspora in the context of a modernizing Britain (or is it rather a declining Empire with the once conquered race taking over?)

Nubya said she wanted to capture a global outlook, drawing inspiration from London to Bogota, Caura to Georgetown, among the many places she calls home. Still, nostalgia isn’t in the cards as the esteemed saxophonist creates timeless pieces from the slower, more romantic tempo in “Together Is A Beautiful Place To Be” to the upbeat title track.

“Source” becomes a colorful snapshot of the skill and dexterity of a rising female phenomenon in the London jazz scene.

(Reviewed albums available for your listening pleasure in various digital platforms, especially bandcamp.)

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Does ‘deplatforming’ work to curb hate speech and calls for violence?

Three online communications experts speak out

By Jeremy Blackburn, Ugochukwu Etudo & Robert Gehl

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n the wake of the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s personal account, and Google, Apple and Amazon shunned Parler, which at least temporarily shut down the social-media platform favored by the far right.

Dubbed “deplatforming,” these actions restrict the ability of individuals and communities to communicate with each other and the public. Deplatforming raises ethical and legal questions, but foremost is the question of whether it’s an effective strategy to reduce hate speech and calls for violence on social media.

The Conversation US asked three experts in online communications whether deplatforming works and what happens when technology companies attempt it.

Jeremy Blackburn, Binghamton University: Sort of, but it’s not a long-term solution The question of how effective deplatforming is can be looked at from two different angles: Does it work from a technical standpoint, and does it have an effect on worrisome communities themselves? Also, does deplatforming work from a technical perspective?

From a technical perspective, deplatforming just makes things a bit harder. Amazon’s cloud services make it easy to manage computing infrastructure but are ultimately built on open source technologies available to anyone. A deplatformed company or people sympathetic to it could build their own hosting infrastructure. The research community has also built censorship-resistant tools that, if all else fails, harmful online communities can use to persist.

Ultimately, while certainly easy to implement and effective to some extent, it’s unlikely that deplatforming will be a long-term solution in and of itself. Moving forward, effective approaches will need to take into account the complicated technological and social consequences of addressing the root problem of extremist and violent Web communities.

Ugochukwu Etudo, University of Connecticut: Yes, but driving people into the shadows can be risky Does the deplatforming of prominent figures and movement leaders who command large followings online work? That depends on the criteria for the success of the policy intervention. If it means punishing the target of the deplatforming so they pay some price, then without a doubt it works. For example, right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter in 2016 and Facebook in 2019, and subsequently complained about financial hardship.

If it means dampening the odds of undesirable social outcomes and unrest, then in the short term, yes. But it is not at all certain in the long term. There is a risk that deplatforming can delegitimize authoritative sources of information in the eyes of a movement’s followers, and remaining adherents can become even more ardent. Movement leaders can reframe deplatforming as censorship and further proof of a mainstream bias.

There is reason to be concerned about the possibility that driving people who engage in harmful online behavior into the shadows further entrenches them in online environments that affirm their biases. In deplatforming policymaking, among other considerations, there should be an emphasis on justice, harm reduction and rehabilitation. Policy objectives should be defined transparently and with reasonable expectations in order to avoid some of these negative unintended consequences.

Robert Gehl, Louisiana Tech University: Yes, but the process needs to be transparent and democratic Deplatforming not only works, I believe it needs to be built into the system. Social media should have mechanisms by which racist, fascist, misogynist or transphobic speakers are removed, where misinformation is removed, and where there is no way to pay to have your messages amplified. And the decision to deplatform someone should be decided as close to democratically as is possible, rather than in some closed boardroom or opaque content moderation committee like Facebook’s “Supreme Court.”

In other words, the answer is alternative social media like Mastodon. As a federated system, Mastodon is specifically designed to give users and administrators the ability to mute, block or even remove not just misbehaving users but entire parts of the network. Moreover, the decision to block parts of the network aren’t made in secret.

They’re done by local administrators, who announce their decisions publicly and are answerable to the members of their node in the network.

The danger of mainstream, corporate social media is that it was built to do exactly the opposite of what alternatives like Mastodon do: grow at all costs, including the cost of harming democratic deliberation. It’s not just cute cats that draw attention but conspiracy theories, misinformation and the stoking of bigotry. Corporate social media tolerates these things as long as they’re profitable—and, it turns out, that tolerance has lasted far too long. The Conversation

@POTUS resets as Twitter juggles presidential accounts

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t’s a Twitter user’s worst nightmare: Wake up to find most of your followers gone.

But that’s exactly what happened recently to the official presidential accounts on Twitter.

No, not @realDonaldTrump—he’s already been banned for life. This is the fate awaiting lesserknown accounts such as @POTUS, @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS and @VP. (POTUS is the official acronym for President of the United States; FLOTUS refers to the First Lady.)

These institutional accounts don’t belong to any particular individual—they’re reserved for official government use by those in the current administration. Twitter transferred them to President-elect Joe Biden after he was officially

inaugurated. Minus, that is, most of their followers.

That’s unlike the previous Twitter transition, when then-President Barack Obama’s official accounts were transferred to President Donald Trump with followers intact. This time, these accounts lost tens of millions of followers at Twitter’s dictate. People dropped by these accounts, in addition to those who follow “relevant Biden and Harris accounts” such as @KamalaHarris, received notifications that they can follow them.

Biden’s current account—@PresElectBiden—transformed into @POTUS after Biden himself becomes POTUS. Biden’s team does not appear happy about this. The President-elect’s

4 BusinessMirror

digital director, Rob Flaherty, tweeted last week that the follower reset is “Absolutely, profoundly insufficient.”

In Twitter’s view, the reset gives users the choice on whether or not to follow the new accounts. The company says it has not made a decision on whether it will now take this approach during transfers of power. But spokesman Nick Pacilio said it is the policy in other countries.

As for Trump’s @POTUS account? It will be archived as @POTUS45, just as the Obama administration’s account was archived as @POTUS44.

That’s not the case for @realdonaldtrump, though. While it’s been extensively archived by January 31, 2021

other platforms and researchers, it has vanished from Twitter itself. That alone has raised criticisms from academics and others who believe it should also be part of the public record, easily searchable and accessible to anyone. AP