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SBMA PROVIDES INTERESTING TEMPLATE FOR DOING BUSINESS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 GLOBAL OUTBREAK SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator Renato Lee (left) and his staff discuss an investment proposal with prospective investors in Taiwan during a recent video conference. HENRY EMPEÑO

S

By Henry Empeño

UBIC BAY FREEPORT— It might be business as usual for the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) amid the Covid-19 outbreak, but doing transactions with customers and investors is now taking on a novel form.

THE video conference allowed for remote but live information exchanges between SBMA business officials and their counterparts from a Taiwanese company. HENRY EMPEÑO

Last week, officers from the SBMA Business and Investment Group’s Business and Investment Department for Maritime and Manufacturing hooked up with businessmen in Taiwan through a teleconference to discuss a prospective investment project.

Linked by a telecommunications system, the SBMA team engaged in a live discourse and exchange of information with their counterparts who were all donning face masks.

“We have had initial face-toface discussions previously, but because of travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 threat, our clients

couldn’t travel all the way from Taiwan this time,” explained SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Business and Investment Renato Lee, who led the SBMA team.

“So this is the option we took—and it worked all right,” he added.

Lee said the two groups managed to take up every essential item in the proposed project during the remote meeting that lasted close to two hours.

“They were looking for a suitable location—a factory-warehouse type of building, so we Continued on A2

Arab royal feud exposed in London amid claims of spying and hacking

By Ryan Gallagher

W

Bloomberg News

HAT began as a legal dispute over a hotel has unfolded in a London courtroom in recent weeks into an extraordinary tale of royal intrigue, one that includes allegations of global undercover spying operation, hacked e-mails and a covert public relations campaign.

The investment authority of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sued an Iranian-American aviation executive named Farhad Azima in 2016 for breach of contract in relation to the sale of a hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Azima counter-sued, alleging that authorities in Ras Al Khaimah hired contractors who hacked his e-mails.

The trial wrapped up on February 14, 2020, and a judge in London’s High Court is currently mulling over a decision, which is expected in March. If the judge finds in Azima’s favor, he would be the first person to successfully sue a foreign government for hacking,

according to Kirby Behre, a former federal prosecutor and an attorney with Miller & Chevalier, which represents Azima.

The Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority, known as RAKIA, has denied any involvement in the hack. Azima “made a series of false and unsubstantiated allegations against RAKIA, including the hacking of his personal e-mails,” a spokesperson for RAKIA said in a news statement. “These allegations were strongly denied by RAKIA.”

The trial exposed a bitter rift among Ras Al Khaimah’s ruling class, and it also cast an uncomfortable spotlight on Western companies that allegedly played a role in helping the Arab govern-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.9370

MARJAN Island in the emirate of Ras al Khaimah in the UAE.

ment hack target, or discredit adversaries.

The courtroom drama unfolded amid rising concerns about the use of sophisticated surveillance and hacking technologies—often sold by private companies to gov-

SALETOMIC | DREAMSTIME.COM

ernments for the stated purpose of tracking criminals and terrorists—against human-rights advocates, journalists and adversaries.

In January, for instance, security experts said Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff

Bezos’s personal iPhone was likely hacked through malicious software sent to him by a WhatsApp account associated with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia denied the allegation.

The case was heard by a UK court due to a clause in a contract between Azima and Ras Al Khaimah, which stated that any disagreement arising out of their work together would be settled in England.

The feud in Ras Al Khaimah dates back to at least June 2003, when Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi became crown prince after his older half-brother, Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, was removed from power by their father, allegedly over differences on women’s rights and the US invasion of Iraq. (Sheik Saud became ruler of the emirate in 2010 when his father died.)

Concerned that Sheikh Khalid may have subsequently conspired to undermine his rule, an official working for Sheikh Saud hired a security adviser in London, the Page Group Ltd., to spy on Sheik Khalid and discover the people he was meeting, according to court testimony.

The Page Group’s founder, Stuart Page, a former counter-terrorism officer with London’s Metropolitan Police, testified that after receiving a phone call in 2008 from a contact in Dubai, he was flown by private jet to a meeting in Lebanon—and offered a contract to carry out investigations for Sheikh Saud.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4649 n UK 65.6425 n HK 6.5362 n CHINA 7.2720 n SINGAPORE 36.5140 n AUSTRALIA 33.4554 n EU 56.0409 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5781

Source: BSP (February 28, 2020)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, March 1, 2020

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Arab royal feud exposed in London amid claims of spying and hacking Continued from A1

Page, who left the police in 1978 to work in Saudi Arabia as a security adviser in the construction and oil industries, testified that between 2008 and 2010, he mounted “a very large surveillance operation” against Sheikh Khalid.

That involved following Sheikh Khalid to meetings in London, Geneva and Washington, D.C., where he attended the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Page told the court he was also asked to monitor other people who were suspected of leaking information from Sheikh Saud’s palace and publicizing allegations of human rights abuses.

Between 2015 and 2018, Page said he subcontracted some of his investigative work for the sheikh to an Israeli firm who he said were “specialists at obtaining information from confidential sources” and could “analyze a significant amount of data being recovered from multiple jurisdictions.” Ras Al Khaimah’s representatives, and a transcript from the trial, identified the firm as Insight.

According to Page’s testimony, Insight employs current or former officials from the Israeli Defense Force and the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency.

The company, which has no online footprint, couldn’t be located for comment. Page didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Azima’s representatives said the company is actually one with a similar name, IntSights, which was founded by former members of “an elite intelligence unit in the Israel Defense Forces” and provides solutions to “combat external threats” on the Internet, according to its website. IntSights said in a news statement it was “not aware of having any involvement in this proceeding and has no comment.”

Page’s company produced reports for Sheikh Saud suggesting that Azima was financing an operation in the US aimed at discrediting the crown prince. One report disclosed during the trial claimed that Azima was heading up a US team that aimed to “smear [Ras Al Khaimah] and its Ruler with human-rights allegations.”

Page’s company stated in its report that it would continue to “gather intelligence” on the US team that was allegedly working against Sheikh Saud in an effort to “contain, or ruin their plans.”

In October 2015, Azima was subjected to a “spear phishing” attack, according to his lawyers. He allegedly received four e-mails, including one from a person he knew, containing a link to a malicious website. Another contained a link to a fake Huffington Post article, titled “Multi-billionaire Iranian Azima may be in trouble as links against him are getting stronger,” according to documents produced during the court case.

IN this September 18, 2019, file photo, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Security experts said Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos’s personal iPhone was likely hacked through malicious software sent to him by a WhatsApp account associated with the crown prince. Saudi Arabia denied the allegation. MANDEL NGAN/POOL PHOTO VIA AP

Ultimately Azima’s computer and e-mail accounts were compromised, and in August 2016, an archive of Azima’s e-mails were published on publicly accessible websites. In early September 2016, several websites with names like “exposed farhad azima” appeared on the Internet, promoting the hacked e-mails, according to Azima’s legal team.

By March 2016, Ras Al Khaimah hired London-based reputation management company, Digitalis, to launch an “offensive and/or defensive” online campaign, according to a letter of engagement that was provided to the court. Azima’s legal representatives allege that the campaign may have involved the promotion of the blog posts that accused Azima of fraudulent activity and the circulation of his hacked e-mails.

“We do not comment externally on our internal policies nor on work undertaken for any client,” Digitalis said in a statement. Digitalis told the court that it had a policy of shredding documents within 24 hours of their creation and deleted e-mails after two years, so it could not provide documentary evidence about the work it carried out for Ras Al Khaimah.

During the trial, Azima’s lawyers attempted to pin the blame on Page. “I suggest, Mr. Page, that you caused or procured the hacking of Mr. Azima’s e-mails in this matter and made that material available to Ras Al Khaimah,” alleged Tim Lord, a lawyer for Azima.

Page, who according to court testimony received about $1.2 million per year for his work with the crown prince, told the court that he had circulated the hacked e-mails to authorities in Ras Al Khaimah.

But he said he had no role in carrying out or commissioning the hack. Rather, he said an Israeli friend discovered the e-mails during a Google search and sent him the links to download them in a Whats­App message.

Christopher Tarbell, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent with expertise in cybercrime, produced a report for the court, stating that he was unable to confirm the person, or organization, responsible for the hack of Azima, owing to the “various effective means by which cybercriminals using the Internet can conceal their identity or location.” However, Tarbell said that there was “forensic evidence that unauthorized

access was obtained to two of his e-mail accounts at around the time of the four spear phishing e-mails.”

The hackers, Tarbell said, used a service named “HideMyAss” to conceal the IP addresses of their computers so their location couldn’t be identified. But, Tarbell added, he had traced one of the websites that was used to publish the hacked e-mails to Dubai, the most populous city in the UAE. The e-mails were used by the Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority to launch a £3.7-million fraud case against Azima, whom it said had breached a contract in relation to joint business ventures and the sale of the Georgia hotel, according to legal documents.

Ras Al Khaimah has provided its own theory for who was behind the hacks. Azima “appears to have been the subject of long-term interest by Iran, who perceived him as an enemy of the Iranian government and who actively sought to acquire information and intelligence about Mr. Azima,” the emirate’s legal representatives said in their closing statement to the court.

The Iranian Embassy in London didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Video calls help biz dodge virus Continued from A1

discussed the available options.

Then we also talked about the products they intend to manufacture here, as well as the technology transfer we can benefit from, the number of workers to be generated, the projected revenue— things which are the stuff of initial business meetings,” Lee said.

“It was a fruitful meeting, and judging by what we have covered, you would never know it was accomplished via teleconferencing,” he added.

Although rarely resorted to in the past, teleconferencing with clients is seen to become more frequent here, as the SBMA finds ways to continue making business transactions despite recent spikes of Covid-19 infection.

“With the continuing threat

of Covid-19 and the recent rash of transmissions outside China in countries like South Korea, Italy, and Iran, I see that teleconferencing will not only be a trend in Subic, it will become a necessity,” SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said on Thursday.

Eisma pointed out that infrastructure are in place to allow teleconferencing on a regular basis in Subic, which was affected by the national health guidelines banning cruise ships, airplanes and travelers coming from China and its special administrative regions (SARs), as well as other countries affected

by Covid-19.

At the same time, the SBMA enforced measures like mandatory physical inspection of all foreign nationals entering SBMA gates;

self-quarantine of all Subic residents, locators and employees who traveled from China and its SARs in the past 14 days; thermal scanning by business locators of their personnel; and disinfection practices in offices and facilities.

While the Philippine government lifted the Taiwan travel ban just days after its imposition, Covid-19 outbreaks in other places seriously hamper trade just as well, said Eisma.

This is where teleconferencing comes in handy despite the disadvantage of remote interaction.

“We cannot afford any let-up in business,” Eisma stressed. “We have to find ways to keep the wheels of commerce moving, so business mobility will have to be supplemented with mobile business.”

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Global bankers throw out deal-making basics in age of coronavirus outbreak

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t sounds like advice for averting Wall Street deals: Don’t travel.

Don’t meet clients. Don’t even shake hands.

Yet, those instructions are now flowing through the global financial industry as the coronavirus spreads. On a growing number of continents, banking and investing professionals are preparing for the possibility they will soon be working from home. Industry conferences for drumming up business are thinning out, moving online or facing cancellation. Sales of some new securities are sputtering.

Behind the scenes, bank leaders are dusting off regulatory plans for keeping “critical operations” open through a potential pandemic. Some describe things like how far apart to move traders along desks, or how many may work remotely. Bank branches may be able to keep their counters open, thanks to the bulletproof glass meant to stop robberies.

Financial firms that normally take pride in touching industries around the world are realizing they will be on all the front lines if governments fail to contain the virus. As outbreaks worsen in parts of Asia and pop up across Europe, bankers from top financial hubs to midsize cities are trying to reinvent on the fly how they’ll do business, anticipate how central banks may react, and assess their clients’ preparedness and potential needs.

“I’ve spent the last two days in front of customers and I’ve gotten

10 different views on what’s gonna happen—from ‘buckle down, this is gonna be a six-month period of time’ to ‘this is an overreaction,’” said Ted Swimmer, head of capital markets at Citizens Bank. “I just don’t think there’s a playbook for what these things are.”

Attendees at a der ivatives conference in Frankfurt where Deutsche Bank AG Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke spoke had their body temperature measured by an infrared camera to check for symptoms. The organizers, a unit of Deutsche Boerse AG, noted that guests who traveled from China are obliged to respect a two-week quarantine.

Venture capitalists are also taking precautions. Sequoia Capital elected to relocate an annual meeting that had been planned for New Delhi, said a person familiar with the matter. The new locale is in Half Moon Bay, California, about a 30-minute drive from the firm’s headquarters.

The change was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Andreessen Horowitz, another top VC firm in Silicon Valley, recently posted a sign at its offices discouraging handshakes, citing the virus.

Of course, executives working in Europe and the US are just now confronting a situation that took shape in cities around China almost a month ago. In hubs

last months.

Across the industr y, firms are signaling that the virus has the potential to create significant disruptions in the coming year. Global behemoth Citigroup, merger advisory shop Evercore Inc. and private-equity giant KKR & Co. all mentioned the virus as a risk in annual regulatory filings this month.

Standard Chartered Plc., the UK bank that gets the majority of its earnings from Asia, said Thursday the virus will erode revenue growth in 2020, and that it will no longer meet a key profitability goal for next year.

Silver linings

People walk past an electronic board showing Hong Kong share index outside a local bank in Hong Kong, Thursday. Shares fell in Asia on Thursday after President Donald Trump announced the US was stepping up its efforts to combat the virus outbreak that began in China. AP/Kin Cheung

like Hong Kong, denizens of the financial industry are all too familiar with working from home while their kids pass time in the background.

Dark humor

Now, in a growing number of countries across Asia, firms are banning non-essential travel and starting to take more drastic measures. In South Korea, where authorities are trying to contain the largest outbreak outside China, banks including UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. have begun to split workers among different locations to ensure business can continue.

Precautions are also mount-

ing in Europe. Commercial realestate firm Cushman & Wakefield said on Wednesday that it decided to sit out the prominent MIPIM real-estate conference in the French resort town of Cannes next month over safety concerns tied to the virus.

Meanwhile in Berlin, the world’s largest private equity and venture capital conference continued this week as a somewhat muted affair, rife with dark humor and hand sanitizer. A few big names never showed, and neither did some attendees from Italy, the continent’s worst hit country.

In fact, a growing number of banks have banned travel to cer-

Don’t blame capitalism for shrinking airline legroom

By Noah Smith

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viral video of a man punching the back of a women’s reclined airline seat got Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian’s attention. But he made things worse, when he asked flyers to be polite and check with the passengers behind them before hitting the recline button. This angered many people who have watched seats shrink over the years, as airlines try to raise profit margins by packing evermore paying customers onto their planes: Why, observers asked, should flyers be forced into a vicious zero-sum battle over physical comfort just to fatten the coffers of companies that already earn billions of dollars a year? Some blamed the capitalist system itself.

Defenders of the system will tend to retort that airlines are just giving people what they want; smaller seats, they argue, are simply the price consumers have chosen in exchange for cheaper airfares. It’s hard to tell how airfares have changed over time, because just looking at ticket prices isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison; the average f light distance changes, and customers nowadays pay fees for things such as checked baggage and meals that once were included in fares. But the data from the Bureau of

Labor Statistics, which tries to account for all of these factors, suggest that f lying has indeed gotten cheaper during the past 20 years: This decline has happened in spite of a slight rise in real oil prices.

What’s more, air travel today offers consumers a bigger menu of choices. They can go with a discount airline and less legroom in exchange for a cheaper ticket. They can upgrade to premium seats with more space. In 2016, each extra inch of legroom in the North Atlantic region cost about $33.

There are still some customers who will fall through the cracks in this system—if you want just a little more legroom than coach provides, for just a little more money, you might not be able to find a seat. But overall, for customers who are willing to do a little shopping, today’s freemarket air-travel system makes it easier for people to optimize their own personal mix of legroom and ticket price.

And as always when discussing the shortcomings of capitalism, it’s important to think about what the alternative would be. In this case, that would mean nationalization of the industry. That’s not as crazy a notion as it might sound; Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines, rated the top 2 carriers in the world in 2019 by consulting firm Skytrax, are both state-owned.

But it’s far from clear that American Airlines or United Airlines could match the performance of those champions under state ownership. Very high US infrastructure costs suggest that the federal government may have problems in its decision-making processes that make cost control difficult.

In most developed nations, the trend has been toward privatization. Most European airlines, once owned by national governments, have been privatized; Korean Air was privatized in 1969 and Japan Airlines in 1987. This was generally a result of financial distress. Meanwhile, the vast majority of remaining stateowned carriers is in developing countries, with Singapore and Qatar being the exceptions.

Proponents of nationalization might argue that without the need to make a profit, airlines could reduce fares or increase legroom while holding fares constant.

A wave of big airline mergers has increased the industry’s profitability since 2005, and common ownership may also be reducing competition. But airlines were operating on the edge of bankruptcy before the consolidation wave; now, their margins are merely up to the normal level for a US business. So there’s not a lot of profit to be squeezed out of the system—perhaps only $20 per f light, or less than 1 inch

worth of legroom.

Nationalized airlines could also be run at a loss, subsidized by tax money, but this would likely lead to the airlines becoming a political bone of contention, with eventual privatization as the result. Or salaries could be cut and the savings passed on to f lyers, but this would likely degrade operational efficiency and quality.

So although no one likes having to choose between paying an upgrade fee and being shoe-horned into a tiny seat, it’s unlikely that nationalization would improve matters.

With only limited scope to increase comfort while also keeping costs low, airlines should try to improve the f lying experience by making it more egalitarian. That makes being told how to behave while f lying by a man who makes a multimillion-dollar salary by packing more people onto planes particularly galling. So yes, airline CEOs should avoid seeming like they’re talking down to passengers.

Meanwhile, it might be a good idea to offer flights with identical seats—no premium economy, business class and so on—as well as no preferred boarding. Eliminating those visible inequalities might make flyers feel better about the airtravel experience. Who knows— they might even be willing to pay a little more for the pleasure. Bloomberg Opinion

tain Italian cities, including the financial hub of Milan. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, UBS and Morgan Stanley are among those enacting at least some limits on travel in the country or encouraging employees to postpone visits.

US regulators require banks to have a pandemic plan that a l lows t hem to keep cr itica l operations going even if a large number of employees fall ill or have to care for family members. Regulators warn that a severe pandemic could lead to as much as 40 percent of staff being absent and that outbreaks can come in multiple waves that

Already, key financial-industry businesses are taking hits. Debt issuance in the $2.6-trillion international bond market, a key source of income for investment banks, came to a virtual standstill on Wednesday as Wall Street faced its third straight day without any high-grade bond offerings and Europe’s bankers had their first day of 2020 without a deal.

The silver linings aren’t that bright.

Asked this week what the coronavirus might mean for FTI Consulting Inc., Chief Executive Officer Steven Gunby told analysts that “nobody knows” how it will play out but that the most important thing now is to check in with employees in affected regions and ensure they are ready.

Still, he added, “given the strong bankruptcy practice we have, if the economy had a downturn, we’ve got some parts of our business that would go up.” Bloomberg News

$7-billion robot to automate boring tasks eyes IPO

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iPath, a software maker valued last year at $7 billion, is getting closer to an initial public offering after helping some of the biggest companies in the US automate routine processes.

Armed with last year’s $568-million funding round that gave the New York-based company its multibillion-dollar valuation, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Dines sees more growth on the cards. The bourse entry may take place as soon as early next year, depending on market conditions and strategic decisions.

“We just started our growth journey in 2016 and if you look at the average age of a company to do an IPO it’s probably seven years, so there’s” no reason to hurry, Dines said in an interview from New York. “You have to become a public company at some point to allow your employees to get more liquidity, give them stock options. We’re almost there.”

Founded in Romania in 2005 as DeskOver and renamed in 2015, UiPath’s client base includes the CIA, the US Navy, McDonald’s Corp., Duracell and Swiss Re. The company had $360 million in annual recurring revenue last year and it attracted funding from investors, such as Sequoia, CapitalG, Wellington Management, Sands Capital and others.

“Even though UiPath technically can do an IPO, I think they don’t have to do that. They already got a huge

amount—$1 billion—in venture funding and don’t have to get their hands tied up in the capital market.

The only RPA company that went IPO is Blue Prism,” said Kathy Gao, a BloombergNEF analyst focused on the digital industry.

UiPath ’s software performs low-skilled and repetitive tasks once outsourced to humans in cheaper-wage countries, via “robotic process automation,” or RPA. Examples include the processing of applications for jobs, pensions or handling student data at universities.

Virus backlog

UiPath, which became Romania’s first unicorn in 2018, competes with other software vendors such as Blue Prism Group Plc., Kofax and Automation Anywhere Inc. Dines, who ruled out acquisitions in the near future, didn’t give financial details on UiPath’s potential IPO. “We’ve seen increased competition, even Microsoft said they will come with an RPA solution,” Dines said. “This is a great validation for the industry.”

One key area to watch is the use of UiPath to help hospitals fighting the coronavirus to avoid backlogs and speed up diagnosis, according to Dines.

“RPA has become a really big and established sector and many companies have plans to implement it,” he said. Bloomberg News

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Army of 100,000 Chinese ducks ready to fight locust swarms

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hinese duck platoons are waiting to be deployed to neighboring Pakistan to fight a swarm of crop-eating pests that threaten regional food security.

At least 10 0,0 0 0 duc k s a re ex pected to be sent to Pakistan as ea rly as t he second ha l f of t h is yea r to combat a deser t loc ust outbrea k , accord ing to Lu Li zh i, a senior resea rc her w it h t he Z he ji a n g A c ade my of A g r ic u lt u ra l Sc iences. T he ducks are “ biologica l weapons” and can be more ef fective than pest ic ide, sa id Lu, who is in charge of the project in tandem w it h a u niversit y in Pa k ist a n.

“One duck is able to eat more than 200 locusts a day,” Lu said in a telephone interview on Thursday, citing results of experiments to test the ducks’ searching and predation capabilities.

A trial will start in China’s western region of Xinjiang later this year before the ducks are sent to Pakistan, Lu said.

Sw a r m s of dese r t lo c u st s have been spread ing t hrough cou nt r ies f rom Easter n A f r ica to Sout h A si a, dest roy ing crops a nd past u res at a vorac ious pace. T he pest pl ag ue, toget her w it h unseasona l ra in

a nd a scou rge of low qu a l it y seed s, has h it major crops in Pa k ist a n’s l a rgest produc i ng reg ions, weigh i ng on it s a lready f rag i le economy. A nd it has a lso m ig rated into Ind i a.

It will be crucial for China, which shares a land border with Pakistan and India, to prevent an invasion. However, China does have some shield in the form of the Himalaya mountains that stand as a barrier between the Indian subcontinent and the Plateau of Tibet.

A g roup of C h inese ag r ic u lt u ra l e x per ts v isited Pa k ist a n t h is week to help cont rol t he locust outbrea k s as t he pl ag ue moves east wards, according to a repor t posted on t he web site of C h ina’s consu l ate - genera l in K a rac h i.

In other unusual tactics, Pakistan’s government urged its citizens to eat locusts too. People should take advantage of the situation and barbecue locusts or make a curry, according to a local newspaper report.

In this photo taken on February 1, 2020, desert locusts jump up from the ground and fly away as a cameraman walks past, in Nasuulu Community Wildlife Conservancy, northern Kenya.

As locusts by the billions descend on parts of Kenya in the worst outbreak in 70 years, small planes are flying low over affected areas to spray pesticides in what experts call the only effective control. The pest plague has hit major crops in Pakistan’s largest producing regions, which prompted China to send an army of ducks to help fight the locusts outbreak. AP/Ben Curtis

To gauge how serious a locust attack can be, look to Africa.

The cost of fighting desert locusts in the continent’s east has

doubled to $128 million, with more countries being affected each day, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The situation remains extremely alarming in the Horn of Africa, while there has been a significant movement of swarms over the

Arabian Peninsula that reached both sides of the Persian Gulf, the FAO said in its latest locust watch report. Bloomberg News

Managing remote workers? It takes more than the latest apps

By Joyce M. Rosenberg

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EW YORK—Nicolas Vandenberghe’s company has 42 staffers scattered among 36 cities in 15 countries. As technology makes it possible for people to be in constant touch while working remotely, businesses, like Chili Piper, are becoming the norm.

“We have Zoom, Slack and a myriad of other collaborative tools—do we really need the in-person water cooler meetings?” asks Vandenberghe, whose business makes software to help companies manage meetings.

Vandenberghe himself is continually remote, splitting his time between Brooklyn, New York; Los Angeles and France.

Whether it means a parent working from home while caring for a sick child, a staffer who logs into a company computer daily from a coffee shop or an entire law firm that operates online, remote working is gaining momentum at small businesses. Technology that makes communication and meetings easy is a big factor in the growth of remote working, but so is the shrinking labor pool that accompanies an unemployment rate below 4 percent for over a year. Many companies no longer look for help close to their home base.

It ’s ha rd to f ind

def init ive st at ist ics on how ma ny people work remotely. Ga l lup’s most recent su r vey in 2016 showed t hat 43 percent of employees worked remotely in at lea st some capac it y ; t hat was up 4 percent age points f rom 2012.

But even as remote working grows, business owners find managing offsite staffers involves more than giving them the latest technolog y. Communication, for example, can’t be left solely to videoconferencing and messaging apps, like Slack. Three of Jazmine Valencia’s seven staffers are in her Los Angeles office, three are in New York and one is in Chicago. Her company, J V Agency, does marketing for the music industr y. Valenc i a’s remote st a f fers ca n feel lef t out when t he on-site tea m d isc usses issues.

“I have to overcommunicate and make sure ever yone is on the same page. This might mean more one-on-ones, more calls and sometimes just being constantly e-mailing or private messaging the remote team,” Valencia says.

“I need to give them a sense of security.”

Owners say a remote operation can’t work without trust between a boss and staffers, especially because it can be difficult for an owner to know what

In this February 20, 2020, photo, Saili Gosula, executive director of Synergy HomeCare of San Mateo, poses for a photo at her office in San Mateo, California. Gosula has a remote administrative staffer and several on-site employees at her Synergy HomeCare franchise.

AP/Jeff Chiu

an employee is doing during a workday. Tyler Forte recalls that when he first managed staffers remotely, “ it was me checking on them probably too frequently.”

He worried about staffers at his real-estate brokerage spending time on social media.

But, “over time, you develop trust with the employee, that we’re all working toward the same goal,” says Forte, CEO of Felix Homes, based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company has staffers in Los Angeles. “Even if I’m not overseeing every move, I believe they are doing their best to advance the

goals of the company.”

Forte has found project management software, an aid many owners use, helps him keep track of what everyone is doing.

Sometimes the problem is very different from staffers goofing off.

“People have this idea that if you have a remote team, they won’t work,” says Emma Rose Cohen, CEO of Final Straw, a maker of reusable straws that has a hub in Seattle. “It’s the opposite—if you hire the right people, they’re selfstarters, and self-starters are often people who work too much.”

She’s alert to signs that any of her 15 staffers are spending too much time on the job, and when they tell her they feel burned out, tired, or stressed, Cohen says it’s time to take a break. And she’s very public about the fact she blocks off time for nonwork things she needs to do.

One reason why employees take remote jobs is their bosses give them flextime; they can make their own hours, take time off for children’s activities, or to go to the gym or walk the dog. That perk can help a small business attract and retain staffers.

But remote work is a bad fit for some employees because it often is isolating; staffers can feel disconnected and even alienated from coworkers. That can be countered to some extent through messaging channels that allow everyone to chime in on a fun discussion. Cohen has gone further, creating channels devoted to specific topics, like pets or podcasts.

W hen A nd rew DeBel l h ires remote st a f fers, he f l ies t hem to h is compa ny ’s home base for inter v iews; t hat ’s one way to increase t he odd s t hey ’ l l work wel l w it h t he tea m at Water Bea r L ea r ning , a Vent u ra, C a l ifor ni a-based compa ny t hat creates educat iona l mater i a ls.

Some owners find remote work can have a stifling effect on a team’s creativity— there’s no light-bulb moments

as staffers pass each other in the hallway, no riffing in a meeting, no break room chats that are unexpectedly productive.

“You’re able to feed off each other and brainstorm ideas better in person than when you’ve got several people on the phone,” DeBell says. His company has one staffer in Denver and two in Ventura.

It also has a network of freelancers in the eastern US. Vandenberghe encourages staffers to go to coworking spaces so they can avoid isolation. When he needs a brainstorming session, he flies staffers to where he is so they can meet in person.

Saili Gosula has a remote administrative staffer and several onsite employees at her Synergy HomeCare franchise in San Mateo, California, and all of her caregivers work out in the field. Gosula has some of the same issues as owners whose work is computer-based; she does a lot of communicating and informing, trying to be sure that all her office staff is on the same page.

As it turns out, Gosula uses some of the same skills with her caregivers, who are all working in sensitive, emotional situations as they care for elderly or sick people.

“We talk to them often, ask them how it’s going,” Gosula says. “We ask them questions every time we interact with them.” AP

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Sunday

Sunday, March 1, 2020 A5

‘Big 20 in 2020:’ DOST sets R&D, services outputs

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wo locally built nanosatellites, an anti-dengue drug and biomedical devices, a 12-horsepower single-cylinder diesel engine and an automated guideway transit for Bataan.

These are among the 20 research and development (R&D) outputs the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is set to launch this year.

The DOST recently announced the R&D outputs and scientific services that would provide innovative solutions to address some of the country’s problems in different sectors.

Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña introduced the 20 programs, ser vices, technologies, and innovations developed

by DOST agencies and regional

offices, together with various industry partners.

“The DOST would like to kick off the year 2020 by featuring 20 of our programs and technologies that we believe can make a big impact in the lives of our countrymen, and push our country to attain socioeconomic growth and development,” de la Peña said in a news briefing held in Pasay City.

Called “Big 20 in 2020,” de la Peña said the DOST will conduct a series of technology launches and events for the whole year, a DOST news release said.

Food products for nutritionally at-risk Filipinos launched

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utritionally at-risk Filipinos will soon benefit from nutritious food products developed by the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI).

Introduced recently at the “Grand Launch of 2020: Perfect Vision for Nutrition” in Makati, the new food products include the Enhanced Micronutrient Growth Mix (MGM 15), Multi-Nutrient Extruded Rice Kernel (MNERK), R ice-Mongo Blend w it h Vegetables, Rice-Mongo Curls with Vegetable and Extruded Sweet Potato Fries.

The Enhanced MGM is a powdered fortificant in a two-gram sachet added to cooked food that contains 15 essential vitamins and minerals to help boost the physical and mental development of children six months to five years old.

When ingredients for preparing a nutritionally adequate or balanced diet are scarce, unavailable, expensive or there is no time to source them, MGM 15 is a practical, easy and affordable way to fortify meals in evacuation centers, feeding programs, and at home.

MNERK is for women of reproductive age, a nutritionally vulnerable population group.

Made from rice blended with extruded multi-nutrient kernel, MNERK is fortified with vitamins A, B1 or thiamine, B2 or riboflavin, and B9 or folate, plus zinc and iron that are especially needed by the mother and growing baby during pregnancy and lactation.

Six months after the recommended exclusive breastfeeding, the DOST-FNRI presented the Rice-Mongo Blend with Vegetables as complementary food for young children six months to three years old; and the RiceMongo Curls with Vegetables as nutritious alternative snacks for older kids, teens and adults, alike.

The whole family will surely enjoy the Extruded Sweet Potato, or Kamote fries, another nutritious alternative to the well-loved French fries that also debuted during the launch.

The new nutritious food products were adopted for commercialization by the Nutridense Food Manufacturing Corp. of Santa Barbara, Pangasinan, which already markets several FNRI food technologies.

T he FNR I is proactively scouting for interested entrepreneurs to be va luable par tners in fighting ma lnutr ition b y a d o p t i n g nut r it iou s a nd innovative food technolog ies.

Present during the launching of the nutritious food products are Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, DOST-FNRI Director Dr. Mario V. Capanzana, DOSTFNRI-OIC of the Office of the Deputy Director and Chief Science Research Specialist Engr.

Rosemarie G. Garcia, Racky D. Doctor and Mrs. Divine C. Doctor, president and finance manager, respectively, of Nutridense Food Manufacturing Corp.

S&T Media Service

SCIENCE Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña S&T Media Service

He disclosed that they will show the practical benefits of various R&D outputs and scientific services, particularly in the areas of agriculture, enterprise technology, space science, genomics, mass transportation, development of smart cities, health and nutrition, disaster preparedness, nuclear

technology, among others.

Although technology remains a vital cog in developing the economy, the Science chief noted that the Philippines needs to develop more technologies that can help improve people’s lives.

In the same press briefing, Science Undersecretary for Regional

Operations Brenda Nazareth Manzano said several sectors, such as the academe, local government units, regional offices and service institutes, were engaged to determine the real needs of the country in different sectors.

“We are committed to deliver to our stakeholders,” was quoted by the news release.

She added that the programs and technologies can provide solutions to help local farmers; fisherfolk; and micro, small and medium enterprises improve their productivity, product quality, and competitiveness both in the local and foreign markets.

Also announced was a program called “Understanding Lightning and Thunderstorms for Extreme Weather, and Monitoring and Information Sharing,” a comprehensive program on nutrition, and a partnership between the DOST and the Department of National Defense.

There will also be a nationwide tissue-culture coconut planting

day, the maiden voyage of a hybrid trimaran, launching of a Science for the People book series, a concert using bamboo musical instruments, the launch of several DOST-enabled smart cities, and an exposition on innovations in disaster-risk reduction and response.

De la Peña revealed that several DOST facilities are scheduled to offer services this year, including the country’s first fully automated gamma irradiation facility, and a Regional Yarn Production and Innovation Center in Miagao, Iloilo.

There will also be a tissueculture laboratory for ornamental plants in Bulacan; opening of various science discovery centers; the Philippine Genome Center in Visayas; and several laboratories, including metrology laboratories in chemistry and biology; simulation packaging testing and green packaging laboratories; and a modular multi-industry innovation facility. Allan Mauro V. Marfal/S&T

Media Service

Sparta to produce 30,000 graduates on data science by 2022

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round 30,000 graduates on data science and analytics through online courses will be produced within three years.

This will be made possible through the Project Smar ter Philippines through Data Analytics R&D, Training and Adoption (Sparta) that was launched by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) in partnership with Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) at a recent news conference in Makati City.

The courses will be aligned to the challenges of specific localities and to certain national issues.

This project will not only equip the students with knowledge and skills in data science and analytics, but will also train them and make them aware that this area of study exists and will be of great help in nation-building.

The DAP, together with its partners Analytics Association of the Philippines and Coursebank, will jointly develop and launch localized massive online courses on data science, analytics and related fields, the project said in a news release.

“In 1992, I was a scholar of DOST at a university in Michigan.

I studied signal processing, and part of our work was AI [artificial intelligence]. When I came back in 1997, I taught many students on signal processing and AI, but there was no job for them. They ended up going abroad,” DOST Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara was quoted by the Philippines News Agency (PNA) at the

PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico C. Paringit (from left), DAP President and CEO Atty. Engelbert C. Caronan Jr., PCIEERD’s Ermie M. Bacarra, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña and Sparta Program Lead Dominic Vincent D. Ligot

project launching.

She said the DOST is developing human resources through Sparta which was designed to retain the trainees in the Philippines.

Guevara noted that people use data every day—to move around traffic, to order food or clothes online, among many others.

DOST-PCIEERD Director Enrico Paringit emphasized that AI aims to develop smart solutions to the challenges that various industries are facing. These industries include the health and education sectors, information technology and business process outsourcing, the PNA said.

Data science, on the other hand, will provide opportunities for innovation, he added.

Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña said the DOST has allotted P50.84 million for the project that would run for three years, according to the PNA. He added that DAP was tasked to choose the trainees.

De la Peña said he was told that

priority would be given to those working in the BPO sector, government workers who use data analytics in their jobs and academe.

“This program intends to create 30,000 data scientists,” he reiterated. De la Peña continued, “Data can fast-track Philippine growth, in every aspect. In the ease of doing business, for instance, we could do many things using data.”

Research shows a foreseen dem a nd of d at a sc ience a nd analytics workers in the Philippines both for local and global markets in the coming years.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation projects that 340,880 data science and analytics workers will be needed in the Philippines alone by 2022.

There is also a pressing need for data-driven modes of decision-making in all sectors when it comes to creating, and implementing policies and strategies.

Countries might consider data science as common and something

that everybody is familiar with.

But not in the Philippines.

It is starting to spread in the country and getting introduced through different courses and programs, but it is still not yet at its peak.

Some sectors in the country are currently engaging in this field but there is still a lack of graduates and professionals with such specialization.

That is why the need for the Project Sparta that aims to establish the necessary online education, research and development mechanisms and infrastructure to develop the industry of data science and analytics, and to mainstream it in both private and public sectors.

The DAP is expected to train and produce 30,000 graduates on various learning pathways in the field of data science and analytics.

Those interested to undergo the training must first create an account at www.coursebank.ph.

Scientists study risks from microplastic pollution

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A blue rectangular piece of microplastic is shown in this May 19, 2010, photo on the finger of a researcher with the University of Washington Tacoma environmental science program, after it was found in debris collected from the Thea Foss Waterway, in Tacoma, Washington. AP/Ted S. Warren

ORTLAND, Oregon—Tiny bits of brokendown plastic smaller than a fraction of a grain of rice are turning up everywhere in oceans, from the water to the guts of fish, and the poop of sea otters and giant killer whales.

Yet, little is known about the effects of these “microplastics” on sea creatures or humans.

“It’s such a huge endeavor to know how bad it is,” said Shawn Larson, curator of conservation research at the Seattle Aquarium. “We’re just starting to get a finger on the pulse.”

Last week, a group of five-dozen microplastics researchers from major universities, government agencies, tribes, aquariums, environmental groups, and even water sanitation districts across the US West is gathering in Bremerton, Washington, to tackle the issue.

The goal is to create a mathematical risk assessment for microplastic pollution in the region similar to predictions used to game out responses to major natural disasters, such as earthquakes.

The largest of these plastic bits are 5

millimeters long, roughly the size of a kernel of corn, and many are much smaller and invisible to the naked eye.

They enter the environment in many ways.

Some slough off of car tires and wash into streams—and eventually the ocean—during rainstorms.

Others detach from fleeces and spandex clothing in washing machines and are mixed in with the soiled water that drains from the machine.

Some come from abandoned fishing gear, and still more are the result of the eventual breakdown of the millions of straws, cups, water bottles, plastic bags, and other singleuse plastics thrown out each day.

Research into their potential impact on everything from tiny single-celled organisms to larger mammals like sea otters is just getting under way. “This is an alarm bell that’s going to ring loud and strong,” said Stacey Harper, an associate professor at Oregon State University who helped organize the conference. “We’re first going to prioritize who it is that we’re

concerned about protecting—what organisms, what endangered species, what regions. And that will help us hone in...and determine the data we need to do a risk assessment.”

A study published last year by Portland State University found an average of 11 microplastic pieces per oyster and nine per razor clam in the samples taken from the Oregon coast.

Nearly all were from microfibers from fleece or other synthetic clothing, or from abandoned fishing gear, said Elise Granek, study coauthor.

Scientists at the San Francisco Estuary Institute found significant amounts of microplastic washing into the San Francisco Bay from storm runoff over a three-year sampling period that ended last year.

Researchers believe the black, rubbery bits no bigger than a grain of sand are likely from car tires, said Rebecca Sutton, senior scientist at the institute. They will present their findings at the conference.

Those studying the phenomenon are worried about the health of creatures living in the ocean—but also, possibly, the health of humans.

Some of the concern stems from an unusual twist unique to plastic pollution.

Because plastic is made from fossil fuels and contains hydrocarbons, it attracts and absorbs other pollutants in the water, such as PCBs and pesticides, said Andrew Mason, the Pacific Northwest regional coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program.

“There’s a lot of research that still needs to be done, but these plastics have the ability to mine harmful chemicals that are in the environment. They can accumulate them,” Mason said. “Everything, as it goes up toward the top, it just gets more and more, and the umbrella gets wider. And who sits at the top of the food chain?

We do. That’s why these researchers are coming together, because this is a growing problem, and we need to understand those effects.”

Researchers say bans on plastic bags, Styrofoam carry-out containers and singleuse items like straws and plastic utensils will help when it comes to the tiniest plastic pollution. AP

Faith A6 Sunday, March 1, 2020

Sunday

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

Francis’s Lent advice: Put down phone, pick up Bible

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ATICAN—Pope Francis urged Catholics to use the season of Lent to spend less time immersed in the chatter and noise of the world through television and their phones, and to spend more time in silence and in conversation with God.

Pope Francis leads a penitential procession to the Basilica of Santa Sabina on February 27. Vatican Media

“Lent is the right time to make room for the Word of God. It is the time to turn off the television and open the Bible. It is the time to disconnect from your cell phone, and connect to the Gospel,” the pope said last week.

This penitential period, he continued, is also the time to work on giving up gossip, rumors and useless chatter, focusing instead on giving yourself to the Lord, who spent 40 days in the desert in fasting and prayer.

During Lent, Jesus is “calling us into the desert,” Francis explained.

Jesus “invites us to listen to what matters. To the devil who tempted Him, He replied: ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” “Like bread, more than bread we need the Word of God, we need to speak with God: we need to pray,” he urged.

In his weekly general audience, which fell on Ash Wednesday, Pope Francis ref lected on the “desert” of Lent and how countercultural it is to spend time in silence, away from the noisiness of modern life.

“We live in an environment polluted by too much verbal violence, by many offensive and harmful words, which the Internet amplifies,” he explained.

“We are inundated with empty words, with advertisements, with subtle messages. We have become used to hearing everything about everyone and we risk slipping into a worldliness that atrophies our hearts.”

In this noise, “we struggle to distinguish the voice of the Lord who speaks to us, the voice of conscience, of good,” the pope said.

According to Francis, the “desert” of Lent, where we can be in conversation with the Lord, becomes a life-giving place.

He acknowledged that it is not easy to make space for silence in one’s heart, but invited everyone

to imagine themselves in the desert, surrounded by a great silence, with “no noises, apart from the wind and our breath.”

“It is the absence of words to make room for another word, the word of God,” he said.

Point ing aga in to t he image of the desert, Pope Francis said it rec a l l s wh at i s essent i a l , a nd how of ten in l ife people become su r rou nded by ma ny useless t h ings.

“We chase a thousand things that seem necessary and in reality are not. How good it would be for us to get rid of so many superfluous realities, to rediscover what matters, to find the faces of those around us!” he urged.

“Prayer, fasting, works of mercy: here is the road into the Lenten desert.”

The solitude of the desert also reminds us of the people around us who are lonely and abandoned, he said, saying the “path in the Lenten desert is a path of charity toward the weaker.”

He also said fasting is a way of seeking a simpler life by giving up superfluous, vain things.

But, he warned, it is not about “slimming down.”

“In the desert one finds intimacy with God, the love of the Lord,” he stated. “The road that leads us from death to life opens up in the desert.

We enter the desert with Jesus, we will go out savoring Easter…”

“Have courage.” Hannah Brockhaus/

Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Computer programming teen Carlo Acutis to be beatified

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ATICAN— The Vatican announced recently the approval of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager and computer programmer, who died in 2006.

The miracle involved the healing of a Brazilian child suffering from a rare congenital anatomic anomaly of the pancreas in 2013. The Medical Board of the Congregation for Causes of Saints gave a positive opinion of the miracle last November.

With Pope Francis’s approval of the miracle promulgated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on February 21, Acutis can now be beatified.

The beatification is expected to take place in Assisi. Acutis is currently buried in Assisi’s Church of Saint Mary Major.

Acutis, who died of leukemia at the age of 15, offered his suffering for the pope and for the Church. He was born in London on May 3, 1991, to Italian parents who soon returned to Milan.

He was a pious child, attending daily Mass, frequently praying the rosary, and making weekly confessions.

In May 2019, Acutis’s mother, Antonia Salzano, told CNA Newsroom: “Jesus was the center of his day.”

She said that priests and nuns would tell her

Carlo Acutis carloacutis.com that they could tell that the Lord had a special plan for her son.

“Carlo really had Jesus in his heart, really the pureness.... When you are really pure of heart, you really touch people’s hearts,” she said.

Exceptionally gifted in working with computers, Acutis developed a web site which

Ash Wednesday with A.L.C. employees Fr. Reynaldo Adalid, OP, sprinkles ash

on the crown of the head of one of the employees of the ALC Group of Cos. on Ash Wednesday. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines issued a liturgical guideline, saying that the ash should be sprinkled on the head instead of marking it on the forehead with a cross to avoid body contact and reduce the transmission of the 2019 novel coronavirus. Nonie Reyes

catalogued Eucharistic miracles. The web site was the genesis of The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, an international exhibition which highlights such occurrences.

Pope Francis also authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree regarding the approval of two other miracles.

One miracle attributed to 18th century Indian martyr, Blessed Lazarus, also called Devasahayam, who converted from Hinduism to the Catholic faith, and was severely persecuted.

The other approved miracle was through the intercession of Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus, the missionary foundress of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of Loano, who died in Uruguay in 1904.

Both Blessed Lazarus and Blessed Maria Francesca can now be canonized as saints. Their canonization dates have yet to be announced.

The Vatican decree also recognized the martyrdom of a Jesuit priest, Fr. Rutilio Grande García, and two lay companions, who were killed in El Salvador.

Grande, a close friend of Saint Oscar Romero, was shot by a right-wing death squad while traveling in a car on March 12, 1977.

The heroic virtues of Servants of God Mario Hiriart Pulido, a Chilean engineer and lay member of the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary who died in Wisconsin, in 1964, was also approved by the pope, along with the heroic virtues of three Italian priests: Fr. Emilio Venturini, Fr. Pirro Scavizzi and Fr. Emilio Recchia.

Catholic News Agency via CDCP News

In this September 1945 photo, Pope Pius XII, wearing the ring of Saint Peter, raises his right hand in a papal blessing at the Vatican. AP

Vatican sees intense interest in opening of Pius XII archive

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AT IC A N C I T Y— More than 150 historians and researchers have signed up to access the soon-to-open Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII, evidence of the intense scholarly interest into the World War IIera pope and his record during the Holocaust, officials said last Thursday.

Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, the Vatican’s chief librarian, told reporters that all researchers—regardless of nationality, faith and ideology—were welcome to request permission to use the Vatican’s Apostolic Library, which will open the archive on March 2.

“The Church has no reason to fear history,” he told reporters.

Some Jewish groups and historians have said Pius, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, stayed silent during the Holocaust and didn’t do enough to save lives.

His defenders at the Vatican and beyond say he used quiet diplomacy, and encouraged convents and other religious institutes to hide Jews.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, a great defender of Pius, accelerated the process to open the archives ahead of schedule so that researchers could have their say.

Po p e Fr a nc i s a n nou nce d the archive would be ready on March 2.

One of the historians who plans to be here for opening day is David Kertzer of Brown University, author of several books about Pius’s predecessors, and their relations with Jews. One about Pius XI, The Pope and Mussolini, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2015.

In an e-mail, Kertzer said the imminent opening of the Pius XII archives, and the light it will shed on the role played by the pope during the war, had “generated tremendous excitement in the scholarly world, and beyond.”

“Much of historical importance will also become clearer for the postwar years, when the pope, among other challenges, worried that the Communist Party would come to power in Italy and played a crucial behind-thescenes role in blocking it,” he said.

Officials warned that the process of studying the millions of pages of documents from six different archives will be measured in years, not days, weeks or months, and will require patience.

“It is unthinkable for a researcher to come to the archives and either look for an easy scoop in a short time or write a book in just one year,”

said Monsignor Sergio Pagano, the prefect of the archive. “We will need several years.”

The documentation includes the archives from the Pius secretariat of state—the main organ of church governance, which includes the Vatican’s foreign relations with other countries— as well as those of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Vatican office responsible for mission territories.

The CDF documents, for example, include case files of priests disciplined for pro-Nazi political activity, said Monsignor Alejandro Cifres Giménez, archivist at the doctrine office.

The mission archives, meanwhile, shed light on the ordinary life of the church outside the main centers of Catholicism in Europe and North America, such as the effects of the war in Japan, said the archivist for the mission office, Monsignor Luis Manuel Cuña Ramos.

In addition, one document he recalled was the first letter Mother Teresa wrote to Pius on March 1, 1950, asking for his approval of her new religious order in India, he said.

Jewish groups and historians have argued for years that the Vatican had no business moving forward with Pius’s beatification cause until the Vatican’s full wartime archives were opened.

They have also asked that any beatification be put off until the generation of Holocaust survivors have died.

The American Jewish Committee, which voiced such appeals, welcomed the opening.

“We trust that the independent scholarly review of these archival materials will provide greater clarity as to what positions and steps were taken during this period by the Holy See, and help resolve the persistent debates and controversy in this regard,” said Rabbi David Rosen, in charge of the group’s interreligious affairs.

He said the “necessary transparency” would also enhance already strong Catholic-Jewish relations.

Benedict moved Pius one step closer to possible sainthood in December 2009, when he confirmed that Pius lived a life of “heroic” Christian virtue. All that is needed now is for the Vatican to determine a “miracle” occurred.

Pope Francis said in 2014 that the miracle hadn’t been identified, suggesting that the process would remain on hold, at least for now. AP

Tourism& Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, March 1, 2020 A7

Swift, safe and scenic travel via chopper rides I

By Carla Mortel-Baricaua

f you’re up for a sky-high adventure over the metropolis or nearby areas in the south, you can now go for a helicopter ride for that kind of travel experience.

With the only helipad in the Alabang area, Acacia Hotel Manila now offers guests to elevate their mobility and leisure experience with its recently forged partnership with Ascent, Asia’s helicopter ride-sharing program.

“In line with our continued focus on being a key activity hub in Alabang with exceptional hospitality, our aim is to increase the connectivity of our guests alongside a remarkable experience through Filipino hospitality and excellent accommodations.

Our guests use our helipad to go to Calatagan, Tagaytay, or Makati. So when Ascent approached us, it’s perfect for us,” says Bobby Horrigan, general manager of Acacia Hotel Manila.

“I’m happy to bring our company that will fundamentally change how people move, travel and live within Alabang. We believe we can alleviate modern mobility by looking to the skies,” opens Darren T’ng, cofounder and chief commercial officer of Ascent, as he formally introduced how Ascent can elevate today’s mobility. “For us,

traffic and connectivity have always been a problem in urbanizing areas, especially with the urbanization we are going through. Fifty percent of the population now lives in mega cities and this number will soon be 5 billion in 2030, making traffic and connectivity a bigger challenge than ever before.

In Metro Manila alone, we get stuck in traffic for 17 days on an annual basis, just virtually sitting in the car stuck in traffic. We believe this is something we can solve through mobility.

We believe we can elevate modern mobility by looking to the skies. Essentially, we are unlocking and democratizing another dimension of travel, but all this starts with helicopters today.”

To do this, Ascent has built an ecosystem made of in class air operators, heliports, and hospitality providers, all enabled by technology. Founded in May 2018, Ascent is the pioneer ride-sharing helicopter platform in Southeast Asia that aims to make cities more connected and save passengers’

Makati City and other parts of Metro Manila are now just 15 minutes away on a helicopter ride from Alabang.

The Ascent team: Lionel Sinai-Sinelnikoff, founder and chief executive officer (left), and Darren T’ng, cofounder and chief commercial officer

time by seamlessly transporting within and between major hubs of activity, including airports, business hubs, and leisure hot spots while maintaining a premium yet affordable experience. In the Philippines, the fuel-efficient helicopters are operated by the INAEC Aviation Corp.

Ascent has been in the Philippines for less than a year, but the Singaporean company had served more than a hundred passengers. Its clientele are earmarked at 60 percent coming from the business community, while 40 percent

A tribute to the guardian of the fields Story & photos by Benjamin Layug

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anuary, a busy month for the Santo Niño (Dinagyang, Ati-Atihan, Sinulog, etc.) festivals, is also a busy month for the agricultural province of Isabela which celebrates is Bambanti Festival every fourth week of January. A thanksgiving for the previous year’s harvest, the icon and mascot of the festival is the bambanti (the Ilokano word for “scarecrow”), a human-like figure, wrapped in old farmer’s clothing stuffed with straw and grass and held up by a frame over a field, that guards crops from marauding birds.

This year’s theme for the festival is “Patuloy ang Tagumpay ng Pusong Isabela” (“Keep on Victory of Isabela Spirit”).

Joining a 20-man media group covering the festival, our 400-kilometer trip from Manila took all of 12 hours with frequent stops for nature calls, as well as lunch. It was evening when we arrived in the city and, after dinner at Katrina Sinugba and Inasal, we retired for the night at the 110-room The Sophia Hotel, our home for our five-day stay in Isabela.

The next day brought us to the Provincial Capitol Compound in Ilagan City where we toured the Bambanti Village Agro-Ecotourism Trade Exhibit which was formally opened by Gov. Rodolfo “Rodito” T. Albano III and Vice Gov. Bogie Dy (2020 Bambanti Festival director general).

This year, there were 31 booths at the Bambanti Village where each participating municipality sold its specialties. Each booth

Bambanti Village Agro-Ecotourism Trade Exhibit

2020 Queen Isabela Pageant

was decorated with giant bambanti (scarecrows), not just of wood and straw but also made with corn seeds, munggo beans, rice, assorted vegetables and bamboo.

The evening was highlighted by the grand coronation night for the Search for Queen Isabela 2020. Crowned Miss Isabela 2020 was Ms. Roseann Camille L. Fernandez (Quirino), while Ms. Myra Yzabelle April Rola (Aurora) was Queen Isabela Tourism and Ms. Kimberly

Jane M. Acob (Cabatuan) was Queen Isabela Culture and the Arts. Ms. Vjie O. Matias (San Manuel) and Ms. Mary Alexandra R. Wu (Quezon) were 1st Runner-Up and 2nd Runner-Up, respectively. The end of the proceedings was highlighted by a fireworks display.

On January 29, the Makan ken Mainom contest was conducted. The Makan (the Ilocano term for “food”) highlights the production of noodles using rice, corn and cassa-

Participants in the Street Dance Competition

va as raw materials as participants turn them into Isabela pasta. Mainom (the Ilocano term for “drinks”), on the other hand, highlights indigenous wine and juice products present in the localities.

On January 30, after lunch at Tien Mas in SM Cauayan City, we left for Queen Isabela Park where more than 13,000 registered volunteers gathered for a 3-km “iRun for TAAL,” a charitable fun run aimed to raise funds for

the victims of Taal Volcano eruption. At the Isabela Sports Complex, we watched the Street Dance Parade Competition (with 27 participating cities and municipalities), the Search for Festival King and Queen, and Festival Dance Showdown. The event was graced by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat.

After the proceedings, the winners for the various festival competitions were announced. For the Giant Bambanti Competition, the winners were Quirino (Category B) and Jones (Category A); Burgos (Category B) and Alicia (Category A) for the Agri-Eco Tourism Booth Competition; the City of Ilagan for the Makan Ti Isabela Competition; Tumauini for the Mainom Ti Isabela Competition; Luna (Category B) and Alicia (Category A) for the Street Dance Competition; Luna (Category B) and City of Ilagan (Category A) for the Festival King Costume Competition; Quirino (Category B) and City of Ilagan (Category A) for the Festival Queen Costume Competition; Benito Soliven for both the Festival King and Queen Costume; and Luna (Category B) and Echague (Category A) for the Festival Dance Showdown.

The overall winners in two categories were Quirino (1st) City of Ilagan (2nd), Luna (3rd) and San Mateo (4th). The Governors Special Award were given to Cabagan, Delfin Albano, Dinapigue, Maconacon, San Mariano, Santa Maria and Santo Tomas, respectively.

Again, the proceedings were closed with a fireworks display.

Introduced in 1997 during the term of former Gov. Benjamin Dy, the first festivals were held in May, the province’s founding month. When Gov. Faustino “Bogie” G. Dy III assumed office in 2011, a resolution was drafted to move the festival to January. The festival has received numerous awards including the Aliw Award for Best Festival Practices and Performance, from 2015 to 2017, and the Aliw 2018 Hall of Fame Award for Best Festival Practices and Performance.

Last year, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded the Bambanti Festival for the largest gathering of people dressed and dancing as scarecrows.

is shared by lifestyle riders who want to live and commute in a certain way and tourists who are out to see the Philippines from above.

For the helicopter rides, “simply go to the Ascent platform [Ascent.flights] and book your seats.

Then lounge in one of the networks of helipads, wherein you can rest, relax and meet people.

Once boarding time comes, somebody will guide you up to the helipad and safely board you to the aircraft that will take you to your end destination,” says T’ng.

“When we look at mobility, it is not just about a helicopter ride to get you from point A to point B, we have value-added services that can be coordinated by our technology online that makes it fundamentally seamless more than ever before,” adds T’ng.

And these are: airport transfers from Naia to Clark or viceversa via helicopter rides, (aside from the one in Acacia Hotel Manila) lounge access across a network of helipads, on-ground crew to take care of the passengers’ needs, vehicle transfer from passenger’s location to any helicopter drop-off and to the passenger’s final destination, and even packages tailored to corporate needs at preferential rates and dedicated routes for C-suites.

For a 15-minute helicopter ride from Alabang to Metro Manila, the price point starts from P11,900, excluding VAT. Aside from the Ascent online platform, helicopter rides can be booked via concierge at the front desk of Acacia Hotel Manila.

AirAsia introduces newest domestic destination, Zamboanga

A

irAsia today announced its fourth destination in Mindanao, Zamboanga. Beginning March 29, guests can fly to “Asia’s Latin City” from Clark and Cebu.

AirAsia’s flights to Zamboanga come soon after the announcement of flights to General Santos. Destinations in the South also include Davao and Cagayan de Oro, which commenced operating in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said, “We are pleased to announce our new domestic destination, Zamboanga. Our newest route cements AirAsia’s connections among the country’s major islands: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The launching of the new route is in support of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat’s push for a livelier tourism within the Philippines and her department’s campaign, ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines.’”

To celebrate this new destination, AirAsia is offering all-in promotional fares from Clark to Zamboanga from as low as P1,090 for BIG Loyalty Members and P1,157 for nonmembers, and fares from Cebu to Zamboanga from as low as P990 for members and P1,057 for nonmembers.

Located at the southernmost tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula in Mindanao, Zamboanga is a highly developed and urbanized city that was once a former settlement of the Spaniards during the colonial era. Hispanic influences are still seen in buildings and structures, among others, thus the nickname “Asia’s Latin City.”

Today, Zamboanga is a commercial and industrial center for trade and commerce in Mindanao thanks to the region’s vast natural resources. Also known as the Sardine capital of the Philippines, Zamboanga City supplies around 90 percent of the country’s canned sardines demand according to research. And the canned sardines sector contributes at least $16 million in annual export earnings to the city.

Though its economy has expanded, the charming region has managed to preserve much of its cultural heritage, serene landscapes and unspoilt beaches. These have attracted more than 700,000 tourists to the region in 2018 alone.

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 Sunday, March 1, 2020

Outbreak casts shadow over marathon trials

A

TLANTA—The nation’s top distance runners carry a new concern into the US Olympic Team Marathon Trials. “The possibility that you make this team and then you don’t have an Olympics to go to,” Jacob Riley said.

The top 3 men’s and women’s finishers on Saturday will earn spots on the US team.

Ultimately, their dreams of actually competing in the Olympics this summer may rest upon the new virus from China, which has spread to other parts of the world, including Japan.

The coronavirus was a hot topic as some of the runners gathered in Atlanta on Thursday.

“It’s there but I think from my perspective what I have to do is just ignore it and go out and race,” said Jared Ward, who finished third in the 2016 trials in Los Angeles and placed sixth in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Longtime International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told The Associated Press on Tuesday there is a window of two to three months to decide if conditions are too dangerous to hold the Olympics in Tokyo. Pound said if the coronavirus outbreak poses a threat too great to hold the Olympics in Tokyo, the games likely would be canceled instead of postponed or moved.

Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto on Wednesday responded to Pound’s comments by calling a news conference to say plans are being made to proceed with a safe Olympics.

“Our basic thoughts are that we will go ahead with the Olympic and Paralympic Games as scheduled,” Muto said, speaking in Japanese. “For the time being, the situation of the coronavirus infection is, admittedly, difficult to predict, but we will take measures such that we’ll have a safe Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The Olympic marathon is scheduled to be staged in Sapporo, a couple hours from Tokyo.

The event was moved to protect the runners from the heat in Tokyo.

Ward said the trials “creates a stage on its own and an Olympic feel on its own.”

“My feeling of competing in and crossing the finish line in the Olympic trials in 2016 was as exciting as crossing the finish line in

Rio later that year,” Ward said. “So I think there’s still something to race for, regardless of what happens later on down the line. I’m excited to be a part of that and to embrace that opportunity.”

The viral outbreak is responsible for more than 2,700 deaths and has infected more than 80,000 people globally. The outbreak began in China two months ago and has spread to South Korea, the Middle East and Europe. Japan itself has reported four deaths.

“I’m not like an infectious disease expert and I try to be educated,” said Scott Fauble, who finished seventh in the 2019 Boston Marathon.

He was the top American in the field.

“I try to listen to podcasts and read articles about it, but me worrying about what the coronavirus does in six months doesn’t help me on Saturday,” Fauble said.

Riley, who led US runners by finishing ninth in the 2019 Chicago Marathon, noted another major event already was postponed.

On January 29, the indoor world athletics

championships in Nanjing, China, were postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus.

That postponement, combined with Pound’s warning, gives cause for concern.

“It’s there in the back of my mind but I’m trying not to think about it too much,” Riley said. AP Jared Ward: It’s there but I think from my perspective what I have to do is just ignore it and go out and race. AP

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

A NOTICE outside San Siro stadium advises that the Serie A match between Inter and Sampdoria is canceled in Milan, Italy. AP

VIRUS IMPERILS ITALIAN SOCCER M

ILAN—Inter Milan Coach Antonio Conte won’t have to sit through a torrent of boos when he returns to Turin for the

first time to face former club Juventus.

That’s because there won’t be any fans there to see it.

The Derby d’Italia, one of the season’s biggest matches, will be played in an empty stadium on Sunday because of the virus outbreak in northern Italy. The epicenter of the outbreak is in the Lombardy region, and Milan is its capital.

Serie A’s governing body released a statement on Thursday night announcing that the match and four others would be played without any fans allowed in.

Four Serie A matches scheduled for last weekend were postponed, including Inter’s match against Sampdoria. Italy has the most cases of the virus in Europe.

Serie A President Paolo Dal Pinto sent a letter to the government on Monday asking that games no longer

be postponed in the affected areas but played without fans in attendance, something which Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said they were in agreement with.

Italy has reported a total of 650 cases of the new coronavirus, up from 400 on Wednesday evening and three a week ago. Three more people with the virus died in 24 hours, bringing Italy’s toll to 15.

Italy has closed schools, museums and theaters in the two hardest hit regions and troops are enforcing quarantines around 10 towns in Lombardy and the epicenter of the Veneto cluster, Vo’Euganeo.

Inter’s Europa League match against Ludogorets went ahead in an empty stadium on Thursday.

On Sunday, Conte will return to Juventus as opposition coach for the first time since he left the club in 2014. Conte led

Juventus to the first three of its eight straight league titles and also spent most of his playing career with the Bianconeri.

“Soccer needs the crowd, to hear the atmosphere around it,” Conte said. “That’s the best thing about the game, the atmosphere around the soccer being played. These decisions have been taken with public health in mind but I hope that everything returns to normal as soon as possible.”

Inter trails the Serie A leaders by six points, although it has played a match less. Juventus, meanwhile, will have to bounce back from Wednesday’s surprise 1-0 loss at Lyon in the Champions League.

“We didn’t play the match we wanted. We have a lot of work to do,” Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey said. “Let’s focus on ourselves and do better than we did today, starting on Sunday with Inter.” AP

All-female TV staff to work Vegas-Calgary game

A

n all-female broadcast team in Canada will cover a National Hockey League (NHL) game next week between the Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights.

Play-by-play announcer Leah Hextall, game analyst Cassie Campbell-Pascall and reporter Christine Simpson will work the March 8 game in Calgary on Sportsnet, a Canadian national sports network. The game caps the network’s week of programming recognizing International Women’s Day.

Sunday’s broadcast will be produced by a female production team live from Calgary, Toronto and Salmon Arm, British Columbia, including Rogers Hometown Hockey executive producer Alison Redmond, game producer Maria Skinner and director Dawn Landis.

Sportsnet’s campaign will also include features on female sports trailblazers, including tennis great Billie Jean King, Toronto Raptors vice president of basketball operations Teresa Resch and former WTA

head Stacey Allaster.

“International Women’s Day is an opportunity to inspire young women and put a spotlight on what is possible, while encouraging continued conversation and action to overcome gender-based barriers for women in the workplace,” Redmond said in a statement. “I’m proud to work with highly talented women, whose skill, experience and perspective allow us to deliver sports programming at its best.” AP

MLB appoints 1st black umpire crew chief

N

EW YORK—Kerwin Danley became the first African-American umpire crew chief in Major League Baseball (MLB) when a series of promotions, additions and retirements were announced Thursday.

“I think it’s a significant moment in the history of baseball,” Danley told The Associated Press from Arizona, where he’s working spring training games.

“I’m very honored, very excited to be the first,” he said. “But it’s not just about me.

It’s much more than that. It shows AfricanAmerican kids there is something else they can make it in, besides playing.”

The timing of the promotion was extra special to Danley because it came during Black History Month.

“I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls and texts on that. People have noticed,” he said.

Other moves included Alfonso Marquez being elevated to the first Hispanic crew chief born outside the United States, and second overall in MLB history.

Another meaningful move for diversity, Danley said.

“Of course it is,” he said.

Crew chiefs Jeff Kellogg, Dana DeMuth, Gary Cederstrom and Mike Everitt have retired.

Kellogg and Everitt will move into jobs as MLB umpire supervisors.

Dan Iassogna and Jim Reynolds were promoted to crew chiefs.

Ramon de Jesus, who worked his first big league game in 2016 as a minor league fill-in, moved up and became the first Dominicanborn umpire on the MLB staff. Also getting

full-time jobs in the majors were Ryan Blakney, Chris Segal and Jansen Visconti.

Nic Lentz also joined the MLB umpire roster, replacing the late Eric Cooper.

A chief oversees each four-man crew.

Among other things, they often have the last word on disputes with players, make the call for an umpire replay review or decide when to bring out the tarp for a rain delay.

The 58-year-old Danley has worked two World Series and 10 other postseason rounds, along with two All-Star Games. He called his first game in the majors in 1992 and was hired to the MLB staff in 1998.

Danley played college ball at San Diego

State and was a first-team All-America outfielder in 1983 when he batted .399. His teammates with the Aztecs included future Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn—Danley’s roommate—and current Colorado manager Bud Black. In a neat coincidence, Danley was the first base umpire when Gwynn got his 3,000th hit during a 1999 game in Montreal and gave his former teammate a hug by the bag.

Danley began his umpiring career in 1985 in the Northwest League, and kept working his way up through the minors. He is known for having an even temperament, always an attractive quality when MLB picks its crew chiefs. He has totaled just four ejections in the past five seasons, according to retrosheet.org.

He also was an instructor at the first umpire camp at MLB’s Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California.

“When kids see me out there, they know it can be done,” Danley said. “That’s the proof in the pudding. If you can’t see it or touch it, you don’t know it.”

There have been about 10 full-time African-American umpires in the majors since Emmett Ashford ascended to become the first in 1966. There have been several blacks in MLB umpire leadership positions, including Peter Woodfork, senior vice president of baseball operations, supervisor Cris Jones and the late Chuck Meriwether, a longtime big league umpire who became a supervisor. AP

KERWIN DANLEY says it’s a significant moment in the history of baseball. AP

Young women won’t be told how to behave, but is #girlboss just deportment by another name?

Young women won’t be told how to behave, but is #girlboss just deportment by another name? oppression: beauty standards.

Meeting beauty standards requires significant investments of time and money, which detracts from women’s ability to invest that time and money elsewhere. Beauty standards also reinforce the idea that women’s value is in their status as objects to be looked at.

This darker side of beauty and deportment is undeniably part of Dally-Watkins’s legacy.

Dally-Watkins’s passing this week is a sad event for her family and the many people whose lives she touched, her students not least among them. She sounds like a charismatic teacher, and was undoubtedly a fiercely successful businesswoman.

But alongside reflecting on her career, her legacy can teach us a lot about the rise of girlbosses, made possible by the work of feminist activists who fought for the rights of women to enter the work force and generate their own income, and about the commercialization of selfimprovement. The Conversation

By Emma Maguire

I

James Cook University, Lecturer

n today’s terms, June Dally-Watkins was Australia’s OG (original gangster) #girlboss.

The illegitimate child of a single mother, Dally-Watkins came from humble rural beginnings and found fame as a young model in 1950s Sydney. She turned this fame into a fortune, using her profile to start a chain of finishing and deportment schools for young women and, later, young men.

Dally-Watkins’s schools, which still operate today, taught catwalk strutting, posing for photographs, and makeup application. She taught models how to win beauty pageants and taught men how to court like gentlemen. And she made a lot of money doing it.

Dally-Watkins died earlier this week, and is being remembered as a strict yet charming teacher and a very successful businesswoman. The legacy of DallyWatkins and what she symbolizes as a successful and feminine woman presents an opportunity to think through some of the ways our culture both applauds and maligns women’s success.

Is self-branding the new deportment?

Although today’s young women might be less interested in learning manners and etiquette, many continue to seek advice on presenting a polished, appealing image of themselves.

The YouTube beauty tutorial is one of the largest genres on the platform, and there are influencers who base their self-brand on advising viewers how to appear feminine and classy.

YouTuber Alexandra Beth, 25, offers advice to her 3.44 million subscribers on subjects from “how to dress better” to “dating mistakes every girl makes.”

Lifestyle and personal development workshops can be found everywhere, from the practical, to the vague “Release Your Limitations,” to the terrifyingly titled “Burn Your Fear Intensive.”

The mission behind Dally-Watkins’s schools is as relevant as ever: if you invest in yourself (by paying someone for advice) you can be a happier, more successful person.

Dally-Watkins recognized people overwhelmingly want to believe selfimprovement is a means to improving their circumstances, and her schools sold this promise of social mobility.

June Dally-Watkins was a model before she was an entrepreneur, photographed here in 1949 by Max Dupain. AP

Girlbosses

Girlbossing has been coined to describe a way of presenting a professionally successful persona that highlights femininity.

Dally-Watkins was undoubtedly a girlboss before girlbossing became a term. Self-made, ambitious, and feminine, she enforced rigorous grooming practices, using her own polished, perfect self as marketing for her schools.

The term girlboss was popularized by entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso, whose 2014 book #Girlboss was adapted into a (critically maligned) Netflix series in 2017. The girlboss has since become a powerful, if controversial, cultural icon.

They are lauded for their success in business and entrepreneurship, an arena notorious for its boys club culture that’s been hostile to women in the past.

At once revered and reviled, girlbosses have become fascinating case studies for gender dynamics and professional self-branding in contemporary culture.

The anti-feminist core of girlbossing It’s important to remember that girlbossing isn’t feminism. It’s capitalism.

Girlboss rhetoric often works to propagate sexism, racism, and class elitism, among other forms of oppression.

Recent discussion of the film

2 BusinessMirror

Bombshell, the story of female Fox News presenters who victoriously sued the channel’s former CEO Roger Ailes for workplace sexual harassment, is an illustrative example.

Although the film celebrates these women, critics suggest it is not necessarily smart to blindly celebrate such stories. And this is especially the case when women’s success, like that of Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson, is built on politics or institutions that fuel social ills like misogyny and racism.

Girlboss rhetoric encourages women to “lean in” without addressing underlying disadvantages that make that project difficult. It is an individualized approach that sells women the myth that a will to selfimprovement is all they need to succeed.

It’s important to note the feminist history here. Feminists made the ascension of the girlboss possible through fighting for the rights of women to enter the workplace. But “lean in” logic is a perversion of feminism. It takes the rhetoric of empowerment and deploys it in the service of oppression, suggesting an individual’s success is determined by her efforts alone.

Take Dally-Watkins’s first advertisement slogan for her deportment school in the early 1950s: “Every woman has a right to be beautiful.”

While the invitation appeals to the rights of women, the call to action reinforces a patriarchal mechanism of March 1, 2020

Sound trip BusinessMirror

your Music our business

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay :

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

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

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

Columnists

: Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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

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

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YOUR MUSIC OUR BUSINESS Skarlet

EVERYTHING’S ALL RIGHT THE ECLECTIC PASSIONS OF SKARLET, INDIE MUSICIAN

By Tony M. Maghirang Photos by Nonie Reyes and Bernard Testa

F

RIDAY, 8:00PM. 2nd floor, Akrotiri Greek Restobar, Makati City. Skarlet aka Myra Ruaro set aside her half-eaten dinner, stood up and walked to a performance space to the left of the bar.

Noli Aurillo looking like a brown version of Slash took up a bar stool beside Skarlet and strummed his acoustic guitar in flamenco-ish flourish.

With nary a nod between the duo, Skarlet started humming the opening bars of “Cry Me A River” then moved to a bluesy croon and by the final quarter of the song, she was shifting from jazz diva to

power metal dominatrix. Noli Aurillo kept up with Skarlet’s pace coaxing soft, brash and aggressive sounds from his acoustic instrument as the situation demanded.

In the duo’s two sets for the

evening, they took liberties in their interpretation of standards as well as classic pop and rock songs especially Radiohead’s “Creep” that challenged preconceptions and expectations.

Saxophonist Daryll Ladioray and Tessie Tomas’ husband, Roger Pullin on harmonica provided added jazzy and bluesy colors to a couple of songs.

In the break between sets, I asked Noli how he and Skarlet found chemistry. He replied, “It just happens, Sabi ko kay Skarlet, kumawala ka lang, ako nang bahala.”

“May nag-comment, I bring out the best in whoever I work with. Akin naman, you just have to be yourself.

Let go of all your inhibitions. Tumodo ka. Yun na yun!”

Skarlet added, “For example, yung Continued on page 4

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MARCH 1 , 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUS

TESTING THE WATERS HYDROPHOBIA TO MAKE SPLASH ON PHILIPPINE SHORES

By Rick Olivares

J

APANESE death metal band Hydrophobia is keenly looking to make a splash on Philippine shores this coming March 4 at the 123 Block.

The three-piece unit (Rin on vocals and guitars, Tera on bass and vocals, and Tetsuo-rrow on drums) out of Fukuoka has been grinding bones and taking names since it formed in 1996. They will be opening along with Filipino death metal band Paganfire for American band Nunslaughter.

Hydrophobia hopes to gain traction once more after numerous stop-starts emanating from personal challenges to even those of the natural kind. Rin, the sole original member of Hydrophobia bared the numerous challenges the band has had to face, “It has been 12 years since

Hydrophobia

we released our one and only album, Human Shredder,” said Rin. “We’ve had many challenges. Our bassist quit the band after the (devastating) earthquake of 2011. And for seven years, we played with a revolving door of bassists until we got Tera.”

And there’s the rat race of work. One that is the bane of many underground bands everywhere. “It is no different in Japan,” admitted Rin. “Many bands do not last long (in the local extreme music scene). We have to work to eat as well.”

“Now we have a full line-up, the next plan is to record (our longawaited) new album.”

First things first. Hydrophobia will be hitting Philippine shores after being invited by Alvin Esperanza of Insane Bazooka promotions.

“We really cannot wait to play in Manila to not only open for Nunslaughter but to also meet our Filipino fans,” enthused Rin who expressed happiness that they have a following outside their native Japan.

“We will perform our best.”

Everything’s...

such an affordable place that meets their budget. As it turned out, their very own Avayu is a 600 sq, m. beach front property, typical ‘small’ real estate in the provinces.

She said it’s a far better and livable space than the more expensive yet cramped units in condos that now dot Metro Manila. The Manila girl would rather have her fresh air and room to roam.

Avayu now has six cabins. It’s home to Skarlet and her family where they stay most of the time.

When they are away in Manila or on vacation, it’s an Airbnb-like place available for rent, with her brother taking care of accommodations for local and foreign guests.

In recent months, Skarlet has been raising her indie profile in acclaimed shows with Put3ska and The Urban Bandits. She’s also a producer and

from page 3

mellow na mellow na ‘Cry Me A River,’ pansinin mo, umaarangkada ang version namin. Kasi naman, ang message is about ‘rampaging river of tears.’ We may be jamming, but we also pay attention to the context of the song.”

Performing live, Skarlet appears to be taking the bull by the horn, so to speak, but as a mother and wife, she usually escapes from what she calls the “chaos of urban living” to the peace and quiet of the family’s Avayu beachfront property in Zambales.

The initial idea for her favorite corner of the sky was to have something of value as endowment to her kids. In the search for the ideal legacy, she and her partner would also consider a small property so long as it’s near the sea.

It took them three years to find

Continued on page 6

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | MARCH 1 , 2020

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SIC OUR BUSINESS

BUBBLING UNDER Calle Victoria’s edgy brand of pop music

By Strephanie Joy Ching

S

TARTING something is always one of the biggest challenges people can face. But for the indie band Calle Victoria, the challenge of breaking into the music scene was something they were ready to take on. Calle Victoria is currently performing covers and original material at the Akrotiri Restobar in Makati. At the same time, they are also working on their 12-song debut album.

Although the band was formed in 2009 and had already begun writing their own songs at this time, they had felt that it was not the time to break into the music scene.

“I started having my own family and even though we had the materials and the group, it wasn’t the right time to focus and push on the music,” said David Deano, the lead guitarist.

This led to a layoff period of about 10 years, putting the group in a state of limbo. Eventually, other

Calle Victoria

Calle Victoria

members had to go on with their lives until only Deano and vocalist Vix Medina remained.

“Others either decided to go to a different industry, or are not active anymore,” he said. At the time, it seemed like the band would never resurface. However, one fateful jamming session with their friends later, Calle Victoria was reborn.

Now including Jazon Valencia on guitar, Ramil Servales on bass, Rico Evangelio on the keyboard, and Benedict Esguerra on drums, Calle Victoria was back and ready to make their debut.

“We were very fortunate to have them because they are at the top of their game,” said Deano, “Whatever we laid down, we can easily accomplish.”

During the 10-year layoff period, Medina and Deano were able to pen some songs, including the single “Bawat Sandali”, a guitar heavy rock piece on the little moments in a relationship. Right away, one of the unique features of the band is their sound-a blend of familiar pop chords with rock elements thrown in.

“We’d like to think that we’re on the edge of Top 40, but noisy

enough that it’s not really Top 40,” he said. This results in their songs being radio friendly in terms of their themes of love and heartache. At the same time, the hard, sharp edge is distinct enough to set themselves apart from “true top 40” songs. This is clearly seen in “Bawat Sandali”, where the pop tune and vocals blend seamlessly into a rising rock crescendo, leading to a satisfying finish.

Another thing that sets Calle Victoria apart is their way of giving each instrument its own spotlight.

“It’s much better for the band if there is participation for everyone, not just merely playing,” said Deano.

“In our upcoming 12-song album, every song will be oriented to a different instrument. In that way, any musician can play it.”

Aside from playing at Akrotiri, they also play gigs at different locations in Quezon City and Parañaque. When asked if they adjust their set list according to the crowd, Deano said that while they do some adjustments, they find joy in the challenge of rocking out a place without sacrificing their identity.

“We do adjust our set lists based on the crowd, but within our parameters. We want to prove that no matter what the venue set up is, we can rock it out.” he said.

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YOUR MUSIC OUR BUSINESS

RHYTHM & RHYME

by Kaye Villagomez-Losorata

WHO NEEDS CARPOOL KARAOKE?

I

Kellyoke may be one of the best music gifts c/o the internet

F you’re looking for guilt-free pop music trip, try searching for some Kelly Clarkson covers via Kellyoke, Clarkson’s segment where she covers whatever the hell she wants to open her talk show.

The original American Idol just sampled No Doubt’s 2001 hit “Hella Good” recently and it was, well, hella good! Clarkson cracked a formula here: Her voice can pretty much cover any song and it’s done live with a live audience to boot. And you can view them at the YouTube channel of The Kelly Clarkson Show.

It’s a guilty internet pleasure, devoting time and data to videos by reality singing contestants doing covers. We’ve all been a captive audience of these video uploads.

But not, here’s the mother of reality singing champions, doing song popularized by other artists and

Everything’s...

Kelly Clarkson AP Photo

you just can’t go wrong with that.

The Kelly Clarkson Show is fairly new to the talk show game. But the singer’s generosity when it comes to belting out her fellow artists’ hits hasn’t gone unnoticed. Billboard said of her Kellyoke segment, “Kelly Clarkson has been showering fans with her powerhouse vocals by opening her talk show with a fun Kellyoke segment, in which she covers some of today’s biggest hits as well as classic favorites.”

The music website added, “Since the show launched in September,

the songstress has delivered dozens of renditions of songs from Cher, Christina Aguilera, Jonas Brothers and Lizzo, among others. To each, Clarkson brings her characteristic vocal growl and inevitably gets the audience groovin’ along to the beat.”

Clarkson to tries to balance her choices of old and new hits but we tend gravitate towards the classics.

Her take on Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” will make you want to listen to the song over and over. Don’t mind the tita-ness all over the number. It’s

Clarkson’s coarse but solid vocals and her way of paying tribute to the songs—which was basically singing it the way it was originally done—that made listening to Kellyoke quite an experience that takes you back to a time when you can sing choruses and refrains the first time you hear a song.

This is not the only time Kelly touched a Whitney classic, she also did a tribute spin on “I’m Every Woman” to jumpstart an episode of her talk show.

If her version failed to make you dance, then trust Clarkson to echo your current mood with her take on Heart’s “Alone.” She could have revived this one and sell it as a single all over again.

The moment she comes out with that familiar intro, goosebumps immediately sets in! The fact that she’s doing it sing-along style and surrounded by a happy crowd kind of pulls the impact down a bit but she still owned this singing contest piece.

So go ahead. Update your YouTube playlists. You’re welcome.

The author is a former entertainment reporter and editor before shifting to corporate PR. Follow @kayevillagomez on Instagram and Twitter for more updates.

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host at Boysen Beats, an online music platform that promotes independent OPM. It’s an advocacy financed by the music-loving owners of Boysen Paints.

Purely Filipino independent artists take center at Boysen Beats. Its latest episode featured Bulacan’s Skabeche playing a mix of ska, punk and blues.

A reggae party and Tago jazz night have also been presented in what’s looking like the next alternative hang-out in cyberspace.

A recent post at the Boysen Beats page is calling for support to a fund raiser for the ailing journalist/poet/ screen and songwriter Jose “Pete” Lacaba, happening on March 7, Saturday at Kamuning Bakery in Quezon City. Noel Cabangon, Cookie Chua, Hazel Faith & Skarlet Brown and poets Gemino Abad and Butch Dalisay are some of the musical and literary luminaries who will be taking part in the event.

Skarlet and Noli Aurillo

Online daters looking for more than endless swiping

By Louise Dixon

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The Associated Press

ONDON— While taboos surrounding online dating are long gone, some of today’s app users are sick of the endless swiping and virtual pen-paling that leads nowhere when it comes to long-term relationships, according to industry leaders who are responding with new ways to get users off their phones and out meeting people in the real world.

David Vermeulen is one such leader.

His Inner Circle, launched in 2012, is more closely curating users looking for meaningful connections, and he’s hosting offline events in cities around the globe to help make that happen among his more than 2 million members. He said he saw a big shift in online dating attitudes toward the end of the decade as some people have become “Tinder tired.”

“They really now are looking for something more serious, something more genuine,” Vermeulen said.

Justin McLeod, who launched Hinge in 2011, shares Vermeulen’s view that dating apps should be focused on getting people offline. Hinge’s tagline is the app that’s “designed to be deleted.”

In 2016, Hinge intentionally removed the swipe option to encourage more interaction.

When they were told that people felt overwhelmed by their number of choices, they created a “most compatible” function. That, he said, “really helps people focus and get out on dates faster.”

The Inner Circle plans to add a “Let’s Meet” button to speed up the pathway from app to real-life date.

A page from the dating app Hinge. Justin McLeod, who launched Hinge in 2011, thinks that dating apps should be focused on getting people offline. Hinge’s tagline is “the app that’s designed to be deleted.” Hinge via AP

OkCupid is one of the original dating sites, started by two Harvard math graduates back in 2004. Beginning life as a desktop web site, it developed into an app with the advent of smartphones. OkCupid via AP “If you both click it, you can within the chat select days and venues that we propose and then you can go on a date really quickly. And I mean going out for a coffee. I mean, that’s the

Dating app Inner Circle plans to add a “Let’s Meet” button to speed up the pathway from app to reallife date. Inner Circle via AP first step. But for a lot of people, it’s quite a big step and we tried to make that much more easy,” Vermeulen said.

His app also plans to add an automated

response to anyone who just messages “Hi” as an introduction, which he said is often a deadend to dating.

“We’re gonna say, OK, this is not the best start for a conversation. You have to do better,” Vermeulen said.

It’s not just the newer generation of apps that are adapting to changing dating attitudes.

OkCupid is one of the original dating sites, started by two Harvard math graduates in 2004. Beginning life as a desktop web site, it developed into an app with the advent of smartphones. Today, OkCupid boasts that it sets up 50,000 dates per week.

The site enforces certain restrictions to try and weed out those not interested in getting to that date. The company insists that users post more than one photo and puts them through a list of localized timely questions before a profile can be set up. So if you thought you should avoid talking politics or religion on a first date, it seems the tides are turning. Users can filter based on their views from climate change to Brexit.

“In the US, we may ask you, how do you feel the upcoming election? We may say, could you date someone that didn’t vote?” said OkCupid’s global chief marketing officer, Melissa Hobley.

According to a Pew Research Center study last year, 3 in 10 Americans have used a dating site or app and 12 percent have married or have been in a committed relationship with someone they met through online dating.

Hobley said one of the most exciting developments as digital dating moves into the 2020s is in emerging markets, including India, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, where dating hasn’t always been so easy.

In India, for example, a new generation of women are “going to university, and they’re working, and they’re saying arranged marriage is not for me, and I want the ability to find my own person, and for my marriage to be a choice that I make,” she said.

Hobley has also seen strides in inclusiveness and support throughout LGBTQ communities, creating a safe space to express gender and sexuality preferences and to meet potential partners.

“An estimated 70 to 80 percent of LGBTQ relationships started on a dating app,” she said.

For Hobley, the love doesn’t stop there. She said she gets an average of 5 to 20 wedding e-mails and invites a week.

“I will crash your wedding,” she jokes, “but we also send a gift.”

A fresh take on the classic arcade experience and on whiskey

S

cotch whiskey brand Johnnie Walker launched the Johnnie Walker Highball Arcade, an immersive space designed to push the boundaries when it comes to whiskey. Putting the spotlight on the Johnnie & Lime Highball and the rest of the Johnnie Highball Collection, the Arcade opened its doors for a three-day run in February and culminated in a celebration of International Scotch Day. Setting up shop at the second floor of the new Poblacion haunt Kondwi, the Johnnie Walker Highball Arcade is a new and immersive way to discover and enjoy the big, bold flavors of Johnnie Walker, starting with its signature serve, the Johnnie & Lime Highball.

At the Arcade, guests had the option of enjoying their Johnnie Highball served in flights or prepared on their own at the DIY Highball Bar. They also played at the basketball and skeeball booths in exchange for premium

Johnnie Walker merch.

The whiskey brand also celebrated International Scotch Day in style, partnering once again with the VeryDone crew, a collective of DJs that includes Nix Damn P, Euric Lumanog, Rammy Bitong, and the rest of the VeryDone boys.

“At the heart of Johnnie Walker is the drive to continuously create new and interesting experiences where consumers can appreciate whiskey, and we’ve brought this to life in previous concepts such as the Johnnie Walker House and the Johnnie Weekend Series,” said Fatima Espineda, Diageo marketing manager for Culture and Advocacy.

After the February run, catch the Johnnie Walker Highball Arcade at different festivals and hot spots.

Learn more about it and the Johnnie Walker Highball Arcade on Facebook.com/JohnnieWalkerPH or on Instagram at @johnniewalkerph.

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March 1, 2020

More companies get into business of Black History Month

By Alexandra Olson The Associated Press

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EW YORK— From shoes and t-shirts to dolls and tote bags, more companies and brands are getting into the business of Black History Month, but trying not to leave the impression that AfricanAmerican consumers are important just once a year.

Some businesses have used February to show off the diversity of their year-round product lines or to draw attention to the creative talent of their African-American employees.

Target rolled out a Black History Month assortment that spotlights black-owned brands such as Honey Pot feminine products, Lip Bar cosmetics and Scotch Porter, which specializes in men’s grooming. The collection includes books, music and food that are favorites among Target’s AfricanAmerican employee resource group, which has more than 1,000 members.

The company has been promoting the products through blogs and commentary from its staff.

H&M has a new street wear collection designed in collaboration with Ruth Carter, the Academy Award-winning designer behind the costumes for films including Black Panther, Malcolm X and Amistad. The pants, shirts, totes and hats—featuring the pan-African flag colors of red, black and green—debuted in February, but the collection was not billed as a Black History Month tribute.

“Companies are getting smart about making it integrated into the rest of the year, as opposed to one month when you give money to the NAACP or run an ad, as opposed to treating it as an expense, just one of those things we have to do otherwise we’ll get in trouble,” said Brenda Lee, founding director of the marketing research firm Vision Strategy and Insights, which researches African American, Hispanic and Asian consumers.

Ezinne Kwubiri, H&M’s head of inclusion and diversity for North America, said she notices more companies publicly marking Black History Month, but “the next thing is to challenge them to do more during the year.” The Carter collection, for instance, will be a long-term collaboration, she said.

“Let’s not make this about one month of recognition,” said Kwubiri, who was hired to her position following an uproar two years ago when H&M featured a black child model wearing a “monkey in the jungle” t-shirt on its web site in the UK.

Items from H&M’s new street wear collection are displayed at a store in New York. The collection was designed in collaboration with Ruth Carter, the Academy Awardwinning designer behind the costumes for films such as Black Panther and Malcolm X. It debuted as more companies and brands are getting into the business of Black History Month, but also trying not to leave the impression that African-American consumers are important just once a year. AP

While companies have been marking Black History Month for years, the events are getting bigger, and more brands are joining in, seeking to connect with increasingly diverse generations of consumers.

Target launched its Black History Month assortments five years ago and has since increased the number of products to more than 100, carried in more than 600 stores.

Melanie Gatewood, director of multicultural merchandise, said Target was able to tap into black-owned businesses that it has been working with for years. More than one-third of the products in the assortment this year are from black-owned or founded businesses.

Nike launched a special edition sneaker 15 years ago for Black History month with the pan-African colors. This year, it has an entire collection modeled by young black leaders including artist Shani Crowe and McKinley Nelson, founder of Project sWish, a Chicago foundation dedicated to inner city youths.

Michaels, the arts and crafts retailer,

8 BusinessMirror

has a collection of black heritage products this year, a project that originated with its African-American and black employee resource group. The products include printed vinyl rolls that have proved so popular that Michaels plans to include them in its permanent collection.

“A major part of avoiding missteps is being authentic in anything you do,” said Davette Angelo, a merchandising product manager, adding that he and designer Sharae Averhart “pulled on our experiences and backgrounds to put this collection together.”

Still, there have been mistakes along the way, especially when there is no consensus on what crosses the line into exploitation and trivialization.

Barnes & Noble this month pulled a widely condemned line of classic literature reissued with covers featuring darkskinned versions of characters like Alice in Wonderland. The organizers of “Diverse Editions” relied on artificial intelligence to review more than 100 older books to March 1, 2020

identify which ones to reissue.

“That was a great example of that being all about pushing the books and nothing about promoting the community,” Lee said.

“What about that was grounded in AfricanAmerican history?”

Even companies rooted in the black community can’t always escape criticism.

OneUnited Bank, the country’s largest black-owned bank, released a debit card in mid-February with Harriet Tubman on it as a way to highlight the stalled effort to put the abolitionist icon on the $20 bill. There was an instant backlash from Twitter users who chafed at the image of the former slave on a debit card.

Frederick Knight, an associate professor of history at Morehouse College, said it might have been more meaningful to elevate a lesser-known figure more directly tied to black economic empowerment, pointing to Maggie Lena Walker, who chartered a bank after the Civil War. “There are more appropriate people they could have used this opportunity for, rather than take advantage of an iconic person like Harriet Tubman,” Knight said. But the bank stands by its decision, noting that the card is the ninth in a series with black faces on them, including one launched in partnership with the Black Lives Matter movement. It stems from a rebranding the company undertook in 2015 to put its black identity as the center of its marketing.

OneUnited Bank President Teri Williams said the Tubman card has been its best seller.

Adriana Waterston, senior vice president of insights and strategy for Horowitz Research, said companies are responding to customers that take pride in seeing their heritage represented in powerful brands.

“Especially in today’s racially polarized environment, showing up and supporting one community speaks volumes,” Waterston said. “If you are only showing up once a year, black consumers will easily see through this and consider you disingenuous.”

Philippine Shopping Festival BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Sunday, March 1, 2020 C1

“SHOPPING IS MORE FUN

IN THE PHILIPPINES!”

T

By Leony R. Garcia

HE Philippines is a relatively small country yet it is known to have many shopping malls. To many the mall serves as a social outlet away from the heat of the tropics.

As the country tends to become hot and humid especially during the summer months, Filipinos flock to shopping malls to cool themselves down. A lot of people meet up to do some business and networking or spend their hours chatting to while away their time.

In recent years, shopping malls have become more than just places to shop, eat, and watch movies. Filipinos also flock to them to pay utility bills and deal with government bureaucracy.

Mall operators have also find new ways to attract more visitors by building call center offices and condominiums beside their malls to make it easy for the employees and tenants to pop in and spend. And then we also have the lifestyle and mixed-use communities where the star of such establishments are – you guess it right—the mall.

That’s because everything is provided for within the four corners of the mall—for from market to groceries, from wellness spa to health clinic and sports center, from toys, shoes to apparel, clothes and everything in between.

Practically, everything one needs can be found in the mall nowadays.

Major Philippine mall chains are located around the country, such as SM Supermalls, which has 70 malls around the country.

Another major mall chain is Ayala Malls, which has 14 shopping malls serving nationwide. The Philippines has also other major mall chains such as Robinsons Malls, which has 50 shopping malls, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, Vista Malls, Walter Mart, Gaisano Malls, Ever Gotesco Malls, Isetann and many more.

The retail industry in the Philippines is an important contributor to the national economy as it accounts for approximately 15 percent of the Philippines’ total Gross National Product (GNP) and 33 percent of the entire services sector. It employs some 5.25 million people, representing 18 percent of the Philippines’ workforce.

Retail tourism is one of the industries severely hit by the Covid-19 outbreak as consumers opt to shop online rather than in malls in the last two months. Filipino consumers have lessened their trips to malls and other areas with high foot traffic due to concerns over the spread of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Malls in Metro Manila alone have already recorded a 20 to 30 percent drop in sales as people refrain from going out. This is according to Alegria Limjoco, chaiperson of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Thus it is just timely that the Department of Tourism (DOT) has spearheaded “The 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival” for the month of March. Limjoco said participating in the monthlong shopping festival will allow retailers to recover losses incurred in January and February of this year.

“If we will not do this, people will just stay at home. So we are giving up our margins for them,” said Limjoco, who is also the vice chairperson of the Philippine Franchise Association.

1ST PHL SHOPPING FEST KICKS OFF MARCH 1

THE first ever shopping festival in the Philippines, the

Continue on C4

Philippine Sho

Business

C2 Sunday, March 1, 2020 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE SHOPPER’S GUIDE TO TREAT YOURSELF-WHILE ON A BUDGET

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E often hear the phrase “treat yourself” as a reminder for us to take a step back from our hectic lifestyles and take care of ourselves. For some of us, this would mean taking ourselves out for a meal or buying new clothes or other items. In an era where spending money can be done in just a click of a button, it can be easy to go overboard and spend more than what you actually intended.

Here are some tips and tricks on how you can treat yourself-and save your wallet at the same time.

GETTING our paychecks may make us feel like millionaires, but remember that money runs out. Be smart and set limitations for what you will and will not spend. One of the common ways to do this is the 50-30-20 budgeting rule. Popularized by US senator Elizabeth Warren, this rule states that 50% of your monthly salary should be used for immediate needs, 20% of savings, and 30% for wants. Of course, everyone has different needs, so feel free to alter the proportions to suit your lifestyle better. The most important thing to do is to set limitations for yourself and to always set aside whatever you can just in case of emergencies.

Do your research

NOW that you have a budget in mind, think of what you want to buy. Will you actually use it after a year or two? Do you have space for it? Look at what items you currently have and maybe rediscover items you have long forgotten. If you still want to buy something, do your research. Find the same item at a different store for a lower price or seek more affordable deals online. Be a smart consumer and get as much out of your money as you can.

Use cash as much as you can

IN a 2018 article published by Forbes, various studies have shown that people are more likely to spend more when using their credit cards. This is because you

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Set a budget

do not see the amount you are actually spending until much later, making it easier to overspend.

Use cash as much as you can and only use your credit card when necessary. When you are able to see and feel the amount of money you are spending in your hands, your brain forms a connection to the bills, so you will spend less.

Buy second hand

SCROLLING through social media, you will see various online stores and individual sellers alike

selling everything from clothes, gadgets, even cars. Maybe you know someone who is looking to get rid of some extra items that have been gathering dust in their homes. Whatever the case, buying pre-loved items is not only undeniably cheaper, but also more sustainable as well. In an article from Business Insider, the fashion industry produces 10% of the world’s total carbon emissions. It is also the second largest consumer of water and produces a lot of microplastics.

By buying pre-loved clothes, you can significantly reduce the amount of textile going to landfills and help conserve more water. Not only do you get to pamper yourself for a lower cost, you also do your part in saving the environment.

Make your own

FILIPINOS love to eat, no matter what the occasion. We also love milk tea, being the second largest consumer of the boba treat. Instead of standing

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls take part in The 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival

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EGAWORLD Lifestyle Malls joins the Department of Tourism (DOT) in celebrating The 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival for the whole month of March.

Premier lifestyle malls pioneer Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, which has 17 lifestyle malls in its current portfolio together with a long list of business establishments are participating in this nationwide festival which will be carried out for the first time this year.

“There’s fun in every find” at Megaworld Lifestyle Malls from March 1 - 31, 2020 as shoppers and mall patrons can enjoy hefty discounts, exciting promos and special deals on Philippine-made products including food, jewelry, fashion items, crafts, furniture, décor, and beauty and wellness products from participating

around waiting for your dose of bubbly goodness, why not try to make your own? Making your own milk tea allows you to control the amount of sugar and toppings in your cup, and will save you both time and money. Learn how to cook your favorite meals and bring your loved ones over for a nice home cooked meal instead of a fancy restaurant.

Not only do you save hundreds of pesos and time, you learn a new skill as well.

Annie Ching

establishments in Uptown Bonifacio and McKinley Hill in Taguig, Eastwood City in Quezon City, Newport City in Pasay, Lucky Chinatown in Manila, Southwoods Mall in Laguna, Twin Lakes in Tagaytay, and Festive Walk Iloilo.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls support the government’s objective of introducing the Philippines as a fun, unique, and affordable shopping destination among locals and tourists alike.

“This ambitious project, designed to increase tourism expenditure in the country, would not have been possible without the full support and cooperation of the nation’s mall operators, retailers, franchise holders, hotel and tour operators, and travel agencies,” says DOT Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls hosts world-class shopping and dining attractions, exciting nightlife trends, innovative sights and sounds, state of the art cinemas, and the country’s firstever pet-friendly lifestyle mall.

Take pleasure and delight in the country’s first 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival, only at Megaworld Lifestyle Malls - where shopping, dining, and leisure is always a good time.

For more infwormation and updates on Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, follow @ megaworldlifestylemalls on Facebook and Instagram, or visit www.megaworld-lifetylemalls.com.

opping Festival

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Souvenir-hunting: ‘There’s Fun in Every Find’

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By Leony R. Garcia

Jewellery

ITH the China travel ban and the impending ban of tourists from South Korea as well, the Philippines Department of Tourism faces a dilemma of playing catch for the loss of the country’s two top tourist arrivals. beaches. The tropical weather in the Philippines is not too hot compared to Middle East countries. It’s just the perfect summer weather for every vacationing traveler.

Best known for its natural beauty, from white sandy beaches and rich coral reefs to green mountains, perfectly-shaped volcanoes and brightly-colored Ifugao Rice Terraces, tourists visit the Philippines for all sorts of reasons: sailing and island hopping, the people and culture, volcanoes, scuba diving and snorkeling, Spanish colonial architecture, swimming with whale sharks, natural landscapes, shopping and eating with 7,641 islands to explore.

Souvenirs abound

FOR shoppers and souvenirhunters, if malls and standalone stores are not the place for you to shop, then souvenirs and rare items may suit your fancy and discriminating taste.

The Philippines is a great place to buy indigenous art, woodwork, masks and religious artifacts, mostly at rock-bottom prices. Manila also has mega malls with stores offering much the same designer gear you can find in London or New York and other high-end shopping mecca abroad.

The country’s department-store chains such as Rustan’s, Ayala's, Robinson's and SM are good for clothes and shoes, at slightly lower prices than in the West.

Typical souvenirs include models of jeepneys, woo den salad bowls, cotton linen and small items such as fridge magnets made of cocunut, sea, and fruit shells or indigenous materials. In department stores you can find cutlery sets made from carabao horn and bamboo and costing less than P2000. Woven placemats and coasters are inexpensive and easy to pack to take home. Filipino picture frames are eye-catching and affordable. Made from raw materials such as bamboo and Manila hemp, they are available in most department stores. All towns have markets that sell cheap local goods such as sleeping mats (banig) that make colorful wall hangings, and earthenware water jars or cooking pots that make attractive additions to a kitchen.

For serious souvenir-hunting, you’ll have to rummage around in small antique shops. There aren’t many of these, and they’re often tucked away in low-rent areas. The better shops in big cities are listed in the Guide; elsewhere, ask the hotel staff, browse the internet or ask the locals. Many of the items in these shops are religious artifacts, although you’ll also find furniture, decorative vases, lamps, old paintings, mirrors and brassware.

Some souvenir stores and antique shops will ship goods home for you for an extra charge.

Otherwise you could send bulky items home by regular post.

Note that the trade in coral and seashells as souvenirs in beach areas is decidedly unsound environmentally, as is the manufacture of decorative objects and jewellery from seashells.

Tribal and religious artifacts

NOT all tribal and religious artifacts are genuine, but even the imitations make good gifts.

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Tourists to and from China and its provinces Hong Kong and Macau were banned until the end of March upon recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) while travelers coming from the North Gyeongsang province in South Korea were likewise banned from entering the Philippines starting February 27.

Currently, South Korea has the most number of COVID-19 cases outside China with 1,146, most of which came from Daegu and its nearby areas.

“We signed our tourism agreement with Korea last November, their President (Moon Jae-in) will come in July for a state visit, and they are our number one tourists. Banning all of Korea until March will cost us 9 billion pesos, not including lost revenue from China (with Macau and HK). I suggested maybe we can copy the Singapore strategy of banning only Daegu and Cheongdo. But South Korean government itself has already stopped flights coming from Daegu. Then the Koreans themselves are canceling flights from other cities on their own,” Puyat said in an assembly with Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) recently.

South Korea has been a perennial topnotcher in arrivals.

Last year there were 1.98 million tourists with China not far behind with 1.74 million arrivals, both countries totaling 45 percent of the total international tourists that visited the Philippines.

Presently, the tourism industry is reeling from the effects of Covid-19. Cancellations are hurting airlines, travel agents, tour operators, hotels, and resorts. It is expected that a trickle-down effect will also be felt by related stakeholders like tour guides, transportation providers, souvenir shops, ESL schools, even vendors.

And with many Filipinos cancelling or postponing their overseas travel as well, it is just wise for the government travel agency to promote local tourism.

During "The 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival" this March 2020, foreign and local tourists can avail up to 70 percent discounts on many exciting Philippine-made products, including food and dining, jewelry and fashion, crafts, furniture, and decor, and beauty and wellness products.

With country's official tourism tagline,“It's More Fun in the Philippines,” for sure, massive fun is part of any holiday in the 7,641-island country.

Visit the Philippines so you can come up your own reasons. The millennials should start roaming the Philippines first to experience and love their own country! Avail affordable airfares and cheaper hotel accommodations for the promotion period. Various airlines including Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, Air Asia, Air Carriers Association of the Philippines will be slashing off airfare tickets to accommodate local tourists.

An affordable travel destination, with the current exchange rate of US$1 = 52 Philippine pesos, foreigners love the Philippine weather because it gives them the natural tan they want while they frolic the

THE malls are full of stalls selling cheap jewellery, but you’ll also find silver-plated earrings, replica tribal-style jewellery made with tin or brass, and attractive necklaces made from bone or polished coconut shell. In Mindanao – as well as in some malls in Manila, Cebu City and at souvenir stalls in Boracay – pearl jewellery is a bargain. Most of the pearls are cultivated on pearl farms in Mindanao and Palawan. White pearls are the most common, but you can also find pink and dove grey. They are made into earrings, necklaces and bracelets; simple earrings cost around P450 while a necklace can range from P1000 for a single string up to P10,000 for something more elaborate.

Woven baskets and trays of the kind used by Cordillera tribes are a bargain, starting from only a few hundred pesos. They come in a range of sizes and shapes, including circular trays woven from grass that are still used to sift rice, and baskets worn like a backpack for carrying provisions.

The best are the original tribal baskets, which cost a little more than the reproductions, but have an appealing nut-brown timbre as a result of the many times they have been oiled. You can find them in antique shops around the country and also in markets in Banaue and Sagada.

Some exceptional home accessories and ornaments are produced by tribes in Mindanao, particularly in less touristy areas such as Marawi City and around Lake Sebu. Beautiful brass jars, some of them more than a meter tall, cost around P2000 and up, while exquisite wooden chests inlaid with mother-of-pearl cost around P3000, inlaid serving trays P500.

Rice gods (bulol), carved wooden deities sometimes with nightmarish facial expressions, are available largely in Manila and the Cordilleras. In Manila, they cost anything from a few hundred pesos for a small reproduction to P20,000 for a genuine figurine of modest size; they’re much cheaper if you haggle for them in Banaue or Sagada. At markets in the Cordilleras, look out also for wooden bowls, various wooden wall carvings and fabric wall hangings.

The best place to look for Catholic religious art is in Manila, though antique shops in other towns also have a selection.

Wooden Catholic statues called santos and large wooden crucifixes are common. Cheaper religious souvenirs such as rosaries and icons of saints are sold by street vendors outside many of the more high-profile pilgrimage cathedrals and churches such as Quiapo in Manila and Santo Niño in Cebu.

Textiles for clothing and handicrafts

IN market areas such as Divisoria in Manila, Colon in Cebu and the Palitan barter center in Marawi, Mindanao, you can find colorful raw cloth and finished batik products. Don’t leave Mindanao without investing a couple of hundred pesos in a malong, a versatile tube-like garment of piña (pineapple fiber) that can be used as a skirt, couture, blanket or bedsheet. Ceremonial malong are more ornate and expensive, from P4000 to P10,000. Another native textile is Manila hemp, which comes from the trunk of a particular type of banana tree.

Both piña and Manila hemp are used to make attractive home accessories sold in department stores, such as laundry baskets,

lampshades and vases. The versatile and pliable native grass, sikat, is woven into everything from placemats to rugs.

Department stores everywhere have a good selection of Philippine linen products with delicate embroidery and lace flourishes. Some of these

are handmade in Taal; a good set of pillowcases and bedsheets will cost about P2000 in Taal’s market, half the price in Rustan’s or SM. In beach areas you’ll find a good range of cotton sarongs, cheap (from P200), colorful and versatile – they can be used as tablecloths or throws.

Musical instruments

IN Cebu, and increasingly on the streets of Manila and Davao, you can pick up a locally made handcrafted guitar, bandurria (mandolin) or ukelele. Though the acoustic quality is nothing special, the finish may include mother-ofpearl inlays, and prices are low – a steel-string acoustic guitar will set you back P2000. Mindanao’s markets – such as Aldevinco in Davao – are a good place to rummage for decorative drums and Muslim gongs.

Philippine Shopping Festival

C4 Sunday, March 1, 2020

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

“SHOPPING IS MORE FUN

IN THE PHILIPPINES!” Continue from C1 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival, will run from March 01 to 31, 2020, in Metro Manila, Agusan Del Norte, Antique, Bacolod, Baguio, Bataan, Bicol Region, Bukidnon, Bulacan, Butuan City, Cagayan De Oro, Cagayan Valley, CALABARZON, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Cebu, Davao, Ilocos Norte, Iloilo, Lanao Del Norte, Legazpi City in Albay, Leyte, Misamis Oriental, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Nueva Ecija, Palawan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, South Cotabato (General Santos City), and Zambales (Olongapo City).

The DOT said it aims to position the country as a destination where shopping is fun, unique, and affordable. Based on DOT’s Visitor Sample Survey in 2018 shopping is the most common tourist activity in the country at 38 percent.

“It’s not hard to see that elevating the shopping experience will go a long way to enhance the attractiveness of our tourist destinations all over the Philippines, whether it is our big cities or in our beautiful provinces. We’ve recognized this in the National Tourism Development Plan of 2016-2022, where leisure, entertainment and shopping tourism is one of the 10 products we want to further develop in the next few years,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

Puyat also assured that ‘There’s Fun in Every Find’ for the duration of the shopping fest as the sale features a variety of Philippine-made items/#FunFinds2020 is the official hashtag.

“We invite all tourists to ‘Be Part of the Fun’ by supporting the 2020 Philippine Shopping Sale this March.

Buying local helps support our craftsmen and artisans, as well as their communities; more importantly, it helps preserve our culture, traditions, and Filipino way of life,” she added.

During the shopping fest, foreign and local tourists alike can expect 15 percent up to 70 percent discounts on many exciting Philippinemade products, including food and dining, jewelry and fashion, crafts, furniture, and decor, and beauty and wellness products, enabling shopping an integral part of visitors’ itineraries.

Travelers can also look for affordable airfares and cheaper hotel

accommodations for the promotion period as airlines including Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, Air Asia, Air Carriers Association of the Philippines will be slashing off airfare tickets to spur domestic tourism.

Interested consumers can revel on the shopping sale through participating malls such as Araneta Group, Ayala Land Malls, Inc., Duty Free Philippine Corporation, Filinvest Land Inc., Greenfield Development Corporation, Vista Malls, Megaworld Corporation, Oritgas Land, Power Plant Mall, Robinsons Land Corporation, Rustan Commercial Corporation, Shangri-La Plaza Corporation, SM Supermalls, and Stores Specialists, Inc.

Associations supporting the event are the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association, Philippine Franchise Association, Philippine Owners Association Inc., Philippine Retailers Association, Philippine Tour Operators Association, Philippine Travel Agencies Association, and Tourism Congress of the Philippines.

“This ambitious project, designed to increase tourism expenditure in the country, would not have been possible without the full support and cooperation of the nation’s mall operators, retailers, franchise holders, hotel and tour operators, and travel agencies,” added Puyat.

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte reiterated the government's support in Philippine tourism.

Tourism Secretary Puyat confirmed that the president will be going around the major islands in the country including, but not limited to Boracay, Bohol, and Cebu to show tourists and locals alike that it is safe to travel around the Philippines.

Secretary Puyat also said that the 2020 Philippine Shopping Sale may become a yearly and anticipated feature on the nation’s event calendar.

In 2019, an investment forum affirmed that “Shopping Is More Fun In the Philippines” and attracts more retailers and tourists.

The Philippines, which broke tourist arrival records with 8.26 million in 2019, has moved to spur more domestic tourism.

Three of the Philippine Shopping Festival venues, Baguio, Iloilo, and Negros, were awarded the ASEAN Clean Tourist City badge in 2020.