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FACEBOOK FOR THE SEAS

EU rolls out new communication platform to suit the communication needs of mariners

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By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

AVENNA, Italy—Back in the olden days, ships waved semaphore flags to communicate to one another at a short distance.

Then, radio and signal lights were invented in the 20th century.

Today, satellite services complement the VHF or UHF radio stations and transceivers, helping government maritime agencies track down ships in distress.

But what if there is a Facebook for the seas for maritime agencies in the region to communicate real time?

The European Union thought there can be such a platform and rolled out the so-called IORIS Maritime Coordination & Communications in Southeast Asia. Recently, it was offered to the Philippine maritime agencies.

What does it do? According to Marianne Péron-Doise, political officer of EU Critical Maritime Road for Indo-Pacific (Crimario) that launched the platform, IORIS is a secure web communications tool for maritime agencies like the navies, coast guards, customs, fisheries departments of coastal states to enhance their information exchange and incident management.

“To create a metaphor, it’s like establishing a WhatsApp group, or FB community. It’s flexible and easy to use. But we have a secure tool for communication,” PéronDoise explained.

IORIS was initially offered to Seychelles, Madagascar, Kenya, Mauritius, Comoros and in western Indian Ocean starting 2015 since Crimario was initially set up there.

As of September 2021, IORIS is already in use in 11 countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The recent users of this platform are from Comoros, Djibouti, Jordan, the Philippines, Réunion (French island in the Indian Ocean) and Saudi Arabia.

Communication is key

THE Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands and 18,000 kilometers of shoreline, learned the value of maritime communication the hard way. In 1987 the oil tanker M/T Vector carrying 8,000 barrels of highly flammable gasoline and kerosene rammed passenger vessel M/V Doña Paz, which was then carrying 4,386 people.

MARIANNE PÉRON-DOISE: “To create a metaphor, it’s like establishing a WhatsApp group, or FB community. It’s flexible and easy to use. But we have a secure tool for communication.” CRIMARIO.EU

Except for 24 who survived, all passengers died in what was considered as one of the world’s worst peacetime maritime disasters dubbed as “Asia’s Titanic.”

In the course of investigation, it was learned that the ship had no proper radio communications on board, which may have made it difficult for the ships to communicate.

Unfortunately, it was not the last maritime disaster in the Philippines. In 1988 the sister ship of Doña Paz—Doña Marilyn—also sank, killing 389 passengers while sailing from Manila to Tacloban City. In 1994 a ferry collided with Singaporean freighter Kota Suria and sank in Manila, killing 140 people. And in Batangas, the Princess of the Orient, carrying 388 passengers, capsized as it was sailing in the middle of a typhoon. Around 150 died as it took the rescuers 12 hours to reach the survivors adrift in the open sea in 1998.

That same year in 1998, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), with the help of the Japanese government, started modernizing the country’s maritime communication infrastructure.

In accordance with the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) Convention, the Philippines required all ships to carry radio equipment that conforms to international standards.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) specifically required the Philippine ships to install the Global Maritime Distress and Safety Systems (GMDSS), a

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.9450

WWW.CRIMARIO.EU/EN/INFORMATION-SHARING/THE-IORIS-PLATFORM/

worldwide network of automated emergency communications for ships at sea.

Aside from preventing maritime disasters, the PCG, along with the Philippine Navy, are also very busy with protecting the Philippine territory and maritime jurisdiction in the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), particularly in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), where the Philippines has competing claims with China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia over the rocks, islands and other land features.

Aside from the EEZ, the Philippines also has a continental shelf all over the archipelago, which was further extended around 112 nautical miles more in the Philippine Rise (formerly known as Benham Rise) near the Pacific Ocean.

Add that to the increasing incidents of transnational crimes at sea—piracy and terrorism—especially in Sulu Sea. This is why the PCG is now trying to build 21 radar sites at ZamBaSulta—Zamboanga peninsula, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi—to increase the coastal monitoring system of all vessels passing through those areas and to enforce maritime laws.

There are also increasing incidents of illegal fishing and maritime pollution, as well as human and drug trafficking in the largely unmanned coastal areas and seas.

Aside from the PCG and the Navy, a host of government offices and departments are directly involved in the security and pro-

tection of the country’s maritime sector. They include the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), the Philippine National Police Maritime Group, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Philippine Ports Authority, the Cebu Port Authority, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, the National Telecommunications Commission and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria).

In other words, there is still much to be done in modernizing the Philippine maritime industry, including its communication infrastructure.

The EU thought they could pilot the IORIS project in Southeast Asia in the Philippines. Due to the vastness of the Philippine coastline, maritime operations and interagency collaboration at the national level alone is complicated.

Andrew Mallia, an independent maritime security consultant from Malta, likens interagency communication and coordination during maritime incidents to the story of blind men describing an elephant.

He explained: “A rescue coordination center, as the name suggests, thinks of things in terms of rescue. That’s his job—to prepare, operate and save lives at sea. Anther agency’s interest primarily is more significant—he had to think about the safety of life at sea, but he also had to think about issues like pollution, environmental protection, thinking about the place of

refuge for the vessel. He had considerations that need different information sets.”

“Unless we have a system where we can exchange available information across our agencies, and make sure they have a common understanding, unfortunately, we will have an approach where each individual will be holding a different part of the elephant,” Mallia said during a virtual meeting moderated by Crimario for Southeast Asian participants in April.

Péron-Doise said IORIS could help the Philippines plan, manage and coordinate maritime operation centers of nations such as incidents with information sharing done in a secure and flexible environment.

Regional cooperation

THERE are 27 countries in the EU bloc, and they have their own share of peacetime maritime disasters— from the sinking of Princess Victoria in the North Channel in 1953, to the collision of Italian ferry Moby Princess with an anchored oil tanker in 1991, and the sinking of a 114,500-ton luxury cruise liner M/V Costa Concordia in 2012 in Italy.

For now, the EU is very much preoccupied with the war between Russia and Ukraine. Yet, the biggest war in Europe in World War II highlighted one need that is often taken for granted—the freedom of navigation.

As Europe was readying to open its borders from the worldwide lockdown due to the pandem-

ic, commercial ships were stranded in the Black Sea. Thus, it is not surprising that EU members’ economic interests are no longer confined within EU borders. They span around the world. EU is practically dependent on maritime trade—90 percent of its external trade and 40 percent of its internal trade are transported by sea.

During the EU Maritime Day here in Ravenna, Giovanni Cremonini, head of the maritime security sector of the EU External Action Service, said the bloc is looking at expanding its sphere of influence towards becoming a “global maritime actor.”

This is the reason the EU enlarged its scope of maritime security strategy towards the Indian Ocean and eastern and southern African regions through initiatives, including Crimario.

Unlike NATO, where most EU members are also members, Crimario is “a soft security initiative.”

“Crimario is not an EU security and defense tool but a development project which contributes to maritime security and safety to the Indo-Pacific region,” Péron-Doise said. “We are trying to interconnect the region through capacitybuilding approach.”

Thus, the IORIS platform is envisioned not just to help the capacity building of specific countries in the region but also to interconnect the countries within the region.

Péron-Doise acknowledged that bringing countries with overlapping sea territorial claims is challenging. But they believe that they can help address maritime problems, which are common problems among the countries as well.

“In many littoral or island states that are fighting for exclusive economic zones, there are also many criminal activities like piracy and illegal fishing,” Péron-Doise said.

Crimario hopes that managing incidents at sea and facilitating more free-flowing exchange of information within the region are tiny steps to build confidence and trust among competing states.

But just like Facebook, one private message or group chats could make one closer to another and hopefully take action real-time. The sea of possibilities could be endless.

n JAPAN 0.3940 n UK 66.1865 n HK 6.7456 n CHINA 7.9117 n SINGAPORE 38.2938 n AUSTRALIA 37.5804 n EU 56.2276 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.1141

Source: BSP (June 10, 2022)

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A2 Sunday, June 12, 2022

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New US nuclear-missile submarines hobbled by billions in growing costs, delays

By Tony Capaccio

T

Bloomberg News

HE US Navy’s two newest submarine programs have been hampered by growing costs, poor contractor performance and delays in the last year, according to an assessment by congressional auditors.

Costs for the 12-vessel Columbia class, the US’s next nuclearmissile submarine, have grown by $3.4 billion to a projected $112 billion before the first planned deployment in 2031, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its latest annual report on major US weapons systems.

Similarly, over the last year, work on the latest model Virginia-class attack submarine, which shares some of the same workforce, “fell further behind schedule, and construction costs continued to grow above original targets due to overall higher workforce demand and additional factors such as correspondingly less experienced workers,” the agency said.

The Columbia class will replace the fleet of 14 Ohio-class submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles and is envisioned as the

frontline of US nuclear deterrence strategy into the late 21st century. The subs will carry one leg of the so-called nuclear triad along with land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and airlaunched weapons.

The 252-page GAO assessment—the most comprehensive evaluation of the Defense Department’s weapons portfolio— reviewed 40 major current defense acquisition programs, four future major programs and 19 middle-tier projects.

The submarine setbacks are among the most telling in the report released Wednesday. Both submarines are built jointly by General Dynamics Corp. and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. Seventeen of the major programs GAO reviewed had delays, some of them “on top of past post-

A RENDERING of the future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. US NAVY

ponements,” according to the report. Those include the DDG-1000 destroyer from General Dynamics, the MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone made by Northrop Grumman Corp., the CH-53K cargo helicopter from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.’s new Air Force One presidential jet and its MH-139A Gray Wolf helicopter to patrol ICBM silo fields.

China challenge

AS lawmakers press the Pentagon to accelerate deployment of new systems to counter China’s rapid military development, the GAO findings provide little comfort.

“This year, we continued to see significant numbers of programs reporting delays, even as the department emphasizes the need to deliver capabilities to the war­ fighter more quickly,” the agency concluded.

“In our 20 years of annual reports on DoD’s [Department of Defense] costliest acquisition efforts, we have highlighted the consistent commitment of DoD senior leadership to improving outcomes, including recent efforts to accelerate the development and delivery of capabilities,” said the agency.

“However, we continue to find that the department misses opportunities to gain appropriate knowledge before making significant investment decisions.”

The Army’s Extended Range Cannon Artillery, which is being developed as a rapid prototype and promoted as a counter to China, has “encountered multiple challenges during the past year, including delays in maturing critical technologies. These issues are likely to lead to schedule delays” and “may lead to cost growth,” the GAO said.

Also of relevance to countering China’s rapid development of hypersonic weapons, the joint Army-Navy Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic program “identified a capacity-constrained supply market and limited manufacturing sources as high-priority risks,” the GAO said. The delivery “of critical components was significantly delayed, impacting the flight test schedule.”

For the first time in its annual assessment, the GAO highlighted programs vulnerable to industrial base disruptions or shortages, such as the CH-53K helicopter, as the Defense Department “reported that the supplier that produces the

‘T

MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone

US NAVY

his year, we continued to see significant numbers of programs reporting delays, even as the department emphasizes the need to deliver capabilities to the warfighter more quickly.”—GAO

main gear box has not been able to produce enough parts or meet quality specifications for years. In order to mitigate this problem, the program is certifying two new suppliers to produce these parts.”

Cyber risk

THE Air Force “continues to track a cybersecurity vulnerability risk stemming” from the design of Boeing’s F-15EX fighter, which is derived from a model sold to Qatar.

The Air Force is buying 60 through 2024 to replace older F-15C models, the GAO said.

The F-15EX is “not designed to US Air Force cybersecurity requirements” so the program office planned to bring subject matter experts together in April “to conduct a tabletop exercise in which they talk through how they would respond to simulated scenarios in identifying vulnerabilities,” according to the report.

Space launches

THE United Launch Alliance (ULA)—the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture that competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for national security satellite launches—continued to have difficulty last year developing an alternate engine for its new Vulcan rocket to replace the Russian-made RD-180 used for decades, the GAO said. The first flight with the new engine was delayed to this year but “until ULA resolves the rocket and engine issues, the program must rely” on the Atlas V rocket “with engines manufactured in the Russian Federation.”

Submarine troubles

THE Columbia submarine’s price increase reflects “an August 2020 independent cost estimate for the whole class, expenditures on the supplier base and missile tubes that required costly rework, poor contractor performance during design and updated construction costs, among other things,” the GAO said. The keel for the first of 12 submarines, the USS District of Columbia, was laid June 4.

As of August 2021, the Columbia’s workforce “completed less construction than planned due to errors and quality problems that resulted in rework, as well as late supplier materials, among other things,” GAO said.

The shipbuilders are “mitigating delays by prioritizing construction of the Columbia class” over other submarine work, the GAO said. “Program officials reported that the shipbuilders added more workers to the Columbia class construction efforts than the Virginia class, contributing to delays on the Virginia class submarine.” It said “additional cost increases and schedule delays are likely.”

The GAO said it provided a draft of its assessment to the Navy’s submarine program office for review and it provided technical comments, “which we incorporated where appropriate.” The program office stated “that it took actions to reduce risks, such as ensuring stable requirements, executing manufacturing readiness and supplier base efforts, and pursuing cost reduction actions.”

The World

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Sunday, June 12, 2022

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Oil shock devastates poor nations as fuel shortages, protests mount

Somalis who fled drought-stricken areas sit at a makeshift camp on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, Somalia on February 4, 2022. Two UN food agencies issued stark warnings on Monday, June 6, 2022, about multiple, looming food crises on the planet, driven by climate “shocks” like drought and worsened by the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine that have sent fuel and food prices soaring. AP/Farah Abdi Warsameh

UN: Climate shocks, war fuel multiple looming food crises

By Frances D’emilio

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The Associated Press

OME—Two UN food agencies issued stark warnings Monday about multiple, looming food crises on the planet, driven by climate “shocks” like drought and worsened by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine that have sent fuel and food prices soaring.

The glum assessment came in a report by two Rome-based food agencies: the World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

WFP Executive Director David Beasley said besides hurting “the poorest of the poor” the global food crises threaten to overwhelm millions of families who are just getting by.

“Conditions now are much worse than during the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2007-2008 food price crisis, when 48 countries were rocked by political unrest, riots and protests,” Beasley said in a statement. He cited as “just the tip of the iceberg” food crises now in Indonesia, Pakistan, Peru and Sri Lanka.

The report calls for urgent humanitarian action to help “hunger hotspots” where acute hunger is expected to worsen over the next few months.

The UN agencies are also warning that war in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February, has exacerbated already steadily rising food and energy prices worldwide.

“The effects are expected to be particularly acute where economic instability and spiraling prices combine with drops in food production due to climate shocks such as recurrent droughts or flooding,” the joint statement from the UN agencies said.

Among critical areas cited is East Africa, where the United Nations said an “unprecedented”

drought is aff licting Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. South Sudan, meanwhile, faces a fourth straight year of large-scale flooding.

The report cited other sobering climate impacts: above-average rain and a risk of localized flooding in the Sahel region, a vast swath of Africa stretching south of the Sahara Desert.

It also cited a more intense hurricane season in the Caribbean and below-average rainfall in Afghanistan. That Asian country is already suffering through multiple seasons of drought, violence and political upheaval, including after the return of Taliban rule last summer.

The report tagged six nations as “highest alert” hot spots facing catastrophic conditions: Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia. It said as many as 750,000 people are facing starvation and death in those countries. Of those, 400,000 are in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region—the highest number on record in any one country since the 2011 famine in Somalia, the UN agencies said.

In April, according to a study by regional health officials that was seen by The Associated Press, at least 1,900 children under 5 died from malnutrition in the Tigray region. Western Tigray, which is under the control of forces from the neighboring Amhara region, was not included in that survey.

The UN food agencies report Monday said Congo, Haiti, the Sahel region, Sudan and Syria remain “of very high concern” and noted that Kenya was a new entry to that list.

Joining the list of hot spot countries were Sri Lanka, Benin, Cape Verde, Guinea, Ukraine and Zimbabwe, while areas that faced continuing food scarcities included Angola, Lebanon, Madagascar and Mozambique.

US wins case to seize Russian superyacht in Fiji, sails away

By Nick Perry

The Associated Press

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ELLING T ON , N e w Zealand—The United States won a legal battle on Tuesday to seize a Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji and wasted no time in taking command of the $325 million vessel and sailing it away from the South Pacific nation.

The court ruling represented a significant victory for the US as it encounters obstacles in its attempts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs around the world.

While those efforts are welcomed by many who oppose the war in Ukraine, some actions have tested the limits of American jurisdiction abroad.

In Fiji, the nation’s Supreme Court lifted a stay order that had

prevented the US from seizing the superyacht Amadea.

Chief Justice Kamal Kumar ruled that based on the evidence, the chances of defense lawyers mounting an appeal that the top court would hear were “nil to very slim.”

Kumar said he accepted arguments that keeping the superyacht berthed in Fiji at Lautoka harbor was “costing the Fijian government dearly.”

“The fact that US authorities have undertaken to pay costs incurred by the Fijian government is totally irrelevant,” the judge found. He said the Amadea “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States of America.”

The US removed the motorized vessel within an hour or two of the court’s ruling, possibly to ensure

By Elizabeth Low

“We could see a lot of unrest as emerging economies are more sensitive to fuel prices,” said Virendra Chauhan, Singapore-based head of Asia Pacific for consultancy Energy Aspects. “While historically most of these have relied on fuel subsidies to appease the populace, because of a large and burgeoning import burden, it may be difficult to maintain these subsidies.”

The crisis is mainly the result of the twin forces of recovering demand after the pandemic and sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which disrupted global flows of energy, especially to Europe. Global benchmark Brent crude traded near $120 a barrel on Monday—some 70 percent higher than its average price in 2021— after Saudi Arabia signaled confidence in demand and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted tighter markets as China emerges from lockdowns.

Among the emerging economies bearing the brunt of higher prices are Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Mired in its biggest economic crisis, Sri Lanka is seeking help

from the International Monetary Fund, China, Japan and India to pay for its fuel imports as domestic supplies run low. Airlines flying to the country have been told to carry enough jet fuel for the return trip or fill up elsewhere.

Surging inf lation and fuel prices are pushing Pakistan into a similar economic crisis, with the country also seeking a bailout from the IMF. But the fund insisted the government raise fuel prices to secure an agreement. Meanwhile, foreign banks have stopped offering trade credit for oil imports.

Pakistan is currently asking Qatar for additional cargoes of liquefied natural gas under its existing longterm contract as its fuel shortage continues, with rolling blackouts still taking place.

In Southeast Asia, Myanmar and Laos also face shortages of gasoline and diesel, according to local media reports. In Myanmar, restricted access to dollars has left buyers unable to pay for imports.

In Laos, long queues formed at petrol stations last month as the country struggled to secure sufficient fuel from its existing suppliers in Thailand and Vietnam, forcing the government to institute rationing.

Africa has been especially hard hit, with Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and even oil-producing Nigeria all reporting fuel shortages.

Airlines operating in some parts of the continent have had to either cancel flights or fill up with jet fuel elsewhere.

Part of the problem is that demand is rebounding from the pandemic in developed nations, especially with the start of the northern hemisphere’s summer driving season. New York-area gasoline inventories dropped to the lowest since 2017 last month, according to the Energy Informa-

Sri Lanka is trying to restart its only refinery with Russian oil, as the government tries to crack down on a growing black market for fuel. Laos industry and commerce minister Khampheng Saysompheng also said purchasing cheap Russian oil could be an option, according to local news.

“Heavy discounts for Russian barrels, purely from a price standpoint, are attractive to some of these markets,” said Peter Lee, senior oil and gas analyst for Fitch Solutions.

Last month, a record volume of Russian oil headed to India and China.

For some poorer nations, the effects of higher oil prices feeds into a downward spiral, where fuel import bills hurt the economy and weaken the currency, making oil imports even more expensive.

Sri Lanka’s rupee has dropped nearly 44 percent this year against the US dollar, while Pakistan’s rupee is down more than 11 percent.

The result is an increasingly frustrated electorate that tends to blame the government when prices of food and fuel soar.

To cushion the blow, some governments are increasing subsidies or cutting fuel taxes, often at the expense of state finances.

Mexico’s gasoline and diesel subsidies are costing the government more than double the extra profit the oil producer gets from higher crude prices, according to estimates by Bloomberg Economics.

South Africa is among those that temporarily reduced fuel taxes. Even so, motorists in the country are contending with an almost 80 percent increase in fuel prices since 2020’s pandemicinduced low.

Indonesia, which saw President Suharto resign in 1998 after bloody protests over fuel prices and inf lation, announced last month it would increase state spending by around $27 billion this year, partly to pay for a 56 percent jump in fuel subsidies.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in April after reducing fuel prices and then freezing them for four months, costing the government $600 million a month in subsidies and jeopardizing an IMF bailout.

High prices and shortages of fuel not only anger voters, they feed into wider economic problems. Farmers that can’t secure or afford enough diesel can’t plant as many crops, further boosting food shortages and inflation. Higher ship-fuel prices raise logistics costs. And governments that sacrifice income to keep fuel taxes low have less to spend on other areas of the economy or have to increase borrowing just as interest rates are rising.

“What the world is realizing post-pandemic is there is a need to secure your own energy supplies,” said Chauhan at Energy Aspects.

“It’s amplified the impact on a transition from an internationally traded fossil-fuel biased supply chain to a domestic green energy transition.” Bloomberg News

the yacht didn’t get entangled in any further legal action.

Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the US Justice Department, said on Twitter that the superyacht had set sail for the US under a new flag, and that American authorities were grateful to police and prosecutors in Fiji “whose perseverance and dedication to the rule of law made this action possible.”

In early May, the Justice Department issued a statement saying the Amadea had been seized in Fiji, but that turned out to be premature after lawyers appealed.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the US intended to take the Amadea, which the FBI has linked to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

Fiji Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde said unresolved questions of money laundering and the ownership of the Amadea need to be decided in the US. “The decision acknowledges Fiji’s commitment to respecting

international mutual assistance requests and Fiji’s international obligations,” Pryde said.

In court documents, the FBI linked the Amadea to the Kerimov family through their alleged use of code names while aboard and the purchase of items such as a pizza oven and a spa bed. The ship became a target of Task Force KleptoCapture, launched in March to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs to put pressure on Russia to end the war.

The 106-meter (348-foot) -long vessel, about the length of a football field, features a live lobster tank, a hand-painted piano, a swimming pool and a large helipad.

Lawyer Feizal Haniff, who represented paper owner Millemarin Investments, had argued the owner was another wealthy Russian who, unlike Kerimov, doesn’t face sanctions.

The US acknowledged that paperwork appeared to show Eduard Khudainatov was the owner but said he was also the paper owner of a second and even larger supery-

acht, the Scheherazade, which has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US questioned whether Khudainatov could really afford two superyachts worth a total of more than $1 billion.

“The fact that Khudainatov is being held out as the owner of two of the largest superyachts on record, both linked to sanctioned individuals, suggests that Khudainatov is being used as a clean, unsanctioned straw owner to conceal the true beneficial owners,” the FBI wrote in a court affidavit.

Court documents say the Amadea switched off its transponder soon after Russia invaded Ukraine and sailed from the Caribbean through the Panama Canal to Mexico, arriving with over $100,000 in cash. It then sailed thousands of miles (kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to Fiji.

The Justice Department said it didn’t believe paperwork showing the Amadea was next headed to the Philippines, arguing it was

really destined for Vladivostok or elsewhere in Russia.

The department said it found a text message on a crewmember’s phone saying, “We’re not going to Russia” followed by a “shush” emoji.

The US said Kerimov secretly bought the Cayman Island-flagged Amadea last year through various shell companies. The FBI said a search warrant in Fiji turned up e-mails showing that Kerimov’s children were aboard the ship this year and that the crew used code names—G0 for Kerimov, G1 for his wife, G2 for his daughter and so on.

Kerimov made a fortune investing in Russian gold producer Polyus, with Forbes magazine putting his net worth at $14.5 billion. The US first sanctioned him in 2018 after he was detained in France and accused of money laundering there, sometimes arriving with suitcases stuffed with 20 million euros.

K hudainatov is the former chairman and chief executive of Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil and gas company.

D

eveloping nations are suffering the biggest hit from this year’s oil shock.

Many are dependent on imported fuel and are being crushed by a combination of high international prices, weak currencies and competition from rich nations whose economies are rebounding from the pandemic.

Higher fuel bills are exacerbating inflation in countries that are already struggling with soaring food prices. The combination is leading to unrest and protests from citizens, which democratic governments know from experience is one of the surest ways to lose popularity and power.

Sri Lanka, Laos, Nigeria and Argentina are among emerging economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America that have seen long queues at some filling stations in the past weeks because of fuel shortages.

Many governments are faced with the dilemma of either cushioning the blow of higher prices by increasing subsidies or lowering taxes—both of which hurt state finances—or allowing fuel prices to increase and risking the anger of consumers and businesses that can’t afford the extra cost.

Emerging unrest

A pumpjack in the town of Ebano, San Luis Potosi state, Mexico, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. The high price of crude oil will allow Mexico to subsidize fuel prices for consumers if needed, said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at a press briefing. Bloomberg photo

tion Administration.

Meanwhile, Europe has been buying huge stocks of jet fuel in expectation of a pent-up travel boom this summer, and diesel to replace Russian supplies.

“Europe is a large demand sink, and it’s not going to be easy to replace,” said Chauhan.

“Emerging markets are going to find it difficult to compete.”

The jump in demand hasn’t been matched by a ramp-up in refining capacity. During the pandemic, when demand slumped, operations at refineries in countries such as the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore were reduced and inventories run down.

Now, refiners are racing to rebuild inventories.

The problem for many is where to find the crude oil. With rich nations buying up supplies from traditional sources such as the Middle East, some developing nations are being tempted to go for discounted Russian oil, despite the concern about angering the US and Europe, which are trying to pressure Russia with sanctions.

Russian lure

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Sunday, June 12, 2022

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Rich nations may fork out billions to wean Indonesia off coal power

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By Philip Heijmans & Dan Murtaugh / Bloomberg

ver since Indonesia accelerated plans last year to achieve carbon neutrality, a parade of climate envoys from developed nations has headed to the archipelago, offering assistance and financial aid in exchange for a commitment by the world’s biggest exporter of coal by weight to phase out coal power.

Officials from the US and Europe hope to secure a deal by the time Indonesia hosts G-20 leaders in Bali in November, establishing a major milestone in the global effort to cut emissions and providing an impetus for the United Nations’ COP27 climate summit in Egypt the same month.

It’s an ambitious goal. Coal generates about 60 percent of Indonesia’s electricity and the fossil fuel has made fortunes for some of the nation’s most powerful business elites. The war in Ukraine has lifted global demand, boosting the stocks and profits of coalmining companies, making them even more attractive for investors.

Meanwhile, the nation’s monopoly power distributor gets coal for its power plants at a discount, giving it little incentive to hook up renewable-energy suppliers.

Rich nations are betting that agreements known as Just Energy Transition Partnerships will help break the deadlock and provide fossil fuel-dependent nations such as South Africa and Indonesia with the financing and support to speed up the transition. Donors must “break the status quo,” said US climate envoy John Kerry in April.

Yet three people from donor countr ies w ith k nowledge of the talks, who visited Indonesia this year, raised concerns privately that Indonesian President

Joko Widodo’s cabinet is split over the need to end the use of coa l. Some want to continue building the coal sector, negotiators said. Others are seeking billions for each shuttered coal plant and some factions would like to continue building them, said Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director of the international climate program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who monitors the discussions.

“That’s not what the donor countries” envision, Schmidt said.

“The framework is basically stop building new coal and begin to decline,” but “there are parts of the Indonesian government that are not quite there.”

Publicly, the Indonesian government has made a strong commitment to rein in coal and develop green energy. Dian Triansyah Djani, Co-Sherpa for Indonesia’s G-20 presidency and ambassador to the UN, said the country welcomes the discussions toward the Just Energy Transition Partnership. Jokowi, as the president is known, has pledged to shut all Indonesia’s coal-power plants by 2055 and be 100 percent dependent on renewable sources five years later. No new coal-fired power plants will be approved and there are plans to finally roll out a carbon tax in July.

Those targets will be tough to meet without a deal with wealthy

Barges transport coal on the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan, a province that relies on the fossil fuel for about half its economy. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg

nations, as well as detailed regulations that force power users and generators to switch to clean energy. A government study said the nation will need $150-$200 billion investment in low carbon programs annually until 2030, or roughly 3.5 percent of projected GDP, to meet its net-zero targets.

“If they don’t have a comprehensive dialogue and a comprehensive strategy, it’s unlikely that the transition will happen,” said Stephan Garnier, Indonesia energy coordinator and lead energy specialist at the World Bank.

Indonesia is one of a handful of resource-driven nations that could make a major difference in the battle to curb climate change. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has the world’s fourth biggest population and is the second-biggest coal producer. Coal output began to soar in the 1990s and powerful local investors snapped up controlling interests in some mining companies, augmenting the wealth of a largely decentralized elite class.

Predicting a boom in demand for electricity, Indonesia began to invest heavily in coal power, a trend that continued under Jokowi.

In 2015, he launched a program to build 35,000 megawatts of new power capacity largely supported by an additional 117 new coal-fired power plants. By 2020, electricity

output had grown more than fivefold over nearly two decades.

But growth in demand didn’t keep up. When the added capacity comes online, and some of it is years behind schedule, it could create a power surplus of as much as 40 percent, according to the Institute for Essential Services Reform. The country’s biggest grid, covering Java and Bali, already has 24 percent more capacity than it needs, according to BloombergNEF. That has driven domestic coal power costs well below international market rates, squeezing out renewables.

The nation’s 2030 goal is to reduce emissions by between 29 percent and 41 percent from the level they would grow to if the government didn’t change any policies. Officials have said the country can reach the low end of the band with measures such as mixing plant debris in with coal, retiring older power stations early and reducing subsidies, but it will need foreign assistance to achieve more.

“Because of this oversupply of coal, going beyond that by 2030 will be difficult,” said Garnier.

Much could depend on talks between donors and South Africa, which has led the field in terms of establishing a JETP. Ambassador Djani said Indonesia is in talks with South Africa about the

structure and implementation of the partnership.

But even if all goes well in South Africa, Indonesia has its own set of unique issues to overcome. The government requires coal miners to sell at least a quarter of their supplies domestically with prices capped at $70 a ton for the highest quality, compared with recent prices of around $400 a ton in the global market. That means state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara can produce electricity from its power plants more cheaply than the cost of producing green power. Worse still, PLN signed take-or-pay contracts with the coal plants, many of which operate well below capacity.

So when demand increases, PLN can draw more power from them at zero extra cost, which is tough to beat, no matter how cheap solar is.

Investments in clean energy “must follow PLN’s timeframe and needs, with no other recourse if a deal with PLN doesn’t work out,” said Fabby Tumiwa, executive director at the Jakarta-based Institute for Essential Services Reform.

“A reform to the electricity market structure so that PLN is not the single off-taker would quicken the shift to renewables.”

And coal remains the heart of Indonesia’s energy supply, with production at record levels. Even with the moratorium on new projects, coal-fired power plants already under construction will add another 14 GW of capacity from 2021-2030. This year, Jokowi broke ground on the nation’s first coal gasification plant, which will cost $2.3 billion.

In coal-mining regions such as East Kalimantan, proposed site of Indonesia’s new capital, coal accounts for almost half the economy, according to Tumiwa at the IESR. Increased demand from abroad since the war in Ukraine has sent shares in mining companies soaring. Shares of miner PT Adaro Minerals Indonesia have jumped more than 1,500 percent since its public debut in January. As many as half of the 575 lawmakers in parliament have connections with the mining sector, according to the Indonesia

Mining Advocacy Network, which investigates the crossover between officials and business.

“Countries have always relied on the resources available to them to increase electrification rates and drive economic growth,” said Caroline Chua, an analyst with BloombergNEF. “In Indonesia, that resource was coal.”

Indonesia has the theoretical potential to meet the entire world’s electricity demand from renewables, according to an IESR study last year, but it has fewer solar panels than Norway and has barely begun to tap abundant wind and geothermal resources. Lifetime costs of solar projects in Indonesia could be as much as 40 percent lower if finance and investment risks were comparable to those in advanced economies, according to the International Energy Agency.

Still, there are some signs of progress. The Asian Development Bank last year launched a multibillion dollar plan that aims to help Indonesia and the Philippines retire 50 percent of their coal plants over the next 10 to 15 years. Indonesia, in turn, has said it will retire some of the power stations earlier than scheduled if they meet the end of their economic life cycle, a plan Tumiwa says could involve as much as 9.3 gigawatts of capacity through 2030.

And despite all the obstacles, negotiators are optimistic that a deal can be reached this year.

“Indonesia will be our next partnership,” US Treasury Climate Counselor John Morton said at an event with the Center for Global Development in early May. “If this were easy, it would have been done years ago. Countries could have managed this on their own,” he said. “We’re talking about economy-wide economic transitions of energy sectors, which are huge political beasts.”

With assistance from Jennifer A Dlouhy, Michael Nienaber, Jess Shankleman, Eko Listiyorini, Soraya Permatasari, Rieka Rahadiana, Fathiya Dahrul, Yudith Ho, John Ainger and Kevin Dharmawan.

Biden orders emergency steps to boost US solar production

By Will Weissert The Associated Press

W

ASHINGTON—President Joe Biden ordered emergency measures Monday to boost crucial supplies to US solar manufacturers and declared a two-year tariff exemption on solar panels from Southeast Asia as he attempted to jumpstart progress toward his climate change-fighting goals.

His invoking of the Defense Production Act and his other executive actions come amid complaints by industry groups that the solar sector is being slowed

by supply chain problems due to a Commerce Department inquiry into possible trade violations involving Chinese products. Word of the White House’s actions caused solar energy companies to gain ground on Wall Street.

The Commerce Department announced in March that it was scrutinizing imports of solar panels from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, concerned that products from those countries are skirting US antidumping rules that limit imports from China.

Asked at the White House if Biden’s pause in tariffs was not a gift to China, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he was invoking the Defense Production Act, “to make sure that he’s delivering for the American people.”

“He is putting the full force of the federal government behind supporting American clean energy producers,” Jean-Pierre said.

W hite House officials said Biden’s actions aim to increase domestic production of solar panel parts, building installation

materials, high-efficiency heat pumps and other components including cells used for cleanenerg y generated fuels. T hey called the tariff suspension affecting imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia a bridge measure while other efforts increase domestic solar power production—even as the administration remains supportive of US trade laws and the Commerce Department investigation.

Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo told a Senate panel in May that the solar inquiry is following a process set by law that doesn’t allow consideration of climate change, supply chains or other factors. She said Monday that she remains “committed to upholding our trade laws and ensuring American workers have a chance to compete on a level playing field.” “ The president’s emergency declaration ensures America’s families have access to reliable and clean electricity while also ensuring we have the ability to hold our trading partners accountable to their commitments,” Raimondo

said in a statement.

Clean energy leaders have long warned that the investigation— which could result in retroactive tariffs of up to 240 percent— would severely hinder the US solar industry, leading to thousands of layoffs and imperiling up to 80 percent of planned solar projects around the country.

The department counters that rates exceeding 200 percent for solar products would not apply to the vast majority of imports.

They instead typically apply to uncooperative companies that cannot differentiate themselves from China’s government or Communist Party.

Still, any possible punishment might have jeopardized one of Biden’s top clean energy goals and run counter to his administration’s push for renewable energy such as wind and solar power, advocates argue. “ The president’s announcement will rejuvenate the construction and domestic manufacturing of solar power by restoring predictability and business

certainty that the Department of Commerce’s f lawed inquiry has disrupted,” Heather Zichal, CEO of the American Clean Power Association and a former Obama administration official, said in a statement Monday.

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, cheered Biden’s “thoughtful approach to addressing the current crisis of the paralyzed solar supply chain.”

“Today’s actions protect existing solar jobs, will lead to increased employment in the solar industry and foster a robust solar manufacturing base here at home,” Ross Hopper said in a statement.

But not everyone in the industry was supportive.

First Solar Inc., a major solar panel manufacturer, said that freezing tariffs would grant “unfettered access to China’s statesubsidized solar companies for the next two years” and that using the Defense Production Act is “an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars and falls well short of a durable solar industrial policy.”

“The administration cannot stick a Band-Aid on the issue and hope that it goes away,” Samantha Sloan, the company’s vice president of policy, said in a statement.

The use of executive action comes as the Biden administration’s clean energy tax cuts, and other major proposals meant to encourage domestic green energy production, have stalled in Congress.

The Defense Production Act lets the federal government direct manufacturing production for national defense and has become a tool used more commonly by presidents in recent years. The Trump administration used it to produce medical equipment and supplies during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden invoked its authority in April to boost production of lithium and other minerals used to power electric vehicles. Last month, he used it again to prioritize boosting the nation’s supplies of baby formula amid a domestic shortage caused by the safetyrelated closure of the country’s largest formula factory.

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Sunday, June 12, 2022

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Ukraine fears long war might erode West’s resolve to help

By Colleen Barry & Yuras Karmanau

Street vendors take off their shoes to show their toes on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe on Thursday, June, 9, 2022. Rampant inflation is making it increasingly difficult for people in Zimbabwe to make ends meet. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, official statistics show that Zimbabwe’s inflation rate has shot up from 66 percent to more than 130 percent. The country’s finance minister says the impact of the Ukraine war is heaping problems on the already fragile economy. AP/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Zimbabweans count their toes as inflation soars above 130%

By Farai Mutsaka

H

The Associated Press

ARARE, Zimbabwe—Battling rampant inflation, Zimbabweans are counting their toes as they struggle to buy food for their families.

A n Inter net r umor bla zed through the country that desperate people were selling their toes for cash. The false report became so widespread that the country’s Deputy Minister of Information Kindness Paradza visited street vendors in central Harare earlier this month to debunk it.

One-by-one the traders took off their shoes to show that they had all 10 toes, as Zimbabwe’s state media recorded the digital investigation.

Paradza declared the toes-formoney story a hoax, as did local and foreign fact-checkers. Police later arrested a street vendor who now faces a fine or 6 months in jail on charges of criminal nuisance for allegedly starting the story.

It’s starkly true, however, that Zimbabweans are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate has shot up from 66 percent to more than 130 percent, according to official statistics.

The war in Ukraine has exacerbated inflation rising around the world. Consumer prices in the 19 European Union countries that use the euro currency surged 8.1 percent in May, a record rate as energy and food costs climb. In the US and the United Kingdom, annual inflation hit or was close to 40-year highs of 8.3 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in April.

Turkey approached Zimbabwe’s eye-watering prices, with inflation reaching 73.5 percent in May, the highest in 24 years.

In Zimbabwe, the impact of the Ukraine war is heaping problems on the already fragile economy.

The war “coupled with our histor ica l domest ic imba l ances, has created challenges in terms of economic instabi l it y seen through the currency volatility and spilling over into price volatility,” Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told Parliament in May. Teachers “can no longer afford bread and other basics, this is too much,” tweeted the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe in early June. The three largest teachers’ unions are demanding the government pay their salaries in US dollars because their pay in local currency is “eroded overnight.”

“Because of high inflation, the local currency is collapsing,” economic analyst Prosper Chitambara told The Associated Press. “Individuals and companies no longer trust the local currency and that has put pressure on the demand for US dollars. The Ukraine war is simply exacerbating an already difficult situation.”

Many fear Zimbabwe could return to the hyperinflation of 2008, which reached 500 billion percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. At that time, plastic bags full of 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar banknotes were not enough to buy basic groceries.

T he economic catastrophe forced then-President Robert Mugabe to form a “unity government” with the opposition and adopt a multi-currency system in 2009 in which US dollars and the South African rand were accepted as legal tender.

The US dollar continues to dominate with prices in local currency often benchmarked to the rates for the American currency on the flourishing illegal market, where most individuals and companies get their foreign currency.

Across the country, currency traders line the streets and crowd entrances to shopping centers waving wads of both the local currency and US dollars.

Many Zimbabweans who earn in local currency such as government workers are forced to source dollars on the illegal market, where exchange rates are soaring, to pay for goods and services that are increasingly being charged in US dollars.

Retailers said the rising rates for US dollars on the illegal market are forcing them to frequently increase prices, often every few days, to allow them to restock.

The once-prosperous southern African country’s economy is battered by years of de-industrialization, corruption, low investment, low exports and high debt.

Zimbabwe struggles to generate an adequate inflow of greenbacks needed for its largely dollarized local economy.

Ordinary Zimbabweans are returning to coping mechanisms they relied on during the hyperinflationary era such as skipping meals. Others now buy food items in smaller quantities, sometimes in such tiny packages they are enough for just a single meal. Locals call them “tsaona,” meaning “accident” in the local Shona language.

Promising better days ahead, Ncube, the finance minister, said the government “will not hesitate to act and intervene to cushion against price increases and exchange rate volatility.”

Many are skeptical of such vows from the government, saying nothing short of a miracle will pull Zimbabwe out of its economic crisis. Even while coping with constantly rising prices, many can’t help making grim jokes about the situation.

“I still have all my toes intact but it wouldn’t hurt selling one,” chuckled Harare resident Asani Sibanda. “I could still walk without it, but my family would at least get some food.”

AP journalist Courtney Bonnell contributed from London.

K

The Associated Press

YIV, Ukraine— As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds into its fourth month, officials in Kyiv have expressed fears that the specter of “war fatigue” could erode the West’s resolve to help the country push back Moscow’s aggression.

The US and its allies have given billions of dollars in weaponry to Ukraine. Europe has taken in millions of people displaced by the war. And there has been unprecedented unity in post-World War II Europe in imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and his country.

But as the shock of the Februay 24 invasion subsides, analysts say the Kremlin could exploit a draggedout, entrenched conflict and possible waning interest among Western powers that might lead to pressuring Ukraine into a settlement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already has chafed at Western suggestions he should accept some sort of compromise.

Ukraine, he said, would decide its own terms for peace.

“The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome (that is beneficial) for themselves, and we want (another) outcome for ourselves,” he said.

An Italian peace proposal was dismissed, and French President Emmanuel Macron was met with an angry backlash after he was quoted as saying that although Putin’s invasion was a “historic error,” world powers shouldn’t “humiliate Russia, so when the fighting stops, we can build a way out together via diplomatic paths.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said such talk “can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it.”

Even a remark by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that Ukraine should consider territorial concessions drew a retort from Zelenskyy that it was tantamount to European powers in 1938 letting Nazi Germany claim parts of Czechoslovakia to curb Adolf Hitler’s aggression.

Kyiv wants to push Russia out of the newly captured areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, as well as retaking Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and parts of the Donbas under control of Kremlinbacked separatists for the past eight years.

Every month of the war is costing Ukraine $5 billion, said Volodymyr Fesenko, political analyst with the Penta Center think tank, and that “makes Kyiv dependent on the consolidated position of the Western countries.”

Ukraine will need even more advanced weaponry to secure victory, along with Western determination to keep up the economic pain on Russia to weaken Moscow.

“It is obvious that Russia is determined to wear down the West and is now building its strategy on the assumption that Western countries will get tired and gradually begin to change their militant rhetoric to a more accommodating one,” Fesenko said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The war still gets prominent coverage in both the United States and Europe, which have been horrified by images of the deaths of Ukrainian civilians in the biggest fighting on the continent since World War II. T he US cont inues to help Ukraine, with President Joe Biden

saying last week that Washington will provide it with advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable it to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield.

In a New York Times essay on May 31, Biden said, “I will not pressure the Ukrainian government— in private or public—to make any territorial concessions.”

Germany, which had faced criticism from Kyiv and elsewhere for perceived hesitancy, has pledged its most modern air defense systems yet.

“There has been nothing like it, even in the Cold War when the Soviet Union appeared most threatening,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

While he doesn’t see a significant erosion in the “emphatic support for Ukraine,” Gould-Davies said “there are hints of different tensions over what the West’s goals should be. Those have not yet been clearly defined.”

Europe’s domestic concerns are nudging their way into the discourse, especially as energy prices and raw materials shortages start to take an economic toll

on ordinary people who are facing higher electricity bills, fuel costs and grocery prices.

While European leaders hailed the decision to block 90 percent of Russian oil exports by the end of the year as “a complete success,” it took four weeks of negotiations and included a concession allowing Hungary, widely seen as the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, to continue imports. Weeks more of political fine-tuning are required.

“It shows that unity in Europe is declining a bit on the Russian invasion,’’ said Matteo Villa, an analyst with the ISPI think tank in Milan. “There is this kind of fatigue setting in among member states on finding new ways to sanction Russia, and clearly w it h in t he Eu ropea n Un ion, there are some countries that are less and less willing to go on with sanctions.’’

Wary of the economic impact of further energy sanctions, the European Commission has signaled it won’t rush to propose fresh restrictive measures targeting Russian gas. EU lawmakers are also appealing for financial aid for citizens hit by heating and fuel price hikes to ensure that public

support for Ukraine doesn’t wane.

Italy’s right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, who has been seen as close to Moscow, told foreign journalists this week that Italians are ready to make sacrifices, and that his League supports the sanctions against Russia.

But he indicated that backing is not unlimited, amid signs the trade balance under sanctions has shifted in Moscow’s favor, hurting small business owners in northern Italy who are part of his base.

“Italians are very available to make personal economic sacrifices to support Ukraine’s defense and arrive at a cease-fire,’’ Salvini said.

“What I would not like is to find us back here in September, after three months with the conflict still ongoing. If that is the case, it will be a disaster for Italy. Beyond the deaths, and saving lives, which is the priority, economically, for Italy, if the war goes on, it will be a disaster,” he said. Barry reported from Milan.

Angela Charlton in Paris, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, and Aya Batrawy in Davos, Switzerland, contributed.

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Independ

A BusinessMirr

Sunday, June 12, 2022 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

124TH PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY

Rising towards the challenge of a new beginning

By Leony R. Garcia

‘M

ALIGAYANG Araw ng Kalayaan! As we commemorate the 118th anniversary of our nation’s independence, let it be an occasion to remember the many sacrifices of our forefathers to give us the freedom from that balcony in Kawit, Cavite, in 1898. However, in the present time, freedom does not only connote freedom of movement from foreign invasion. Freedom also includes freedom from all sorts of injustices and prejudices.

Freedom from poverty. Freedom from discrimination. Freedom from ignorance. Freedom from mediocrity and incompetence. Freedom from all sorts of abuse. These are some of the aspects of freedom that we need to conquer.”

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., posted this message on his Facebook page in 2016 when he was a senator. Six years later, his message still resonates to this day – that we need to conquer these aspects of freedom.

He continued, “It is my fervent hope that we overcome all the challenges that hamper our growth as a nation and as a people. Today’s Independence Day celebration is an opportune time

June 12 celebrations

to begin the change that we so fervently need in order that we truly regain the freedom we all long for our nation and our children.”

As the country commemorates the 124th observance of Independence Day today, the majority of the Filipinos are putting their hopes on the incoming administration. Winning via a landslide victory in the May 9 polls, Marcos Jr., popularly known as BBM, secured 31 million votes. This historical feat has made him the country’s first majority president.

Unity

POLITICAL analysts believe that voters were swayed to vote for BBM because of his decision to stay out of the mudslinging and his promise to unite the country while continuing with the legacy of President Rodrigo Duterte. As part of its Covid-19 pandemic recovery plan, BBM’s UniTeam party has pledged to revive the agriculture sector and continue Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program to generate jobs and jumpstart the economy.

This positive messaging extends to BBM’s social media platforms, where political content is interspersed with lighthearted family vlogs. The in-

STREET vendor Jomar Edel tries to make a living by selling the Philippine flag to motorists caught in traffic. BERNARD TESTA

coming president reportedly has over 1.2 followers on TikTok, two million subscribers on YouTube, and 5.3 million followers on Facebook.

Experts also agree that those who did not experience the older Marcos’ regime voted for BBM. Marcos Jr. appeared to offer a refreshing choice, especially after his predecessors failed to solve

the grinding poverty, weak infrastructure, and deep-seated corruption that dominate the daily lives of so many Filipinos. Many people believe that the leaders who came after Marcos Sr. fell short of fulfilling the fundamental ideals and aspirations of the Filipino people, which was expressed in the then famous bloodless revolution of 1986.

HISTORICAL records show that it was former President Diosdado Macapagal who decided to move the Philippines’ Independence Day from July 4 to June 12.

Marcos Sr., then a senator during the Macapagal administration, was one of the biggest supporters of this decision. He continued to uphold the June 12 independence date even as he declared Martial Law in September 1972. He commemorated Independence Day with presidential speeches in ceremonies usually held in Manila, along with the usual parade and celebrations.

In his speeches, Marcos Sr. defended the implementation of the “emergency government” of Martial Law, saying that it was needed in order to ultimately preserve the country’s democracy and maintain stability.

During Duterte’s term, the country observed the holiday with Mindanao under military rule. In May 2017, Duterte declared martial law on the Philippines’ southern island, including in his own hometown in Davao, following the attack of local terrorists in Marawi City.

“Take heart all the learnings from the past”

MEANWHILE, outgoing President Duterte has urged Filipinos

to “take heart of all the learnings from the past” in a speech he made ahead of the celebration of the 124th Philippine Independence Day. He delivered his speech during the virtual celebration of Independence Day and the 21st Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day organized by the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII).

The president reminded Filipinos about the importance of celebrating Independence Day on June 12. It is, he said, a testament of how the country’s forefathers fought for the freedoms that Filipinos enjoy today.

“May it inspire us to take after the courage of our heroes as well as encourage us to use our ability, skills, and knowledge for the benefit of our community.

Take heart all the learnings from the past especially the countless hardships that Filipinos had to endure as a nation,” he said.

“Let our rich history move to translate our love for this country into real acts of goodwill for all our fellow men. Let us also work together so that we could realize our vision of a more harmonious and progressive Philippines. May we have a meaningful commemoration,” Duterte concluded.

dence Day

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www.businessmirror.com.ph | Sunday, June 12, 2022

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Stand proud and celebrate being Filipino with SM Supermalls

A

S our national hero, Jose Rizal once said, “He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.” Tracing one’s roots is important to building one’s character. It is crucial to keep your feet on the ground as you reach greater heights. The same rings true for all Filipinos; we cannot truly appreciate the freedom we enjoy today without being aware of what our ancestors have fought for to gain our independence.

To celebrate Philippine Independence Day, SM Supermalls will

be holding major events to commemorate this national holiday and encourage Pinoys to further embrace Filipino culture.

Join SM Supermalls’ Flag Raising Ceremony

SHOW your love of country and value the sacrifices of the Filipinos who died protecting and defending it. Come in colors of the Philippine flag and head to SM Supermalls’ Flag Raising Ceremony on June 12, 2022 – assembly time is at 8:30am.

Give it the utmost importance, as this is the thread that knits Filipi-

nos together from one generation to the next.

Buy Local, Buy Pinoy

SUPPORT local businesses, buy fresh local produce and other specialty items from SM’s affiliates and tenants through the Buy Pinoy pop-up stores. Shop the best locally-made clothes, souvenirs, décor, and food brought to you by only the best Filipino businesses from June 1 to June 12, 2022.

“SM Supermalls have always celebrated Pinoy pride through various events where we get to ap-

preciate our culture and express our gratitude to the heroes of past and present. Our Philippine Independence Day should never be taken for granted, because holding our national pride and heritage in high regard is what makes us true-blooded Filipinos through and through. We encourage everyone to join us as we celebrate freedom at SM Supermalls” Steven T. Tan, President of SM Supermalls, said.

For #SafeMallingAtSM, you can follow SM Supermalls on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Spend Independence Day weekend at Las Casas Quezon City

I

NDEPENDENCE Day, for all Filipinos, should be a day to celebrate! And we know that the offers and festivities in store this June 12 at Las Casas, Quezon City are sure to instill Filipino sense of pride.

Back by popular demand, Las Casas QC’s Independence Day Fiesta Street Party will showcase the finest of Filipino cuisine, tal-

ents, and more. Celebrate with a pinoy street food feast or delight in a Filipino themed buffet dinner. Enjoy entertainment by local artists and performers as you dine amidst the awe-inspiring architecture and artistry that surrounds the plaza.

Celebrate with local craft cocktails made from local liquors, local craft beers, delica-

cies and so much more. They have also recently relaunched a new menu showcasing classic and modern Filipino dishes and a brand-new Spanish tapas menu that is sure to delight.

For dining reservations and more information about Las Casas Quezon City, call +63917 136 6796 or +63933 822 4522 or visit our website at www.lascasasqc.com.

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World Features BusinessMirror

Sunday, June 12, 2022

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

‘Only God can help’: Hundreds die as Somalia faces famine

By OMAR FARUK & CARA ANNA

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The Associated Press

OGADISHU, Somalia—No mother should have to lose her child. Owliyo Hassan Salaad has watched four die this year.

A drought in the Horn of Africa has taken them, one by one.

Doctor Mustaf Yusuf treats Ali Osman, 3, who is showing symptoms of Kwashiorkor, a severe protein malnutrition causing swelling and skin lesions, as his mother Owliyo Hassan Salaad, 40, holds him at a malnutrition stabilization center run by Action against Hunger, in Mogadishu, Somalia on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Deaths have begun in the region’s most parched drought in decades and previously unreported data show nearly 450 deaths this year at malnutrition treatment centers in Somalia alone. AP/Farah Abdi Warsameh

Now she cradles her frail and squalling 3-year-old, Ali Osman, whom she carried on a 90-kilometer (55-mile) walk from her village to Somalia’s capital, desperate not to lose him too. Sitting on the floor of a malnutrition treatment center filled with anxious mothers, she can barely speak about the small bodies buried back home in soil too dry for planting.

Deaths have begun in the region’s most parched drought in four decades. Previously unreported data shared with The Associated Press show at least 448 deaths this year at malnutrition treatment centers in Somalia alone. Authorities in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are now shifting to the grim task of trying to prevent famine.

Many more people are dying beyond the notice of authorities, like Salaad’s four children, all younger than 10. Some die in remote pastoral communities. Some die on treks in search of help. Some die even after reaching displacement camps, malnourished beyond aid.

“Definitely thousands” have died, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, told reporters on Tuesday, though the data to support that is

yet to come.

Salaad left behind another four children with her husband. They were too weak to make the journey to Mogadishu, she said.

Drought comes and goes in the Horn of Africa, but this is one like no other. Humanitarian assistance has been sapped by global crises like the Covid-19 pandemic and now Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Prices for staples like wheat and cooking oil are rising quickly, in some places by more than 100 percent. Millions of the livestock that provide families with milk, meat and wealth have died. Even the therapeutic food to treat hungry people like Salaad’s son is becoming more expensive and, in some places, might run out.

And for the first time, a fifth straight rainy season might fail.

An “explosion of child deaths” is coming to the Horn of Africa if the world focuses only on the war in Ukraine and doesn’t act now, UNICEF said Tuesday.

Famine even threatens Somalia’s capital as displacement camps on Mogadishu’s outskirts swell with exhausted new arrivals. Salaad and her son were turned away from a crowded hospital after ar-

Children of men accused of looting Nigeria are running for public office

By William Clowes

M

ohammed Abacha helped his father steal billions of dollars from Nigeria’s public coffers, international investigators say. Now he’s been selected to run for high office in Africa’s biggest economy.

The 54-year-old, who US prosecutors and a Nigerian probe say helped the late dictator Sani Abacha to embezzle about $2.3 billion in the 1990s, is seeking to become governor of northern Nigeria’s commercial hub. He’s one of at least four candidates from families with members accused of looting large sums from the state—from millions to billions of dollars—that won primaries held by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party last month, and could win in February’s elections.

Good-governance experts said their primary wins add to a long history

of impunity among political families in Africa’s biggest crude producer.

Mohammed Abacha, who has long denied allegations of wrongdoing, didn’t respond to requests for comment by phone, email and text message.

“It shows how permissive we are as a society of corruption and looting,” said Ayisha Osori, a director at the Open Society Foundations who unsuccessfully sought to represent the then ruling PDP in elections held in 2015. “The children of these people see Nigeria as the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

Mohammed Abacha, who is running for governor of Kano state, was a key member of the group that enabled his father to steal about $2.3 billion, according to US prosecutors and a probe ordered by Sani Abacha’s successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Investigators in numerous countries including Nigeria, the US, the UK

riving a week ago.

They were sent instead to the treatment center for the extremely malnourished where rooms are full, extra beds have been put out and yet some people must sleep on the floor. Mothers wince, and babies wail, as tiny bodies with sores and protruding ribs are gently checked for signs of recovery.

“The center is overwhelmed,” said Dr. Mustaf Yusuf, a physician there. Admissions more than doubled in May to 122 patients.

At least 30 people have died this year through April at the center and six other facilities run by Action Against Hunger, the humanitarian group said. It is seeing the highest admission rates to its hunger treatment centers since it began working in Somalia in 1992, with the number of severely malnourished children up 55 percent from last year.

More broadly, at least 448 people died this year at outpatient and in-patient malnutrition treatment centers across Somalia through April, according to data compiled by humanitarian groups and local authorities.

Aid workers warn the data is incomplete and the overall death toll from the drought remains elusive.

“We know from experience that mortality rises suddenly when all the conditions are in place—displacement, disease outbreaks, malnutrition—all of which we are currently seeing in Somalia,” said Biram Ndiaye, UNICEF Somalia’s chief of nutrition.

Mortality surveys conducted in parts of Somalia in December and again in April and May by the UN’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit showed a “severe and rapid deterioration within a very short time frame.” Most alarming was the Bay region in the south, where adult mortality nearly tripled, child mortality more than doubled and the rate of the most severe malnutrition tripled.

Deaths and acute malnutrition have reached “atypically high levels” in much of southern and central Somalia, and admissions of acutely malnourished children under 5 have risen by over 40 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

One notable complication in counting deaths is the extremist group al-Shabab, whose control over large parts of southern and central Somalia is a barrier to aid.

Its harsh response to Somalia’s drought-driven famine from 20102012 was a factor in more than a quarter-million deaths, half of them children.

Another factor was the international community’s slow response.

“A drama without witnesses,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia said at the time.

Now the alarms are sounding again.

More than 200,000 people in Somalia face “catastrophic hunger and starvation, a drastic increase from the 81,000 forecast in April,” a joint statement by UN agencies said Monday, noting that a humanitarian response plan for this year is just 18 percent funded.

Somalia isn’t alone. In Ethiopia’s drought-affected regions, the number of children treated for the most severe malnutrition—“a tip of the crisis”—jumped 27 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to last year, according to UNICEF. The increase was 71 percent in Kenya, where Doctors Without Borders reported at least 11 deaths in a single county’s malnutrition treatment program earlier this year.

At one of the overflowing displacement camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu, recent arrivals were anguished as they described watching family members die.

“I left some of my children behind to care for those suffering,” said Amina Abdi Hassan, who came from a village in southern Somalia with her malnourished baby. They’re still hungry as aid runs dry, even in the capital.

“Many others are on the way,” she said.

Hawa Abdi Osman said she lost children to the drought. Emaciated, and weakened by another pregnancy, she walked five days to Mogadishu.

“We had to leave some of our relatives behind, and others perished as we watched,” said her cousin, Halima Ali Dhubow.

More people come to the camp every day, using the last wisps of energy to set up makeshift shelters in the dust, lashing together branches with fabric and plastic.

Some walked up to 19 days to reach the capital, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“Last night alone 120 families came in,” camp manager Nadifa Hussein said. “We are giving them all the little supplies we have, like bread. The number of people is so overwhelming that helping them is beyond our capacity. In the past aid agencies helped, but now aid is very scarce.

“Only God can help them,” she said.

and Switzerland have spent years tracking down the estimated $3 billion to $5 billion Sani Abacha is alleged to have stolen in total during his brutal five-year rule.

More than $700 million of those funds were delivered “in bags or boxes full of cash” to the younger Abacha, who arranged for the money to be transferred to bank accounts he held overseas, the US Justice Department alleged in a 2013 asset-seizure case that is ongoing.

They said his partner in shifting the money abroad was Abubakar Bagudu, who is currently governor of the northwestern Kebbi state and next year will vie for a seat in the Senate for the ruling All Progressives Congress.

pre-trial detention on corruption charges related to his father. In 2014, the Nigerian government dropped a court case against him over receiving stolen property linked to his father, arguing the decision would facilitate ongoing recovery efforts. He, one of his brothers and Bagudu had returned more than $700 million to Nigeria by 2008, according to an article published that year by Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer who was hired by Nigeria to get back the money. The Nigerian government subsequently secured multiple deals with foreign countries to recover hundreds of millions of dollars the Abachas moved overseas.

Another PDP candidate, Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu, 42, defeated the incumbent for the right to run for a federal House of Representatives constituency in Delta state, where her father was governor for eight years from 1999. A UK court sentenced James Ibori to 13 years in prison in 2012 after he pleaded guilty to defrauding Delta of $50 million. At the time, the judge said the sum the ex-governor admitted to stealing was “ludicrously low” and prosecutors estimated the real figure

‘Safe keeping’

Mohammed Abacha and Bagudu said that they were holding the public money received in cash in foreign bank accounts “for state and security purposes” and that they have repaid the funds to the state, according to a 2001 court case in the UK. He has argued in court in Nigeria and the UK that other transactions he was involved in weren’t corrupt.

Mohammed Abacha was released from prison in 2002 after three years in

Cara Anna reported from Nairobi, Kenya. Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

A Palestinian home sits in a valley, next to the east Jerusalem Jewish Israeli settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev on May 12, 2022. Investigators commissioned by the UN-backed Human Rights Council said Tuesday, June 7, 2022, that tensions between Palestinians and Israelis are underpinned by a feeling that Israel has embarked on a “perpetual occupation” of Palestinian areas with no intention of ending it. The findings came Tuesday in the first report by a Commission of Inquiry, set up last year following an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. AP/Maya Alleruzzo

Report says ‘perpetual’ Israeli occupation at root of violence

By Jamey Keaten

The Associated Press

G

ENEVA—Investigators commissioned by the UN’s top human rights body say tensions between Palestinians and Israelis are underpinned

by Israel’s “perpetual occupation” of Palestinian areas with no apparent intention of ending it.

The findings came Tuesday in the first report by a Commission of Inquiry, headed by a three-person team of human rights experts. It was set up last year by the UNbacked Human Rights Council following an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The UN human rights office says the war killed at least 261 people—including 67 children—in Gaza, and 14 people, including two children, in Israel.

The commission, headed by former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, is the first to have an “ongoing” mandate from the UN rights body. Critics allege that permanent scrutiny testifies to an anti-Israel bias in the 47-member-state council and other UN bodies. Proponents say the commission is needed to keep tabs on persistent injustices faced by Palestinians under decades of Israeli rule.

The report largely recaps efforts by UN investigators over the years to grapple with the causes of Mideast violence and the authors acknowledged it was in part a “review” of previous UN findings.

“What has become a situation of perpetual occupation was cited by Palestinian and Israeli stakeholders to the commission as the one common issue” that amounts to the “underlying root cause” of recurrent tensions, instability and protracted conflict, the authors wrote. They said “impunity” for perpetrators of violence was feeding resentment among Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

Israel’s government, which opposed the creation of the commission, refused to grant its members access to Israel or Palestinian territories, and testimonies from Palestinians and Israelis were collected from Geneva and Jordan.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report as “part and parcel of the witch hunt carried out by the Human Rights Council against Israel.”

It called the report biased and one-sided and accused the commission members of ignoring Palestinian violence, incitement and anti-Semitism. “The Commission members, who claim to be objective, were only appointed to their roles because of their public and well-known anti-Israel stances, in direct opposition to the rules set out by the United Nations,” it said.

The State Department reiterated its opposition to the “open-ended and vaguely defined nature” of the commission and

at about $250 million. Ibori-Suenu has never been accused of any wrongdoing.

Family affairs

Ibori, who returned to Nigeria in 2017 after being released, remains highly influential in his home region and recently campaigned for his daughter, who has been a member of the state assembly in Delta since 2015.

Ibori-Suenu didn’t respond to requests for comment via her official Facebook page or an email sent to a charitable foundation she founded. A UK law firm representing Ibori didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“Politics in Nigeria remains largely a criminal enterprise,” said Jibrin Ibrahim, director at the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja, the capital.

“Those people who have been in power and accumulated vast resources through corruption are in a position to promote their children to get into political office.”

Ibori-Suenu’s prospects of triumphing in the election appear better than those of Mohammed Abacha, who is likely to face two strong challengers. Ibori’s

said the report “does nothing to advance the prospects for peace” between Israelis and Palestinians.

The report’s authors cited “credible” evidence that “convincingly indicates that Israel has no intention of ending the occupation” and has plans to ensure complete control of Palestinian areas.

I s r a e l ’s g o v e r n m e n t , i t a d d e d , h a s been “acting to alter the demography through the maintenance of a repressive environment for Palestinians and a favorable environment for Israeli settlers.”

They also voiced criticism of Palestinian leaders, saying the Palestinian Authority, which administers autonomous areas in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, frequently refers to the occupation as a justification for its own human rights violations. It also points to the occupation as the core reason for failure to hold legislative and presidential elections, the authors said. The PA is widely criticized for corruption and intolerance for dissent.

Despite the criticism, the Palestinian Authority welcomed the report. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the report found “beyond any doubt, that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and discrimination against Palestinians are the root causes behind the recurrent tensions, instability and prolongation of conflict in the region.”

As for Hamas authorities in Gaza, the commission said they show little commitment toward upholding human rights and little adherence to international law. Since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas has shown little tolerance for political dissent and been accused of torturing opponents.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the 1967 Mideast war.

It has annexed east Jerusalem and claims the area—home to the city’s most important holy sites—as part of its capital.

It considers the West Bank to be “disputed” territory and has built scores of Jewish settlements there. Over 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in the two areas.

The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority seeks the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza for an independent state. The international community overwhelmingly considers all three areas to be occupied by Israel.

Rights groups have accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during last year’s fighting. Israel vehemently denies the allegations, accusing Hamas of endangering civilians by using residential areas for cover during military operations.

The Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report. daughter is an “entrepreneur” and “politician,” according to her foundation’s website. Mohammed Abacha, who lives in Kano and Abuja, describes himself as “businessman” and rarely appears in public. He failed to secure a party ticket to compete for the governorship of his state on two previous occasions.

The children of two other former governors—Sule Lamido and Ayodele Fayose, who ran Jigawa and Ekiti states, respectively—were also chosen to run for federal office for the PDP next year.

Both ex-governors are currently on trial in Nigeria, accused by the country’s anticorruption agency of stealing millions of dollars while in office. Mustapha Lamido, who will contest the Jigawa governorship, has been charged alongside his father.

Both ex-governors have argued that their prosecutions are politically motivated.

Mustapha Lamido didn’t respond to a request for comment. Bloomberg’s efforts to contact Oluwajomiloju Fayose, who isn’t involved in his father’s legal troubles, were unsuccessful. Lawyers for both of their fathers didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Science Sunday BusinessMirror

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

Sunday, June 12 , 2022

A9

DOST S&T Fellows: A mechanism to ensure supply of Filipino scientific experts in PHL

O

n the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago, the government quickly realized that having enough local experts in various fields related to science, technology and innovation (STI) is a big help to address pressing problems and issues.

After the challenge of President Duterte to double the human resources amid the country’s fight against the pandemic, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is now hiring more researchers, scientists and engineers to help government and industry craft, create and implement more sciencebased decisions and policies.

“Covid-19 showed to us that we really need S&T fellows but even before the advent of the global health pandemic, the leaders of our nation are already using STI as inputs to decision-making,” said Science Undersecretary Rowena Cristina L. Guevara.

However, recognizing the possible risks facing humanity in the coming years, the DOST deemed it necessary

to put in place some strategic mechanisms that would ensure stable and sustainable supply of leading Filipino researchers, scientists and engineers in the country.

Guevara shared this in the context when the DOST S&T Fellows program was proposed and came into fruition.

She explained that it aims to populate the research and development (R&D) group of DOST with mastersand PhD-degree holders with limited tenure of five years.

“It is now almost a year since the idea of supplementing the workforce of DOST agencies with MS and Ph.D. graduates from different S&T specializations came into fruition. And to celebrate this milestone, we are having our

Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña says that he is confident that the S&T Fellows would make a huge impact in boosting the capacity of various R&D institutions of DOST. first S&T Fellows Convention,” said Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña.

The first S&T Fellows Convention was held recently at a hotel in Muntinlupa City. It was organized by the DOST, through the Office of the Undersecretary for Research and Development.

During the event, several S&T fellows assigned in different DOST agencies shared their experiences and the R&D projects that they are working on.

The Science Secretary said that DOST is confident that more than the compensation that is offered, “it is in the heart of our scientists to share their knowledge and expertise in service to

Science Undersecretary for Research and Development Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara explains that the DOST’s S&T Fellows Program provides opportunities to the Filipino researchers, scientists, and engineers to do meaningful work in the country while enjoying competitive compensation the country and the Filipino people.”

Meanwhile, the initiative is not new in countries that aim for technological advancement and leadership, according to Guevara.

She cited the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC as they also launched their own S&T Policy Fellowships (STPF) program.

Under the program, outstanding scientists and engineers are given opportunities to learn firsthand about policy-making and enable them to con-

tribute their knowledge and analytical skills in crafting this.

The US STPF program allowed researchers, scientists and engineers to work for the US government for a oneyear tenure.

Such efforts are likewise being adopted by the National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand.

Meanwhile, the DOST, through its Science Education Institute, has been supporting around 51, 000 scholars from across all scholarship programs, undergraduate and graduate levels.

At the same time, the science department has 4,308 scholars for graduate studies and 1,550 for the Ph.D. level.

Guevara said that DOST is hoping to capture these scholars in the search for S&T Fellows as well as brilliant S&T talents from across the globe.

Currently, there are a total of 32 S&T Fellows whose services are engaged by the different DOST agencies.

There are 17 out of the 32 S&T Fellows who have been reporting to the DOST R&D institutes, including Advanced Science and Technology Institute; Food Nutrition Research Institute; Forest Products Research and Development Institute: Philippine Nuclear Research Institute; and Philippine Textile Research Institute to undertake R&D in various areas of specialization.

The remaining S&T Fellows have been reporting to the DOST councils, such as Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development; Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development; and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development.

The S&T Fellows direct specific agenda that includes conceptualization of R&D program, policy development, and impact assessment of DOST programs and projects, among others.

Overall, the S&T fellows program provides opportunities to the local researchers, scientists and engineers to do meaningful work in the country, while enjoying competitive compensation.

The remaining 11 S&T Fellows will start their stint in June or July this year.

Guevara revealed that when it comes to compensation, S&T Fellows 1 to 5 have salary grades from 23 to 27, respectively.

“The work that you [S&T Fellows] do is more than just R&D outputs and outcomes. You may not realize but when you are allowing long hours to conceptualizing road maps inside your laboratories, testing samples, and making experiments, believe me, your work will benefit hundreds and millions of Filipino,” Guevara said. Allan Mauro V.

Marfal/S&T Media Services

It’s Pitogo HS’s four-peat win in Tagisang Robotics P The opening session of the forum on “Transforming Food Systems in the Asean Region Post Covid-19” held in Vietnam. Searca photo

Forum takes stock of food systems transformation in Asean post-pandemic

A

naly s t s , p o l i c y - m a k e r s , r e searchers, international donors and public-private groups convened in a high-level policy forum recently in Hanoi, Vietnam, where they deliberated on a five years of rigorous research.

The research, “Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration in the Asean Region: Responding to Food Security and Inclusiveness Concerns [ATMI-Asean,” is a program covering the Philippines, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam.

It is jointly implemented by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Los Baños-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca).

It is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Themed “Transforming Food Systems in the Asean Region Post Covid-19,” the forum took stock of the progress surrounding food security and inclusivity in the Asean region.

The participants deliberated on ways forward for a resilient recovery of agri-food value chains that will ensure the inclusiveness of smallholders in the regional and global value chains and make them resilient to shocks.

Unless food security and smallholder inclusiveness are credibly harmonized with Asean’s competitiveness agenda, improvements in regional agricultural and food markets will be inadequate, leaving them vulnerable to sudden disruptions, the forum organizers stressed.

The forum also showcased ATMI-Asean program outputs, among which are Searcaled components, namely, the regional value chain assessment conducted in coordination with the Asean Secretariat, as well as the national-level agricultural value chain studies, policy strategies, and national roadmaps within the five target Asean

member states (AMS).

“The roadmaps will further help to strengthen the capacity of the targeted AMS in developing policies and programs to support the adjustment of the smallholder farm sector to changes in sub-regional and supra-regional agricultural and food markets,” said Searca Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio.

The participants also discussed possible ways to sustaining the use of the program’s work beyond its lifecycle through an extended network of policy actors and analysts. ATMI-Asean internalizes the reshaping of the food system with the public health concerns and the geopolitical complex.

“We are proud that our support has contributed to better coordination of food security policies and the development of regional and sub-regional roadmaps for investments in food and agri-based value chains for the Asean region,” said Abdelkarim Sma, IFAD lead regional economist.

“I am particularly happy that the capacity-building efforts of the program have helped strengthen national government agencies and Asean in their respective planning and programming capacities,” Sma said.

More than 100 stakeholders participated in the forum co-organized by IFPRI, Searca and Vietnam’s Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development.

They included representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam government; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia; Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation Myanmar; Asian farmer organizations, research institutions, donors, civil society, nongovernment oragnizationss, and academics.

itogo High School picked up where it left off as it secures the championship title in the Tagisang Robotics: Design.

Build. Play as the competition returns this 2022 using a hybrid format.

After winning The Best Team Award in 2019, the Best Rookie Team and Best Team in 2013, and again as Best Team in 2014, Makati City’s Pitogo HS once more showed that it is still the team-to-beat in the returning robotics competition held recently.

Pitogo scored a total of 3,000 points and recorded the shortest time to complete the final task, which is to sense, lift and deliver colored pallets to their designated places on the playing field.

The Pitogo HS Team, composed of students Allen Reilan Bustamante, Nathan Enzo Saludo, Rose Nelyn Andalajao and Gaudy Lhuan Macato, received P120,000 cash grant and a trophy.

Their coach, Florante Ferrer, one of the veteran coaches of the competition, received P30,000 cash award.

Meanwhile, Caloocan National Science and Technology High School (CalNatSci) was hailed as first runner-up with 2,800 points, while Taguig City Science High School finished as second runner up with 2,600 points.

The students of CalNatSci Angelo Paolo

Makati City‘s Pitogo High School students with their coach.

Atip, Gabriel Peter Pacoma, Danielle Faye Alba, Anjae Maria Bejerano bagged a trophy and P80,000 cash grant.

Taguig City Science High School students Jaisa Julene Mataac, Julyenne Alexander Borais, Steven Andrei Fontiveros and Anastacia Freyja Cabugon received P40,000 cash and a trophy.

The coaches of the first runner-up and second runner-up received P20,000 and P10,000 cash prize, respectively.

DOST-SEI photo

Rizal National Science High School, meanwhile, bagged The Most Valuable Team title after garnering the highest combined scores from the qualifying heat matches held in series before the final match.

Through the matches, the Top 8 finalists were selected and allowed to compete in the hybrid championship game.

The Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) has been conducting the

Tagisang Robotics since 2011 to ignite the interest of high-school students in robotics in order for them to discover their potentials in the fields of engineering and information technology.

“Potential is something that is always there especially when talking about the Filipino youth. The only challenge is on how we can hone and harness it, and make sure that effective programs are implemented for it to be realized,” said Dr. Ruby R. Cristobal, DOST-SEI’s chief of the Science and Technology Manpower Education Research and Promotions Division.

With the new format of the Tagisang Robotics competition, participating teams were allowed to upload their previously tested codes remotely, to autonomously run the robot onsite and fulfill the task of efficiently delivering the colored pallets to the designated positions on the playing field in the shortest possible time.

This new game format heralds an innovative way of delivering technology-based competitions amid prevailing restrictions due to the pandemic.

Likewise, it offers a creative solution to future challenges of running highly engaging competitions despite having participants who are remotely located.

S&T News Services

PhilSA supports DTI-backed S-booster space ideas competition

E

nterprising individuals and businesses passionate about space can get a chance to win up to ¥10 million (approximately P3.956 million) in the Sbooster competition, a Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) news release announced.

S-Booster is a Japanese space-based idea competition that welcomes business ideas related to the commercial applications of space.

The pitch competition is open to individuals, ventures, startups, and businesses in different industries in Japan and the AsiaOceania region that seek to commercialize their business ideas utilizing space assets such as rockets, satellites, commercial space stations, ground-based systems and technologies, and space data.

Applications are open to the Asia and Oceania region. The deadline for applications is on June 20, 5 p.m. Japan Standard Time (4 p.m. Philippine Standard Time.)

The winning space idea will receive the grand prize of ¥10 million (approximately P3.956 million), PhilSA said.

The annual event was first launched in 2017 by the Japan Cabinet Office, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (Nedo), and the Japan

Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa).

This year’s competition was launched at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) International Building in Makati City on June 01.

The event was organized by the Japan Cabinet Office and the DTI Competitiveness Bureau, in partnership with the DTI Foreign Trade Service Corps and the DTI Tokyo.

DTI Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation Rafaelita Aldaba introduced the department’s innovation programs during the event.

Aldaba underscored the importance of building a robust startup ecosystem in the country, hence the DTI’s support behind SBooster. “We have over 800 start-ups, over 50 investors, 35 incubators and accelerators, 200 plus co-working spaces, 40 plus venture capitalists, and right now the valuation of the [Philippine Startup] Ecosystem is around $1 billion,” she said.

Shoichiro Sakaguchi, director general of International Cooperation for the Cabinet Office of Japan, introduced the S-Booster competition and presented Japan’s space program.

He said: “Japan is supporting many countries to deploy small microsatellites to

orbit from the International Space Station using Kibo Module, this allows access to space in a less expensive way than using large vehicles. Japan has collaborated with the Philippines through the Diwata satellites, and I hope for continuous collaborations in the future,” he said.

He mentioned that Japan has been inviting the commercial sector for space ventures and that “S-Booster unlocks new space startups in Asia by supporting the commercialization of each idea with Japanese industries.”

Noelle Riza Castillo, director of Space Policy and International Cooperation Bureau of PhilSA, emphasized the agency’s role in space industry development through its various space business development projects.

One of the projects is the development of the Philippine Satellite Manufacturing Industry Roadmap 2022-2032, in partnership with the DTI Board of Investments.

It aims to support the creation of a safe, robust and enabling space business environment for the local satellite manufacturing industry, and promote the participation of local space-adjacent industries in the global supply chain.

“It is one of the major goals of PhilSA

to encourage the growth of a local space industry and economy,” Castillo said.

Previous contestants shared their hackathon experiences during the event, particularly the skills and mentorship gained during the competitions.

Ellarizza Fredelices, Rapid Prototype Development Challenge Award Winner for 2021, shared that the competition provided the opportunity to not just gain knowledge but also prove her project concept. She said that the experience made her feel the need to give back and start her own hackathon for local startups.

“My agenda [for joining] was simple—I just wanted to learn. But as the challenge went along, I realized it had something bigger to offer its participants.”

Fredelices also shared that competitions provide contestants the opportunity to learn from the experts themselves.

“I remembered some of them were authors of studies I cited back when I was doing my thesis. I was fangirling, if I may use the term,” Fredelices added.

Video messages from Japanese corporate sponsors RiskTaker, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., and Sony Group Corp. were also shown during the event.

A10 Sunday, June 12, 2022

Faith

Sunday

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

Pope: Don’t hide wrinkles, it’s ‘the heart that matters’

V

ATICAN—Pope Francis on recently encouraged people not to hide their wrinkles, saying “it’s the heart that matters.”

In his general audience address on June 8, the pope praised the “wise Italian actress” Anna Magnani for refusing to allow her wrinkles to be concealed.

Magnani, who died in 1973 at the age of 65, is said to have once told her make-up artist: “Please don’t retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them.”

Pope Francis cited the Oscarwinning actress, nicknamed “La Lupa” (“the she-wolf ”), during a reflection on “the myth of eternal youth.”

He said: “Everything is done to always have this youth—so much make-up, so many surgical interventions to appear young.

The words of a wise Italian actress, Magnani, come to mind, when they told her she had to remove her wrinkles, she said, ‘No, don’t touch them! It took so many years to have them—don’t touch them!’”

“This is what wrinkles are: a sign of experience, a sign of life, a sign of maturity, a sign of having made a journey. Do not touch them to become young, that your face might look young. What matters is the entire personality; it’s the heart that matters, and the heart remains with the youth of good wine—the more it ages, the better it is.”

The pope’s live-streamed catechesis was the 13th in a cycle on old age that he began in February.

He entered St. Peter’s Square in a white jeep, stopping to invite children in bright green hats to

join him for part of his journey among pilgrims.

The jeep drove up to a raised platform in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, where the 85-year-old was helped walk up to the white chair where he gave his address.

The pope, who has made public appearances in a wheelchair since May 5 due to knee pain, used a walking stick.

Pope Francis’s catechesis focused on the conversation bet ween Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee, described in John 3:1–21.

The pope noted that the member of the Sanhedrin, an assembly of elders, was confused by Jesus’ declaration that “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

He said: “Nicodemus’s objection is very instructive for us. We can, in fact, turn it upside down, in the light of Jesus’ word, with the discovery of a mission proper to old age.”

“Indeed, being old is not only not an obstacle to the being born from above that Jesus speaks of, but it becomes the opportune time to illuminate it, disassociating it from being equated with lost hope,” he added.

“Our epoch and our culture, which demonstrates a worrisome tendency to consider the birth of a child as the simple matter of the production and biological reproduction of the human being, cultivate the myth of eternal youth as the desperate obsession

Pope Francis’ general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 8. VATICAN MEDIA

with an incorruptible body,” the pope explained.

“Why is old age not appreciated in so many ways? Because it bears the undeniable evidence of the end of this myth, that makes us want to return to our mother’s womb always to return with a young body.”

The pope said that when old age is seen from the correct perspective, it has “a unique beauty.”

“Old age is the condition granted to many of us in which the miracle of this birth from above can be intimately assimilated and rendered credible for the human community,” he reflected.

“It does not communicate a nostalgia for a birth in time, but of a love for our final destination.

In this perspective, old age has a unique beauty—we are journeying toward the Eternal,” he said.

The pope pointed out: “No one can re-enter their mother’s womb, not even using its technological and consumeristic substitute. This is not wisdom; this is not a journey that has been accomplished; this is artificial.”

He continued: “That would be sad, even if it were possible. The

elderly person moves ahead; the elderly person journeys toward the final destination, towards God’s heaven; the elderly person journeys with the wisdom of lived experience.”

He explained: “Old age, therefore, is a special time of disassociating the future from the technocratic illusion of a biological and robotic survival, especially because it opens one to the tenderness of the creative and generative womb of God.” Pope Fra nc i s s a id tod ay ’s “throwaway culture” mistakenly sought to “throw out the elderly.”

“The elderly are the messengers of the future, the elderly are the messengers of tenderness, the elderly are the messengers of the wisdom of lived experience.

Let us move forward and watch the elderly,” he said.

A summary of the pope’s catechesis was then read out in seven languages.

Addressing English-speaking Catholics, he said: “I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from England, the Philippines and the United States of America.”

“I offer a special greeting to the many student groups present.

Upon you and your families I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you!”

Speaking to Polish pilgrims, he noted that June 8 is the feast day of the 14th-century Polish queen St. Jagwiga.

He said: “During her canonization, St. John Paul II recalled that through her work, Poland was united with Lithuania and Rus’. Entrust yourselves to her intercession, praying as she did at the foot of the Cross for peace in Europe. I bless you from my heart.” Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Muslims portrayed negatively in American media T he warm welcome Americans and Europeans have given Ukrainians in 2022 contrasts sharply with the uneven—and frequently hostile—policies toward Syrian refugees in the mid-2010s.

Political scientist David Laitin has highlighted the role that religious identities play in this dynamic. As he pointed out in a recent interview, Syrian refugees were “mostly Muslim and faced higher degrees of discrimination than will the Ukrainians, who are largely of Christian heritage.”

The media provide information that shapes such attitudes toward Muslims.

A 2007 Pew Research Center survey of Americans found that people’s negative opinions on Muslims were mostly influenced by what they heard and read in the media.

Communications scholar Muniba Saleem and colleagues have demonstrated the link between media information and “stereotypic beliefs, negative emotions and support for harmful policies” toward Muslim Americans.

To better grasp the evolution of media portrayals of Muslims and Islam, our 2022 book, “Covering Muslims: American Newspapers in Comparative Perspective,” tracked the tone of hundreds of thousands of articles over decades.

We found overwhelmingly negative coverage, not only in the United States but also in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Negative coverage of Muslims

P r e v i o us r e s e a r c h h a s i d e n t i f i e d widespread negative media representations of Muslims.

An overview of studies undertaken from 2000 to 2015 by communications scholars Saifuddin Ahmed and Jörg Matthes concluded that Muslims were negatively framed in the media and that Islam was frequently cast as a violent religion.

But the studies they reviewed leave open two pressing questions that we address through our research.

First, do articles touching on Muslims and Islam include more negative representations than the average newspaper article? Second, are media portrayals of Muslims more negative than articles touching on other minority religions?

If stories about minority religious groups made it to the news only when they were involved in conflict in one way or another, then they may be negative for reasons that are not specific to Muslims.

What we found

To answer these questions, we used media databases such as LexisNexis, Nexis Uni, ProQuest and Factiva to download 256,963 articles mentioning Muslims or Islam—for which we use the shorthand “Muslim articles”—from 17 national, regional and tabloid newspapers in the United States over the 21-year period from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2016.

We developed a reliable method for measuring the positivity or negativity of stories by comparing them to the tone of a random sample of 48,283 articles about topics drawn from a wide range of newspapers.

A negative value on this scale means that a story is negative relative to the average newspaper article.

Crucially, this approach also provided a baseline for additional comparisons.

We collected sets of articles from US newspapers relating not only to Muslims, but also separately to Catholics, Jews and Hindus, three minority religious groups of varying size and status in the United States. We then assembled stories linked to Muslims from a broad array of newspapers in the UK, Canada and Australia.

Our central finding is that the average article mentioning Muslims or Islam in the United States is more negative than 84 percent of articles in our random sample.

This means that one would likely have to read six articles in US newspapers to find even one that was as negative as the average article touching on Muslims.

To give a concrete sense of how negative typical Muslim articles are, consider the following sentence that has the tone of the average Muslim article: “The Russian was made to believe by undercover agents that the radioactive material was to be delivered to a Muslim organization.”

This contains two highly negative words (“undercover” and “radioactive”) and implies that the “Muslim organization” has nefarious goals.

Articles that mentioned Muslims were also much more likely to be negative than stories touching on any other group we examined.

For Catholics, Jews and Hindus, the proportion of positive and negative articles was close to 50-50.

By contrast, 80 percent of all articles related to Muslims were negative.

The divergence is striking. Our work shows that the media are not prone to publishing negative stories when they write about other minority religions, but they are

very likely to do so when they write about Muslims.

Beyond comparing coverage across groups, we were also interested in coverage across countries.

Perhaps the United States is unique in its intensely negative coverage of Muslims.

To find out, we collected 528,444 articles mentioning Muslims or Islam from the same time period from a range of newspapers in the UK, Canada and Australia.

We found that the proportion of negative to positive articles in these countries was almost exactly the same as that in the United States.

Implications of negative coverage

Multiple scholars have shown that negative stories generate less favorable attitudes toward Muslims.

Other studies that looked at the impact of negative information about Muslims also found an increase in support for policies that harm Muslims, such as secret surveillance of Muslim Americans or the use of drone attacks in Muslim countries.

In addition, surveys of young American Muslims have found that negative media coverage resulted in weaker identification as American and in lower trust in the US government.

We b e l i e v e a c k n o w l e d g i n g a n d addressing the systemic negativity in media coverage of Muslims and Islam is vital for countering widespread stigmatization.

This may, in turn, create opportunities for more humane policies that are fair to everyone regardless of their faith. Erik Bleich,

Middlebury, and A. Maurits van der Veen, William & Mary/The Conversation CC via AP

Cardinal Jose Advincula and Fr. Francisco Syquia, director of the Archdiocese of Manila Office on Exorcism, lead the groundbreaking of the Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Liberation and Exorcism in Makati City on May 17. PHOTOS FROM AMOE

Manila archdiocese to build center for exorcism in Makati

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onstruction has started for a religious structure that will serve as a „center for exorcism“ in the Archdiocese of Manila.

It will be known as the Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Liberation and Exorcism and to rise in Guadalupe Viejo, a neighborhood in Makati City.

The project broke ground on May 17, with Cardinal Jose Advincula and Fr. Francisco Syquia, director of the Archdiocese of Manila Office on Exorcism (AMOE), in attendance. “ This center,” according to Syquia, “will minister to those in bondage to the devil who are therefore the poorest of the poor and are usually overlooked”.

In a social media post, the

AMOE said the project is a product of more than seven years of “prayers, planning and fundraising,” and “will be the first of its kind in Asia, if not the world.”

The facility will house the archdiocese’s Commission on Extraordinary Phenomena, the Ministry of Exorcism Office, and the Ministry on Visions and Phenomena Office.

It will also serve as the headquarters of the Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists (PACE), which is under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

PACE is also affiliated with the International Association of Exorcists based in Italy.

The St. Michael Center’s chapel will be dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels. CBCP News

Claretians worldwide’s new general secretary is a Filipino

Father Efren Limpo, CMF. CLARETIAN MISSIONARIES

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ather Efren Limpo has been appointed as general secretary of the Claretian Missionaries worldwide, the first Filipino to hold the post.

He assumed the position on June 5, three days after his appointment was ratified by the order’s superior general, Fr. Mathew Vattamattam.

The 43-year old replaced Fr. Joseba Kamiruaga Mieza, who served the post for the past four years.

As general secretary, he assumes the bulk of the functions the canon law assigns to the person of the notary, of the actuary and of the chancellor.

Born in Cagayan de Oro City, he made his first profession as a Claretian missionary in Zamboanga City in 2001 and his final vows in 2006 in Spain.

After finishing his theology studies at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid in 2007, Limpo was ordained priest on December 7 of that year at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Quezon City.

After his ordination, the priest served as postulant master from 2008 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2012, he studied Licentiate in Theology Major in Spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

When he returned to the Philippines, Limpo served as provincial secretary from 2012 to 2013 before he was assigned as local superior at the Claret Seminary community and took the role of Prefect of Seminarians and Professor at the St. Anthony Mary Claret College in Quezon City.

In 2014, he became the rector of the seminary. In 2016, he was once again appointed as the provincial secretary, as well as in 2019.

He also served as director of Claret School of Quezon City from 2016 to 2017.

When the Claretians started preparing the cause for the beatification of the Claretian Fr. Rhoel Gallardo, Limpo was appointed as the vice postulator of the province. CBCP News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

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PHL eagle ‘Salagbanog’ set for freedom

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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escu ed Ph i l ippi ne eagle “Salagbanog” or “Sarangani eagle” will be released on June 13, highlighting the Philippine Eagle Week celebration.

“As we commemorate our yearly observance of the Philippine Eagle Week, we are celebrating Salagbanog’s return to his forest home after 18 months of rehabilitation, an opportune time that this young bird would reunite with its kind,” said Acting Environment Secretary Jim O. Sampulna said in a news release.

With the theme, “Kapayapaan at Kalayaan: Ang Agila at Mamamayan, May Kaugnayan,” the Philippine Eagle Week celebration was held from June 4 to 10 as mandated by Presidential Proclamation 79, series of 1999.

Independence Day According to Jayson Ibanez, Philippine Eagle Foundation’s director for Research and Conservation, the date of the eagle’s release on June 13, a day after the June 12 Philippine Independence Day, was determined after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), local government units and PEF held a massive information, communication and education (IEC) drive, and consultations with residents of the six barangays within the release site.

“We talked to the communities and told them about the release, and appealed to them to help protect Sarangani [eagle],” he said.

Ibanez told the BusinessMirror that IEC campaigns are conducted by the PEF every time they release a Philippine eagle.

He said the eagle’s release is symbolic of the country’s celebration of the Philippine Independence Day. “ T he conser vation clamor for

Philippine Eagle is also that of lasting freedom for our National Bird.

Freedom from human harm, freedom from shooting, freedom from hunting, freedom deforestation that is destroying their homes. So I think it is not difficult to understand that like people, their way a life is freedom in the wild,” Ibanez said.

was palpable under its skin, while a smaller pellet was detected on its right clavicle.

The marble was used in an improvised airgun as a bullet to shoot the bird.

The injuries inflicted on the bird also showed that the had probably occurred earlier and remained unnoticed until its capture.

Prior to Salagbanog’s release, a veterinarian checked its health that showed the bird was healthy and free from any disease.

‘Fly Malaya Fly’ Besides Salagbanog’s release, DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR-BMB) has also prepared other activities, such as interactive storytelling of the book, “Fly Malaya Fly.” The activity will be live-streamed to Singapore at the Holy Family School of Excellence, a Filipino-run school for expats.

Students can watch the activity as part of the DENR’s conservation efforts to instil in them the awareness and appreciation of the Philippine eagle.

On June 4 and 5, tour guides were stationed outside the Philippine eagle exhibit at Jurong Bird Park (JBP), which is home to “Sambisig” and “Geothermica,” a pair of Philippine eagles loaned to Singapore.

They provided information to the park’s visitors about the Philippine eagle, the plight of the bird and their daily activities, among others.

Philippine eagle keeper Justin Huang will also post on JBP’s official Instagram account to give information on the daily activities of the birds.

Videos of the Philippine Eagle Foundation’s conservation efforts and the arrival of the birds to Jurong Bird Park were shown across the park’s tram stations from June 4 to 10.

DENR-BMB OIC Director Natividad Y. Bernardino emphasized the role of Filipinos as “responsible citizens to usher in a new era of commitment to save our threatened fauna, especially

Saranggani: A stronghold of Philippine Eagle

Philippine eagle ‘Salagbanog’ our National Bird.”

“We need to stand up and chart our path that will lead us to the next level of truly understanding the plight of our national bird,” Bernardino said.

out freely, thereby carving its own niche,” he said.

“The battle for these birds is undeniably our own battle too,” Sampuna added.

Battle against loss of forest habitat

A ‘lucky’ survivor

The Philippine eagle, with the scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi, is considered a critically endangered species that is endemic to the country.

“Salagbanog’s capture was a testament to the Philippine eagles’ continuing battle on the loss of its forest habitat and a chance for the bird to get back up on its feet, survive and live

Salagbanog was fortunate to have survived several attempts to its life, he said.

The eagle was rescued after being trapped with thorny rattan vines, while preying on a monkey at Salagbanog Falls in Barangay Ticulab, Maitum town, Sarangani province, on Janary 9, 2021.

An x-ray showed that a “big marble”

Ibanez said through the initiative of the Maitum Mayor Alexander Bryan B. Reganit, Salagbanog has been renamed as “Sarangani eagle,” to represent the reputation of the province as a stronghold of Philippine Eagle population.

“So far, since the 1990s, we have rescued a total of five Philippine eagles from the forest of Sarangani. And we know of at least three Philippine eagle nesting sites in [the province],” Ibanez told the BusinessMirror in an interview via Messenger on June 8.

According to Ibanez, because of the support of various stakeholders, particularly the communities in Sarangani province, the release of Sarangani Eagle will be the sixth within the pandemic.

He credited the support of the LGUs, the private sector, especially, the private citizens, who he described as like the “crowd funding” that strengthens the PEF’s Philippine eagle rescue and rehabilitation effort.

GPS tracker Like all Philippine eagles previously released by the DENR and the PEF, Sarangani eagle will be monitored through a Global Positioning Satel-

lite (GPS).

“In this release, the Sarangani Energy Corp. and Siguil Hydro Power Corp. are providing funds for the purchase of radio and satellite transmitters for Sarangani eagle,” Ibanez said.

“We cannot release Sarangani without a GPS tracker. That is the only way we can monitor the bird and know that it is alive,” he added.

‘Help save PHL Eagle’ To those who continue to hunt birds of prey, particularly the iconic monkeyeating Philippine eagle, Ibanez made his appeal to help protect and save the eagle instead of risking prosecution.

He pointed out that hunting, harming, or harvesting of wildlife is illegal.

“We encourage wildlife hunters and those collecting biodiversity in the wild that there is an alternative.

And that alternative is helping the nation preserve what remains of our natural resources,” he said.

“We have proven time and again that we can improve the lives of communities, including the hunters, through conservation. So we are encouraging them to participate in the conservation movement and see for themselves that it can actually help them with their other aspirations,” he said.

Ecosystem indicator T h e Ph i l ip pi ne E a g le, a n ape x predator, is an ecosystem indicator, Sampulna said.

The presence of the Philippine eagle in the country’s forests, he said, speaks of a sustainable and rich environment.

“Therefore, as we let go of a national treasure to give one more bird a chance to be free again, it should remind us that wildlife, just like people, have to fulfill their roles for the sustenance of life on earth,” he said.

Asian countries: Make climate finance Connecting collective actions for the future of the oceans pro-poor, equitable, people-centered

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A LI, Indonesia— Gover nme nt s a nd c iv i l so c iet y g roup s f rom S out h a nd Southeast Asia signed an agreement to enable inclusive, gender e q u it a b l e , a n d hu m a n r i g ht s based climate and disaster financing for v ulnerable nations.

“Worsening climate change impacts, particularly episodic extreme weather events, are threatening no less than the long-term economic viability of developing countries,” said Sönke Kreft, executive director of the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative, in a recent workshop hosted by the Manila-based international think tank Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), a news release said.

“Climate and disaster risk finance and insurance [CDRFI] is thus central to the response to such an existential threat by making urgently needed resources available and by providing more inclusive and responsive services. Through CDRFI, countries can develop stronger, more coordinated climate change and disaster strategies,” Kreft added.

The workshop was held under the Multi-Actor Partnership (MAP) project on climate and disaster risk finance. It is in the context of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a global initiative that aims to protect essential sectors from climate change and disasters risks and by promoting stronger ties between governments, civil society groups, academia, and the private sector.

Participants represented government agencies and civil society groups in the Philippines, Lao Peo-

ple’s Democratic Republic, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

“We recognize that the systemic problems of society will be further exacerbated by climate impacts, both rapid and slow onset events,” said the country representatives in a joint agreement,” which served as the output of the three-day regional workshop, days after the conclusion of the Seventh Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction of the United Nations.

T he joi nt ag reement added : “ We a l so recog n i ze t h at t hese i mpac t s, t hough encompa ssi ng , w i l l d i s pro p or t ion at e l y a f fe c t people depend i ng on t heir levels of v u l nerabi l it y.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its latest physical science report, said extreme weather events will be more prominent in the region—particularly stronger tropical storms in Southeast Asia, and more frequent and intense heat waves in South Asia— making initiatives like CDRFI all the more crucial.

According to the agreement, “From the resource sessions, country presentations, and workshops, it is clear that even if we have a gargantuan task ahead of us, we remain positive that successful risk layering and management can be pushed through a concerted effort of various stakeholders. We all have a role to play to start this process, no contribution is too small.”

Sara Jane Ahmed, founder of the Financial Futures Center and advisor to the Vulnerable 20 (V20) Group of Ministers of Finance, cited the way

CDRFI tools are being developed under the Group of 20+ and V20 InsuResilience Global Partnership.

Its aim is to protect 500 million poor and vulnerable people by 2025 against physical climate shocks, including the Sustainable Insurance Facility and the Global Risk Modelling Alliance, she said.

“Smart premium subsidization and access to risk analytics are key ingredients to build markets that can help manage climate-fueled risks, drive investments, and build prepared institutions in a highly effective way and to encourage a system that delivers resilience, climate justice, and prosperity, to economies and vulnerable communities,” she added.

“The pandemic has shown us opportunities and the limits of conventional approaches. Taking a few steps back has allowed us to see what we can do together, driven by the opportunity to more responsive and effective ways to collaborate,” said Angelo Kairos Dela Cruz, deputy executive director of ICSC, who leads the implementation of MAP in the Philippines.

Dela Cruz added: “We certainly hope to reach more countries in the following years as we deepen our engagement with Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.” “ We are looking at different country systems to understand and advance what works and how initiatives can be scaled up and replicated regionally and globally. This is an opportunity for our common enterprise to take on more responsibilities and roles in Asia,” he said.

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ceans and seas may physically divide the Earth’s land mass, but these bodies of water actually connect our lives, our biodiversity, and our natural heritage.

Consider the humble larvae: it may be miniscule in size but their dispersal and migration patterns are huge indicators of the health of marine ecosystems, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) said.

ACB Executive Director Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim said healthy marine ecosystems are an assurance that there is a consistent supply of larva of many species of fish and invertebrates.

She said Coral and fish larvae can be brought to far distances by ocean currents, demonstrating the ecological connectivity of habitats in every marine ecosystem in the planet.

Larval migration pattern also helps to pinpoint important areas that must be protected to ensure the survival of fish and invertebrates, and thus, the productivity of coastal and marine ecosystems.

“Unfortunately, the marine biodiversity in the oceans and seas is declining at an alarming rate,” Lim said.

Ninety-five percent of reefs are threatened; while hard coral cover on reefs are declining at an average rate of 2 percent per year since the 1980s.

ACB said that this trend indicates that conservation and revitalization needs to be done in ensuring the sustainable use of marine ecosystems, considering its fragile state and the benefits we derive from its management.

Regional efforts for sciencebased support system

Facilitating the connection and cooperation among the 10 Asean member states is among the main thrust of the ACB, the region’s center of excellence for biodiversity.

For 16 years, the organization has been pooling and providing support for the conservation actions in Asean, often in the form of capacity enhancement, experiential learning programmes, livelihood support

and communication, education and public awareness activities.

One of the recent efforts undertaken by the ACB in cooperation with the Asean members was the consultation on the development of a regional science-based decision support system.

By determining the conditions, needs, and challenges in biodiversity information of the Asean, the ACB hopes to help harmonise access to biodiversity data through a cooperative and well-coordinated intergovernmental approach.

“Addressing the challenge of marine biodiversity loss would require better implementation and operationalisation of environmental policies, regulation, and enforcement,” Lim said.

“The response should be reinforced with apt institutional and technical capacity as well as ardent coordination and strong community support and involvement,” she added.

Lim pointed out: “Decision-making for conservation and management actions will be made more effective if key stakeholders are informed by accurate, reliable, and timely scientific information.”

Cross-sectoral cooperation for biodiversity information

A series of online surveys, national consultations and regional discussions led by the ACB in collaboration with the government of Norway through the project, “Mobilizing Stakeholders to Inform the Development of a Science-based Decision Support System for Coastal Wetlands in the Asean Region,” which commenced late last year, underscored the importance of establishing an information support system that will cater to the wide range of needs of the different stakeholders.

Discussions around the information requirements highlighted that government institutions are more inclined to use the data for planning, decision-making, and reporting.

Research centers and the academe, on the

other hand, emphasised the use of data for research, education, and the monitoring of physical conditions of ecosystems.

For nongovernment organizations and other sectors, these valuable knowledge are used for evaluating and monitoring initiatives.

“The ways forward for Asean biodiversity should be four-pronged, with the involvement of policy-makers, corporate sectors, conservationists and the general public,” said Christian Elloran, data specialist for the Biodiversity Information Management,.

Elloran emphasised the role of effective data management, understanding how to bridge gaps, and implementing best practices in managing data as keys toward the efficiency of knowledge platforms, such as the Asean Biodiversity Dashboard, Asean ClearingHouse Mechanism and the Asean Biodiversity Outlook.

Strengthened participation from various sectors can help ensure that biodiversity information databases are interoperable, accessible, understandable and reliable, ACB said.

Collective action for the ocean

W i th t h e t h e m e , “ R e v i t a l i z a t i o n : Collective Action for the Ocean,” the World Ocean Day celebration on June 8 highlighted the importance of crosssectoral collaboration and synergies to enable more powerful and near-real time biodiversity target tracking.

ACB said fostering cooperation can help better identify and address critical emerging issues facing coastal and marine biodiversity in the Asean region.

“Indeed, just as our oceans and seas are interconnected, so must our actions be, to make the necessary transformation to a better and more resilient Asean,” Lim said.

“May we also take inspiration from this year’s Asean Summit theme, ‘Asean ACT: Addressing Challenges Together,’ as we enhance our efforts in protecting our coastal and marine biodiversity,” she pointed out.

Sports BusinessMirror

Russian champion bashes Bach, shows sympathy for Ukrainians

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LYMPIC champion high jumper Maria Lasitskene, likely to be banned from defending her three straight world titles next month, lashed out at the leaders of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Athletics, and expressed sympathy for her Ukrainian competitors in a heartfelt open letter distributed Thursday.

Lasitskene will likely be kept out of the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, because of a World Athletics decision to bar all Russians in wake of the country’s war against Ukraine.

The 29-year-old, who has never lost a major international competition, has been among the few Russians allowed in international events in recent years despite the suspension of the country’s athletics federation due to the long-running doping scandal in that country.

This year, however, World Athletics plans to ban all Russians, barring a late and unexpected end to the war in Ukraine. Shortly after the start of the war, the IOC recommended international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Lasitskene’s open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach criticizes his recommendation to ban Russian athletes as a way of protecting them from possible backlash at worldwide events. She argued that keeping Russians out of sports did not stop the war, “but on the contrary, it gave birth to a new one, around and inside the sports, which is impossible to contain.”

“I have no doubts that you don’t have the courage and dignity to lift the sanctions against Russian athletes,” she wrote.

“Because in this scenario you would have to admit that all these months the IOC Charter was violated by you, and the statutes of international sports federations was turned from strict documents into worthless papers.”

Lasitskene, whose main competitors in high jump over the past five years have been jumpers from Ukraine, wrote, “I still don’t know what to say to them or how to look into their eyes.”

“They and their friends and relatives are experiencing what no human being should ever have to feel,” she said. “I am sure that nothing of this [ever] should have happened.

And any arguments can’t convince me to change this opinion.”

Last month at IOC meetings, Bach said the committee will monitor the situation but has yet to make a decision about Russian participation in the Paris Olympics in 2024. ”The dilemma that we are facing at this moment in time,” Bach said last month, is “we cannot fully live up to our mission to unite the entire world in peaceful competition.”

Lasitskene suggested it might be time to stop identifying athletes by their country; the peaceful gathering of nations is the core of the Olympic movement.

“Fans fall in love with athletes not because of their nationality or citizenship, but because of what those show at competitions,” she wrote. AP

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OUISVILLE, Kentucky—When Rich Strike bolted into horse racing’s spotlight in a little over two minutes with his upset Kentucky Derby victory, he shared the stage with his handler, who has long toiled in the shadows constantly tending to the champion colt.

Rich Strike’s attention stems from winning as a nearly 81-1 long shot, but groom Jerry Dixon Jr.’s newfound recognition comes from being one of few Black horsemen left in the sport once dominated by people who look like him.

“I totally understand it because I was looking at something about the Derby and I saw how there were Blacks in the beginning,” said Dixon, 31 and a fourth-generation horseman who works with his father—trainer Jerry Sr.—for Eric Reed, who trains Rich Strike.

“And then years afterward, you can see the change, like we were slowly fading away.”

A lack of diversity is one of the biggest obstacles to growth in horse racing, along with inconsistent safety and medication

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| Sunday, June 12, 2022 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

HORSE RACING LACKS DIVERSITY

AS his father, Jerry Dixon Sr., right, holds Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, trainer Jerry Dixon Jr. gives the horse a bath after a morning workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville. AP

THE newly unveiled mascot is yet to be named as the three young designers wanted fans to be part of this exciting experience.

MARIA LASITSKENE: Keeping Russians out of sports didn’t stop the war.

NAME FIBA WC2023 MASCOT CONTEST ON T

HE mascot of the International Basketball Federation World Cup 2023, which is to be hosted across three nations, has been unveiled with fans in Mies, Switzerland, having the opportunity to choose its name through an online competition.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 mascot came from a shared vision of the three host countries and FIBA. It is captured in the story by the collaboration of three young fans from Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

Caloy from the Philippines, Kota from Japan and Dewi from Indonesia, who all met online and decided to create something unique that would unite basketball fans around the world and represent their three nations.

This newly unveiled mascot is yet to be named as the three young designers wanted fans to be part of this exciting experience. Therefore, a naming competition is hosted on https://www.fiba.basketball/ basketballworldcup/2023/mascot of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 web site, until June 30, and those taking part can enter a draw to win an official Molten ball.

The mascot, which is in fact a robot, is programmed to be fun, friendly and sporty. It has terrific dribbling skills and also has a supersonic dunk and will be promoting the FIBA Basketball

World Cup 2023 globally and sharing its love for basketball with as many people as possible in the leadup to the event in 2023.

The mascot has also been designed to encourage fans to consider the environment and educate young generations about recycling through its built-in back hoop.

The colors of the mascot represent each of the three host country’s national flags and fans will be happy to know that there is an LED face on the head of the mascot that allows it to communicate with millions of people in different languages.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will tip off on August 25 next year and will be hosted for the first time in its history across three countries—Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

“This FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will be a unique event, hosted for the first time by three nations, and we wanted a brand-new concept for the mascot, not only to celebrate and entertain but also to carry a very important message in today’s world,” said Richard Carrion, Chairman of the Joint Management Committee for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

After the naming competition, the newly named mascot will then tour the three host countries of the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia and meet fans as of July this year. AP

TECHNICIANS work on the car of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc in the team garage at the Baku Circuit in Azerbaijan on Thursday. AP

Budget cap dispute splits teams as Formula 1 heads to Azerbaijan

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AKU, Azerbaijan—How much is too much to spend chasing a world title? That’s the question dividing Formula One teams as the series heads to Azerbaijan’s seafront street circuit.

The rivalry between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on the track is no less heated than the dispute between F1’s big and small teams over the $140 million-a-year budget cap.

The spending limits are likely to bite most at the end of the season— potentially just when the title is being decided. That could mean legal disputes over what exactly constitutes spending, and what the punishment should be.

There was a sign of the trouble

teams could face this week when Williams became the first team to be punished under the budget cap rules since they were introduced last year. The British team’s $25,000 fine wasn’t for overspending, though, but for failing to hand over financial documents in time.

The big teams like Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes have argued the budget cap is too tight and want an increase to compensate for factors such as the rising cost of moving cars, parts and team members around the world against the backdrop of inflation and the war in Ukraine.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said his team needed to cut staff to make the budget cap for

standards. The government stepped in to address safety and doping concerns, but there is no national program to increase diversity—by gender or race— in the industry.

That wasn’t always the case for African-Americans, who were a key part of early Derby history and thoroughbred racing.

Black jockeys won 15 of the first 28 Derbies from 1875-1902. Isaac Murphy had three victories, and Willie Simms and

Jimmy Winkfield each won twice. Black people also owned and trained thoroughbreds through the early 20th century before segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South pushed many away from horse racing by restricting jockey licensing and ownership.

That history is fairly well known, but what’s new is how the already small number of Black people still engaged in the sport seems to be shrinking.

A handful of Black horsemen can be seen around the backside barns of tracks working as trainers, grooms and hot walkers, but their numbers are scarce compared to the overwhelming presence of Latino workers.

With no governing body in horse racing, exact numbers are not available. However, no one disputes the shift in demographics.

“What the racism did in America, Caucasian people didn’t want to see Black people have stuff like that,” said historian and horseman John Taylor Jr. “And as time went by and Blacks stopped taking an interest in the sport and stopped working on the backside, that’s when you started seeing the [Latinos] coming in. The jobs that they’re doing now, we used to do.”

Economics and the time demands of tending to horses are factors often cited in the low number of Black and white people working in the barns. But while Saturday’s Belmont Stakes—the last leg of the Triple Crown—pays a prize purse of $1.5 million, everyday races are much less lucrative with smaller payouts that must be divided multiple ways among owners, trainers and workers.

It does not make for a lavish lifestyle.

Many backside workers at Churchill Downs live in dormitories near the barns or above them.

Compared to other industries that this season and even suggested some teams could skip races.

Smaller teams, notably Alpine, believe any increase would effectively punish them for keeping their spending under control, and say big teams can just cut back on developing their cars through the season. Canceling the Russian Grand Prix over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also lowered teams’ costs.

The cap is due to fall to $135 million next year, which could fuel the dispute as this season goes on.

PÉREZ FREE TO RACE?

RED BULL rewarded Sergio Pérez with a new contract after he won the

pay higher wages and offer set hours with health benefits, horse racing is a daily job that requires getting up well before sunrise to train and care for horses. Then, coming back in the afternoon to do it again. Days off are hard to come by.

Horsemen interviewed for this story declined to discuss wage rates, pay scales and benefits—which can vary. They are quick to point out that horse racing is not for everybody.

Horsemen such as the Dixons and trainer Mark Simms Jr. say they do it for love of the animals and the sport.

Not to mention, it’s in their blood.

“My grandpa would have told you that I learned how to walk walking over towards the barn,” said Simms, whose great-grandfather, grandfather and uncle are among several relatives in racing.

“You can go to Target and can probably make 15 bucks an hour or something like that. And you work for five days a week,” Simms said. “This really is something that you have to have a passion for to do, to get up and do it every day.”

The stables are an entry point into horse racing, but Greg Harbut is working to increase the involvement of Black people in all phases of the sport, including thoroughbred ownership and management.

The third-generation horseman and partner Ray Daniels comprise leadership of the Ed Brown Society and Living The Dream Stables, a thoroughbred syndicate comprised of minority ownership. The two partnered on colt Necker Island, who finished ninth in the 2020 Kentucky Derby.

EBS recently partnered with Churchill Downs for an internship program to follow up a previous pairing with the Stronach Group that owns Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course and Santa Anita Park in California.

The Society has two college interns currently working at Santa Anita and looks to introduce current and future generations to horse racing.

“When you look at a lot of minorities, they’ve got two to three generations removed where they couldn’t even go to someone to get the history, the horsemanship or have a mentor to come up with,” said Harbut, whose great-grandfather, Will Harbut, was a groom to legendary thoroughbred Man o’War. “And that’s really what’s missing,” Harbut said. “The horsemanship has not been passed down from generation to generation as it once was.”

But the involvement of the Dixons, Harbut and Simms demonstrate it’s still there. And they hope their dedication to the sport in different capacities helps raise awareness in the Black community.

Rich Strike’s stunning Derby win has certainly provided a payoff for Jerry Dixon Jr. on many levels.

“I know it’s big for our culture because we need a different way, a different view of things to try something that most people don’t like to step out of the comfort zone for,” said Dixon, who aims to be a trainer like his dad.

“Horse racing saved my life. I don’t know where I would be without horse racing and to top if off, to be involved with a Derby winner is a dream come true.” AP

Monaco Grand Prix last month, but it remains to be seen what that will mean for his chances of becoming the first Mexican champion.

The win in Monaco moved Pérez within 15 points of his teammate and series leader Verstappen, and six off second-placed Leclerc of Ferrari.

Pérez has often been called upon to help out Verstappen on track, memorably holding up Lewis Hamilton in the final race of last season, but he told Red Bull “we need to speak later” after he was asked to let Verstappen past to win the Spanish GP last month. After his win in Monaco, though, Pérez is a title contender in his own right. AP

BusinessMirror

June 12, 2022

Proud Marvel super fan, Iman Vellani, stars in ‘Ms. Marvel’

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BusinessMirror JUNE 12, 2022 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

SOULFUL AND SEXY

Adjeng and her new R&B-influenced pop sound

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By Edwin P. Sallan

INGER-songwriter Adrienne Sarmiento Buenaventura or simply Adjeng is on a roll. Even while juggling her roles as a mom, a worship leader, freelance writer, entrepreneur, she managed to release new songs on a consistent basis.

ADJENG

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

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: Aldwin M. Tolosa

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: Jt Nisay

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: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

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

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: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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

The Philippine Business Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd Floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

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Last year alone even amidst the pandemic, she released eight digital singles. This year, Adjeng continues her hot streak and has just released a new single, “More Than A Little” which follows her earlier singles, “That’s Okay (To Be Not Okay)” and “Rollercoaster.” Having fronted several showbands and later composed pop songs for other artists, Adjeng has been mostly identified with tender ballads as typified by earlier releases like “Walk On Water,” “Please,” “If Only,” “Hinga” and her PhilPop entry in 2013, “Sometimes That Happens.”

Her 2022 releases especially “Rollercoaster” and “More Than A Little” reveal a different side of Adjeng.

Owing perhaps to her longtime stint with showbands, Adjeng may have found her niche with this new sound, a soulful brand of R&B-influenced pop with a sexy J. Lo vibe. And by all indications, she seems to be very comfortable with it.

In a recent interview with SoundStrip, one of the most exciting emerging voices in OPM talks about her new songs and the direction her music is headed.

You’ve come a long way in the industry and came to prominence as a songwriter for other artists, what to you is the most fulfilling thing about singing your own songs?

I STARTED in the music industry being a band vocalist first, and eventually did record my own compositions and collaborations with my bandmates.

It was when I started entering nationwide songwriting contests that other artists started interpreting the songs I co-wrote. Last year, when I started creating a catalogue of my collaborations or the songs written with other composers, I felt a spark of joy.

But this year, with finally being able to release songs that I wrote completely in terms of both melody and lyrics, I feel I am able to express who I am as an artist. The fulfilling part is being able to step out of my comfort zone and apply what I’ve learned and

what I continue to learn, and keep growing as a singer-songwriter.

Tell us something about some of your new releases this year like “More Than A Little” and “Rollercoaster” and the inspiration behind them.

WHILE I have dabbled mostly in pop, I have to say that 90’s R&B made a huge impact on me, and I wanted to reflect that in “More Than A Little.” So I tapped Thyro Alfaro as the arranger and if you’re familiar with the hits that he’s written like “Dati” and the ones recorded by Sarah Geronimo. I feel that Thyro’s got his pulse on the current sound and I wanted a song that not only people could resonate with but feels timeless even though it’s current.

“Rollercoaster was coming from a different place and influenced by a lot of the acid jazz that I grew up with. I remember writing “Rollercoaster” in the middle of the pandemic when I was already feeling the cabin fever most of us may have experienced.

But then even in those days, I noticed that there were some good things that came out of us being on lockdown. My husband and I grew even closer, we were able to get to know our children more, and enjoy our time together at home.

So a spark of creativity was ignited in me during the pandemic. With the help of my daughter who was a budding pianist, I finished the song in 10 to 15 minutes. The melody and lyrics flowed so quickly. All the twists and turns, the highs and lows we experienced made their way into the words of “Rollercoaster.” Even while quarantined, I saw how life can still be viewed through rose-tinted glasses.

Is there a pervasive theme that comes out in the songs you’ve written?

FOR past collaborations, mostly for songwriting competitions, my lyrical themes were mostly about heartbreak or moving on or emotions from a love relationship, often mid-tempo tunes or ballads.

On my own, I write the way I feel, and I have to say that I’m at that

place where I feel free and not bound by being stuck following a pattern or trend. But I will say that I love surprising people, and the next songs may not necessarily have the same themes as “Rollercoaster” or “More Than A Little” but will definitely leave you wanting to hear more. I may come up with a ballad or something sentimental, or I may decide to go in a totally different direction. But what I can promise is this, I will stay authentic to the emotions I feel at the time I created the song, and because of that, I pray it will resonate somehow with the ones who will listen to it.

With most artists into collaborations nowadays, do you see yourself again collaborating with other artists, songwriters and maybe even rappers?

I’M always open to collaborations, since I have co-written many songs with other people. I’m excited about the possibilities of working with new musicians, and not just in songwriting, but also singing with different artists.

I’m super game. I just love that I’m able to share what I’m about, and I’m really just beginning, even after being here for quite some time.

Right now, being able to work with excellent arrangers and musicians I’ve known for so long is such a joy.

It feels good knowing you can work with like-minded and passionate people who also take music seriously, but who also know how to have fun in the process.

What else can we look forward to Adjeng in 2022? With the pandemic now in a very manageable state, does this include live performances?

I WOULD love to be able to be a part of gigs or guest in shows where I can perform my original music. There’s more original music coming your way, I honestly can’t wait for you to listen to my coming releases. For now, it’s being able to get the music out there, and work towards building a following. I just want to keep growing as a singer and songwriter. Music and writing are my lifeblood, and I look forward to singing my songs live very soon.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | JUNE 12, 2022

BUSINESS

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

New adventures in pop, rock, post-punk and the blues

FASHION ISLAND Dark Park

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HE late composer and music theorist Arnold Schoenberg once said, “Intelligibility in music seems to be impossible without repetition,” and it’s the recurring cycle of musical motifs that’s the hallmark of Fashion Island’s third part of his so-called “Hanoi Trilogy.” Repetition though is understandable in “Dark Park” because the Pinoy electronic act dabbles in instrumental music but at the same time, it’s hardly obvious unless you nitpick on music whose other major feature is a series of hooks that gladdens the heart and mind. Music scholars further argue that repeating riffs lifts the music from the mundane to something hypnotic and memorable.

Check out “The Magic Cut,” “Gig Economy” and “Midnight Piazza” for those magical moments.

TELEHEART Bubbles

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MUSIC project of two high school students, Bubbles EP by Telehart picks up inspirations from the shoegaze

songbook to tell impressions on the state of mental health. It starts rather tentatively with “Only Here With Me” then the project blows heavy by the second track titled “How Was Your Day?” opening with edgy sounds then building to shoegaze tropes of massed voices and screeching guitars. The title track even has a Radiohead feel about it right around “OK computer.” The lyrics though tend to be opaque in spreading the gospel of responding to mental challenges.

THE PALOMAS Pipe Bomb 1

ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER Endless Rooms

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HE latest album by Aussies Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (RBCF) could be the best classic rock album to come out of the pandemic. Or, it could reek of retrograde rock conservatism in the post-punk era. Whichever direction you decide to take, there’s no denying the hook-laden musicality that permeates RCBF’s roaming around the possibilities of pop-rock crossing over to the band’s heretofore patented jamrock sensibilities. The jamming, in the present case, has been pruned down to ear-hugging melodies and fills. Check out the beautiful handling of reverb in “Tidal River,” the dance-friendly twists and turns of “Vanishing Dots” and delicate balladry of the titular cut. The lyrics can be opaque but the music surely carries the emotional wallop.

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HIS one-man punk band takes a serious stab at reviving the palpitations and arrhythmia of ‘UK Big Beat to scorching ends. The Prodigy is central to The Palomas’ dialectic especially in the nihilist anti-government rant that fuels “Destroy, Destroy, Destroy Program.” Our hero even proclaims, “I’m a fucking god” in the impressively titled “Post-Left Messiah.” The final and fourth track, however, slides back a bit to the fading glory of the Twisted Red Cross label. This pipe bomb is a homemade Molotov cocktail with the power of a nuclear blast. .

THE BLACK KEYS Dropout Boogie

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ITTLE has changed since Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach, aka The Black Keys , came out roaring out of the starting gate with the blues rock stomp of their debut “The Big Come Up” in 2001. More than two decades later, the duo’s current release titled “Dropout Boogie” remains faithful to electric blues with all the heavy boogie and the rock trimmings associated with it. It’s not as weighty as it sounds because The Black Keys maintain their allegiance to primal music which, while raw and lowdown, is peppered with meaty hooks and soulful passages. There’s funk in

opener “Wild Child,” dazzling harmonies in “Baby, I’m Coming Home” and furious riffs in “Burn The Damn Thing Down.” All told, each track has its own unique quality that makes The Black Keys’ blues rock as special as today’s premium alt-rock.

THE SMILE A Light For Attracting Attention

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EHIND the simple group name The Smile is a collaboration among Radiohead heavyweights vocalist Tom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood with drummer Tom Skinner. Noting that, the quick expectation would be a return to Radiohead trademark sonic themes influenced by post-isolation, post-pandemic dreads. True, agitation rules the 1-2 drive of “The Same” and “Opposite” but further down the record comes the comforting jazz of “Pena Vision” and the weird orchestral pop of “Waving A White Flag.” Dig deeper into the lyrics though and Tom Yorke is simply iterating “Please don’t mess with me!”

Into cryptic memos from the edge. The chemistry of the trio is evident and their initial offering while sumptuous and gorgeous may appeal mostly to adventurous heads.

Albums reviewed here can be listened to or even purchased in most digital music platforms, especially bandcamp.

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Proud Marvel super fan, Iman Vellani, stars in ‘Ms. Marvel’

By Alicia Rancilio The Associated Press

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EW YORK— Iman Vellani, who stars as Kamala Khan in the new Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, has a conundrum.

Iman Vellani in a scene from the series new Disney+ Ms. Marvel. Disney+ via AP

Now that she’s a part of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), does she remove the Marvel posters from the walls of her childhood bedroom or leave them up?

“Brie [Larson] is on my wall and she’s in my phone book. So, like, that’s weird,” said Vellani in a recent interview.

Ms. Marvel, which debuted last week, is 19-year-old Vellani’s first professional acting job. Already an avid reader of the comics, Vellani learned of the open audition from her aunt. She went to the audition. Lo and behold, Vellani got the job.

The first month on set was spent in prep, rehearsing and stunt training. She had to give up her high school diet of McDonald’s and Oreos and build stamina, but Vellani wasn’t interested in changing her shape too much. “I was 17. Kamala was 16. I wanted her to look like a normal high school kid,” she said.

“My first proper day of filming—that

was intense,” said Vellani. “It was all of the stunts that I had to do in the real Captain Marvel suit. The one that Brie gets to wear. It was an extremely uncomfortable day. That suit is not made to move in.

You’re just supposed to stand and walk like a mannequin, and that’s what it’s made for. There’s so many pieces and it’s just really uncomfortable, and the scenes were pretty intense. So I came home with all these bruises and everything. My mom was like, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’

And I’m like, ‘I’m a superhero. That’s what happened.’”

Vellani just may be the first Marvel actor who is also a massive fan. She especially loves Robert Downey Jr. and has proudly re-watched Iron Man “more than the average person.”

“They really are just a projection of real life and make you feel like you’re a part of something. Isn’t that what we all kind of want, to feel like we belong? And I know it sounds super cheesy, but for the Marvel fandom, it’s comfortable. It’s

what we know. We can recite everything under the sun about the MCU.” Sana Amanat, the co-creator of Ms. Marvel, jokes that having an actor who is a stan (or, really big fan) as they say, has its challenges.

“Sometimes she would just pull up in the producer’s chair next to me and just give lots of thoughts and opinions on, you know, either the show or the rest of the MCU. And I’d be like, That’s cool, but I need you to just act right now,” she laughed, adding, “Iman brought so much life and love to the character and it just made the entire process so much easier.”

Vellani was browsing a local comic book store when she discovered the Ms. Marvel comics and immediately felt represented in a way that is not common in mainstream media.

“I saw a girl who looked like me.

She was Muslim and Pakistani and a superhero fanatic and I was Muslim, Pakistani and a superhero fanatic, so it

Here’s what science says about eating salads before carbs

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iochemist and author of the Glucose Revolution Jessie Inchauspé says tweaking your diet can change your life.

Among her recommendations in the mainstream media and on Instagram, the founder of the “Glucose Goddess movement” says eating your food in a particular order is the key.

By eating salads first, before proteins, and finishing the meal with starchy carbohydrates, she says blood glucose spikes will be flattened, which is better for you. Scientifically speaking, does this make sense? It turns out, yes, partially.

What is a glucose spike? A glucose spike occurs in your bloodstream about 30-60 minutes after you eat carbohydrate. Many things determine how high and how long the peak lasts. These include what you ate with or before the carbohydrate, how much fiber is in the

carbohydrate, and your body’s ability to secrete, and use, the hormone insulin.

Different foods, different spikes Does eating different food types before carbs affect glucose spikes? Turns out, yes. This isn’t new evidence either.

Scientists have known for a long time that high-fiber foods, such as salads, slow gastric emptying, or the rate at which food exits the stomach. So high-fiber foods slow the delivery of glucose and other nutrients to the small intestine for absorption into the blood.

What about eating food in sequence? Most of the scientific research on whether eating food in a particular order makes a difference to glucose spikes involves giving a fiber, fat or protein “preload” before the meal. Typically, the preload is a liquid and given around 30 minutes before the carbohydrate.

In one study, drinking a whey protein shake 30 minutes before— rather than with—a mashed potato meal was better at slowing gastric emptying. Either option was better at reducing the glucose spike than drinking water before the meal.

The take-home message Watching those glucose spikes is particularly important if you have diabetes or a handful of other medical conditions. If that’s the case, your treating doctor or dietitian will advise how to modify your meals or food intake to avoid glucose spikes. Food ordering may be part of that advice.

For the rest of us, don’t tie yourself up in knots trying to eat your meal in a particular order. But do consider removing sugary beverages, and adding fiber, proteins or fats to carbohydrates to slow gastric emptying and flatten glucose spikes. The Conversation

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worked out quite well. And I think my favorite part about the comic books was that it wasn’t about her religion or her culture or her ethnicity, it was about a fanfic-writing nerd, who just so happened to be Pakistani and just so happened to be Muslim. Those parts of her life motivated her and drove her as a character. she used her religion as a moral code... She never neglected her culture. It was something that kind of uplifted her journey.”

One of the things about South Asian culture that Vellani says Ms. Marvel gets right, is the importance of family. Kamala’s parents and brother feature prominently in the series.

“Showing those close, tight-knit family relationships, showing parents that are alive in the MCU, how rare is that,” said Vellani. “We wanted to hopefully get the ball rolling on Muslim representation in the media because there’s 2 billion Muslims and South Asians in the world, and we cannot represent every single one of them. But I do hope that people find some sort of comfort in Kamala’s character or through her brother or her parents or anyone in her community.”

Vellani is not only thrilled to represent in the MCU but also to be entrusted with its secrets.

“It’s an honor to keep these secrets.

For some people, power is money. For Marvel fans, it’s knowledge and secrets and all the inside scoop on all the movies that haven’t been released yet. I have it. I have that power and I love it.”

Celebrating Filipino flavors this June

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he rich and unique culinary artistry of the Philippine Northern and Southern regions come to the fore this June at Conrad Manila’s award-winning all-day dining restaurant, Brasseries on 3.

“We are delighted to celebrate the diverse gourmet tradition and heritage of the Philippines, as we take our patrons on a journey of flavors with signature dishes from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” says Linda Pecoraro, Conrad Manila general manager.

Curated by Executive Chef Warren Brown and Executive Sous Cheff Patricia Mesina, selections for the month-long festivities include regional favorites such as Pyanggang Manok (blackened coconut grilled chicken), Bal-

JunE 12, 2022

bacua, Beef Kansi, Seafood KareKare, and KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka), among others.

“Flavors of the Philippines” is available daily for buffet lunch and dinner until June 30, 2022, with prices starting at P2,450 nett per person. Conrad Manila observes stringent health and safety measures in line with local government guidelines and Hilton’s own CleanStay initiative and holds the Department of Tourism “Safety Seal.”

For inquiries and reservations, contact +63 2 8833 9999, send an e-mail to conradmanila@conradhotels.com or visit www.conradmanila.com. Follow @conradmanilaph on Facebook and @conradmanila on Instagram for more updates.