Businessmirror June 28, 2020

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THE city of Al Khobar in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, currently the largest hirer of overseas Filipino workers, and has the largest Filipino population in the Middle East.

BRING THEM HOME The government’s policy to leave no one behind among hundreds of thousands of distressed OFWs faces yet another challenge—bringing home hundreds of cadavers from Saudi Arabia, including those who died from Covid-19.

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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

OSING a loved one abroad, and not being able to say good-bye properly, is a most painful experience. Worse than this is learning that there’s no way one can ever pay one’s respects to the dearly departed, because the laws of the foreign land forbid cremation—which would have made it easier to transport the remains. Thus, they will be buried there.

This is the dilemma that has led families of more than a hundred overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the past week to storm the gates of heaven and of Malacañang, begging the Philippine government to recall its decision not to bring home the remains of 107 such workers who succumbed to Covid-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Instead, the government will focus on bringing home the remains of more than 200 others who died of natural causes, while promising to provide all the benefits due the Covid victims’ fami-

lies, such as those provided by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The Philippine government decision was understandable, given the rigorous arrangements required in bringing home a cadaver—not just one, but 107—of Covid victims, to cut the risk of infection.

For one thing, people who die even of just “suspected Covid-19” in the Philippines have been required to be cremated within 12 hours, with no wakes allowed and the families given just brief moments to say their good-byes. A painful thought, indeed, compounding the

earlier anguish of not having been allowed to care for them in the hospital, until their dying moments.

Thus, it was not surprising that the Philippine government, through the Department of Labor and Employment, announced that only the non-Covid remains of OFWs will be brought home from Saudi, which hosts the biggest number of OFWs worldwide.

IATF relents

ON Friday morning, however, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) did a turnaround and an-

nounced that Manila will, after all, bring home even the bodies of the Covid-19 victims.

However, in response to a BusinessMirror query earlier on Thursday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that if the Covid dead will be allowed to be transported to the Philippines, these would have to be completely sealed.

“It can’t be opened and has to be buried soon, within 24 hours, once it arrives in the country. Relatives can’t open the sealed casket anymore,” Vergeire told the BusinessMirror.

Continued on A2

Chinese jets buzzing Taiwan show long-term risk of war with US

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By Samson Ellis |

President Tsai Ing-wen, who views the island as a de facto independent nation in need of wider international recognition.

Bloomberg News

ITH US-China tensions increasing on a number of fronts, the main issue that could spark a military conflict over the long term is still one that is fundamental to their relationship: Taiwan.

Chinese fighter jets have entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone seven times in the last two weeks, prompting the island to scramble warplanes to warn them off. While the total number of Chinese incursions this year is still largely on pace with previous years, the outburst over the past few weeks is unusual and could augur a dramatic escalation if sustained.

The military maneuvering reflects the ever-present potential for war over an island that China’s Communist Party has threatened to take by force ever since the na-

tionalist government of Chiang Kai-shek fled the mainland in 1949. For much of the time since, the possibility of US intervention has helped maintain the status quo—even after the Carter administration switched formal diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979.

China views Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory that must eventually be brought back under Beijing’s control, by force if necessary. While it has long used economic incentives as a carrot to achieve those goals, it cut off all direct ties after the 2016 election of

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.0130

‘Pipe dream’

A MAN photographs the Taipei 101 tower, once the world’s tallest building, and the Taipei skyline from the top of Elephant Mountain on January 7, 2020, in Taipei, Taiwan. CARL COURT/GETTY IMAGES EUROPE

HER re-election in January by an even wider margin showed that the two governments are only shifting further apart. At the same time Taiwan is increasing economic links with the US, where it’s increasingly being hailed as a model democracy by Trump administration officials who regularly slam China for increased authoritarianism.

“President Tsai’s re-election does not change much in crossStrait relations, but it may have solidified the view in Beijing that peaceful, un-coerced unification is a pipe dream,” said Michael Mazza, a visiting fellow at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, who analyzes US defense policy in Asia-Pacific. “We may well see a new crisis in the Taiwan Strait before the decade’s out.”

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4668 n UK 62.1462 n HK 6.4530 n CHINA 7.0865 n SINGAPORE 35.9418 n AUSTRALIA 34.4390 n EU 56.0996 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.3347

Source: BSP (June 26, 2020)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

BRING THEM HOME A2 Sunday, June 28, 2020

Continued from A1

Following the announcement on Friday that even Covid victims’ remains will be brought home by the Philippine government, Vergeire reiterated that proper handling of the body should be done.

“Closely sealed casket can’t be opened anymore once sealed; bury or cremate as soon as the remains arrive in Manila. Relatives will not be allowed to open the casket anymore,” Vergeire said.

When asked if the move is just proper and would somehow help ease the pain of the family members, Vergeire said, “It was a decision made by our government with the government of Saudi Arabia, there would be specific reasons. And as what was stated…because cremation is not allowed in Saudi Arabia.”

Infectious-disease specialist Dr. Rontgene Solante, meanwhile, said that cadavers of those who died from Covid-19 pose no hazard to the personnel who will facilitate the air transport, if these are sealed.

“Wala namang health risk ’yan habang sa eroplano kasi, halimbawa sealed casket wala naman...pero dahil sa batas, hindi ita-travel ang bangkay [through plane] unless i-cremate [It poses no health risk in the plane if it’s in a sealed casket…however, because of the law, a cadaver can’t be transported by air unless it’s cremated],” Solante said.

For the requirements of repatriation of human remains in the country for deaths related to Covid-19, the Bureau of Quarantine reserves the right to allow or disallow the transport of human remains whose death occurred during epidemics/outbreaks, or if the cause of death is due to a highly pathogenic organism, infectious disease subject to international health regulations, emerging or re-emerging disease, and a Public

Health Emergency of International Concern (Philippine Department of Health Memorandum 2020-67).

According to existing rules, if transport is allowed for the human remains concerned, the following measures shall be undertaken as the case may be to ensure public health safety:

• The remains shall be cremated before shipment; or

• For remains that do not require cremation, the casket shall be permanently and hermetically sealed from the port of origin until burial. The burial must take place within 24 hours after the issuance of clearance of admission into the country.

“Pag Covid confirmed, ang patakaran diyan talagang ’di na iuuwi ang bangkay, dapat cremation. If Muslim, ililibing within 24 hours din [If Covid, the rules that have been set are, that the corpse will not be transported but cremated. If the deceased is a Muslim, it is buried within 24 hours],” Solante said.

He also cited the guidelines of the Department of Health in handling the cadaver of the person who died of Covid: 1. All personnel handling the cadaver shall wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while performing their task. All PPE should be disposed of after use. The PPE is important as possible health risks like fluid contamination or splashes could enter through the mucus membrane or skin of the health worker.

2. Cremation shall be done within 12 hours to prevent undue decay of the body in the crematorium and possible source of contamination.

3. When transporting the body to the mortuary, it should be properly packed, wrapped in an airtight impermeable cadaver bag, leakproof and be zipped or closed tightly with tapes and bandage strips.

4. At no instance shall unzip-

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs personnel assist 345 Filipino repatriates, all crew members of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines who arrived at the Clark International Airport on June 6, 2020. DFA-OUMWA

ping of the cadaver bag of the body and removal permitted until it reaches the funeral home.

It may be noted that some of the frontliners of the DOLE and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Philippine posts abroad have themselves gotten ill—two diplomats have succumbed to Covid-19—and, as noted in last week’s Senate Labor committee hearing, the OFWs in distress abroad have become increasingly desperate, as the government people helping them have been stretched thinly and forced to reduce duty hours in some cases.

Indeed, it’s hard to imagine the logistical nightmare—not to mention the anxiety from the infection risks—that DFA and DOLE people will face in implementing the repatriation of the remains, including Covid victims, in KSA.

At presstime, the DFA was negotiating with the Saudi government to extend the 72-hour deadline given by the king for Manila to bring home its dead.

Midway through the frenzy of repatriation, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. had said the DOLE and the DFA are doing what they do because the nation

must prove that no one will be left behind among the OFWs. Against all odds—lack of resources, lockdowns and stringent rules in host countries, lean manpower threatened by infection —they have brought home nearly 60,000 displaced OFWs, and an almost equal number remains in line, waiting to be brought home.

Daily, the anxiety levels rise, and the KSA dilemma poses yet another serious challenge.

The IATF has decided to allow the repatriation even of the Covid dead, and to their families in the Philippines, the thought that their

final resting place will be at home may at least ease the pain somewhat.

On CNN Philippines, one widow of a man who succumbed to Covid had cried that her three-year-old daughter couldn’t understand why her dad no longer responded to her repeated calls on the mobile phone, after he was intubated.

Now, he is gone, their tears adding to this bottomless well of pain among all those hit by the pandemic. Their only comfort, as of Friday, is the commitment of Philippine authorities to bring home all the OFW dead, by whatever means possible.

Chinese jets buzzing Taiwan show long-term risk of war with US Continued from A1

One of the Chinese incursions occurred just hours after a US military plane had flown across the island on June 9. So far this year, there have been 17 Chinese navy or air force exercises, around or close to Taiwan, according to the island’s defense ministry. That compares with 29 in the whole of 2019.

Skepticism

THE show of force comes as Taiwan’s public becomes increasingly skeptical of China. President Xi Jinping’s call last year for talks over unification under the “one country, two systems” model used to govern Hong Kong, which has been rocked by unrest over China’s tightening grip over the city, helped fuel support for Tsai’s big re-election win.

Nearly 80 percent of Taiwanese reject the use of “one country, two systems,” according to a survey by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council in June.

In a speech marking the beginning of her second term in office last month, Tsai called for talks with China on the precondition of parity between the two sides. China has consistently opposed that, and Premier Li Keqiang raised eyebrows at the National People’s Congress last month when he didn’t mention past agreements with Taiwan that have helped ensure stability in the relationship.

“We will adhere to the major principles and policies on work related to Taiwan and resolutely oppose and deter any separatist activities seeking Taiwan independence,” Li said. Although Tsai’s party acts as if Taiwan is independent, any formal declaration is a red line for Beijing that would likely trigger an invasion.

Assessing risk of invasion

AT the moment, however, the risk of an invasion is very low. Qiao Liang, a hawkish Chinese military strategist, told the South China Morning Post last month that an invasion of Taiwan could be catastrophic for China: Even if the US doesn’t join the war, it would likely impose sanctions along with other countries that could lead to widespread economic hardship and undermine the Communist Party’s long-term development plans.

“The Taiwan issue is actually a key problem between China and the US, even though we have insisted it is China’s domestic issue,” he told the newspaper. “In other words, the Taiwan issue cannot be completely resolved unless the rivalry between Beijing and Washington is resolved.”

Responding to a question at a monthly press briefing Wednesday on recent US actions around Taiwan, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a Defense Ministry spokesman, called Taiwan “an inseparable part of China.”

The US “frequently plays the ‘Taiwan card’ and wants to endanger China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by ‘salami-slicing,’ which is completely delusional thinking,” Wu said.

“The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] continues to maintain high alert, has a firm will, full confidence and sufficient ability to maintain national sovereignty and territorial integrity and maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

While the US acknowledges China’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan, it officially views the island’s status as unresolved and opposes any Chinese moves to force it into unification. It scrapped its mutual defense treaty with Taiwan

CHINESE military delegates arrive at the Great Hall of the People before the third plenary session of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, on March 12, 2015, in Beijing. FENG LI/GETTY IMAGES ASIAPAC

when it recognized the government in Beijing, but it’s still widely expected that America’s military would intervene in a conflict.

Wavering support

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has strengthened ties with Taiwan, approving the first American fighter jet sale to Taiwan in three decades last year and lobbying hard—but ultimately unsuccessfully—for Taiwan’s inclusion in this year’s World Health Assembly following its successful handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Still, former national security adviser John Bolton questioned Trump’s commitment to Taiwan in his upcoming memoir. Pressure from Wall Street financiers and China’s top leaders made the US

president reluctant to fully back the island, including hesitating on whether the US should sell it upgraded weapons systems, according to Bolton’s account.

“When Trump abandoned the Kurds in Syria, there was speculation about who he might abandon next,” Bolton wrote. “Taiwan was right near the top of the list, and would probably stay there as long as Trump remained President, not a happy prospect.”

Some US lawmakers have pushed for the US to back Taiwan more explicitly, a move that would surely anger China. In an article for National Review last month, Republican representative Mike Gallagher called for a declaratory statement unequivocally committing

the US to the defense of Taiwan, in part to keep China hemmed in along its coastline.

“By taking Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army Navy would have a foothold to turn Japan’s flank and break out of the first island chain, adding Taiwan’s numerous foundries to China’s and gaining a near-monopoly on global microelectronics production in the process,” Gallagher wrote.

Shoring up

TAIWAN’S technology industry, particularly the world’s largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), is crucial if the US is going to provide an alternative to Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies Co. in

5G telecommunications and automated vehicles. The US has asked TSMC, which recently announced plans for a $12-billion chip plant in Arizona, to cut ties with Huawei due to its close relationship with the Communist Party, Kung Minghsin, minister of Taiwan’s National Development Council, told reporters this week.

Taiwan under Tsai has sought to reduce the island’s economic dependence on China, a trend that has only accelerated following the outbreak of Covid-19.

Through May this year, China and Hong Kong have accounted for 41.5 percent of Taiwan’s exports compared with 14.5 percent for the US, according to the Ministry of Finance. Still, around half of its shipments to China are assembled in the mainland and then re-exported to the US. “As parts of the manufacturing process are now moved back to Taiwan, it will be possible for the supply chain as a whole to bypass China,” Kung said. “In this phase we are considering high-end products as well as products with cybersecurity concerns to be moved back to Taiwan for manufacturing.”

Besides Taiwan’s own attempts to shore up its economic strength, another key to its security going forward is a generally strong US military that demonstrates the capabilities to take on China, according to Mazza from the American Enterprise Institute.

“Defending Taiwan is becoming a larger challenge as the PLA modernizes and becomes more capable,” he said. “Even absent a clear commitment to defend Taiwan, the United States can telegraph that commitment by making the choices required to ensure it can defend Taiwan successfully.”

Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World

Wirecard scandal puts spotlight on German company regulation

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RANKFURT, Germany—An accounting scandal at one of Germany’s fastest-growing blue-chip companies has raised doubts about the national financial watchdog and, coming on top of other high-profile cases of fraud, led to questions about the country’s ability to oversee its corporate titans.

Some 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) vanished from payment systems provider Wirecard, until recently heralded as Germany’s emerging giant of the financial tech sector. Its CEO was arrested on suspicion of market manipulation and inflating financial numbers.

Adding to the damage to Germany’s corporate reputation was the reaction of the financial regulator, BaFin, when media reports last year questioned the company’s accounting. Rather than investigate WireCard, it targeted investors, banning them from betting on a drop in the share price, which plunged more than 40 percent.

“That is a documented failure of supervision to intervene when there was clear evidence in this case,” Florian Toncar, a member of parliament for the opposition Free Democratic Party, said in an interview on Norddeutscher Rundfunk public radio.

He said the case was “a heavy blow” for Germany’s reputation as a financial center.

“WireCard was until now one of the few functioning tech companies that have come up with new ideas in the market place and now it turns out that that was to a great extent smoke and mirrors.”

BaFin’s head, Felix Hufeld, has conceded that Wirecard’s implosion was “a disaster.” But the agency is standing by its decisions throughout the scandal, details of which are still emerging.

Wirecard provides the technology to companies and consumers to make cashless payments, a growing and competitive market globally. Its founder and CEO, Markus Braun, resigned last week and said “it cannot be ruled out” that the company could have been the victim of fraud.

He was arrested on Monday on suspicion of inflating the company’s financial numbers and later released on bail.

Under the new CEO, James Freis, the company has said that previous descriptions of its business in countries where it worked with partners—a key pillar of earnings—were inaccurate, and that it was probing whether those businesses were always run in the best interest of the company. The missing 1.9 billion euros was supposed to be in trustee accounts but the two Philippine banks the company said held the money have said they have no dealings with Wirecard. Auditor EY refused to sign off on the company’s annual report.

Corporate wrongdoing is not unheard of in Germany to say the least.

Volkswagen was caught rigging diesel engines to cheat on US emissions tests and paid more than 33 billion euros ($37 billion) in fines and settlements, while the chief executive and board chair of industrial conglomerate Siemens quit over a 2006-2007 scandal over bribing foreign officials to gain contracts. Banking giant Deutsche Bank has paid fines for breaking money-laundering rules.

Wirecard’s troubles have a specific focus: they call into question the honesty of the financial statements that its investors and creditors relied on. In that sense, it echoes the accounting scandals of the early 2000s that rocked US equity markets such as the one around energy company Enron.

BaFin has come under scrutiny in part for its decision in February 2018 to prevent traders from betting against the company’s stock. BaFin imposed the ban after the shares plunged on reports by the Financial Times that raised questions about the company’s accounting, including reports of backdated sales contracts that inflated revenue to meeting financial targets.

BaFin said the short sales ban was to protect market integrity and investors, not the company.

In trying to explain what went wrong at the regulator, Toncar and others have pointed to BaFin’s limited range of authority. As a financial regulator, it was responsible for Wirecard Bank AG, the German banking arm of Wirecard, not the company as a whole.

Thorsten Sellhorn, professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, said that Germany’s accounting watchdog, the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel, was the first line of defense, not BaFin. Sellhorn, who is president of the European Accounting Association, said it was “too early to point out the culprits” before criminal investigations are resolved.

He said, however, that he does not see a “smoking gun” at BaFin. Instead, the company’s board of directors “would be much closer to home” and the first stop if outside auditors had questions. Germany has made what he called “slow progress” in improving board oversight, such as a corporate governance code that calls for CEOs to wait two years before taking board seats, more women on boards, and independent financial expertise among board appointees.

Carola Rinker, an economist and consultant who has studied accounting fraud, said several factors might have hindered BaFin and its auditors, EY. One is the complexity of Wirecard’s business model, which involves handling cashless payments among a complex network of credit card companies, merchants and banks.

Another is that, unlike an industrial company, much of the value listed on Wirecard’s balance sheet was in the form of intangible financial factors such as accounting goodwill and customer relationships.

Rinker said that such “intangibles” were high at Wirecard, amounting to 1.4 billion euros out of a 5.8 billion-euro balance sheet.

She contrasted Wirecard with the 2000 scandal over FlowTex, which borrowed 2 billion euros on the basis of drilling machines—a tangible asset—that didn’t exist. “The problem with intangibles is that you cannot see their existence because they are not physical, so it is more difficult to show their value,” she said.

Those are complexities and issues BaFin head Hufeld will have a chance to discuss soon. He is scheduled to appear next week before the finance committee in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament. AP

BusinessMirror

Sunday, June 28, 2020

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From Spam to corned beef, global sales of canned meat are booming

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anned meat is having a moment. Demand is booming across the globe. In the US, sales surged more than 70 percent in the 15 weeks ended June 13. In the UK, consumption of canned corned beef has taken off. Even in South Korea, where Spam is an old favorite, sales are expanding at the fastest pace in years.

At first, people were loading up on pantry staples with a long shelf life during lockdown conditions. Then, shortages of some fresh meat supplies, especially in the US, also helped to drive sales.

Now, the economic downturn is underpinning demand.

There’s the obvious factor of income here. With millions thrown out of work in the last few months, consumers are looking for a way to cut back on grocery bills, and they’re trading in fresh meat for canned varieties. But there’s also something deeper going on—a return to comfort food and nostalgia in troubled times.

Ray Herras, a graduate student at Columbia University, is a Filipino American. Spam gained popularity in the cuisines of Southeast Asia after occupying US forces brought the canned ham with them. For Herras, Spam is a taste of childhood.

“I grew up eating Spam. It is deeply ingrained in Filipino culture, but I wasn’t really eating Spam until quarantine,” said Herras, who started adding it to his grocery purchases at least every other week. He’s not sure how much longer he’ll keep buying up, but it’s always a staple whenever he’s “feeling homesick,” he said.

Canned meat has been available for more than 80 years. It’s sometimes frowned upon by fi-

let-mignon loving elites, but it’s also got a cult following. Spam musubi—think of it like a porky twist on sushi—is a popular snack in Hawaii. In Korea, it’s eaten with kimchi and steamed rice. In the US, a slice of fried Spam with eggs can be a breakfast treat. And in the UK, tinned corned beef is served up as hash with potatoes and fried onions.

But while the die-hard fans are always there, the recent boom in sales is something even the canned meat makers didn’t see coming.

“Even I thought it could be difficult to increase our sales of canned meat to more than what we expected,” said Kasper Lenbroch, chief executive officer of the unit that houses the Tulip brand at Danish Crown Group, Europe’s top meat processor. “It’s not very often when you’re in food that you can see traditional products like these grow as much as they have done right now.”

Sales of Tulip Pork Luncheon Meat, sold in 120 markets around the world, are expected to go up 25 percent this year, Lenbroch said. Sales are “growing all over,” including in the UK, Germany, Greece, Japan and Singapore, among many others.

Marfrig Global Foods SA, the Brazilian beef giant, is seeing a similar jump at its Uruguay business, which supplies corned beef

to the US. Sales of the product are expected to reach as high as 3,500 metric tons this year, said Marcelo Secco, CEO of the unit. That would be up almost double compared with 2019, when about 1,800 tons were sold, he said.

Secco points to the recent jump in US meat prices as turning consumers on to canned alternatives. Some of America’s biggest livestock slaughter plants were forced to close earlier this year after coronavirus outbreaks saw thousands of workers falling ill.

That caused wholesale beef prices to double in about a month. While the market has come back down, corned beef was there to help fill supply gaps—and now that consumers have returned to the old staple, they may be more inclined to stick with it.

“There isn’t a supermarket in the US that doesn’t have corned beef,” Secco said. “It’s a product that everyone knows.”

While US sales of canned meat have slowed since an initial surge when lockdowns started in midMarch, they are still well above 2019 levels. In the week ended June 13, sales were up 17 percent, according to Nielsen data.

Hormel Food Corp.’s Spam was already seeing sales growth in the past several years, but nothing like the increase taking place now.

“The last time Spam saw a similar pattern in interest was back to when the brand started during the Great Depression. The economic situation wasn’t great—that was carried into World War II,” said Brian Lillis, Hormel’s senior brand manager for Spam. “What we saw over the last few months is really people all over the country purchasing the product.”

Spam has a storied history in South Korea, the No. 2 consumer after the US. It’s a popular holiday gift sold in lavish packages, which make up about 60 percent of annual sales, according to CJ CheilJedang Corp., the Korean producer of the tinned ham.

When coronavirus cases started spreading in the country in February and March, consumers stayed home and cooked more—but many people still had leftover Spam from holiday packages. It wasn’t until April that sales really started taking off.

In the two months of April and May, CJ saw Spam sales soar more than 50 percent from a year earlier.

“The outbreak of coronavirus has revived the domestic canned food industry, which was on the verge of entering a period of stagnation,” said Lee Seung Hoon, a spokesman at CJ. “Now we are expecting growth in the market.”

Bloomberg News

Modi looks inward to save Indian economy as crisis bites

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rime Minister Narendra Modi wants to make India more self-reliant, but if the experience over the past few years is anything to go by, it’s not going to be easy.

Faced with disruptions to raw material supplies from China because of the pandemic and millions of job losses following a nationwide lockdown, Modi has ratcheted up calls to boost local manufacturing and reduce India’s reliance on imports.

A shortage of personal protective equipment at the beginning of the outbreak increased his resolve—and within the space of just two months, India has become the world’s biggest maker of PPE kits after China. That success has only emboldened Modi as he exhorts Indians to buy local goods.

A military standoff with China— resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers along a contested Himalayan border—is now adding fuel to those calls. The government is reviewing rules and tariffs on imports from its neighbor, people familiar with the matter said, amid a call from local political leaders for a boycott of everything from China.

Traders, who were previously reluctant to snub cheap Chinese imports, have now come up with a list of 3,000 items, including toys, watches and plastic products, that can easily be replaced by local manufacturing.

The push to cut imports this time is “more pronounced in its economic nationalism,” said Ami-

tendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore. “The dominant thinking is if businesses give up imports, and start making the same products at home, then they would create jobs, and generate incomes in a self-sustaining process.”

Deja vu

Modi previously attempted to boost domestic manufacturing with his Make in India plan, but that had limited success. Under that initiative, the government pledged to cut red tape and assist companies looking to set up shop in the country. The ambition was to grow the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25 percent by 2020, from 15 percent in 2014.

But strict local-content rules in that plan backfired by raising production costs for companies, while waning domestic consumption amid a protracted slowdown in the economy saw the manufacturing sector’s share remaining almost stagnant at about 15 percent.

Modi has little choice but to focus on manufacturing, given the slump in the dominant services sector— the primary driver for employment growth. With the economy on course for its first full-year contraction in four decades, authorities see industrial growth as key to creating jobs for some 1 million young people entering the work force every month.

India has outlined new measures to promote self-reliance, including prohibiting global companies from

bidding for government contracts up to a value of 2 billion rupees ($26.4 million), and giving collateral-free loans to small businesses that account for about 48 percent of India’s goods exports.

Analysts say the latest measures will do little to make local firms more competitive.

“These are all medium-term strategies India already had. Now it is taking a little bit of political color,” said N.R. Bhanumurthy, vice chancellor of Bengaluru Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics. “If you want to really deal with China you need to be very competitive. That’s not an overnight job.”

T he politica l ly inf luentia l Swadeshi Jagran Manch—a group aligned with Modi’s ruling party— has been at the forefront of pushing Indians to reduce their dependence on imports.

But doing so is easier said than done. China is India’s biggest source of imports, with purchases including electronic goods, nuclear reactors and organic chemicals running into almost $70 billion last year. Beijing enjoys a trade surplus of about $50 billion with New Delhi.

“Self-reliance should be interpreted as making India more resilient in the coming years, rather than interpreting those words in its narrowest terms,” said Kaushik Das, chief India economist at Deutsche Bank AG. “The objective is not to reduce imports at any cost.”

Modi is also hoping to lure investment as businesses around the world look to reassess their supply chains

and diversify their China operations.

“While this vision is good, we need policies,” said Ram Upendra Das, head of the Centre for Regional Trade in New Delhi, describing the recent self-reliance pledge as “more of a reiteration” of the Make in India program. “We need to upgrade physical infrastructure, social infrastructure.”

India has been trying to woo investors since the US-China trade war, but many favored places like Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines instead, given concerns about India’s archaic land and labor laws.

Frustrating delays

While India is in the process of simplifying labor laws and has cut corporate tax rates to bring it on par with Asian peers, challenges remain in the form of cumbersome land acquisition rules, foreign-exchange controls and lethargic bureaucracy.

Companies including South Korea’s top steelmaker, Posco, have given up on their India investment plans, owing to frustrating delays in land acquisition.

The result is that India imports 6.69 million tons of finished steel despite being a net exporter of iron ore.

Words alone won’t be enough to attract investors, said Jayati Ghosh, an economics professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

“The economy is in a state of collapse,” she said. “If you’re a global company interested in a new location for part of your supply chain, you need excellent infrastructure.”

Bloomberg News

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Who hasn’t heard of Covid-19 by now? More than you think

By Cara Anna

The Associated Press

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OHANNESBURG—A half-year into the most momentous pandemic in decades, it’s hard to imagine that anyone, anywhere has not heard of the coronavirus. But scores of migrants arriving in Somalia tell United Nations workers every day that they are unaware of Covid-19.

Monitors for the International Organization for Migration, the UN migration agency, interview people at the border in Somalia, a crossroads on one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes: across the Red Sea with traffickers, through war-ravaged Yemen and into rich Gulf countries.

The questions for migrants are simple. Origin? Destination? Why are you going? But after the first infections were confirmed in Somalia, a new one was added: How many people in your group are aware of the coronavirus?

In the week ending June 20, just over half—51 percent—of the 3,471 people tracked said they had never heard of Covid-19.

“The first time I saw this I was also very shocked,” Celeste Sanchez Bean, a program manager with the UN agency based in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, told The Associated Press.

The findings, little more than a line in the agency’s reports, are a reminder of the huge challenges in reaching everyone in the world with information about the pandemic, much less getting them to wear face masks.

The migrants are often young men from rural parts of neighboring Ethiopia. Most have no educa-

tion, and some are from communities where Internet access is low, Bean said. She doubted that anything had been lost in translation.

“We’ve been interviewing migrants for many years,” she said.

In past interviews, many migrants were not even aware that a war was being waged in Yemen, the next step on their journey, she said.

With that in mind, “I’m not super shocked that levels of awareness of the coronavirus are still very low.”

Instead, she’s heartened that the number of those unaware of Covid-19 has been dropping over the dozen weeks that the question has been asked, down from 88 percent at the start.

Anyone who is unaware of the coronavirus is given a short explanation of the pandemic, including how the virus is contracted and descriptions of the symptoms and preventative measures.

What worries Bean now are the findings of a new project mapping the migrant route through Somalia, a country destabilized by decades of conflict, and merging it with epidemiological data showing coronavirus infections.

“It’s very clear to us that migrants are transiting areas with confirmed cases,” she said. “When

In this photo taken on June 10, 2020, an internally-displaced Somali woman, right, is informed how to protect herself from the coronavirus, at the Weydow IDP camp in Mogadishu, Somalia.

A half-year into the most momentous pandemic in decades, it’s hard to imagine that anyone, anywhere hasn’t heard of the coronavirus, but hundreds of migrants arriving in Somalia are proving some people are still unaware of Covid-19.

Hamza Osman/International Organization for Migration (IOM)-Somalia via AP

you have migrants with such levels of unawareness, combined with this...I don’t want to say dangerous, but the migrants are putting themselves at risk.”

Possibly others, too. Migrants already face stigma in cities like Bosaso, where boats set off for Yemen, as some residents blame them for bringing the virus, the UN migration agency has said.

Now with the pandemic hurting the local economy, many migrants cannot find the work that allows them to save money for their onward journey, Bean said. “So they are struggling even more than ever before.”

Lack of awareness about Covid-19 isn’t limited to the migrants.

“I’ve heard of something that sounds like that name, but we don’t have it here,” Fatima Moalin, a resident of Sakow town in southern Somalia, told the AP when reached by phone. “Muslims don’t contract such a thing.”

Others in rural Somalia, especially in areas held by the alQaida-linked al-Shabab extremist

group, have been dismissive of the virus. Soma l i aut hor it ies c ite l im ited Inter net access, l imited awa reness ca mpa ig ns a nd even e x t rem ists’ rest r ict ions on commu nicat ions w it h t he outside world.

A recent assessment by the UN migration agency of displaced people in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland found “very high” levels of misunderstanding, with some people confusing Covid-19 with a mosquito-borne disease or thinking a key symptom of the respiratory disease was diarrhea.

But most respondents were aware of the pandemic, thanks largely to radio broadcasts, word of mouth and messages played by mobile phone services while waiting for someone to pick up—a common approach in many countries in Africa.

“Slowly, slowly the information is getting there,” Bean said.

The virus is, too. Somalia, with one of the world’s weakest health systems, now has more than 2,800 cases.

Tribes turn to musicians to raise kids’ awareness of coronavirus

By Iris Samuels

The Associated Press Report for America

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ELENA, Mont.—The scene is the pedestrian bridge over US Highway 93 in Pablo. In the midst of a gaggle of dancing children, a young hip-hop artist raps out a serious message: “I pull my mask up to my face so I know that I’m straight.... I wash my hands in the sink, I ain’t taking no risk,” sings KiidTruth, in the video for his new song, “C19”—the first effort in a campaign against Covid-19 waged by Native American tribes in Montana.

To shield their vulnerable elders from the coronavirus pandemic, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are enlisting musicians to tell tribal youth to wash their hands and wear masks.

The song by 25-year-old KiidTruth—also known as Artie Mendoza III—garnered more than 1,500 views on YouTube in the four days after it was posted.

The music campaign “is an excellent way to reach younger people,” said 15-year-old Alishon Kelly, who lives on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana. “I’ve seen a lot of my peers posting it and watching it.”

On the reservation, which has a population of slightly under 30,000, the stakes are high. If the virus

In this photo taken on June 16, 2020, Artie Mendoza III, 25, also known as KiidTruth, looks on outside his home in Pablo, Montana. Mendoza created a viral TikTok dance and song to promote hand washing, mask wearing and social distancing among the youth on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Mendoza’s children inspired him to create the dance. “And so I put two and two together, I am aiming for our youth, why not make a fun dance too,” he said. AP/Tommy Martino

spreads to the community’s elders—who are at a greater risk of developing life-threatening symptoms—the local language and customs could be in peril.

“When it comes to our elders, we’re always around them, we’re always with them,” said Mendoza, who grew up on the reservation.

“They’re a sidewalk away.”

Sa id t r iba l Cou nc i lwom a n Charmel Gillin: “Tribal communities are very unique in many ways,

but one of the ways is that we are a people with a spoken language, oral histories, and all of those aspects of our heritage are really in need of preservation. The elders in the community carry those for us.”

The reservation has not seen a significant number of Covid-19 cases. The tribes announced last week that four Flathead Reservation residents were diagnosed w ith Cov id-19. T he area has

seen a total of nine cases since the onset of the pandemic, and no deaths.

But as Mendoza sings, “My fellow Navajos been dealing with the sickness.” Leaders on the Flathead Reservation watched with concern as the Navajo Nation’s caseload mounted in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, where more than 6,000 Covid-19 cases have led to more than 300 deaths.

“We have been realizing the potential for great loss and that really puts us in a higher gear in trying to figure out what to do,” Gillin said. “We have a little bit of an advantage in being in this remote rural area in Montana so we can observe what’s happening around us. We need to use that to our benefit.”

According to Michelle Mitchell, head of the tribes’ education department, the campaign will expand to feature numerous local artists in coming weeks. Local youth who create their own videos will compete for $100 gift cards.

“Our guiding work is for the youth here on the reservation, but that doesn’t mean our kids over here can’t challenge the kids from Blackfeet,” Mitchell said. “They could launch these challenges themselves and take it in to other Indian communities. That would be pretty cool.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Arctic is on fire: Siberian heat wave alarms scientists

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OSCOW—The Arctic is feverish and on fire—at least parts of it are. And that’s got scientists worried about what it means for the rest of the world. The thermometer hit a likely record of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Russian Arctic town of Verkhoyansk on June 20, a temperature that would be a fever for a person—but this is Siberia, known for being frozen. The World Meteorological Organization said it’s looking to verify the temperature reading, which would be unprecedented for the region north of the Arctic Circle.

“The Arctic is figuratively and literally on fire—it’s warming much faster than we thought it would in response to rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and this warming is leading to a rapid meltdown and increase in wildfires,” University of Michigan environmental school dean Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist, said in an e-mail.

“The record warming in Siberia is a warning sign of major proportions,” Overpeck wrote.

Much of Siberia had high temperatures this year that were beyond unseasonably warm. From January through May, the average temperature in north-central Siberia has been about 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) above average, according to the climate science nonprofit Berkeley Earth.

“That’s much, much warmer than it’s ever been over that region in that period of time,” Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said.

Siberia is in the Guinness Book of World Records for its extreme temperatures. It’s a place where the thermometer has swung 106 degrees Celsius (190 degrees Fahrenheit), from a low of minus 68 degrees Celsius (minus 90 Fahrenheit) to now 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit).

For residents of the Sakha Republic in the Russian Arctic, a heat wave is not necessarily a bad thing. Vasilisa Ivanova spent every day this week with her family swimming and sunbathing.

“We spend the entire day on the shore of the Lena River,” said Ivanova, who lives in the village of Zhigansk, 270 miles (430 kilometers) from where the heat record was set. “We’ve been coming every day since Monday.”

But for scientists, “alarm bells should be ringing,” Overpeck wrote.

Such prolonged Siberian warmth hasn’t been seen for thousands of years “and it is another sign that the Arctic amplifies global warming even more than we thought,” Overpeck said.

Russia’s Arctic regions are among the fastest warming areas in the world. The temperature on Earth over the past few decades has been growing, on average, by 0.18 degrees Celsius (nearly one-third of a degree Fahrenheit) every 10 years. But in Russia it increases by 0.47 degrees Celsius (0.85 degrees Fahrenheit)—and in the Russian Arctic, by 0.69 degrees Celsius (1.24 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade, said Andrei Kiselyov, the lead scientist at the Moscow-based Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory.

“In that respect, we’re ahead of the whole planet,” Kiselyov said.

The increasing temperatures in Siberia have been linked to prolonged wildfires that grow more severe every year and the thawing of the permafrost—a huge problem because buildings and pipelines are built on them. Thawing permafrost also releases more heat-trapping gas and dries out the soil, which increases wildfires, said Vladimir Romanovsky, who studies permafrost at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“In this case it’s even more serious, because the previous winter was unusually warm,” Romanovsky said. The permafrost thaws, ice melts, the soil subsides and then it can trigger a feedback loop that worsens permafrost thawing and “cold winters can’t stop it,” Romanovsky said.

A catastrophic oil spill from a collapsed storage tank last month near the Arctic city of Norilsk was partly blamed on melting permafrost. In 2011, part of a residential building in Yakutsk, the biggest city in the Sakha Republic, collapsed due to thawing and subsidence of the ground.

Last August, more than 4 million hectares of forests in Siberia were on fire, according to Greenpeace. This year the fires have already started raging much earlier than the usual start in July, said Vladimir Chuprov, director of the project department at Greenpeace Russia.

Persistently warm weather, especially if coupled with wildfires, causes permafrost to thaw faster, which in turn exacerbates global warming by releasing large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that’s 28 times stronger than carbon dioxide, said Katey Walter Anthony, a University of Alaska Fairbanks expert on methane release from frozen Arctic soil.

“Methane escaping from permafrost thaw sites enters the atmosphere and circulates around the globe,” she said. “Methane that originates in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. It has global ramifications.”

And what happens in the Arctic can even warp the weather in the United States and Europe.

In the summer, the unusual warming lessens the temperature and pressure difference between the Arctic and lower latitudes where more people live, said Judah Cohen, a winter weather expert at Atmospheric Environmental Research, a commercial firm outside Boston.

That seems to weaken and sometimes even stall the jet stream, meaning weather systems such as those bringing extreme heat or rain can stay parked over places for days on end, Cohen said.

According to meteorologists at the Russian weather agency Rosgidromet, a combination of factors—such as a high-pressure system with a clear sky and the sun being very high, extremely long daylight hours and short warm nights—have contributed to the Siberian temperature spike.

“The ground surface heats up intensively.... The nights are very warm, the air doesn’t have time to cool and continues to heat up for several days,” said Marina Makarova, chief meteorologist at Rosgidromet.

Makarova added that the temperature in Verkhoyansk remained unusually high from Friday through Monday.

Scientists agree that the spike is indicative of a much bigger global warming trend.

“The key point is that the climate is changing and global temperatures are warming,” said Freja Vamborg, senior scientist at the Copernicus Climate Change Service in the UK “We will be breaking more and more records as we go.”

“What is clear is that the warming Arctic adds fuel to the warming of the whole planet,” said Waleed Abdalati, a former Nasa chief scientist who is now at the University of Colorado. Daria Litvinova&Seth Borenstein/AP

Science

BusinessMirror

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

STEM learning set through radio, online in new normal

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efore the coronavirus pandemic emerged in the first quarter of the year, and the subsequent extended community quarantine (ECQ) was declared to prevent the spread of the virus, many students in the provinces get to appreciate science through the "Science Explorer" and "nuLab" buses developed by the Science Education Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-SEI).

These facilities bring science and laboratory experiences to schoolchildren in different parts of the country.

However, with the current situation, where mobility is limited and personal distance needs to be observed, these buses will have to be parked temporarily.

But this does not mean that the schoolchildren's learning will also have to stop.

“Learning the basics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] at the presecondary level is considered foundational in that it serves as the pillars for processing more complex concepts in later years of education,”said Dr. Josette Biyo, director of DOST-SEI.

Supplemental education resources

To ensure that the schoolchildren's learning will not be hampered by the current national health crisis, the DOST-SEI is developing supplemental educational resources that will enable the students and teachers to enrich their STEM learning even outside the confines of their classrooms and, in effect, promote STEM careers.

This school year, elementary pupils, especially in the remote areas of the country which do not have a reliable Internet connection, and highschool students who have access to the Internet, will be able to learn the sciences even when they’re at home.

DOST-SEI will be collaborating with the Department of Education (DepEd) to enhance STEM learning for elementary pupils through RadyoEskwela sa Siyensya, and for high-school students through TuklaSiyensya sa Eskwela programs.

These programs will be on the roll in time for the opening of classes this school year.

‘RadyoEskwela’ for elementary pupils

Radio remains as the most accessible medium in the rural area. It has proven to be an effective educational channel in the past when used in combination with classroom learning and/or printed learning materials.

Online learning may be feasible to students in the urban areas, but not for those in many disadvantaged areas in the country who do not have access to reliable Internet connection at home, and whose family may not own tablets, laptops or computers.

For them, information comes from the radio, which is considered to be the second mostused media, reaching 85 percent of Philippine households, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority data.

This school year, grade-school pupils can listen to RadyoEskwela sa Siyensya, a radio program which will feature story-based science lessons. It will be aired by a network of community radio which will

be the media partner of DOST-SEI in implementing this project for the students.

RadyoEskwela consists of 20 episodes of 30-minute materials which are story-based and produced for early, primary and intermediate clustered grade levels.

The episodes may be replayed by regional stations and offered to the DepEd as learning resources for students who will be in distance learning mode anytime during the school year.

The teachers will also be provided with Teacher’s Guide to help them in integrating the episodes in their daily lessons.

The guides may be downloaded from the SEI web site and will also be accessible through the DOST regional offices and Provincial S&T Centers Some of the topics for the RadyoEskwela include Mikrobyo, Lutang, Insekto, Pagsukat, Tala, Street Food and Tubig.

‘TuklaSiyensya sa Eskwela’ for junior and senior high

Tuklasiyensya is designed as both a supplement to the traditional learning method for junior and senior high-school students, and a STEM career promotions package.

The modules are designed to help students adapt to the “new normal” and ensure their continuous learning amid the post ECQ. Online modules will be produced using the facilities available at the nuLab and based on the existing modules developed by young scientists and scholars who will also serve as facilitators.

It will feature engaging presentations by the scientist-facilitators, process demonstrations, animations and post viewing activities to enrich the students' learning experience and inspire them to explore natural phenomenon or know more about a particular STEM discipline.

Results of project evaluation reveal how the nuLab and Science Explorer modules were able to influence the participants in their choice of future careers in the STEM fields.

TuklasSyensya will produce 15 science lessons, each running for 30 minutes to 45 minutes. The lessons will be uploaded to an online platform, making it available to formal and informal learners anytime.

Topics include aerospace engineering, geological hazards, oceanography, nanotechnology, among others.

Besides all these, not only are the students’ learning enriched. The teachers also get to enhance their teaching skills because they will be provided with 15 Teachers' Guide to be published online

by DOST-SEI or reproduced as low-cost printed materials by DOST Regional Offices.

Both teachers and students learn from adapting to this online platform.

The country may have been caught unaware

by Covid-19, and it is not certain until when some areas will remain in quarantine. But what is certain is that the earlier initiatives in S&T education is built on solid ground, strong enough that other initiatives can be developed on top of it.

RadyoEskwela and TuklaSyensya are paving the way for students and teachers to not just cope, but creatively adapt to the “new normal.” Geraldine Bulaon-Ducusin/S&T Media Service

PHL's REwear face mask conforms with W.H.O. guidelines vs Covid-19

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he Philippine-made Reuseable, Washable, Rewearable (REwear) brand of cloth face mask against the Covid-19 pandemic was found to be conforming with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Developed by the Department of Science and Technology's Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI), the mask's conformity with WHO standards gave evidence that the scientific perspective applied to the development of the REwear Face Mask has good basis.

In light of scientific evidence, the WHO finally endorsed the use of face masks as a part of prevention and control measures in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before this, the UN agency said that only people who are sick and those caring for them should wear medical masks.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the other hand, in mid-April, took a proactive stance for the general public to use cloth face masks.

In a document titled, “Advice on the use of masks in the context of Covid-19: Interim guidance” on June 5, the WHO published an updated version of its April 6 document.

Th e W H O p ro v i d e d g u i d e l i n e s a n d considerations in the making of a non-medical mask. This includes parameters like the type of material, breathability, number of layers, combinations of materials used, mask shape, and coating.

Based on the recommendations for each parameter, the REwear face mask was found

conforming to the guidelines.

As noted in a table which summarizes the WHO recommendations, REwear Face Mask adheres to these requirements.

The REwear mask is made up of four layers of cotton-rich fabrics. The innermost layer is absorbent (hydrophilic), the middle layer consists of two pieces of fabric for additional filtration capability, while the outer layer is water-repellent (hydrophobic) to prevent the absorption of liquid droplets that may contain microbes and viruses.

The outer layer is infused with DOST-PTRI’s textile treatment technology that renders a fabric resistant to liquid without affecting its breathability. Additionally, the shape of the REwear mask is duckbill or curved.

Experts say that social distancing is insufficient to reduce the transmission of coronavirus. The WHO Interim guidance addresses it by providing direction to decision-makers and giving recommendations on the proper use of face masks both in health-care settings and the general community.

However, using face mask alone is not enough in providing an adequate level of protection to the people. Whether to use masks or not, everyone should abide by proper washing of hands, physical distancing, and other infection prevention and control measures to avoid human-to-human transmission of Covid-19.

The REwear face mask technology adoption is open to textile processors and interested parties.

Beyond the mask, REwear as a Safety Mark is offered to interested producers and suppliers of masks who wish to have their products tested for safety and performance required of a face mask.

Sunday

Sunday, June 28, 2020 A5

OneSToreCity mobile app launch to reinvigorate govt e-commerce

With more than 360 registered MSMEs, OneSTore.ph features over 12,000 products from only 10 products during its launching five years ago.

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By Edwin P. Galvez @edwingalvez

any people all over the world tap their phones to buy online, particularly mobilefirst Filipinos who spend the most time—at least nine hours—on the Internet every day.

This is why the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is tapping into the surging growth of ecommerce in the country, while “finding solutions to problems brought about by Covid-19 through research and in developing and providing applications.”

In virtual news conference recently, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, together with leaders of #PinasMunaTayo movement and Entrepinoy Volunteers Foundation Inc., led the virtual launching of OneSToreCity, the mobile application of the government-initiated shopping portal OneSTore.ph.

Ambassador Benedicto V. Yujuico, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and Kingson U. Sian, CEO and president of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. represented #PinasMunaTayo.

Available on Google Play to Android phone users, OneSToreCity is primarily a product delivery application for the “reinvigorated” OneSTore.ph that the DOST first developed in July 2015.

OneSTore.ph, which to date offers 12,100 products from enrolled 368 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), is supported by various government agencies, including the Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Agriculture.

Mobile app expands MSMEs’ market reach

“The MSMEs count as one of the most affected sectors during this crisis,” de la Peña said. “Most enterprises, particularly those that are not providing

essential products and services, had to stop operations in compliance with the government’s guideline.”

De la Peña said that “nurturing ecommerce” through the OneSToreCity application will contribute to the country’s economic recovery and help MSMEs “grow and progress.”

OneSTore project leader and DOST Regional Director Sancho A. Mabborang expressed optimism that more Filipinos will buy from OneSTore.ph using the mobile application because it carries “only the best Filipino products available not in ordinary stores but only in specialized markets.”

Mabborang, who presented the on l ine shop’s mi lestones at t he launching, said “DOST intervened and introduced the governmentinitiated e-commerce platform” five years ago to help MSMEs with good products but no “substantial market or marketing skills.”

“With the increasing number of MSME enrollees, we have continuously upgraded every single feature of the platform to provide an effortless shopping experience,” said Mabborang.

Greater convenience, access, and additional income

The MSMEs, many of which suffered from losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are assisted by the DOST through one of its flagship programs, the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (Setup).

“In this pandemic, we actually levelled up our assistance to MSMEs

through the improved OneSTore.ph to provide greater convenience, particularly to merchants and users in the countryside,” de la Peña said.

The Science secretary said the mobile application will “further increase the market reach of OneSTore-assisted products since delivery will no longer be limited to logistics partners and, hence, provide income amid the Covid-19 pandemic.”

OneSTore.ph, also called OneSTore Express, operates nationwide and caters primarily to Filipino consumers, promising to bring “high-quality local products right to your doorsteps.”

From only 10 products uploaded during its launching in 2015, the store now carries 12,100 products coming mainly from DOST’s SETUP-assisted firms from the processed foods, agriculture, gifts and house decors, furniture and metals and engineering sectors.

The site also provides retailers, including the Filipino Inventors Society Producers Cooperative, with “simple and direct access to one of the largest customer bases in the country.”

“We will soon offer fabrication materials on food and nutrition, beauty and wellness products, and anti-Covid products like face masks, face shields and anti-bacterial soaps,” Mabborang said.

T he mobi le and web appl ications form part of DOST’s efforts to “continuously expand the market” of MSMEs. These include 28 physical stores called the OneSTore Hub located all over the country, OneSTore vending machines maintained in five major cities and the portable OneSTore kiosks, a stand-alone technology for product selling used during big events.

Mabborang explained that the mobile platform can provide employment and income to Filipinos with vehicles, especially former overseas workers, by delivering the products of local producers and OneSTore hub in their areas.

“Using this app, we’re giving our people down to the barangay level the opportunity to earn when they provide logistics services to the local entrepreneur,” Mabborang said.

De la Peña added that when the demand for products from OneSTore increases, “there is potential that

employment will also increase.”

OneSTore platforms push sales

Mabborang reported that OneSTore operat ions h ad generated P230 million in walk-in sales through the OneSTore hubs, and P2.4 million in sales with its e-commerce platform.

“With our promotion of the importance of online selling, we expect these figures to continuously improve,” Mabborang said.

Mabborang reported “a surge of orders during the pandemic” in OneSTore, estimating pickup in sales from 20 percent to 30 percent.

Presently, Lazada is the most used e-commerce platform in the country, but globally, OneSTore.ph ranks fourth.

Hits and unique visits to OneSTore. ph also “significantly increased since 2016, except last year with the upgrading of the web site.”

The number of unique visitors jumped from 126,247 in 2017 to 736,665 in 2019.

Mabborang said that 65 percent of the uploaded products belong to the food sector, which counts nine out of the top-10 best-selling products in the platform from October 2019 to present.

These are Cookie Sticks Chocolate Chip Classic, 60 percent Dark Chocolate with Coffee Grounds, Assorted Butterscotch Squares, Tablea Chocolate Solids, Gour met Tuyo Mild, Insect Repellent with Citronella, Bicol’s Best Bicol Express Pork, Sundried Tomato Sardines, Tableya, Montano Spanish Style Sardines, Dielle’s Mead Honey Wines and Enuff Natural Cacao Nibs.

From over-the-counter payments, the platform’s third-party solution partners now include 2GO Express, Air21, Black Arrow Express, Shopinas.com, Landbank, PayMaya, Dragonpay, Dynamic Outsource Solutions One Customer Service, and Multisys. Paymongo, Ninja Van, LBC and J&T Express are expected to be on board soon.

Interested MSMEs can e-mail support@onestore.ph or records@ro2.dost. gov.ph, call (078) 396-0763 or 09959443609, or visit www.facebook.com/ oneSTore.ph for further information.

Duck eggs distribution supplements farmers’ livelihood during Covid-19

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ddressing the impact of coronavirus pandemic in the country, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOSTPCAARRD) launched its initiative on “Manok at Itlog sa Pamayanan [Chicken and Egg to the Community].”

This project is one of the subcomponents of “Pagkain at Kabuhayan” under the Good Agri-Aqua Livelihood Initiatives toward National GoalsPCAARRD (Galing-PCAARRD) Kontra Covid-19 program that was launched in April.

The project aims to provide communities affected by the pandemic with livelihood options through raising duck, native chicken and commercial broilers and layers.

Duck eggs, day-old ducklings

One of the projects under this subcomponent is the “Distribution of Duck Eggs and Day-old Ducklings” from DOST-funded projects.

Implemented in Regions 3, 4A, 6, 9, 11 and 12, the project dovetails with an ongoing DOSTfunded program called “Itik for Life.”

The project gives duck farmers access to the new duck breed, ItikPinas, and enable them to venture on duck-egg production and marketing.

This venture further aims to commercialize the breed and make quality ItikPinas ducklings and egg products available in the market.

The ItikPinas lines are strains of native

egg-laying ducks that are genetically superior to ducks from Pateros, Rizal, because they were developed through years of breeding and selection by a research project funded and monitored by DOST-PCAARRD. Participating agencies in the program are the Central Luzon State University, the Bureau of Animal Industry-National Swine and Poultry Research and Development Center, West Visayas State University, Western Mindanao State University, Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office 11, and Sultan Kudarat State University (SKSU).

Egg distribution

Duck eggs produced from DOST-funded projects to augment food supply and income during the pandemic were continuously inventoried and packed by the project team from their institutional farms for distribution to affected communities and frontliners.

Selected barangays in the municipalities of Muñoz and San Jose, Nueva Ecija; and in Tiaong, Quezon (in Luzon); Pavia, Ajuy, Jaro, Badiangan, and Calinog, Iloilo (in Visayas); San Ramon in Zamboanga City; Tugbok in Davao City; Bagumbayan in Sultan Kudarat: and Surallah in South Cotabato (in Mindanao) benefited from the duck-egg distribution.

A total of 26,940 eggs that were generated by farmers and from institutional flocks in the six regions were distributed through the program.

These were valued at P5.30 to P6.10 per egg. Although lower by P1.25 to P1.50 from the prevailing market price, the farmers willingly gave their produce to the project team to be donated to frontliners and needy communities.

Some benevolent farmers in Surallah, South Cotabato, even gave their eggs for free to the project as their way of showing support and appreciation to frontliners in their communities.

Duck raising as a steady source of income

Violeta and Carmelo Tamanal, farmer cooperators from Barangay Daguma, Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat, expressed their worries when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was declared on March 15.

“I was concerned that we will lose our income due to Covid-19. How will we survive?”said Carmelo in Filipino. Violeta agreed, adding that duck raising is their only source of income. Filipinos shared the same sentiment during the ECQ. However, Itik for Life farmer cooperators have been trained on proper duck raising by the project leaders before they were given ducklings.

According to Michael John Benavidez, Itik for Life Coordinator in Region 12 and a member of the faculty of the SKSU, the Tamanals were among the 10 farmers selected at the start of the program in 2017.

They were trained on duck raising and egg

production and were given 300 female and 33 male ducklings.

“ItikPinas was a huge help for us to earn even during ECQ. The price of duck eggs dropped during ECQ, but we had funds for our daily needs,” Carmelo said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Ella Somblingo, a farmer cooperator from Zamboanga City, said her family earns P2,685 a day or P80,550 a month by producing balut (fertilized egg embryo) and salted eggs which they sell to their retail vendors.

ItikPinas also helped Regie Formacion, farmer cooperator in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, provide for his family’s daily needs. He said he was thankful that amid the pandemic, he can still earn through duck raising.

Continuing the project in the new normal

When the general community quarantine is lifted, the duck eggs and day-old ducklings distribution project will shift to distribution of day-old ducklings to communities to serve as source of livelihood and help ease their transition to the new normal.

Qualified farmers or at least 10 families per region will be selected from the six implementing regions of the project and will be given ducklings to start or augment their duck raising and egg production business. Anna Marie P. Alo and Rose Anne M. Aya/S&T Media Services

Faith A6 Sunday, June 28, 2020

Sunday

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

Hajj in Saudi will see at most ‘thousands’ due to coronavirus

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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—A Saudi official said this past week that the July hajj pilgrimage, which usually draws up to 2.5 million Muslims from all over the world, will only see at the most a few thousand pilgrims next month due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

Workers disinfect the ground around the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, after authorities emptied Islam’s holiest site for sterilization over fears of the new coronavirus. Saudi Arabia said on June 22 that year’s hajj will not be canceled, but that due to the coronavirus only “very limited numbers” of people will be allowed to perform the pilgrimage that traditionally draws around 2 million people from around the world to Mecca once a year. AP/Amr Nabil

The kingdom’s Hajj Minister Muhammad Benten said a “small and very limited” number of people—even as low as just 1,000 from inside the kingdom—will be allowed to perform the pilgrimage to ensure social distancing and crowd control amid the global virus outbreak. “ The number, God willing, may be in the thousands. We are in the process of reviewing so it could be 1,000 or less, or a little more,” Benten said in a virtual news conference.

Unprecedented

While the decision to drastically curb this year’s hajj was largely expected, it remains unprecedented in Saudi Arabia’s nearly 90-year history and effectively bars all Muslims from outside the kingdom from traveling there to performing the pilgrimage.

The Saudi government waited until just five weeks before the hajj to announce its decision. The

timing indicates the sensitivity around major decisions concerning the hajj that affect Muslims around the world.

“This is a very sensitive operation and we are working with experts at the Health Ministry,” Benten said, stressing the importance of protecting the lives and health of pilgrims.

As part of the curbs, Saudi officials said that no one over the age of 65 will be allowed to perform the hajj, and that all pilgrims and those serving the pilgrims this year will be quarantined both before and after the pilgrimage.

Once-in-a-lifetime requirement

Saudi Arabia first announced late on Monday that only a very limited number of pilgrims would be allowed to perform the hajj in Mecca from among residents of various nationalities already inside the kingdom.

It’s a blow to those who’ve saved money for years to afford the journey—the hajj is not only a once-

in-a-lifetime requirement for all Muslims but also a chance to wipe away past sins and connect with Muslims from all walks of life.

“It is a wish of every Muslim to perform hajj, but because of Covid-19, it will not be possible this year,” Chairman of the Islamic Centre of India Maulana Khalid Rashid said.

Rashid said China is ultimately responsible. “Had China told the world about Covid beforehand, the world would have reacted differently,” he said, adding that a delegation from India should be allowed to go and perform the hajj. “ T h i s i s a n a n nu a l r it u a l and the tradition shou ld not be broken,” he said.

The government suspended the smaller year-round umrah pilgrimage earlier this year, imposed a nearly three-month long 24-hour curfew in Mecca, shuttered mosques during the holy month of Ramadan and restricted businesses.

Still, the kingdom has one of the highest infection rates in the Middle East, with more than 161,000 confirmed cases so far, including 1,307 deaths.

The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, who recover within a few weeks.

But it is highly contagious and can cause severe illness or death, particularly in older patients or those with underlying health problems.

Quota of hajj visas

‘Allah’s will’

The hajj typically draws 2 million people from around the world, with the rest coming from inside Saudi Arabia.

It’s a profound experience, with the faithful standing shoulder-toshoulder in prayer, often weeping, their palms stretched toward the sky for five intense days of worship around Mecca.

Each country is allocated a specific quota of hajj visas according to its population of Muslims, with Indonesia having the largest, close to 221,000.

In countries like Egypt, Pakistan and India, securing a slot can require hefty fees, a connection to a local official or simply years of patience.

Pakistan, which usually sends around 180,000 pilgrims, said Saudi authorities had been in touch to inform them about the decision to limit this year’s hajj.

Instead, Pakistani diplomats already in Saudi Arabia will represent the country this year at the hajj, which begins at the end of July.

The president of an association of hajj tour operators in Bangladesh, Shahadat Hossain Taslim, praised the decision to essentially hold the hajj with just a symbolic numbers of pilgrims.

“It has a great symbolic value,” he said. Around 137,000 Bangladeshis typically travel to Mecca each year for the hajj.

“We are going to lose business worth millions of dollars, but we have nothing to do. The situation is not in our hands,” Taslim added.

Highest infection rate

Saudi Arabia’s borders have been shut to foreigners since late February in attempts to slow down the spread of the virus.

Saudi Arabia said the decision to curtail the hajj was aimed at preserving global public health because of the risks associated with large gatherings.

It defended its decision on religious grounds as well, saying that the teachings of Islam require the preservation of human life.

In Afghanistan, retired army colonel Mahmood Seddiqi said Muslims who cannot go to Saudi Arabia this year should donate the money they would have spent on the pilgrimage to help those hardest-hit by the pandemic and its economic impact.

“It’s Allah’s will,” he said. “It will be better to help your neighbors and people in need.”

The kingdom has faced smaller epidemics like the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in 2012 and had taken precautions by barring pilgrims from African countries stricken by the Ebola virus in recent years.

Major disruptions

There have been major disruptions during the hajj in past years, including a deadly stampede and a crane collapse in 2015 that killed more than 2,500 people.

In 1987, Saudi security forces killed more than 400 people, mostly Shiite Muslims, in a clash sparked by Iranian pilgrims protesting during the hajj.

The most dramatic closure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, however, took place in 1979 when religious extremists stormed Islam’s holiest site, which houses the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray toward and circulate during pilgrimage. Thousands of worshippers were trapped inside and hundreds were killed in a siege that lasted two weeks. AP

Famed Thai temple bars entry of foreigners over virus fears

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ANGKOK—One of Thailand’s major tourist attractions is barring entry to foreigners, professing fear that they could spread the coronavirus.

Signs seen on Thursday morning at the main gate of Wat Pho, the Buddhist temple adjacent to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, said in English: “Open for Thai only,” “ONLY THAI PEOPLE,” and “NOW NOT OPEN FOR FOREIGNERS.” The temple is one of the country’s grandest, with murals and gold trim covering many surfaces, but is best known for housing the 46 -meter-long (151-footlong) Reclining Buddha, which is covered in gold leaf.

One of Wat Pho’s administrative staff explained by phone that the temple committee decided to exclude foreigners because of concerns about Covid-19.

“The outbreak is still rampant in many countries, so we have to stay vigilant as advised by the government,” said Wit Artchinda.

In this March 13 photo, tourists take a photograph with the statue of a giant Buddha at Wat Pho in Bangkok, Thailand. Wat Pho, which is one of Thailand’s major tourist attractions and famous for housing the golden 46-meter-long (151-foot-long) Reclining Buddha, has barred entry to foreigners over fears that they could spread Covid-19. AP/Sakchai Lalit

However, there is no known government order to ban foreigners from the temple.

Thai visitors are allowed entry to the temple, more formally known as Wat Phra Chetuphon, which only reopened last week after being closed for two months during Thailand’s coronavirus lockdown.

For now the ban has little practical effect beyond excluding expatriates who live in the country, as Thailand has been closed to foreign tourists for two months.

Incoming international passenger flights are banned until at least the end of the month.

Tourism is a huge industry in

Thailand and its virtual shutdown has dealt a major blow to the economy.

Thailand’s toll of Covid-19 cases has been relatively light, and most recent cases have been Thais who have returned from abroad on special evacuation flights.

No new cases were reported on Thursday, keeping the total number of cases at 3,125, with 58 deaths.

The temple staff member also said that many parts of the temple, including the hall where the Reclining Buddha is located, are undergoing construction work that limits access anyway.

“Foreign tourists have to pay 200 baht [$6.50] per visit into the temple,” Wit said. “When they pay the money and cannot see so many things that they want to see, we are afraid that they might be frustrated.”

He did not say when the temple might admit foreign visitors again. AP

Pope Francis with an ancient icon of Mary in the Basilica of St. Mary Major on January 28. VATICAN MEDIA

Pope adds 3 titles to Catholic litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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ATIC A N—Pope Francis has approved the inclusion of three additional invocations in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Litany of Loreto.

In a June 20 letter to the presidents of bishops’ conferences, Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Liturgy and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said the invocations “Mater misericordiae,” “Mater spei,” and “Solacium migrantium” should be inserted in the Marian litany. “ The titles and invocations which Christian piety has reserved for the Virgin Mary over the course of the centuries, as the privileged and sure way to an encounter with Christ, are innumerable,” Sarah wrote.

“Even in this present moment which is marked by feelings of uncertainty and trepidation, devout recourse to her, which is full of affection and trust, is deeply felt by the People of God,” the cardinal continued.

Sarah said Pope Francis welcomed the people’s desire to include these invocations in the formulary of the litany.

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Litany of Loreto, has been an approved prayer for the intercession of Mary by the Church since the late 16th century, with its usage recorded even before.

It consists of the recitation of formal and informal titles of Mary,

followed by the request to Mary to “pray for us.”

The litany can be prayed in Latin or the vernacular.

In his letter, Cardinal Sarah noted where each invocation should be added, using the Latin formulations. “Mater misericordiae,” which means, “Mother of mercy,” should be placed after “Mater Ecclesiae.”

“Mater spei,” which means “Mother of hope,” should follow “Mater divinae gratiae,” and “Solacium migrantium,” which means “Comfort of migrants,” should follow “Refugium peccatorum.”

“With every good wish and kind regard, we wish to entrust this notification to you for your information and application,” Sarah wrote to the bishops’ conferences.

The letter is dated June 20, the day the Church celebrates the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Sarah said “the Church which walks along the pathways of history as a pilgrim toward the heavenly Jerusalem and enjoys inseparable communion with Christ her Spouse and Savior, entrusts herself to her [Mary] who believed in the word of the Lord.”

“We know from the Gospel that the disciples of Jesus had in fact learned from the very beginning to praise her [Mary] as ‘blessed amongst women’ and to count on her maternal intercession,” he wrote. Hannah Brockhaus/Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Benedict XVI returns to Rome after visiting his ill brother in Germany

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ATICAN—Pope emeritus Benedict XVI arrived back in Rome after a four-day trip to Germany to visit his ailing brother.

The Diocese of Regensburg reported that 93-yearold Benedict XVI said goodbye to his 96-year-old brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, who is in poor health, before departing for Munich airport.

“It is perhaps the last time that the two brothers, Georg and Joseph Ratzinger, will see each other in this world,” the Regensburg diocese said in an earlier statement.

Benedict XVI was accompanied on the journey to the airport by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg. Before the pope emeritus boarded an Italian air force plane he was greeted by Bavaria’s Premier Markus Söder.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung , a German daily newspaper, quoted Söder as saying that the encounter was a moment of “joy and melancholy.”

The pope emeritus landed in Rome at 1 p.m. local time, according to Vatican News. Benedict XVI and his entourage arrived 45 minutes later at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, his residence in the Vatican.

Benedict XVI was born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in the town of Marktl in Bavaria in 1927. His older brother Georg is his last living family member.

On his final full day in Bavaria, Benedict XVI offered Sunday Mass with his brother in Luzengasse, Regensburg. He later went to pray at the shrine of St. Wolfgang, the patron saint of Regensburg diocese.

Archbishop Nikola Eterović, the apostolic nuncio in Germany, traveled from Berlin to meet with the pope emeritus in Regensburg over the weekend.

“It is an honor to welcome the pope emeritus again in Germany, even in this difficult family situation,” Eterović said on June 21 following their meeting.

The nuncio said his impression during his meeting with Benedict was “that he feels good here in Regensburg.”

The former pope arrived in Bavaria on June 16. Immediately upon his arrival, Benedict went to

see his brother, the diocese reported. The brothers celebrated Mass together at the house in Regensburg and the pope emeritus then went to the diocesan seminary, where he stayed throughout the visit. In the evening, he returned to see his brother again.

On Friday, the two celebrated Mass for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, according to a statement.

On Saturday the former pope visited the residence in Pentling, just outside Regensburg, where he lived while serving as a professor from 1970 to 1977.

His last time seeing the home was during his 2006 pastoral trip to Bavaria.

The diocese said Benedict XVI then stopped at the Ziegetsdorf cemetery to spend time in prayer at the graves of his parents and sister.

Christian Schaller, deputy head of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute, told Regensburg diocese that during the pope emeritus’ visit to his former home “memories awoke.”

“It was a trip back in time,” he said.

Benedict stayed at his Pentling home and in its garden for about 45 minutes, and was reportedly moved by old family portraits.

During his visit to the cemetery an “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” were prayed.

“I have the impression that the visit is a source of strength for both brothers,” Schaller said.

According to Regensburg diocese, “Benedict XVI is traveling in the company of his secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, his doctor, his nurse and a religious sister. The Pope emeritus made the decision to travel to his brother in Regensburg at short notice, after consulting with Pope Francis.”

Msgr. Georg Ratzinger is a former choir master of the Regensburger Domspatzen, the cathedral choir of Regensburg.

On June 29, 2011, he celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest in Rome together with his brother.

Both men were ordained priests in 1951. Courtney

Mares/Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A7

After two decades of mining

Canatuan mined area coming back to life

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

fter more than 25 years of mining, the diverse flora and fauna in Sitio Canatuan is finally starting to return.

Once the site of one of the country’s large-scale open-pit mines, the area is now teeming with rich vegetation—tall trees and shrubs— surrounding a large body of water is back, and so are the wildlife—the wild birds and ducks have come in flocks and the native monkeys have returned to forage.

Env i ronment a l ists consider mining a menace because of their destructive nature.

The so-called legacy mines in the Philippines—abandoned open-pit mines left behind by mining companies after mining operations—are a testament to the ugly scar irresponsible mining leave behind.

Gold, silver producer

Situated in Sitio Canatuan in the municipality of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, the Canatuan mine of TVI Resource Development (TVIRD) Philippines Inc., which produced gold and silver in the early years, and later on, operated a copper and zinc processing facility—is claiming to have successfully rehabilitated the mining area, proving that responsible mining is possible.

TVIRD was the first company to operate under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. The law aims to revitalize the country’s mining industry and introduced progressive rehabilitation working toward full restoration of mined-out areas upon the end of the life of the mine.

Canatuan mine’s operation was credited for the once-sleepy agricultural town’s phenomenal growth and development as it achieved the status of a first-class municipality, the company said in a news release.

Progressive rehabilitation

Six years ago, after the mining contract expired, TVIRD started working on its final mine rehabilitation. The company claimed it has practiced the so-called progressive rehabilitation—immediately working to rehabilitate disturbed areas after mining activities.

To date, achieving 94-percent completion as confirmed by the Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) that oversees its accomplishment, TVIRD has fulfilled its obligation, the company said.

The firm said its final rehabilitation is, likewise, considered a true test of the mining law, boosting

mining industry’s claim that responsible mining is possible, as it has become a reality in the case of the Canatuan mine.

A monkey sits at a branch of a tree in the forested area of TVIRD’s Sulphide Dam. TVIRD photos

Devastated by small-scale mining

A w ide-sc a le env ironmenta l cleanup and rehabilitation in Sitio Canatuan before starting the mining operation was conducted by TVIRD. It found out that the area was already “in bad shape,” owing to decades of illegal small-scale mining, the company said.

Mount Canatuan in Siocon municipality was a picture of heavy devastation in the late 1980s as illegal miners from Zamboanga Sibugay and other provinces in Mindanao dug holes to extract gold in the area.

In the process, cutting down trees without replanting.

Small-scale backyard processing facilities also polluted the creeks and rivers with hazardous chemicals.

The mountain was riddled with hundreds of unengineered tunnels and shallow ponds that served as makeshift tailings pond for close to 50 mill plants.

The tailings were laced with deadly cyanide, mercury and nitric acid In 2002, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau reported its findings to the Zamboanga del Norte local government unit, which prompted the provincial government to order the dismantling of illegal mining operations in the village.

Reforestation

Throughout its operating years, TVIRD’s Environment Department started rehabilitating the denuded parts of Mount Canatuan as well as mined-out areas turned over by its Mines Department, the news release said.

By the end of its mining operations in February 2014, TVIRD has planted more than 348,000 trees as part of its progressive rehabilitation.

With an additional 63,000 trees during final rehabilitation, the company has planted a total of 411,000 trees within its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area, which is part of the Subanon tribe’s ancestral domain.

Fast-growing and endemic trees, as well as rubber trees intended for the Subanons’ livelihood, were planted. Among these are close to

the licensing agency and regulators.

Good biological indicator

The Sulphide Dam at the Canatuan mine.

30,000 rubber trees, which are a good source of future income for the tribe.

Of the 508-hectare area, 167 hectares comprise the total rehabilitation area.

Bird census

Last year, the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) of Siocon conducted its Annual Asian Waterbird Census and traveled to TVIRD’s Tailings Storage Facility (Sulphide Dam) to count the number of wild ducks found in the area.

In a news release by TVIRD, Ecosystem Management Specialist Muhammad Faz’l Ur-Rahman Werble reported some 950 wild ducks at that time.

In 2018, during the previous year’s count, it registered only 500.

“It means there’s life at the waste disposal facility of the company,” said Cenro Team Leader Efren T. Cardenas in the same news release.

Besides wild ducks, they also found hawks, eagles, squirrels, bats and a variety of snakes, including the Philippine cobra.

Shared responsibility

Interviewed via e-mail, TVIRD Chief Environmental Officer Krystell Banaag and Community Relations Manager Lullie Micabalo said environmental protection and conservation and livelihood activities initiated

by TVIRD were intertwined.

They were implemented in partnership with the government and

DENR-BMB launches ‘Biodiversity Sentinel’ newsletter

T

he Department of Environment and Natural ResourcesBiod iversit y Ma n agement Bureau (DENR-BMB) has launched last week the maiden issue of Biodiversity Sentinel, the newsletter of the agency’s biodiversity bureau.

The launching of the newsletter aims to further promote the country’s rich biodiversity, and communicate the policies and programs of the DENR-BMB. The magazine-type newsletter will contains sections such as News and Features, Questions and Answers, Infographics, and semi-technical articles of BMB biodiversity activities, and possible contributions from the regions.

It will be published ever y six months to share information to DENR personnel and partners.

Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon, the concurrent director of the DENR-BMB, said with the newsletter, they will be able to further boost the effort to protect and conserve the

Wild ducks are commonly found at TVIRD’s Sulphide Dam. Local officials are eyeing to transform the area into a tourist destination once the MPSA is turned-over to the government.

country’s rich biodiversity, as well as highlight the protected areas and the unique but threatened species.

“We will be able to reach out to our frontline Penros [Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officers] and Cenros [City Environment and Natural Resources Officers] and Pasus [Protected Area Superintendents], providing them relevant information and update,” Calderon said.

For the maiden issue, Biodiversity Sentinel will feature the Agusan Marsh, highlighting the ecological importance of wetlands.

Meanwhile, the “PA Talk: Protected Areas for a Protected Future,” a program promoting the country’s 107 legislated Protected Areas began streaming live at 10 a.m. on June 22 on the social-media platform Facebook.

Organized by the DENR-BMB, in partnership with the Climate Change Commission and the Office of Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, the program aims to highlight the beauty of the

country’s protected areas and the efforts to preserve and protect them against degradation, climate change, and other threats.

The pilot episode featured the following protected areas: Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental; Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape in Surigao del Norte; Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Negros O r ient a l ; Peñ abl a nc a P rotec ted Landscape and Seascape in Cagayan; Mount Isarog Natural Park in Camarines Sur; and Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park in Oriental Mindoro and Occidental Mindoro.

The show was launched on the occasion of the second anniversary of the enactment of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018.

The law substantially increased the number of protected areas from 13 to 107 that were backed w ith legislation. Jonathan L. Mayuga

the community as the rehabilitation of the mine was considered their shared responsibility.

TVIRD established the rehabilitation design, operational protocols and monitoring program to ensure that the mine closure goals will be achieved.

Its environment department commenced progressive rehabilitation activities during the operations stage.

A multidisciplinary Mine Closure Team remains on site to implement the approved Final Mine Rehabilitation and Decommissioning Plan.

On the other hand, the involvement of the community started in the planning stage of the Post Mining Land Use Concept—which they agreed to be of mixed land use—which consists primarily of a retained forest, diversified reforestation and agroforestry areas.

“Their participation continued through the rehabilitation stage, particularly in the monitoring of rehabilitation progress through their membership in the [MMT].

Community benefit will be in the form of sustainable livelihood from an agri-business program that will be introduced by the company. Part of this program is providing the infrastructure needed and capacity building through training and network establishment,” Banaag said.

On the other hand, the government, through the Contingent Liability and Rehabilitation Fund Committee, Mine Rehabilitation Fund Committee and MMT, acts as

Bana ag said the return of the wildlife in a mine’s disturbed area is an indication that the rehabilitation efforts and protection of the remaining forest areas within the mining tenement are effective and successfully carried out.

She said most of the species found in the mined-out area are birds, which are fruit and insect eaters, playing a significant role in seed dispersal and insect control.

The smaller mammals, such as fruit bats, are a big help as they also participate in seed propagation and insect control “There were also invertebrateeating birds, omnivorous mammals and snakes, suggesting that prey animals, such as lizards, small mammals, frogs and fish and others are thriving in the area,” Banaag explained.

“The presence of the Philippine duck is noteworthy since they are not visible in the area before and during mine operations. They were seen in the Sulfide Dam beginning in 2016—two years into TVIRD’s final mine rehabilitation stage,” Micabalo said for her part.

Teeming with wildlife

Banaag said the rehabilitated areas is now “a forest teeming with wildlife.”

The latest Fauna Inventory conducted by SGS Philippines in 2018 recorded a total of 75 species of terrestrial vertebrates, the majority are birds (51), followed by amphibians and reptiles (16) and mammals (8), she said.

Banaag added that it is expected that more individuals from the existing species will be back in the area once rehabilitation is completed.

“To date, the rehabilitation work is 94 percent complete but some of the plantation areas are relatively young, needing another three to five years to fully mature. Matured plantation will likely provide better vegetation cover for habitat and better food source,” she said.

According to Micabalo, a long

time ago, before small-scale mining caused its destruction, Mount Canatuan used to be a hunting ground where deer roam freely.

She said that with the availability of a more sustainable livelihood and income source for the local community, it is not impossible that deers will return to Canatuan forests.

“It is also said that the Philippine eagle can thrive in the thick forests of Canatuan,” she noted.

Livelihood program

Interviewed by the BusinessMirror through e-mail that was translated by Micabalo, the members of the Subanon indigenous people (IP) in Sitio Canatuan and other areas in Siocon said they have benefited from mining and expect to benefit from the mine’s rehabilitation.

Marelyn Taconing, who has been with TVIRD since 2003, and her husband, Dadao Taconing, own the land where the company’s Exploration Camp is located.

They are among the Subanon beneficiaries of the company’s livelihood programs. They are likewise land claimants under the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title.

Taconing currently works in TVIRD’s Administration Department and in charge of its Exploration Camp.

Back to farming

Taconing said Subanons are currently engaging in farming upland rice, corn, root crops, coconut trees, bananas and rubber trees.

TVIRD provided the Subanons with free rubber tree seedlings, technologies and coconut seedlings.

He said around 1,400 families who are all Subanon benefit from TVIRD’s livelihood programs. Of the number, around 1,600 were employees during the company’s recent operations.

Currently, a family earn an average of P5,000 from farming in either rubber, upland rice, bananas or copra from coconut lands.

Since Subanon IPs are farmers, Taconing is confident that the livelihood program introduced by TVIRD will be sustained.

U.N. agency evaluates reports of record Arctic heat in Siberia

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ENEVA—The United Nations weather agency is investigating media reports suggesting a new record-high temperature of over 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Arctic Circle amid a heatwave and prolonged wildfires in eastern Siberia.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last week that it’s looking to verify the temperature reading in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk with Rosgidromet, the Russian federal service for hydrometeorological and environmental monitoring.

The reports suggest yet another possible sign of global warming in the Arctic, which the agency said is among the fastest warming regions in the world, and is heating at twice the global average.

“Apparently, this particularly region of eastern Siberia has very, very cold extremes in winter, but is also known for its extremes in summer, so temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius in July are not unusual,”WMO Spokesman Clare Nullis said. “But obviously 38 degrees Celsius is exceptional.”

“We’ve seen satellite images this morning, and it’s just one mass of red—it’s striking and worrying,” she told a UN briefing in Geneva.

The area has been hit by wildfires that have driven up temperatures.

“A WMO fast-response evaluation team has given tentative acceptance of this observation as a legitimate observation, which is consistent with current upper air observations at the time in Siberia,” WMO Special Rapporteur Randall Cerveny said in a statement.

“This will now be subject to a normal process for a detailed formal review by a panel of WMO atmospheric scientists,” added Cerveny, who is also a professor of geographical sciences at Arizona State University.

The WMO has not previously verified possible records for the “highest temperature recorded north of the Arctic Circle,” but is considering creating such a category given the “interest in this extreme observation,” the agency said. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 Sunday, June 28, 2020

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

PADDLES UP IN TAIWAN T

AIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan on Thursday became one of the few places to hold a boat race, thanks to no local transmissions of the coronavirus being reported on the island in over two months.

The pandemic led to the cancellation of traditional dragon boat races in Hong Kong and of holiday activities in Beijing, which is battling a fresh outbreak.

Races were held in Macao, which has reported relatively few Covid-19 cases.

In Taipei, around 80 teams gathered at the Dajia Riverside Park to compete under the scorching sun in the two-day race, which features boats festooned with decorative dragon imagery.

“You’re not worrying about somebody on the side [giving] you Covid-19 because everywhere you go, they check your temperature,” said Farrouck Ruiz, a 20-year-old Nicaraguan student who studies at Mingchuan University in Taipei and took part in the race.

The competitors did not wear masks during the races.

They were given hand sanitizers and their hands and rows were sprayed with alcohol before they started rowing.

Although the race went ahead in Taipei, supporters were

LONG

not allowed to attend.

“Our team has been training for a whole year just for this race,” said Lydia Lee, who works in digital marketing. “But they do not allow supporters in, and we thought that takes out part of the fun.”

In China, Wang Jiequn, deputy head of the Personnel Department of the Beijing Committee of the ruling Communist Party, said all activities relating to the Dragon Boat Festival will be held online this year.

The Chinese capital has locked down parts of the city and restricted travel because of the new outbreak that has infected about 250 people.

Several parks in Beijing have launched activities such as online games, quizzes and web sites to allow visitors to learn more about the festival tradition. Other activities include online poetry recitals and courses on plants.

Apart from dragon boat races, Taipei is also holding a Gay Pride parade on Sunday.

Over 450 Pride events celebrating LGBT people across the world have been canceled due to the pandemic.

Organizers say Sunday’s parade will be the world’s only during Pride month in June. AP

CREW leaders prepare to grab finish line flags during the traditional Chinese dragon boat race in Taipei recently. AP

Long: From soccer to celebrity gamer

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LLIE LONG is likely the only National Women’s Soccer League player who launched a new career while sheltering at home.

Long has been playing video games on Twitch and has built a solid reputation in the gaming world–so much so that she’s been able to raise some serious money for charities, while also educating fellow

gamers about women’s soccer.

But soccer still comes first for the midfielder who was on the US team that won the World Cup last summer in France. She’s put her controller down—for the most part—as she prepares with OL Reign to play in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Challenge Cup starting this weekend in Utah.

The NWSL is the first professional team sports league in the United States to return amid the coronavirus pandemic. Long and her teammates practiced together in Montana before heading to Utah, where they’ll be sequestered for the monthlong tournament.

Long has been with the NWSL since it was founded in 2013, playing first for the Portland Thorns and now for the Reign for the past two seasons.

Following the World Cup victory, Long and several other national team players, including Julie Ertz, Becky Sauerbrunn and Crystal Dunn, took part in a gaming event with other athletes and a number of prominent streamers.

“I was like, ‘Wow. Like, I can’t believe how many people are into streaming.’ It’s still hard to understand the concept,” Long said. “And so someone there said, ‘How do you feel about a 16-year-old winning $4 million for playing Fortnite and you guys just won the World Cup

and are splitting 4 million or something like that?’ I was like, I need to start playing.”

The NWSL had not yet started its season when the league was shuttered March 12 because of Covid-19. Long announced on Instagram that she was joining the video gaming platform Twitch and that she liked to play Call of Duty.

Before she knew it, she was a Twitch celebrity, playing with NBA stars Meyers Leonard and Josh Hart in a tournament for charity. She teamed up with Real Sociedad forward Alexander Isak on a La Liga Twitch tournament, raising money for Feeding America. She has since added Facebook Gaming for her weekly Warzone Wednesday events.

Long jokes that her celebrity status on Twitch was probably by default because she’s one of the few high-profile female athletes who are streaming. She doesn’t just play Call of

Duty. Predictably, she’s currently undefeated on EA Sports’ Fifa soccer game.

Watching her play, Long isn’t afraid to trash talk. While the national team fights for equal pay in court, Long is preaching equality and extolling women’s soccer to the gaming community.

“I do think that some people get on there and they’re, ‘Oh wow, I didn’t know girls could play,’” she said. “I always get that, whether I’m literally playing soccer with guys or gaming, so I’m used to it. But I kind of love it because then I feel, ‘Yeah, I’m going to show you.’”

Long is wary of the coronavirus—her brother and his girlfriend in New York contracted the virus—so gaming was a great way to pass the time while sheltering at home.

She was in Tacoma, Washington, training with the Reign when the pandemic struck and the state implemented one of the most extensive stay-at-home orders. AP

Pro softball team suffers fallout after GM’s anthem tweet

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ne of America’s top pro women’s softball teams is in an uproar after a tweet by their general manager regarding the national anthem.

The now-deleted tweet by Connie May, general manager of the Houston-based Scrap Yard Dawgs, included the Twitter handle for President Donald Trump as it noted the team’s players were standing for the anthem and respecting the flag. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other athletes have kneeled during the anthem to protest racial injustice, angering Trump.

The fallout has been swift.

All 18 Scrap Yard players, including some members of the US national team, have walked out and say they won’t play for the team. The USSSA Pride, another independent team, said its games will be postponed until further notice in support of the Dawgs’ players. Triple Crown Sports and a group of the top youth fastpitch teams in Texas have agreed to pull a Fourth of July Tournament from Scrap Yard’s facility.

And Dawgs Coach Mike Steuerwald said the situation “probably severed the relationship between ownership and the front office and myself.”

Dawgs players Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott—both members of Team USA—are among those who have criticized May’s tweet.

Attempts to reach Scrap Yard and May this week were unsuccessful.

AJ Andrews, one of two Black players for the Pride, said she is concerned about Black people dying in police custody and is energized by the protests that have taken place around the world since the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

She said the Pride players were also angry that their choice to stand was politicized.

PITCHERS Monica Abbott (left) and Cat Osterman watch during the USA Softball Women’s Olympic Team Selection Trials in Oklahoma City in October last year. AP

“Any statement anyone wants to make regarding the national anthem—it’s their right to take their own personal stand,” Andrews said. “It’s no one else’s right to take that for them. So to have someone shift that and have it come out in a statement that does not represent you as a person—you feel violated.”

Stokes, one of two Black players for the Dawgs, said May’s tweet was hurtful and insensitive, especially given the extra attention the world has been paying to racial issues for the past month. She felt the two had built a solid relationship since the team drafted her in 2016.

“I thought our relationship was really close,” Stokes said. “I thought she really understood me.”

Stokes posted her feelings on social media on Tuesday. She said May reached out to her Tuesday, but nothing changed because she

felt May lacked contrition. Stokes said offers to educate May had been made before.

“It’s all about the approach,” Stokes said. “I need an apology, and then we can move forward.”

On Wednesday, several players shared a tweet titled THIS IS US with a unified message of commitment to support the Black community and help educate people on ways to create change.

Steuerwald, who is an assistant coach at Syracuse, said he stands fully behind the players.

“I’m proud of them for speaking their mind and I’ve felt that they have done it in a very respectful manner,” he said. “Even throughout their conversations with our GM in a heated, emotional moment, it wasn’t derogatory the things that were said, and it wasn’t defaming in any way. It was addressing the points of contention there with the tweet and things that they felt kind of betrayed by.” AP

Brazil soccer championship kicks off in August

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ãO PAULO—Brazilian soccer clubs have decided to start the country’s main championship on August 9, despite the concern of health experts who predict the coronavirus pandemic could be peaking in the country at that time.

The top-flight competition was initially scheduled to begin in May but was postponed because of the outbreak of Covid-19.

Brazil’s soccer confederation issued a statement Thursday saying the agreement on the dates and on health protocols came

in a meeting with representatives of all 40 clubs of the two main divisions. The restart will depend on clearances from health authorities.

More than 55,000 have died from Covid-19 in Brazil and about 1.2 million people have been infected, second only to the United States.

Confirmed cases are still rising.

The Brazilian soccer confederation said 19 of the 20 clubs in the top flight were open to playing in other cities if their hometowns are considered not safe enough

by health authorities.

Soccer made a partial return last week in the country after a three-month suspension, but only local league games in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Clubs in other state leagues are only contemplating a return next month.

Players and sports executives who think it is too risky to start playing are still protesting and appealing to local sports courts.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and powerful Rio club Flamengo have been lobbying for the return of soccer since May. AP

’ ! p u k a e p S ‘

In a society ripe for reform, the youth lead online justice movements

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BusinessMirror JUNE 28, 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

GOLDEN VOICE FROM CAVITE Singing sensation Myko Mañago drops new single

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AWAG Ng Tanghalan winner and online sensation Myko Mañago came out with a new digital single, “Tulad Niya,” just days ago, providing music fans affected by the current pandemic a new song that thugs at the heart and captures the mood of the classic ballad. The song was specially written for him by songwriter Kiko Salazar whom he had worked with a number of times in the past.

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Good thing they were able to finish recording the song before community quarantine was implemented. Therefore, it was done the way digital records are carefully treated while the sessions marked by in-studio collaboration difficult to achieve in a world of social distancing and viral risk.

The heartbreaking ballad, which tackles the heart’s exploration on the subject of moving on, is now released in digital stores and bound to be a hit among listeners relatively still locked in homes.

Myko expressed, “It’s my dream to collaborate with my vocal teacher. Kaya nung narinig ko ang song na ito, I really felt excited because it’s from him and I am sure maraming makakarelate sa kantang ito.”

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Myko Mañago poses with Tulad Niya songwriter Kiko Salazar

Myko Mañago's new single, 'Tulad Nya'

from It’s Showtime’s Tawag Ng Tanghalan is also a viral hit among netizens with his steady covers of hit songs. He is now busy doing vlogs and keeping his craft intact amidst the lockdown. He previously released “Stuck” and “Mahal Kita (Kahit Mahal Mo Siya),” which he recently performed for SoundStrip Live & in Quarantine.

Kiko, a decorated tunesmith, likewise felt privileged for the opportunity to work with his former demo singer who delivered the goods well for him. He expressed, “Myko is vocally gifted... range, control, emotions and tone. We have developed an easy working language in the studio so working with him is always a breeze. We just talked about where I’m coming for this one and he easily translated it musically. I enjoyed the whole studio time with him.”

He added that Myko’s voice fits the ballads sung by the likes of Rick Price, Phil Collins, and Richard Marx. That they captured the 80s retro vibe in “Tulad Niya” recording gave extra good flavor to the collaboration.

Myko, admittedly a homebody but who had regularly fronted for bands prior to the New Normal, hopes to soothe hearts with his newest offering. He noted his concern for live band musicians who lost regular earnings as well as other people from various fields challenged by the current situation. He related, “As much as possible, hindi tayo dapat mawalan ng pag-asa kasi lilipas din ang problemang ito. You just have to surround yourself with the right people.”

The golden voice from Cavite is fortunate to have the support of talent development company RJA Productions established by US-based Filipina Rosabella JaoArribas who consistently fires-up his artistic spirit.

On the other hand, the accomplished songwriter behind the instant classic “Akin Ka Na Lang” (sung by Morisette Amon) has given Myko his high appraisal, saying, “I knew he’s more than ready to have more singles of his own. It’s time for everyone to hear that beautiful voice.”

IC

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BUSINESS

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SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

‘LALABAN TAYO’

UE Jam Sessions salutes Covid-19 frontliners with new single

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HE challenges of mounting a music video in these lockdown times can be monumental. But Tommy Tanchangco, CEO of artist management outfit 12 Stone Records, won’t be denied.

Last June 21, a music video he executive produced titled “Lalaban Tayo” debuted on YouTube. The three-month work on the video in tribute to health frontliners involved the collaboration of 32 student musicians from UE, a sixpiece students collective named SHS band, and the dedication of musical arranger Choi Felipe as well video editor Cher Manulit.

The original song was written by college freshman Jenny Legaspi.

The participating musicians came from various colleges of the University of the East in Manila and Caloocan and each of them did his part in the confines of his home. The resulting video turned out to be a seamless assemblage of individual contributions interspersed with scenes of soldiers, simple citizens and medical professionals doing their part in the war against Covid-19 and exhortations to keep on fighting like “Laban Pilpinas,” “We Heal as One” and “Kapit Lang.”

Tommy is the first to express

UE Jam Sessions

amazement at the work done on an mere acoustic demo three months ago. He told his collaborators, “Let’s not rush things. I am fervently hoping for a cure for Covid-19 but since it’s not going to go away pretty soon, we might as well take the time to make our song as good as it can get.”

And it’s a well-crafted number in the mold of guitar-driven indie pop, one with greater passion than yearning for the opposite sex.

Imagine the likes of Cueshe and Join The Club with soaring choral back-up singing of hope for all mankind. Not quite “We Are The World” (with the absence of hitmakers) but it could be the Pinoy anthem in this unusual period of mass fear and distress.

On the occasion of the first release by the UE music org Jam Sessions, Tommy said, “As we move forward in these trying times, we put our hopes in one another. Reshaping our lives this quarantine can never be easy for all of us, but still, let us not forget those people who risk their

Tommy Tanchanco

own lives on the front line and go beyond their call of duty. Through music, we, the artists of UE Jam Sessions, would like to express our deepest gratitude to them.”

Lyrics by greenhorn songwriter Jenny Legaspi reflects that feeling of connection with the frontliners who risk their lives on the line for others day in, and day out.

Feeding off Bangketa Eskwela Foundation’s Dara Mae Tuazon’s opening call “Walang maiiwan, walang iwanan,” Jenny must have had the foresight to write: “Sa bagong hamon sa

kasalukuyan Malasakit sa kapwa at pagbibigayan Ang dapat nating tinataglay Upang makabangon tayo nang sabay-sabay” Later lines would liken the bond that heals to a good marriage sustained by hope in sickness and in health.

It’s the kind of perception that’s a vital shot in the arm. It should fortify every listener’s optimism that brighter days are just around the bend, nearer than what the statistics would make us believe.

‘Speak up!’

In a society ripe for reform, the youth lead online justice movements

By Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez

O

n June 20, 25-year-old Enzo Manzano stood outside the United Nations headquarters in New York in solidarity with activists and humanrights defenders who were voicing discontent toward the administration of President Duterte.

With him were two slogans that read, “Duterte and the Philippine government are taking away my people’s rights,” and “Filipinos can’t protest so I hope the world can see us instead.”

The son of actor Edu Manzano, Enzo’s solo protest came on the heels of the pronouncement of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra that rallies are disallowed on the eve of Independence Day in the country on June 12, along with the passing of the AntiTerrorism Bill in Congress that critics say will suppress political dissent.

The proposed legislation, certified as an urgent matter by the President amid the current Covid-19 pandemic, enforces warrantless arrest and detention for up to 24 days of “terror suspects” who, among other things, “create an atmosphere or message of fear,” or “seriously destabilize or destroy the fundamental political, economic and social structures of the country.” Meanwhile, those convicted on the basis of overbroad definitions of terrorism, including the expression of social and political opinions, face charges of up to 12 years to lifein-prison without parole.

The United Nations Human Rights Office decried the measure as “a very worrying development.” In a 26-page report, the UN stated that the bill, which is “slated to replace the already problematic Human Security Act, dilutes human rights safeguards, broadens the definition of terrorism and expands the period of detention without warrant.”

“The vague definitions in the Anti-Terrorism Act,” according to the UN, “may violate the principle of legality.”

Enzo Manzano holds a solo protest in New York, in front of the United Nations headquarters and the Philippine Consulate in the US. Manzano said in an exclusive interview with Y2Z that the government “tries to maneuver their way around these things and act as if it is being done with the right and best intentions.” He added: “Filipinos can’t be fooled that easily.”

Manzano also condemned the government’s alleged attack on press freedom following the conviction of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and journalist Rey Santos over cyber libel charges, as well as the shutdown of ABS-CBN last month after a long battle over its franchise renewal. “[There is] obvious resentment and bias against people who are critical of the government,” Manzano said. “We must not forget the way the President has threatened journalists and those critical of him with his own words.”

Manzano prodded people to continue to post online, to try to get their message across, while keeping in mind that “it does not end there.”

“Continue to educate yourselves in current events and history; it’ll give more meaning and context to things that are happening,” he said. “Also, do not compromise your beliefs on how your country should be handled and do not be afraid to disappoint others when it comes to the way you want to pursue those beliefs.”

#HijaAko In less than 280 characters, 19-year-old Frankie Pangilinan proved how the voice of the youth is instrumental in advocating for the rights of women and girls.

The daughter of Sen. Francis Pangilinan and actress Sharon Cuneta, Frankie ush-

4 BusinessMirror

A Lumad student joins the Independence Day protest at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.

ered in the #HijaAko trend on Twitter after an exchange with broadcaster Ben Tulfo on the issue of rape culture and victim-blaming in the country.

Tulfo, the tough-talking host of public service program Bitag, told Pangilinan that men are always waiting for the opportunity to commit sexual assault. He also referred to Pangilinan as hija, or young girl.

Speaking on ANC, Pangilinan said that hija is a term constantly used in a condescending manner, especially when “speaking to youth like me when we have something to say or a point to make. It kind of seems like the first instinct was to invalidate everything I was saying based upon my age.”

Pangilinan also argued that it is through Tulfo’s reasoning that society trivializes the objectification of women and perpetuates a disregard of women’s right and safety.

According to a 2016 report by nonprofit organization Centre for Women’s Resources, a woman or child is raped every 53 minutes in the Philippines. “[Here], there’s still a stigma regarding women who are survivors,” said Maica Teves, executive director of Spark, a women’s empowerment organization that presented an exhibition last year, titled “Don’t Tell Me How to Dress.”

“Misogyny is very much rampant in the Philippines,” she said. “It’s always, ‘what were you wearing,’ ‘what were you doing?’

It’s never about the rapists’ actions. It’s always about the women.”

Pangilinan added that the root of the problem is the bigger theme: that rape culture is real. “There is a culture that

June 28, 2020

constantly perpetuates this type of overmasculinization, where they are constantly kind of pushed to talk about their sexuality and be comfortable about their sexuality whereas women are shamed for it constantly.”

#SaveLumadSchools Just last year, the Department of Education has ordered the permanent closure of 55 schools for indigenous peoples (IP) in the Davao region, displacing children and leaving them struggling for cultural preservation.

Now, IP communities face a new threat as the United Nations place them in the most vulnerable health category during the pandemic.

The youth-led Save our Schools Network (SOSN) reported that among the problems faced by the members of the ethnic group are malnutrition and immune-suppressive health conditions, along with poor access to sanitation, lack of clean water and inadequate medical services. The IP youth also find themselves in sites of armed conflict between the New People’s Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

As such, Lumad evacuees are unable to return home to their ancestral lands, much more find a school where they can receive education oriented toward their culture and traditions.

“Education is a basic human-right essential in realizing all other human rights,” SOSN said. “However, most Filipino children are deprived of this right and peasants and indigenous peoples’ right to education are far more neglected.”