BusinessMirror March 13, 2022

ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS

2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion

EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS

A broader look at today’s business

‘Superstar of sabong’ www.businessmirror.com.ph

n

Sunday, March 13, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 156

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Online cockfighting wagers rake in billions in Philippines

CHARLIE “ATONG” ANG VEEJAY VILLAFRANCA/BLOOMBERG

T

By Cecilia Yap & Clarissa Batino | Bloomberg

HE roosters stood inches apart, hook-shaped blades strapped to their legs. Cameras surrounded a dirt ring, streaming the fight to thousands of online gamblers huddled over cell phones across the Philippines.

A referee shadowed the animals as they tore out feathers, pounded air and nipped at vulnerable parts of the neck. Less than a minute later, the match was over and a winner declared. The victor squawked over the body of the defeated.

Cockfighting, in which two roosters spar to the death, has become an online craze in the Philippines. Once a declining bloodsport, the centuries-old game is now a major industry across this Southeast Asian nation, pulling in millions of dollars in bets a day and attracting a new generation of gamblers.

Its resurgence in the Philippines, the only country in the world that accepts online bets for game fowl, has shaken traditional players on the casino floor. Matches are drawing in more monthly revenue than the local ventures of gambling behemoths Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. and Genting Hong Kong Ltd. Investors are taking notes, with countries from Mexico to Papua New Guinea mulling forays into online betting,

according to people in the industry.

A taboo in much of the West, cockfighting holds no such stigma in the Philippines, where fights can attract crowds on par with US baseball games or British rugby matches. Cashing in on a surge in popularity, Resorts World Manila, which is owned by tycoon Andrew Tan, opened a betting station in its casino. Two other resort developers are expected to do the same.

At the center of the phenomenon is Charlie “Atong” Ang, a freewheeling fitness buff and the brains behind Pitmasters Live, the top-shelf brand of online cockfighting. His group streams matches round-the-clock, averaging around 350 a day and partnering with breeders across the country. Digital payment platforms and hundreds of agents facilitate access to the Pitmasters webcast, take wagers and disburse winnings.

With minimum bets set at less than $2, online cockfighting is affordable and instantaneous, a sellable diversion for the country’s video

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.1550

A COCKFIGHTING enthusiast collects his winnings. VEEJAY VILLAFRANCA/BLOOMBERG

game generation. But the industry’s rapid rise is also the story of ruined lives and addiction, of a tug-of-war with regulators and backlash from international animal-rights groups.

A senior church official from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines called online cockfighting “one of the most disastrous things ever allowed by the government.” Lawmakers are investigating the disappearance of more than two dozen gamblers, prompting some to propose suspending the sport until

cases are solved.

Ang waved off criticism. In the rough-and-tumble world of cockfighting, he said, bets should only be placed with “your laughing money.”

“Anything that’s more than what we need is addiction—be it food or money,” he said. “Let’s not be hypocrites.”

The ‘NBA’ of cockfighting

COCKFIGHTING has an expansive history in the Philippines, predating the exploits of Ferdinand Ma-

gellan, the Portuguese explorer who landed on the shores of this island nation more than five hundred years ago.

Though illegal in most of the world, sabong, as the game is known locally, has a devoted following in the Philippines. Every year, scores of people gather to watch the World Slasher Cup, a multi-day series of matches held in a coliseum in Metro Manila. The event has all the corporate trappings of a modern sports tournament, complete

with giant inflatable roosters and a soundtrack that tends to favor “Eye of the Tiger.”

In recent years, the game has waned in popularity. Government rules limit fights with in-person spectators to Sundays and holidays. Cockpits raised entry costs for bettors.

When Covid lockdowns shuttered businesses, the country’s most ambitious gaming operators, who had already started streaming matches, sensed an opportunity: Why not digitize many more of them?

“Online cockfighting wouldn’t be this big were it not for the pandemic and the game’s accessibility through mobile phones,” said Claire Alviar, an analyst at Philstocks Financial Inc. in the Philippines.

The sport’s spike in popularity is really the rise of Pitmasters, which has a near-monopoly on the business model. According to data from Ang, the group generates more than P700 billion ($13.4 billion) annually in wagers. That figure is more than double the estimated gross gaming revenue of the country’s casinos in 2019, based on figures provided by the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp.

“We are the superstar of sabong. We are the NBA of this sport,” he said, likening his brand to the US National Basketball Association.

The purported profits are staggering.

The platform collects an average of P2 billion to P3 billion each Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4491 n UK 68.2605 n HK 6.6673 n CHINA 8.2500 n SINGAPORE 38.3775 n AUSTRALIA 38.3704 n EU 57.3027 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9028

Source: BSP (March 11, 2022)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, March 13, 2022

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Russia built an economy like a fortress but the pain is real

W

By The Associated Press

ESTERN sanctions are dealing a severe blow to Russia’s economy. The ruble is plunging, foreign businesses are fleeing and sharply higher prices are in the offing. Familiar products may disappear from stores, and middle-class achievements like foreign vacations are in doubt.

Beyond the short-term pain, Russia’s economy will likely see a deepening of the stagnation that started to set in long before the invasion of Ukraine.

‘Geared for conflict’

BUT a total collapse is unlikely, several economists say. Despite the punishing financial sanctions, Russia has built “an economy that’s geared for conflict,” said Richard Connolly, an expert on the Russian economy at the Royal United Services Institute in Britain.

The Russian government’s extensive involvement in the economy and the money it is still making from oil and gas exports—even with bans from the US and Britain—will help soften the blow for many workers, pensioners and government employees in a country that has endured three serious financial crises in the past three decades.

And as economists point out, Iran, a much smaller and less diversified economy, has endured sanctions misery for years over its

nuclear program without a complete breakdown.

Still, the Russian currency has fallen spectacularly, which will drive up prices for imported goods when inflation was already running hot at 9 percent. It took 80 rubles to get one US dollar on February 23, the day before the invasion. By Thursday, it was 119—even after Russia’s central bank took drastic measures to stop the plunge, including doubling interest rates to 20 percent.

Marina Albee, owner of the Cafe Botanika vegetarian restaurant in St. Petersburg’s historic city center, has already heard from her fruit and vegetable supplier that prices will be going up 10 percent to 50 percent. Other suppliers can’t say how much. The cafe imports dried seaweed and smoked tofu from Japan, mini asparagus from Chile, broccoli from Benin, basmati rice and coconut oil from India.

“We’re waiting for the tsunami to hit—the tsunami being the price increases for everything we purchase,” Albee said. “We need to

WOMEN look at a screen displaying exchange rate at a currency exchange office in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. AP

keep our eye on the situation and, if we need to, take those dishes out of the menu.”

“We can reengineer our menu to make more Russian-based dishes,” she said. “You have to be quick on your feet.” After surviving two years without tourists because of the Covid-19 pandemic, “it takes a lot to faze us,” Albee added.

Low debt

ALTHOUGH sanctions have frozen a large portion of Russia’s foreign currency reserves, state finances are in good shape with low debt. When the

government does need to borrow, its creditors are mostly domestic banks, not foreign investors who could abandon it in a crisis.

The government announced support this week for large companies deemed crucial to the economy.

Estimates of the short-term impact on Russia’s economic growth vary widely because more sanctions could come and the fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s war are uncertain.

“Russians will be a lot poorer— they won’t have cash to holiday in Turkey or send their kids to school in the West—and even then, because of Putin, they will not be welcome,” said Tim Ash, senior emerging market sovereign analyst at BlueBay Asset Management.

He sees economic growth dropping 10 percent, while other economists see a drop of as little as 2 percent or something in between.

Long-term prospects for a growing economy are not good— for enduring reasons that predate the war: A few favored insiders control major companies and sectors, resulting in a lack of compe-

tition and new investment. Russia has failed to diversify away from its dominant oil and gas sector. Per capita income in 2020 was roughly what it was in 2014.

Foreign investment built up over the 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the jobs it brought are heading for the door.

Big corporations like Volkswagen, Ikea and Apple have idled plants or halted sales, while energy giants BP, Exxon and Shell have said they will stop buying Russian oil and gas or exit partnerships there.

On Wednesday, ratings agency Fitch cut its credit rating for the country further into junk status and warned of an imminent default on sovereign debt.

The central bank has stepped in to bolster the ruble and the banking system, restrict withdrawals in foreign currency and keep the stock market closed for nearly two weeks.

‘Kalashnikov economy’

THE government also has announced measures to restrict foreign investors from fleeing. While

such restrictions shore up the financial system against utter collapse, they also close off the economy to trade and investment that could fuel growth.

Since facing sanctions over its 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, the Kremlin has anticipated such measures would be the West’s primary weapon in any conflict. In response, it has devised what Connolly, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and author of a book on Russia’s response to sanctions, calls “the Kalashnikov economy,” a reference to the Russian military rifle.

It’s “a durable, in some ways primitive, system,” he said, based on low debt, government control of most of the banking system and a central bank able to intervene and prop up the currency and banks.

While trade will fall and fewer goods will be available, the weaker ruble means the Russian government will earn more of its currency for the oil it sells because oil is priced in dollars. With recently higher prices, Connolly estimates Russia is getting 2.7 times the amount of rubles from oil compared with 2019, money that can cover salaries and pensions.

While US and British officials said they will ban the relatively small amount of oil they import from Russia, Europe, which is much more dependent on Russian energy, has held back.

As it stands, “there’s a lot of holes in this, and the Russians will exploit this and develop a way of carrying on,” Connolly said.

“I’m not saying they’re going to have a wonderful time. I’m saying they have the resources to deal with these problems,” he said.

The long-term impact for Putin’s government in domestic politics is hard to predict. Simon Commander, managing partner at Altura Partners advisory firm and a former World Bank official, says “buoyant popularity for the regime fueled by increased prosperity... seems unattainable.”

“That may not translate into open dissension, let alone revolt, but it will hardly bolster support for the autocrat,” he said.

‘SUPERSTAR OF SABONG’ Continued from A1

day, according to Ang. Of that amount, 95 percent goes to bettors as winnings and the remaining 5 percent to Pitmasters and its agents as commission. Another P135 million is paid as a monthly tax to the state-run gaming regulator Pagcor, which has used funds to fight the pandemic.

Ang, 63, said his group’s revenue each month is P1.5 billion, a huge sum considering Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which operates one of the country’s biggest casinos, pulled in profits of about P10 billion in 2019.

Agents who joined Pitmasters early stumbled into a modern-day gold rush.

Within weeks of starting his job in August 2020, one said he was earning at least P3 million a month, or nearly $60,000—more than enough to buy a new car and house. After technology giant Globe Telecom Inc. started facilitating bets and linking games to its platform, cutting out the need for middlemen, his pay fell to a more modest $2,300.

“It was easy to sell online sabong,” said the agent, who uses the alias Edwin Cruz. “The pandemic provided great timing because many Filipinos are gamblers and they were stuck at home getting bored.”

The Ringleader

ANG has spent practically his entire life in the business. As a teenager, he frequented cockpits and casinos. During the reign of former president Joseph Estrada, he worked as a consultant for the government’s gaming regulator.

His reputation is checkered.

In 2001, Estrada was ousted from office after evidence surfaced that Ang had helped him divert P130 million in tobacco taxes. With pressure building, Ang fled to the US, where he was caught gambling in Las Vegas and placed under house arrest. In 2006, he was extradited to the Philippines and later pleaded guilty to a corruption charge.

After serving time in jail, Ang sought to reinvent himself.

In 2019, he drafted his business plan, drawing inspiration from off-track betting for racehorses and the success of online casinos.

He studied laws governing cockfighting and convinced the city of Manila to allow him to set up offsite betting stations.

When the pandemic shut down the world, Ang pounced. He started streaming matches with the blessing of the government.

Globe Telecom’s GCash and later PLDT Inc.’s Paymaya joined to process payments. Last September, the House of Representatives approved a 25-year franchise application for Pitmasters. Its fate now rests with the Senate.

“There’s a lot of room for expansion,” Ang said, estimating that his 900 betting stations cover only 20 percent of the Philippine archipelago.

Debts, deaths and disappearances

STILL, the sudden success of online cockfighting has engendered scrutiny and lurid tales of bets gone awry.

In the coastal town of Hagonoy, a man stabbed to death his 87-year-old neighbor after he refused to lend him money. At a press conference, Senator Panfilo Lacson recounted the story

of a gambler who killed himself after accumulating debt totaling P600,000.

In response to the disappearance of a few dozen people last seen at cockfighting arenas, the Senate recently summoned Ang for questioning. In January, at a Pitmasters cockpit in Manila, a grenade was found. “We have nothing to do with these incidents,” Ang said.

As investigators probe further, the industry’s future is unclear. Ahead of presidential elections in May, Leni Robredo, one of the leading candidates, said she’s generally not in favor of gambling. The frontrunner, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has yet to publicly comment on the issue.

Then there are the animalrights advocates who find the sport unconscionable. To amp roosters for a fight, breeders sometimes slip cayenne pepper into their anuses.

Jason Baker, a senior vice president at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, lamented the rise of e-sabong.

“Moving this cruel and unethical practice online is a desperate move by a dying industry,” he wrote in an email. “Birds are mutilated, injected with steroids, and forced to fight until their unnecessary death.”

To this, Ang scoffed. His company has given more than P800 million to charity. Not only is the sport honorable, he said, but it is here to stay.

“Among the games you can bet on, cockfighting’s 50-50 odds of winning is the best there is,” Ang said. “They say gambling is bad, but why are casinos, liquor and cigarettes legal? It’s because they’re paying taxes.”

The World

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

BusinessMirror

Sunday, March 13, 2022

A3

War exposes Europe’s failure to cut reliance on Russian gas

O

n a freezing winter morning, Europe woke up to a shock.

Russia had cut off gas to Ukraine. Companies started reporting drops in supplies via the transit country. Calls to reduce energy dependence on Moscow resonated across the continent.

That was in January 2006. Sixteen years on, through another supply crisis and then Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the European Union is much in the same place: plotting ways to cut reliance on its single biggest gas supplier and bracing for a stoppage of flows as Russia wages war on Ukraine.

The awkward reality for Western Europe is that however much the writing was put on the wall, energy policy came from a different script. Europe’s ambition is to lead the global fight against climate change by shifting away from fossil fuels, but it’s so far failed to translate into a weaker role for gas in the economy. And that also means Russia.

Dwindling domestic gas production means that the EU is more dependent on foreign suppliers than ever. Russia’s export company Gazprom PJSC provides at least 40 percent of imports into the bloc. The figure was more than 60 percent for Germany, Europe’s largest economy, in 2020.

At the same time, the growing political leverage that Russia built with Nord Stream, an undersea pipeline linking Russia with Germany and bypassing Ukraine, rang alarm bells in former communist members of the EU. Then Berlin’s policy of economic rapprochement with the Kremlin paved the way for an expansion of the gas project—Nord Stream 2—which was halted by Germany only after the

invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on February 24.

“Despite the warning signs, appeasement of Russia has failed to prevent a war in Europe,” said Manfred Weber, German chairman of the European People’s Party, the biggest political group in the European Parliament. “Europe was too naive, too much focused on economic cooperation.”

EU E ne r g y C om m i s s ione r Kadri Simson said in an interview on March 3 that the situation right now isn’t comparable with the disruption 16 years ago because the EU is better prepared and has closer cooperation. She acknowledged that Russian companies “still have extraordinary market share in our natural gas market.”

From Simson’s predecessor at the time to Austria’s economy minister, though, the political messages back in January 2006 were clear: Europe must diversify its energy sources. And the scale of the challenge was already visible several months later.

That October, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Dresden for his fifth meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the year. He laid out his vision for Germany: Nord Stream would transform the country from just a consumer into Europe’s largest gas hub.

Countries like Poland, which joined the EU in 2004 along with

New offices for the hybrid era?

Many companies are on board

By Josh Funk

O

AP Business Writer

MAHA, Neb.—If you build a shiny new office building, will your employees show up to work in it?

Many US companies are banking on it because they believe working in person is better for collaboration and training young employees. So even though most employees are still working from home offices and dining room tables today, some companies are willing to spend big on showplace headquarters.

Businesses recognize there is a place for offices despite the fact that they plan to give workers more flexibility to work from home and might see cost savings from limiting their real estate holdings.

In a sign of how committed companies are to keeping offices, some 57 percent of the more than 2,300 office projects that giant architecture firm Gensler is now working on were started last year, in the middle of the pandemic. But as they’re building, companies are tweaking designs to reflect that offices may become spots that workers visit primarily to collaborate with others, instead of places where they toil all day, every day.

Jordan Goldstein, the co-firm managing principal at Gensler, said companies are placing a premium on having more meeting rooms with the technology to accommodate remote and in-person

participants, as well as more flexible space for people to choose where they work within the office.

Mutual of Omaha plans to build a glassy new headquarters in its namesake Nebraska City that could wind up as Omaha’s tallest building.

But the insurance company says the plans for its new building reflect its commitment to flexible work. The company has 4,000 employees in the Omaha metro area but is planning a building that can only accommodate between 2,200 and 2,500 people on any given day, Mutual spokesman Jim Nolan said.

“The only way that works is by embracing remote and hybrid work,” he said.

The number of people working remotely is clearly growing because so many companies learned they could do it during the pandemic. The Society for Human Resource Management estimates the number of totally remote US workers will double to roughly 36 million people by 2025. But the CEO of that trade group, Johnny C. Taylor Jr., said that will still only account for a little over 20 percent of the workforce. The other nearly 80 percent will work in an office at least part of the time.

Another survey done last year

by CBRE Group, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, showed that 87 percent of large companies planned to use a hybrid schedule

The Russian pipe-laying ship Akademik Tscherski which is on deployment for the further construction of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, is moored at the port of Mukran on the island of Ruegen, Germany, on September 8, 2020. The gas is still flowing from Russian even as bullets and missiles fly in Ukraine. But the war is raising huge questions about the energy ties between Europe and Russia. The conflict is helping keep oil and gas prices high due to fears of a possible reduction in supplies, and consumers will continue to face financial stress from that. Jens Buettner/dpa via AP

other former Eastern Bloc nations, were already warning over Russia using gas as a political weapon.

Radoslaw Sikorski, then Poland’s defense minister, compared Nord Stream—which circumvented Polish territory—with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that carved up Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union before World War II. The leaders of France, Germany and Italy downplayed the concerns.

Then, before the controversial pipeline under the Baltic Sea started operations, supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine were halted again at the start of 2009 amid another pricing dispute between the two neighbors now at war.

Exports to several EU member states were first drastically cut in freezing temperatures and then stopped, further undermining the reputation of Ukraine as a transit country for about 80 percent of the after the pandemic, with workers in the office part of the time.

And separate worker surveys that SHRM and Gensler conducted last fall both showed that more than half of workers wanted to be back in the office at least one day a week.

But so far businesses have been slow to bring employees back. An average of 36.8 percent of the workforce was back in offices during the fourth week of February in 10 major US cities monitored by Kastle Systems, which tracks building access-card swipes. That number has been creeping up since early January when it fell as low as 23 percent during the omicron surge.

Mutual of Omaha CEO James Blackledge said bringing people together in an office at least periodically will boost productivity and creativity, and having a gleaming new $433 million office should help the company attract new talent. Plus, the new headquarters will likely be smaller overall than Mutual’s current headquarters complex, but the exact size will be determined later in the design process.

Elsewhere, two high profile projects already underway are Walmart’s new headquarters being built in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the new New York City home for bank JP Morgan Chase.

Walmart said it was overdue for a new headquarters regardless of the pandemic because it is currently spending tens of millions of dollars every year to maintain an outdated patchwork of more than 20 offices in northwest Arkansas for its administrative and support staff.

Russian gas at that time.

The joint venture between German companies BASF AG and EON SE with Gazprom saw the first gas pumped into their new pipeline in 2011. The same year studies began on the option to add Nord Stream 2. Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster was set to strengthen the role of Russia as the strategic supplier.

The reaction in Eastern Europe was an even greater resolve to diversify supplies. Poland, which relied on Gazprom for some 70 percent of its gas imports, started the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal, eyeing deliveries from countries such as Qatar and the US. Polish imports from Russia are now at around 60 percent and the share of LNG is close to 25 percent. Poland’s long-term gas

contract with Russia expires at the end of this year and the government in Warsaw doesn’t plan to extend it.

“This underscored the difference in perception between Western and Eastern Europe on the role and intentions of Russia as a main gas supplier,” said Jerzy Buzek, a member of the European Parliament and a former Polish prime minister. “The invasion of Ukraine was then an eye-opening moment for many in the West, while the East has already gained more independence before, also thanks to EU financial and regulatory support.”

The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 further deepened the energy fault line along OderNeisse, the post-World War II boundary first proposed by the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference in 1945 and which still forms the present-day border between

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, left, and Mutual of Omaha CEO James Blackledge announce plans for a new Mutual of Omaha headquarters skyscraper on the site of the current downtown library on January 26. Many companies are recommitting to office space and moving forward with major projects because they believe working in person is better for collaboration and training younger employees. The plans also include building a three-mile streetcar system that would run from the riverfront to Nebraska Medicine. Anna Reed/Omaha World-Herald via AP

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said that the rise of work-fromhome might mean the company only needs 60 desks for every 100 employees because they will be shared. But he remains committed to a new headquarters for 12,000 to 14,000 of the bank’s employees because many tasks will still need to be done in person.

Delu xe, the company once known primarily for printing checks that now processes nearly $3 trillion in payments a year, invested $12.2 million during the pandemic in a new 94,000-squarefoot Minneapolis headquarters that opened last fall. When they return on a more regular basis later this month, employees will be expected to be there more often than they work from home.

But the new headquarters is less than one-third the size of

Deluxe’s old one. The company cut its overall real estate footprint in half nationwide to better reflect its current needs with more people working remotely.

Deluxe CEO Barry McCarthy acknowledges that parts of each of his employee’s jobs can be done remotely, but coming together and being able to work as a team is a bigger element.

“There are very, very few jobs that are just individual contributor jobs with little or no interaction required from others,” he said.

McCarthy, like many CEOs, says he believes office work is better for training and mentoring younger employees because they can watch and interact with their coworkers better and get more immediate feedback on their work.

The roughly 100 headquarter workers at shoe and apparel com-

Poland and Germany.

The European Commission was designing plans to diversify supplies, but the challenge was that energy policy remains largely in the hands of member states. They have the sovereign right to decide about their choice of energy sources and pursue varying interests.

To wean off Russian gas, the EU was betting on a build-up of renewables and greater energy savings. While the share of sources such as solar and wind started to increase, their intermittent nature amid limited storage options meant backup was needed.

“Hindsight is a great thing, but we should have all taken climate, renewable energy policies and energy efficiency much, much more seriously than we did,” said Peter Vis, senior adviser at Rud Pedersen Public Affairs in Brussels and a former top official at the EU Commission.

What the EU executive managed to agree was stricter oversight of gas contracts with Russia and rules that boosted the security of gas supply in the region in the case of a crisis. The introduction of reverse flows means Russian gas may now flow from the west to the east of the bloc and beyond its borders, to Ukraine.

T he R u s s i a n i nv a s ion of Ukraine, meanwhile, couldn’t come at a more sensitive moment in the EU energy debate. The bloc is looking at how to implement its goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 as energy prices soar and the closure of German nuclear plants adds to concerns about energy security.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said reducing dependency on Russia won’t happen overnight, though the war in Ukraine has heightened the resolve. “We’ve gotten ourselves into quite a corner there,” he told Deutschlandfunk radio on March 2. “But now we want to get out of it.” Bloomberg News pany Merrell moved into a new office in Rockford, Michigan, in January. The project was in the works before the pandemic began, but CEO Chris Hufnagel said the company reworked the plan after it became clear that many employees would still work from home, at least part of the time.

Hufnagel said he believes the office will be the “epicenter” for the company’s work.

“I think everyone realizes that there are parts of our jobs that we do better when we are together,” Hufnagel said.

And then there are companies that plan to largely do away with their offices in favor of remote work. But even those firms may keep a small office presence.

Intradiem CEO Matt McConnell said the software company had its most profitable year ever in 2021 and didn’t miss a beat while its 150 employees and 75 contractors were all working remotely. After checking with employees, the company shifted to a remote-first plan and will let its current headquarters lease expire at the end of 2022.

“It’s just this big, empty space that no one is using. It doesn’t make any sense to maintain that,” McConnell said.

But Intradiem, which is based in Alpharetta, Georgia, will likely still maintain a smaller headquarters with space for its IT workers to put together equipment to send out to home-based workers, and the company will encourage teams to occasionally get together in person. They may also rent some space at shared offices run

by WeWork for employees across the country to use.

A4

The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, March 13, 2022

US spies see grim global outlook with Russia and China top foes

C

By Chris Strohm & Tony Capaccio

hina is developing one of the greatest nuclear weapons forces in history while Russia will exploit every opportunity to undermine the US and its allies, according to the annual threat assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In a stark, declassified 31-page document, the report released late Monday by the House Intelligence Committee says Iran will continue to threaten American interests as it seeks to erode US influence in the Middle East. At the same time, North Korea is committed to expanding its nuclear arsenal and ballistic missile development, according to the assessment.

“In the coming year, the United States and its allies will face an increasingly complex and interconnected global security environment marked by the growing specter of great power competition and conflict, while collective, transnational threats to all nations and actors compete for our attention and finite resources,” according to the document.

The nation’s top intelligence chiefs will present—and expand upon—the assessment when they testify before the House committee on Tuesday. Speakers will include Avril Haines, director of national intelligence; CIA chief William Burns; General Paul Nakasone, head of the National Security Agency; and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The annual assessment represents a consensus among the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies of major threats confronting the US, and is used by lawmakers and policy makers as a baseline to make critical decisions, advance legislation and craft budgets.

The assessment is dated, however, as it was written before Russia invaded Ukraine last month and was based on information available as of January 21. Lawmakers are certain to press the intelligence chiefs for the most current assessments and implications of Russia’s invasion during

Tuesday’s hearing.

Still, the assessment warns that Russia is determined to “ dominate Ukraine and other countr ies” in the near ter m, while not wanting a direct conf lict with American forces.

“We assess that Moscow will continue to employ an array of tools to advance its own interests or undermine the interests of the United States and its allies,” according to the assessment. “We expect Moscow to insert itself into crises when Russia’s interests are at stake, the anticipated costs of action are low, or it sees an opportunity to capitalize on a power vacuum.”

The intelligence agencies assess that the Wagner Group and other private security companies managed by Russians close to the Kremlin “extend Moscow’s military reach at low cost in areas ranging from Syria to the Central African Republic and Mali, allowing Russia to disavow its involvement and distance itself from battlefield casualties.”

The Chinese Communist Party, on the other hand, “will work to press Taiwan on unification, undercut US inf luence, drive wedges bet ween Washing ton and its partners, and foster some norms that favor its authoritarian system,” according to the document.

China’s ‘nuclear expansion’

China “will continue the largest ever nuclear force expansion and arsenal diversification in its history,” as Beijing isn’t “interested in agreements that restrict its plans and will not agree to negotiations that lock in US or Russian advantages,” according to US intelligence.

A military exercise simulating an invasion by China, organized by Taiwan’s Army Infantry Training Command, in Kaohsiung, in January 2022. Bloomberg photo

China’s efforts to control Taiwan—a self-governing island which Beijing claims as its territory—will probably ensure more disruptions to the global supply chains for semiconductor chips.

“China will remain the top threat to US technological competitiveness as Beijing targets key sectors and proprietary commercial and military technology from US and allied companies and institutions,” according to the document. And China “almost certainly is capable of launching cyber attacks that would disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States, including against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems.”

The statement disclosed that when it was launched by China last year, a hypersonic weapon designed to evade US defenses “flew completely around the world and impacted inside China.” The US originally labeled all details of the test highly classified.

Other issues highlighted in the report include: n While Iran is not currently undertaking key nuclear weaponsdevelopment activities that would be necessary to produce a nuclear device, if Tehran doesn’t receive sanctions relief, officials probably will consider further enriching uranium up to 90 percent. Negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran are believed to be in their final stages at talks in Vienna. n North Korea remains strongly committed to expanding its nuclear weapons arsenal and continuing ballistic missile research

and development. “North Korea’s continued development of ICBMs, IRBMs, and SLBMs demonstrates its intention to bolster its nuclear delivery capability,” according to the assessment. n The North Korean regime “is continuing to prioritize efforts to build an increasingly capable missile force designed to evade US and regional missile defenses.” n North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un “probably will continue to order missile tests,” including of shortrange ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and hypersonic glide vehicles “to validate technical objectives, reinforce deterrence, and normalize Pyongyang’s missile testing.” n North Korea’s “cyber program poses a sophisticated and agile espionage, cybercrime, and attack threat” and “is well positioned to conduct surprise cyber attacks given its stealth and history of bold action.” n North Korea also “probably possesses the expertise to cause temporary, limited disruptions of some critical infrastructure networks and disrupt business networks in the United States.”

The terrorist groups Islamic State and al-Qaeda “will take advantage of weak governance” in Afghanistan “to continue to plot terrorist attacks against US persons and interests, including to varying degrees in the United States, and exacerbate instability in regions such as Africa and the Middle East” the assessment states. Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Hypersonic-missile test failures imperil US chase of China, Russia

By Tony Capaccio

U

NITED STATES efforts to catch up with China and Russia in developing hypersonic weapons may be set back after Lockheed Martin Corp.’s air-launched missile suffered three consecutive test failures that left it on a tight schedule.

That’s put in doubt the Pentagon’s goal to declare it America’s first combat-ready hypersonic weapon and approve initial production by September 30.

China and Russia have conducted test launches and fielded their versions of the new weapons, which can travel five times the speed of sound and maneuver in flight like a cruise missile, making them harder to detect and shoot down.

The US weapon faces several hurdles in a development phase now expected to cost at least $1.4 billion before it can be found to have “early operation capability.” The Air Force hasn’t yet released an estimate of total acquisition costs or said how many of the weapons it wants.

The latest hurdle: successfully conducting a fourth and fifth test of its booster motor

by June 30. Their timing will be contingent on the results of a failure review board for the third test that was to be complete by the end of last month, according to the Air Force program office.

If successful, those tests would be followed by the program’s key flight test of a fully operational missile between July and September. Added to that is completion of a production readiness review to assess Lockheed’s capability to manufacture and integrate hardware for delivery.

The hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon is a fast-track “rapid prototype” program that’s intended to cut months, if not years, off its development and deployment in the face of rapid progress by adversaries. The weapon is intended to be dropped from a B-52H bomber and accelerated by its booster motor before a solid glide body separates and flies at hypersonic speeds to its target.

Russia said last month that it test-fired a hypersonic missile, sending a message to the US and NATO allies in advance of its invasion of Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has asserted that hypersonic weapons will make up the core of Russia’s nonnuclear deterrence capability in the future. The US says Russia has deployed its Avangard Hypersonic Glide Vehicle and its Tsirkon hypersonic anti-ship and land-attack missile.

China is investing heavily in hypersonic weapons as well, putting one in orbit in July that flew 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) in more than 100 minutes of flight, according to the top US nuclear commander.

Russia and China are able to press ahead on new weapons without the oversight by lawmakers and the public that can slow testing and deployment under the Pentagon’s acquisition system.

‘Aggressive schedule’

Heidi Shyu, the Defense Department’s undersecretary for research and engineering, said through a spokesperson that she’s “supportive of the Air Force’s aggressive efforts to accelerate development,” but “the September 30 operational capability date is a very aggressive schedule.”

The Air Force is also hedging its bets on the declaration date. Its program office said in a statement it “continues to aggressively pursue” an early operational capability “while maintaining high standards of technical rigor.” In spite of the test failures to date, “it is still possible to provide” that capability “in late calendar year 2022 provided future flight testing concludes as per the current plan.” The flight test program “has successfully demonstrated a number of first-time events,” it said.

A production decision on the first 12 missiles that was previously planned for January is on hold pending the results of the December failure review, the two additional booster motor tests and the full-missile flight. The program office said it “will not award a production contract without a Production Readiness Review and a successful All Up Round Test Flight.”

“To date, the team has not found any systemic quality issues at Lockheed or its subcontractors” that caused the test failures, the program office said.

Limited exercises

The three failures so far have occurred during limited exercises focused on demonstrating the performance of the missile’s booster motor after separating from the bomber but without the hardened glide-body warhead of an operational missile.

The remaining schedule of increasing complexity to meet a September 30 declaration “leaves little to no room for test delays or additional flight failures, and so it will likely be challenging,” said Kelley Sayler, an analyst in advanced technology such as hypersonics.

Cristina Vite, a spokesman for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, said in an e-mail that “the joint government and Lockheed Martin team closely reviews every test to ensure quality measures remain in place.” She said that with each test the missile “continues to gain significant technical maturity while accomplishing many first-time milestones.”

Lockheed was awarded an initial $480 million development contract in April 2018 that was broadened in December 2019 to $986 million. Bloomberg News

U.S. extends mask rule for travel while weighing new approach

By David Koenig & Zeke Miller The Associated Press

W

ASHINGTON—Federal officials are extending the requirement for masks on planes and public transportation for one more month— through mid-April—while taking steps that could lead to lifting the rule.

The mask mandate was scheduled to expire March 18, but the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday that it will extend the requirement through April 18.

TSA said the extra month will give the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention time to develop new, more targeted policies that will consider the number of cases of Covid-19 nationally and in local communities, and the risk of new variants.

The TSA enforces the rule, which extends to planes, buses, trains and transit hubs.

As of Thursday, more than 98 percent of the US population is living in areas with low or medium Covid-19 case levels, meaning that the CDC no longer recommends face masks in public indoor settings.

A decision to eventually scrap the mask requirement—one of the

last vestiges of nationwide pandemic rules—has grown more likely in recent weeks as more states, even those led by Democratic governors, relaxed their own mandates for wearing masks indoors, and the CDC eased its recommendations.

That led critics to question why the CDC would allow maskless people to gather in movie theaters and sports arenas but not on planes.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that deciding on the right policy for travel was more complicated than setting recommendations for local communities.

“If you’re moving from one zone to another and picking people up...it’s a little bit different, and that requires some consultation, which is what [CDC officials] are going to endeavor to do between now and April 18,” Psaki said.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week that her agency must study the science around virus transmission “but also the epidemiology and the frequency that we may encounter a variant of concern or a variant of interest in our travel corridors.”

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate

Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, said he was disappointed in the one-month extension.

“The science does not support this decision,” he said. Earlier, Wicker and 30 other Republican senators asked Biden to end the mask rule and a requirement that travelers test free of Covid-19 within a day before flying to the US. Airlines for America, a trade group that represents the largest US airlines, said in a statement that it urged the administration to end both rules.

Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said it makes sense to be more cautious on planes, subway trains and buses because “they are designed to efficiently put a lot of people in one place,” raising the risk of virus transmission.

Stephen Morse, an infectiousdiseases expert at Columbia University, said a short-term extension of the rule is appropriate, but he warned that once it is dropped it will be hard to revive if Covid-19 cases surge again. He said there have been so many surprises with the pandemic that “a month may not be long enough.”

The federal mask mandate was

imposed in January 2021, days after President Joe Biden took office, and has been extended several times. The Trump administration had declined to require masks on public transportation, but airlines began requiring them in mid2020 to reassure passengers worried about contracting the virus.

Last September, the Transportation Security Administration doubled the fines for people who refused to wear a mask on public transportation to up to $1,000 for first-time offenders and up to $3,000 for repeat violations.

The requirement became a lightning rod for confrontation between some passengers and airline crews. Since the start of 2021, airlines have reported more than 6,000 incidents of unruly passengers, most of them involving disputes over mask wearing. That history could make it unlikely for airlines to require masks once the federal rule lapses.

“I don’t think the airlines have any desire to impose their own requirements at this point against a public that is weary of these restrictions,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel-industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group.

On four flights he took this week, Harteveldt said, “I noticed there were

passengers who did not wear their masks even when they were not eating or drinking, and the flight attendants did not ask them to put them on.”

Flight attendants were once mostly in favor of masks, which they viewed as protecting their health. They largely supported the federal rule, which carried more weight than an airline policy.

But cabin crews are now divided over keeping the federal rule, according to their largest union, the Association of Flight Attendants, which declined to take a position on extending the mandate beyond March 18.

The continuation of the rule seemed to underscore the position of airlines and aircraft manufacturers, who have argued since the start of the pandemic that high-quality filters and strong air flow made virus transmission unlikely in plane cabins. In December, as omicron was spreading rapidly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines told Congress that masks “don’t add much, if anything” to safety on planes—a claim that experts quickly disputed.

David Neeleman, who founded JetBlue and now leads another start-up carrier, Breeze Airways, said passengers “who feel uncomfortable should wear

a good mask, an N95 mask,” but face coverings shouldn’t be mandatory.

“I would love to see it expire on [March] 18th,” Neeleman told The Associated Press. “It puts a lot of stress on our flight crews, and it puts stress on our passengers.”

Shannon Schreyer of Ogden, Utah, wants the mandate killed.

“I haven’t seen that it has provided any measure of effectiveness,” he said, his mask hanging just below his mouth while picking up luggage at Detroit Metro Airport. “I think that the masks have been a pretty big facade from the very beginning. We’re pretty much over the whole Covid thing.”

Some travelers are just perplexed by all the fuss over wearing masks.

“I don’t really mind, honestly—on bus, on train, on plane,” said Natalie Johnston, a University of Michigan student from Philadelphia, who was waiting for a bus in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“I don’t really think it’s that big of a deal.”

News of the extension and policy review was first reported by Reuters.

David Koenig reported from Dallas.

Mike Stobbe in New York and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

Science Sunday BusinessMirror

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

Sunday, March 13, 2022

A5

DOST’s alternative transport systems, technologies can help vs oil price surge

Team Wonderpets—composed of Ghia Luwalhati, Nicole Elizabeth Tan and Reaner Jacqueline Bool, who are chemical engineering students at Batangas State University—work at the laboratory on their winning entry in the WED Hackathon. BatStateU photo

BatStateU engineering students conquer Unesco hackathon

B

atangas State University (BatStateU) students emerged champions in the first WED Hackathon marking United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (Unesco) World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, trumping 125 student teams from 23 countries worldwide early this month, a news release from BatStateU said.

In the second and third place are students from the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Canada and the Egerton University in Kenya, respectively.

The only team from the Philippines to compete in the final round, Team Wonderpets (Water remediatiON using metal-organic framework DERived from PET bottleS) was composed of Ghia Luwalhati, Nicole Elizabeth Tan and Reaner Jacqueline Bool, chemical engineering students at BatStateU, and their mentor, Dr. Reymark Maalihan of the Material Testing and Calibration Center of the university’s STEERHub. BatStateU was invited by the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) under the auspices of the Unesco, through its Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, the university’s arm in advancing the quality and responsiveness of engineering education.

The challenge of the WED Hackathon was to demonstrate a sustainable engineering solution addressing a global real-world problem.

Tackling “Water Accessibility in a Changing Climate,” Team Wonderpets devised a water pollutant adsorbent based on a metal-organic framework, chemically recycling terephthalic acid extracted from PET bottles.

The resulting material is extremely porous, cost-efficient and reusable. Thus, it is a sustainable means of removing pollutants from water. “[T]his entry was very interesting with the potentially transformative technology,”

said Dr. Marlene Kanga, WFEO immediate past president, as she announced the winners during the finale of the WED 24HRS Live broadcast in San José, Costa Rica.

The solution offered by Team Wonderpets not only supports the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation for All,” but also SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production for its plastic-recycling feature.

Forty engineers from 16 countries judged the entries in the preliminary round, and by six judges from Unesco, Engineers Without Borders, the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies, the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists, the Global Engineering Deans Council, and the International Engineering Alliance in the final round.

The WED Hackathon entries were evaluated based on International Engineering Alliance global graduate attributes and professional competencies profiles.

The WED Hackathon was organized by WFEO with Unesco support, stimulating the inventiveness of young engineers to address engineering challenges that it developed.

It was in collaboration with its partners in the international engineering community and the Engineers Without Borders international network.

Six student groups from BatStateU participated in the preliminary round in January, with the Wonderpets qualifying for the final round in February, along with eight other teams from Australia, Canada, China, India, and Kenya.

BatStateU, the only state university in the Philippines with engineering programs accredited by the US Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, celebrated World Engineering Day alongside Unesco in a three-day event, March 4, 7 and 8, 2022, with the theme “Engineering Today for Sustainable Tomorrow.”

BPI-DOST awards now named as BPI-DOST Innovation Awards

T

he former BPI-DOST Science Awards will now be known as the BPI-DOST Innovation Awards.

The Science Education Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-SEI) announced the “recalibration” that the BPI Foundation (BPIF) and the DOST-SEI have made in order to highlight creativity and collaboration in innovative projects by college students that can benefit communities.

“We enjoin our DOST Scholars and other students enrolled in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] courses in the 13 universities identified by BPI and DOST to take the challenge,” the DOSt-SEI said in its Facebook post.

“Future scientists, let’s help build sustainable cities for the future!Join the BPI-DOST Innovation Awards!” it said.

In order to accommodate more students to join the competition, the sponsors extended the deadline for the submission of project proposals until March 31, from the earlier February 28.

The BPI–DOST Innovation Awards is a competition that challenges bright Filipino students of Basic and Applied sciences to actively participate in resolving problems in the community.

BPIF r e c o g n i z e s t h e s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e o f s c i e n c e , t e c h n o l o g y, a n d innovation in nation-building. It is a special project under BPIF’s sustainable positive change advocacy.

Ten teams will receive P25,000 each.

Out of the Top 10, three teams with the most outstanding projects shall receive the BPIDOST Innovation Award and a cash prize of P100,000 each.

A. Eligibility Criteria

This competition is open to all Filipino junior and senior (third to fifth year) college students of Basic and Applied sciences who are regular enrollees within the program period.

The participants should meet all minimum requirements of the course and should not have any failing grade, and must not have any negative school record.

One team composed of three students shall represent the school, which shall endorse the team.

Their project must not have been submitted to any competition or presented to any external party.

Interested students may coordinate with their respective college/university dean.

All submissions will be coursed through the school.

Included in the DOST-SEI Consortium College/Universities are the Ateneo de Manila University, Batangas State University, Bicol University, Central L u z o n S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y, C e n t r a l Mindanao University, Cebu Normal University, De La Salle University, Leyte Normal University.

Mapua University, Mariano Marcos S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y, M i n d a n a o S t a t e University (MSU)-Iligan Institute of Technology, MSU-Marawi City, Nueva Vizcaya State University, Philippine Normal University, Philippine Women’s University, St. Louis University, St. Luke’s College of Medicine.

St. Mary’s University, University of San Carlos, University of Santo Tomas, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines Cagayan de Oro City, University of Southeastern Philippines, University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio, UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, UP Manila, UP Open University, UP Visayas, Visayas State University, West Visayas State University, and Western Mindanao State University.

For any concerns, interested parties may contact (02) 5800306, or send an e-mail to the Secretariat of the Innovation Awards: Melanie Magbuhos (mpmagbuhos@ bpi.com.ph) and Patricia Joy Ongkiko (pjvongkiko@bpi.com.ph).

W

ith the recent series of oil price hikes that has been affecting the transport sector heavily, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) shared the readily available technologies that were developed by the department and other plans that can alleviate the impact of the current fuel situation.

The DOST is pushing for a fueldiversified transport system and solutions, according to Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña in a virtual presser on March 9.

The Science chief said that electric vehicles (e-vehicles), such as the e-trike, e-scooter and ejeepney are already being manufactured in the country.

There are also the DOST-developed Hybrid Electric Train and Hybrid Electric Road Train, the latter is being adopted in the regions.

“We [in the DOST] have already developed several innovative products, particularly in the case of mass transport like Hybrid Train which is already in the possession of the Philippine National Railways. We have also developed the running prototypes of Hybrid Electric Road Train, which are now in the possession or being run in the cities of Cauayan in Isabela and General Santos in South Cotabato,” de la Peña said.

He said that hopefully, before the end of June, the Hybrid Trimaran, will be launched. The trimaran—the world’s first oceanwave powered boat—is being built

in Aklan.

The environment-friendly, safe and unsinkable fast sea craft can carry 100 passengers, four vans and up to 15 motorcycles. It is being built by Metallica Shipyard with support of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development, the Aklan State University and the Maritime Industry Authority.

De la Peña explained that while the trains are using fuel and batteries, they can be charged and reduce their fuel consumption by about 25 percent.

Meanwhi le, tr imaran uses wave energy, where power is converted into mechanical energy that results in the reduction of fuel consumption.

On the other hand, for e-vehicles, an ongoing project on etrike is now being implemented by the Cagayan State University in Tuguegarao City, with implementors from the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Engineering.

De la Peña also said that DOST is promoting the locally developed e-vehicle fast-charging systems

The Hybrid Electric Road Train that was developed by the DOST. Photo from DOST web site

and modeling tools for strategically located charging station sites for e-vehicles.

“Our goal and plan right now in DOST is to find ways to support its enhancement through improved infrastructure and continuous research and development related to them [e-vehicles],” de la Peña said.

He added that the DOST has also developed earlier the electric charging stations for e-vehicles called Charging in Minutes (CharM), which refers to the rapid charging system that reduces the charging time of utility-grade electric vehicles from hours to just minutes.

On the use of fuel, the country’s Science department is recommending a technology to help monitor and conser ve energ y like cloud-based monitors and esensors.

“It can provide smart and comprehensive decision support that management can use whether they have to make adjustments, for example, in the use of certain

equipment, or they need to replace equipment that is not functioning well and wasteful in the use of energy,” de la Peña said.

At the same time, DOST-III Regional Director Julius Caesar V. Sicat shared their efforts in developing and utilizing an alternative source of energy for mobilization, such as the solar cart that has already been developed by the Tarlac State University (TSU).

“The solar cart has been running for three years without charging because it has solar panels on top. The charging system, that was designed by TSU, allows it to charge while it is being used or parked,” Sicat explained in Filipino. “It has a regulator that prevents the battery to overcharge.”

“I believe this is ready for commercialization,” he said.

Sicat added that the technology should be adopted in order to show that people can be mobile without relying on the use of fossil fuels. Allan Mauro V. Marfal/S&T

Media Services

Fate of Fukushima reactor cleanup uncertain after 11 yrs

O

KUMA, Japan—Eleven years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was ravaged by a meltdown following a massive earthquake and tsunami, the plant now looks like a sprawling construction site. Most of the radioactive debris blasted by the hydrogen explosions has been cleared and the torn buildings have been fixed.

During a recent visit by journalists from The Associated Press to see firsthand the cleanup of one of the world’s worst nuclear meltdowns, helmeted men wore regular work clothes and surgical masks, instead of previously required hazmat coveralls and full-face masks, as they dug near a recently reinforced oceanside seawall.

Workers were preparing for the planned construction of an Olympic pool-sized shaft for use in a highly controversial plan set to begin in the spring of 2023 to gradually get rid of treated radioactive water—now exceeding 1.3 million tons stored in 1,000 tanks—so officials can make room for other facilities needed for the plant‘s decommissioning.

Despite the progress, massive amounts of radioactive melted fuel remain inside of the reactors. There‘s worry about the fuel because so much about its condition is still unknown, even to officials in charge of the cleanup.

Nearly 900 tons of melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three damaged reactors, and its removal is an unprecedented challenge involving 10 times the amount of damaged fuel removed in the Three Mile Island cleanup following its 1979 partial core melt.

The government has set a decommissioning roadmap aiming for completion in 29 years.

The challenge of removing melted fuel from the reactors is so daunting that some experts now say that setting a completion target is impossible, especially as officials still don‘t have any idea about where to store the waste.

Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa said recently that extra time would be needed to determine where and how the highly radioactive waste removed

from the reactors should be stored.

Japan has no final storage plans even for the highly radioactive waste that comes out of normal reactors.

Twenty-four of the country‘s 60 reactors are designated for decommissioning, mostly because of the high cost needed to meet safety standards set up in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused a tsunami 17 meters (56 feet) high that slammed into the coastal plant, destroying its power supply and cooling systems, causing reactors No. 1, 2 and 3 to melt and spewing massive amounts of radiation.

Three other reactors were offline and survived, though a fourth building suffered hydrogen explosions.

The spreading radiation caused some 160,000 residents to evacuate. Parts of the surrounding neighborhood are still uninhabitable.

The melted cores in Units 1, 2 and 3 largely fell to the bottom of their primary containment vessels, together with control

rods and other equipment, some possibly penetrating or mixing with the concrete foundation, making the cleanup extremely difficult.

Probes of the melted fuel must rely on remote-controlled robots carrying equipment such as cameras and dosimeters—which measure radiation— because radiation levels in those areas are still fatally high for humans.

I n F e b r u a r y, a r e m o t e - o p e r a t e d submersible robot entered the Unit 1 primary containment vessel, its first internal probe since a failed 2017 attempt. It captured limited images of what are believed to be mounds of melted fuel rising from the concrete floor.

Probes have moved ahead at Unit 2, where Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) plans to send in an extendable robotic arm later this year to collect melted fuel samples.

Tepco Chief Decommissioning Officer Akira Ono said in a recent online interview that robotic probes at Unit 1 and 2 this year are a major “step forward” in the decadeslong cleanup. AP

DOST, Digital Pilipinas partner for decentralized innovation hubs

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

T

HE Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has tied up with Digital Pilipinas (DP) to build university-based innovation centers across the country.

During the recent virtual Nascent Technology Summit, Science Secretary F o r t u n a t o T. d e l a P e ñ a s i g n e d a memorandum of understanding with DOSTPhilippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit, and DP Convenor Amor Maclang, which highlighted DP and

DOST’s regional strategy to innovation and technology.

The pact came a month after DP forged a tripartite collaboration with Mapúa University and the DOST-PCIEERD to launch the Think and Tinker LaboratoryTechnology Business Incubation (TBI) program that pushes academe-industrygovernment partnership. TBI was the pilot project for the university-based innovation hubs.

“We must do more to empower problemsolving on a regional level. Problems are best solved by the people who experience those problems. That is what makes the DOST and the PCIEERD so critical,” Maclang said.

While financial technology is gaining ground in the country, specially when it comes to the digital payments and logistics spaces triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippines still lags behind its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, according to de la Peña.

“As we continue to revolutionize technology, we should keep our advancement inclusive and accessible,” he said, while thanking the DP for its initiatives. “We believe that the private sector is key in achieving our goals through collaboration.”

Paringit, on their part, proposed for an “Innovation Council” to “share meaningful discourse among movers.”

“We need to fast track the developments

of innovation and technology. Digital commerce is on the rise, and some businesses thrived during the pandemic.

We must also prepare the Philippines for smart technology cities where citizens have the freedom to make choices,” he noted.

During the event, Monetary Authority of Singapore Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty discussed how important the transition to Web 3.0 is.

“As futurists and technologists, we bring a lot of new terms. The shift towards Web 3.0 is about data inclusion, and it is more consumer-based on how data will be used, the use of blockchain, and the future of money to more emerging areas,” he said.

A6

Sunday, March 13, 2022

Faith

Sunday

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

Continuing a long Christian tradition

As war rages, some Ukrainians look to Mary for protection

U

krainian clergy demonstrating against the war in their country have appeared in media coverage carefully holding an image of the Virgin Mary, her outstretched hands lifting up the edges of a cloak.

These pictures depict a particular religious icon known as the “Pokrova” in which Mary’s veil—a “pokrova,” or “cover,” in Ukrainian—s a sign of protection.

For Ukrainian Christians, both Orthodox and Catholic, the “Pokrova” image held by protesters represents a long history of seeking Mary’s protection during difficult times.

I am an archivist for the Marian Library at the University of Dayton, which includes a collection of Ukrainian artwork about Mary.

spiritual landmarks.

With her arms extended upward, this icon of Mary is also known as the “Immovable Wall” or “Indestructible Wall.”

St. Sophia Cathedral has survived centuries of destruction from war and is now a museum.

Many Ukrainians in Kyiv believe

that as long as the icon stands, Kyiv and Ukraine will continue to stand as well.

The cathedral is one of seven Unesco world heritage sites in Ukraine, and religious and cultural authorities have voiced concern that it could be at risk during the invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has often stressed Ukrainians’ and Russians’ common religious roots in the Eastern Orthodox Church. But the cathedral is also a proud national symbol.

In 1988 Ukrainians across the world celebrated the millennium anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus. At the time, Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union, but declared its independence shortly after in 1991.

Icons created of Mary during

Queen of Ukraine

According to Orthodox tradition, Mary miraculously appeared at a church in Constantinople, or modern-day Istanbul, when the city was under attack in the early 10th century.

As the story goes, Mary prayed at the church’s altar, then spread her veil over the congregation, and the invading armies withdrew.

Around a century later, in 1037, Yaroslav the Wise, the Grand Prince of Kyiv, dedicated Ukraine to Mary.

To this day Mary is known as “Queen of Ukraine,” among her many other titles, and October 14 is celebrated as the Pokrova, or Feast of the Protection.

There are other icons of Mary that have special meaning to Ukrainian Christians.

One of these is known as the “Oranta,” or the Great Panagia.

A mosaic of the Oranta is located in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, built in the 11th century, which is one of the city’s most famous

The icon of the Virgin Mary, described as the Virgin of Mercy, shows her with a broad protective cloak. It was produced in mid-17th century, Ukraine. It is part of the collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine.This image is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional work of art, which is considered to be in the public domain in the United States. Wikimedia Commons

this era show the importance of freedom and independence.

In one of the icons in the Marian Library, for example, by Slovenian artist Mikuláš Klimčák, Mary stands above the entire world while angels hold a banner reading “Freedom.”

Widespread devotion

It is quite common for Christians, and even people of other faiths, to ask Mary to intercede on their behalf during hardship.

For the past two years, for example, many across the world have asked Mary to end the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March 2020, Pope Francis himself prayed before Salus Populi Romani, a famous Marian icon in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major long associated with requests for healing.

In 2020 the Italian Air Force, whose patron saint is Mary, Our Lady of Loreto, took a statue of her by plane across the country to protect citizens from the coronavirus.

Mary is also revered in Islam, and mentioned dozens of times in the Quran, as “Maryam.”

In Saudia Arabia, a governor asked people to look toward Mary’s perseverance as an example to find courage at the start of the pandemic.

The mother of Jesus represents strength for many oppressed groups, from Mexican revolutionaries to Polish LGBTQ activists.

In 2019, three Polish women were arrested for adding a rainbow to an icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, but later acquitted.

And in recent years, as refugee crises mount around the world, many religious leaders have drawn parallels to the holy family’s flight to Egypt.

Devotion to Mary is one bridge between the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, as well as other faiths. As someone who has experienced human struggles of her own, and even lost her only son, Mary is a source of comfort for many. Kayla Harris, University of Dayton/ The Conversation (CC)

WWII martyr Titus Brandsma, Charles de Foucauld to be canonized

V

ATICAN—The World War II martyr Titus Brandsma and two other blesseds will be declared saints at a canonization Mass on May 15, Pope Francis indicated recently.

The decision was made through a vote of cardinals during an ordinary consistory at the Vatican on March 4.

A consistory, which is attended by all the cardinals present in Rome, is the final step in the canonization process and allows a date to be set for a canonization Mass.

The consistory took place after the praying of Terce, or mid-morning prayer, from the Liturgy of the Hours.

Two religious women will also be declared saints on May 15: Blessed Carolina Santocanale (1852-1923), known as Maria of Jesus, the Italian founder of the Capuchin Sisters of Immaculate Mary of Lourdes; and Blessed Marie Rivier (1768–1838), a nun who founded a religious

Titus Brandsma (left) and Charles de Foucauld. GaHetNa Nationaal Archief NL/Public domain.

congregation amid the French Revolution.

The May 15 Mass at the Vatican was already scheduled for the canonization of Bl. Charles de Foucauld and six other blesseds.

The Mass will now celebrate a total of 10 people the Catholic Church has recognized as saints, after miracles were

confirmed to have taken place through their intercession.

The May 15 ceremony will be the Catholic Church’s first canonization Mass since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. It will take place two years and seven months after the most recent canonization, that of St. John Henry Newman and four others in October 2019.

Titus Brandsma, a Dutch priest, professor and journalist, was born Anno Sjoerd Brandsma in Oegeklooster, in the province of Friesland, on February 23, 1881.

He entered the Carmelite novitiate in 1898, taking the religious name Titus. He was ordained a priest in 1905.

Following Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Brandsma defended the freedom of Catholic education and the Catholic press against Nazi pressures.

After he firmly opposed mandatory Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers, he was arrested in January 1942.

He was transferred to Dachau, once described as “the largest priest cemetery in the world,” on June 19 that year.

He died on July 26, following a lethal injection.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 3, 1985, as a martyr for the faith.

Hannah Brockhaus/Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Church conflict in Ukraine reflects historic Russian-Ukrainian tensions

T

wo different Orthodox churches claim to be the one true Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the Ukrainian people. The two churches offer strikingly different visions of the relationship between the Ukrainian and the Russian peoples.

Two Orthodox churches

The religious history of Russia and Ukraine has fascinated me since I first visited Kyiv on a scholarly exchange in 1984. In my current research I continue to explore the history of Christianity and the special role of religion in Eurasian societies and politics.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014, relations between the two countries have been especially strained.

These tensions are reflected in the very different approaches of the two churches toward Russia.

The older and larger church is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate.

According to Ukrainian government statistics, this church had over 12,000 parishes in 2018. A branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, it is under the spiritual authority of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Patriarch Kirill and his predecessor, Patriarch Aleksii II, both have repeatedly emphasized the powerful bonds that link the peoples of Ukraine and Russia.

By contrast, the second, newer church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, celebrates its independence from Moscow.

With the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, a solemn council met in Kyiv in December 2018, created the new church, and elected its leader, Metropolitan Epifaniy.

In January 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew formally recognized the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a separate, independent and equal member of the worldwide communion of Orthodox churches.

Completely self-governing, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was the culmination of decades of efforts by Ukrainian believers who wanted their own national church, free from any foreign religious authority.

As an expression of Ukrainian spiritual independence, this new self-governing Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been a challenge to Moscow. In Orthodox terminology, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine claims “autocephaly.”

Unlike the Catholic Church, which has a single supreme spiritual leader in the pope, the worldwide Orthodox Church is divided into 14 universally recognized, independent, autocephalous or self-headed churches.

Each autocephalous church has its own head, or “kephale“ in Greek. Every autocephalous church holds to the same faith as its sister churches.

Most autocephalies are national churches, such as the Russian, Romanian and Greek Orthodox churches.

Now, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is claiming its place among the other autocephalous churches.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine has over 7,000 parishes in 44 dioceses. It regards Russians and Ukrainians as two different peoples, each of whom deserves to have its own separate church.

The independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine

The chief issue separating the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate is their relationship to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate has substantial autonomy in its internal affairs.

Ultimately, however, it is subordinate to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who must formally confirm its leader. The church emphasizes the unity that it enjoys with the Russian Orthodox believers.

By contrast, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is independent of any other religious body. For the church’s proponents, this independence allows it to develop a unique Ukrainian expression of Christianity.

Common Orthodox Christian tradition

In both Russia and Ukraine, Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religious tradition.

According to a 2015 Pew survey, 71 percent of Russians and 78 percent of Ukrainians identified themselves as Orthodox. Religious identity remains an important cultural factor in both nations.

Orthodox Christians in both Russia and Ukraine trace their faith back to the conversion in A.D. 988 of the Grand Prince of Kyiv.

Known as Vladimir by Russians and Volodymyr by Ukrainians, the pagan grand prince was baptized by missionaries from Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Kyiv became the most important religious center for the East Slavs.

Destroyed in 1240 by the Mongols, Kyiv

fell into decline even as its northern neighbor, Moscow, became increasingly powerful.

By 1686, Russia had conquered eastern Ukraine and Kyiv. In that year, the patriarch of Constantinople formally transferred his spiritual authority over Ukraine to the patriarch of Moscow.

In the 20th century, a growing nationalist movement demanded Ukrainian independence for both the church and the state.

Although Ukraine became an independent country in 1991, its only universally recognized national Orthodox Church remained subject to Moscow.

Some Ukrainian Orthodox Christians tried to create an autocephalous church in 1921, 1942 and 1992. These efforts largely failed. The churches that they formed were not recognized by the worldwide Orthodox community.

Ukrainian autocephaly

In April 2018 Petro Poroshenko, then the president of Ukraine, again tried to form an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

No fewer than three different churches claimed to be the true Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Poroshenko hoped to unite these rival bodies.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate was the largest church, and it enjoyed the recognition of the worldwide Orthodox community.

However, it was and is subject to the Patriarch of Moscow—an unacceptable status for many Ukrainians.

Two other churches—the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate—had failed to gain recognition from other Orthodox churches.

Support for Ukrainian church

The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, supported Poroshenko’s project.

As the leading bishop of the ancient capital of the Byzantine Empire, Bartholomew enjoys first place in honor among all of the heads of the Orthodox churches.

Although Eastern Orthodox Christianity has no clear method of creating a new autocephalous church, Bartholomew argued that he had the authority to grant this status.

Because Ukraine had originally received Christianity from the Byzantines, Constantinople was Kyiv’s mother church.

In December 2018 a unification council formally dissolved the other branches of Orthodoxy in Ukraine and created the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

In January 2019, Bartholomew signed a formal decree, or tomos, proclaiming the new church autocephalous.

Support and rejection

So far, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has received recognition from four other autocephalous Orthodox churches. The churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Greece and Cyprus have each welcomed the new church.

Three other autocephalous churches have explicitly rejected the new church. The Moscow Patriarchate even broke communion with Constantinople over its role in creating the new church.

Nadieszda Kizenko, a leading historian of Orthodoxy, has said that Bartholomew has undermined Orthodox unity to create a church whose legitimacy has been questioned.

By contrast, the noted theologian Cyril Hovorun greeted the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a positive “demonstration of solidarity with...the Ukrainian people, who suffered from the Russian aggression.”

Two visions of history Today, the two major rival expressions of Orthodoxy in Ukraine reflect two different historical visions of the relationship between Russians and Ukrainians.

For the Moscow Patriarchate, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Therefore a single church should unite them.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has made this very argument in a recent essay.

He characterizes the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as an attack on the “spiritual unity” of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine holds a very different view. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Metropolitan Epifaniy firmly rejected “Russian imperial traditions.” As a separate people with a unique culture, Ukrainians require an independent church.

The future of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is unclear. It enjoys the support of several of its sister churches. At the same time, it faces fierce opposition from Moscow.

For now, it remains a source of controversy between Russia and Ukraine.

J. Eugene Clay, Arizona State University/ The Conversation (CC)

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, March 13, 2022

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

‘Education is crucial to disaster management’

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

C

ontinuous education and not just stressing resilience is key to impart the negative and harsh impact of disasters, global warming and climate change to majority of Filipinos.

Science Undersecretary Dr. Renato Solidum said the country’s playbook on natural disasters and effects on climate change must not only be on survival but should also be on emerging victorious over disasters.

For this, Solidum said continuous education about disaster resilience and sustainability must be vigorously pursued.

“This project is an evidence of the fusion of science and the arts, with the goal of influencing our kababayan to be informed, and to be prepared against disasters,” Solidum, also the officer-in-charge of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said in his message during the recent launching of a series of mall exhibits on sustainability and disaster resilience at SM Mall of Asia.

SM Supermalls President Steven Tan thanked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for continuously partnering with SM toward promoting a more sustainable and disaster-resilient Philippines.

He added that amid the country’s collective efforts to revitalize the economy, stakeholders also

should not forget about preserving the environment.

“As one of the country’s leading and trusted integrated property developers, SM Prime Holdings Inc. takes its responsibility to the environment and community seriously. While we underscore the importance of ensuring livelihood, business continuity and economic prosperity, it is equally—if not, more importantly—that efforts to protect the environment are in place,” Tan said.

The event was also graced by SM Prime President Jeffrey Lim, SM Supermalls Senior Vice President Mr. Glenn Ang, and DOST-National Capital Region Director Jose Patalinjug.

As part of its commitment to the community and the environment, SM Prime, together with the DOST, recently launched a series of mall exhibits on sustainability and disaster resilience that kicked-off at the SM Mall of Asia. The exhibit will later travel to several other SM malls nationwide.

During the event, SM and DOST highlighted numerous initiatives geared toward promoting sustainability and disaster resilience in the country, including those that are in line with addressing climate change.

Through the exhibit, the proponents aim to reiterate the importance of working together in creating solutions to the current most pressing environmental concerns.

Asean agency kicks off program for youth biodiversity storytellers

T

he Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is tapping into the power of the youth to tell stories about biodiversity, its values, and the many ways to safeguard it.

Through its newest program, the Young Asean Storytellers (YAS), the ACB is calling all Asean youth to showcase their skills and talents in storytelling as an essential part of the bid to highlight what life in harmony with nature would look like.

Twenty budding content creators and storytellers from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam will get first-hand experience in impactful storytelling for biodiversity conservation.

“We at the ACB believe that this generation is the torchbearer of our region’s future. We see that the youth of today are more driven to contribute to saving our planet, most especially in conserving the region’s rich natural and cultural heritage, and we are proud to be amplifying their voices through this programme,” said ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim. Lim also underscored the importance of the youth’s role in connecting with others, given their knack for using innovative online platforms and their wide reach. These platforms and tools can cross boundaries and connect communities across the region to find solutions to the multiple environmental challenges

Birds in the city Pacific Golden Plover in Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park Photos by Jasmin Meren

Colasisi in La Mesa Eco Park in Quezon City

Whiskered Tern on Manila Bay

The white-collared kingfisher’s “ka-ka-ka” calls can be heard hundreds of meters away Photo by Gregg Yan

H

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

ave you seen a bird in your backyard lately? Or have you heard them sing when you wake up in the morning?

Even in the urban jungles like Metro Manila, birds that are left alone are known to survive—and thrive and help make the city parks or even your home garden alive.

Not to be confused with “domesticated” birds like the homing or racing pigeons, these birds are wild as they can be shy and still elusive to humans— with who they share space occasionally.

Today’s youth are innate storytellers—inspiring movers to protect our region’s natural heritage. Photo by Thant Zhin

we collectively face.

Asean youth aged 18 to 35, who are eager to explore, passionate about nature and are good storytellers are encouraged to be part of YAS. Stories created through photography, writing, art, filmmaking, or other forms of creative storytelling and conveying ideas are welcome.

Exciting opportunities await the young aspirants. Besides the grant that they will be receiving to produce their stories, they will undergo a series of learning sessions with biodiversity and storytelling experts, as they embark on an immersive trip to the region’s “cream of the crop” protected areas—the Asean Heritage Parks.

The YAS will create compelling biodiversity stories that will be shared across media platforms.

Applications are open until March 31, and the results will be released in May. The YAS program is supported by the European Union, through the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in Asean Project; and the AseanGermany Cooperation in Biodiversity through the Second Phase of the Institutional Strengthening of the Biodiversity Sector in the Asean Project and the Small Grants Programme.

Interested parties may visit the web site: Young ASEAN Storytellers (YAS) | AYBP (aseanbiodiversity.org).

A7

Targeted, lost and found Even in the city, these birds are being targeted with slingshots, or worse, with pellet or air guns.

In public markets, or even in front of elementary schools, unscrupulous vendors discreetly sell live birds offering them as “pets.” Worse, some sell bigger birds like “tikling” for exotic food or bar chow.

Birds being brought at the Depar tment of Env ironment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Wildlife Rescue Center, however, have different stories.

“Many of the birds are actually city dwellers who were accidentally injured,” Glenn Maguad, the head of the rescue center told the BusinessMirror via telephone interview on March 9.

He said falcons and birds of prey are often brought by concerned citizens after smashing glass window panes or glass walls of tall buildings.

Some herons, he said, are also among the list of rescued animals that get lost in the city.

“Sometimes, fledgling birds get lost or confused and find their way in cities,” he said in Filipino. This happens at a time when the juvenile herons are still learning to fly and get soaked in the water too long, making it hard for them to fly resulting in their capture.

City dwellers The Eurasian tree sparrow, commonly

known as “maya”—that was said to be brought by Europeans in the Philippines allegedly to combat loneliness and homesickness in the 1900s— continues to thrive in Metro Manila.

The little brown birds with tiny black beaks build their nest almost everywhere and anywhere—the tree in your backyard, your ceiling or garage, abandoned house or buildings, or even under metal frames of your community’s covered basketball courts or gymnasium.

Some of the species of birds commonly found in Metropolitan Manila are the yellow-vented bulbul, pied fantail, chesnut munia, olivebacked sunbird, zebra dove, blacknaped oriole, pied triller, collared kingfisher, and Philippine pygmy woodpecker.

Jasmin Meren, an expert birdwatcher and photographer, said 232 are known to exist in Metro Manila.

“Many of these birds can tolerate human disturbance. In fact some can even be found where I live in the heart of Manila,” Meren said.

She cited the endemic Philippine pied fantail “which I always find hopping on the electric wires in front of our house every morning, along with olive-backed sunbird and yellowvented bulbul,” she added.

According to Meren, during migratory season she often see a brown shrike on her neighbor’s roof, sometimes seen eating a lizard or large insect.

But for habitat, she said nothing beats a good, old forest, which harbors more species, many of which are endemic or found only in the country.

Urban green spaces But urban green spaces have been observed to provide home and food for wildlife, she noted.

“Birds thrive in city life, as long as there is vegetation like trees and

shrubs, and some flowering and fruiting trees, which may be found in forest parks, open grassy areas and even pocket gardens,” she said.

In the case of Metro Manila, aquatic habitats also provide foraging grounds for many birds, especially to migratory species like the endangered black-faced spoonbill and far eastern Curlew.

“These habitats are found in the mudflats and fishponds of Navotas, along Pasig River, and the mangrove park in Las Piñas-Parañaque,” she said.

Via Messenger, Juan Carlos Tecson Gonzalez, an ornithologist and natural history artist, told the BusinessMirror on March 8 that it is not surprising for birds or even other wildlife to be seen or even to be dwelling in the cities, especially if the cities are near forested areas.

Subic, Baguio-La Trinidad, Puerto Princesa and Davao are examples of cities or developed areas with substantial forest cover that have outstanding biodiversity, and have many birds. Since Los Banos is a special Natural and Science City, it is included in this category too with its Mount Makiling, Tecson added.

‘Shooting birds’ Passionate bird lovers, even in Metro Manila, made it a habit of “shooting” birds for fun, without killing them through photography.

“The cities [developed by humans] are expanding, while the world’s natural habitats—the forests, wetlands and scrublands—are shrinking. But some animals have proven resilient enough to adapt to life in human communities, eking out a living in our farms, towns, and cities,” said Best Alternatives Executive Director Gregg Yan told the BusinessMirror via e-mail on March 9.

An expert wildlife photographer and explorer, Yan said an assortment of bird species flit and fly within Manila, Cebu, Davao and other urban hubs.

“We’re not just talking about the ubiquitous maya, which were introduced to the Philippines by our Spanish colonizers, or feral pigeons cooing around our parks and towns. We have incredibly colorful blue kingfishers, yellow orioles, green parrots, red munias and rainbow-hued sunbirds, most

of which go unnoticed because they’re pretty good at hiding. The usual indication that they’re around is if you can hear their birdcalls, which differ per species,” he said.

Unnatural habitat International biodiversity expert Theresa Mundita Lim, executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, in an interview with the BusinessMirror on March 7 said it is not natural for birds to dwell in cities, but some are able to adapt and become part of the human “ecosystem” “The cities are ‘unnatural,’ so the birds are just around areas where their natural habitats or wintering grounds [for migratory birds] used to be,” Lim said via Messenger.

“Some birds are more resilient than others, so they can thrive in the remaining greeneries and replanted areas [eg. yellow-vented bulbuls, and munias, the migratory brown shrike], or even on garbage dumps [crows].

Other birds were introduced [the Eurasian tree sparrow], and have adapted to city-living, nesting in house ceilings,” she explained.

Institutional support To make Metro Manila an ideal birding site like Singapore, Lim said the remaining green spaces should be managed and maintained as such or better, provide a policy environment that is friendly to urban biodiversity.

“A local ordinance or any form of a policy can be issued to ensure that an area is to be used primarily as ‘green space,’ maybe to designate it as a city botanical garden, a tree park, etc., critical habitats, or what can be considered other effective area-based conservation measures, and that this will not be developed for hard infrastructure,” she said.

Local government units can further identify other vacant public areas as green spaces or wetlands, and restore them using native species, as far as practicable, she added.

“If there is not enough vacant public land to use for ecosystem restoration, innovative means can also be adopted, such as vertical gardening, greening rooftops, ecological bridges for wildlife, or constructed wetlands,” she pointed out.

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, March 13, 2022 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

WHAT IF IT’S LEBRON, AND NOT GRINER?

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press

T

BRITTNEY GRINER is taken into custody in mid-February at a Moscow airport, but the news is kept under wraps until a Russian news agency reveals it more than two weeks later, after the invasion of Ukraine went under way. AP

To wear or not to wear hijab, Muslim runner exalts in victory

C

OLUMBUS, Ohio—Noor Abukaram’s elation at completing one of her first varsity cross-country races quickly turned to disappointment when she failed to find her name among those of her high-school teammates on the results list.

To Abukaram’s shock, she learned she’d been disqualified for something she’d done all season as a Muslim athlete: wear a hijab.

“My worst nightmare just came true,” Abukaram said this month as she recalled the October 2019 race in which her team from Sylvania Northview in suburban Toledo qualified for the Ohio regional championships.

At the time, Ohio High School Athletic Association rules banned most head coverings and caps unless competitors received religious exemption waivers in advance.

Abukaram’s coach acknowledged making a mistake by not obtaining a waiver but said he didn’t think it was needed because it hadn’t been an issue at prior races.

Abukaram’s experience, and efforts to prevent similar episodes elsewhere, have garnered national attention recently. Last year, the National Federation of State High School Associations announced it will no longer require state approval to allow soccer or volleyball players to wear religious headwear during games.

Later in the year, the association approved the same rule change for basketball, softball, track and field, field hockey, and spirit. Previously, state athletic associations had to approve all head coverings.

In Ohio, Abukaram didn’t have long to wait before the world learned of her disqualification through a viral Facebook post by her cousin. And not long after that, her plight caught the attention of state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, a Bowling Green Republican outraged at the girl’s treatment.

Gavarone, who is Roman Catholic, recalled the experience of her hockey and lacrosse player son who was allowed to wear a Christian cross under his pads as long as he taped it to his chest. Anger at Abukaram’s situation triggered her “inner hockey mom,” the senator said.

“No student athlete should ever have to choose between exercising their deeply held religious beliefs and participating in the sport they love,” Gavarone said.

Gavarone’s first bill protecting such beliefs died in 2020, but by then the high-school athletic association had changed its rules to let referees approve use of religious head coverings if a coach asks before a competition, without a formal waiver.

“For decades, that waiver had just been a normal process of head coverings, for medical reasons, religious, cultural, it was just a part of the sport,” said Tim Stried, director of media relations at the OHSAA. Stried said Abukaram’s disqualification led officials at the organization to question the necessity of the advanced waiver.

“Why would we have the waiver there if it’s natural to wear that?” he said. “So it led to some change pretty quick.”

Gavarone hoped such attention on the issue would settle the matter.

Then, in spring 2020, Abukaram was incorrectly asked for a waiver before competing in the 1600-meter relay at a track race. She was allowed to compete but, fearing it would happen again, she contacted Gavarone.

“We need to reintroduce this because clearly rules are subject to change, and once discriminatory policies are put into place, people will still continue to enact them,” Abukaram said.

Gavarone introduced the bill again in May 2021. The House and Senate approved the legislation this year with broad bipartisan support, and Gov. Mike DeWine signed it into law in February.

Abukaram, 18, is now a freshman at Ohio State studying fashion design and sports industry—and still a runner. She was heartened not only by the bipartisan support for the bill but backing from other religious groups, including Christians and Jews.

“It was kind of like a no-brainer that what had happened to me was a form of discrimination and that religious freedom is something that everyone can agree on,” Abukaram said. AP

NOOR ABUKARAM stretches her arm before running on a trail along the Olentangy River at Ohio State University. AP

HE strange case of Brittney Griner raises all sorts of perplexing questions.

Is one of the best women basketball players in the world a political pawn in the standoff between two antagonistic superpowers? Is she being treated like anyone else who allegedly violated drug laws in a foreign land?

Is she safe in the hands of Vladimir Putin’s Russia?

But one thing is clear: Griner’s weeks-long detention by Russian authorities has again directed a troubling spotlight toward the glaring inequities that exist between the top male and female athletes in the United States.

Just imagine if one of the best male basketball players on the planet—say, LeBron James—was being held in Russia under similar circumstances, especially with that country now scorned by much of the world for its unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

The media coverage would be 24/7.

The public outrage would be off the charts.

Griner’s case has drawn concern, to be sure, but it largely remains buried behind Major Leagues Baseball’s silly labor dispute, the homestretch of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season, the launch of March Madness in college hoops, and a National Football League offseason featuring headline-grabbing moves like Calvin Ripley’s suspension and Russell Wilson’s trade.

Richard Sheehan, a finance

professor at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business who specializes in sports economics, said he’s not surprised that male sports continue to get more coverage than Griner’s case.

“Obviously, if this was LeBron James, more people would notice,” Sheehan said. “There’s not too many people in the United States who would say, ‘LeBron James, who is he?’ But there’s still a fairly high number who would say, ‘Brittney Griner, who is she?’”

Sheehan is more troubled by another reality of this case.

Griner was taken into custody while heading back to Russia to play in a league that greatly augments her Women’s NBA (WNBA) salary, a puny outlay in comparison to what the best male athletes are making.

While this is certainly apples to oranges, Griner’s annual pay for a four-month stint with the Phoenix Mercury is $228,000 (and probably closer to $500,000 with endorsement deals)—a comfortable living, to be sure, but not even a third of what big league players were asking for as a MINIMUM salary in their negotiations with baseball’s owners.

“LeBron James makes a very good living in the United States without ever having to set foot outside the United States,” Sheehan said. “But women basketball players can make a hell of a lot more money playing in places like Russia than they can in the United States.”

While salaries have certainly improved in the WNBA—roughly half of the league’s players no longer feel compelled to play overseas—it’s still a choice that no modern-day NBA player has to make.

In a perfect world, no WNBA player would ever have to make it, either.

But we’re a long way from that world.

Just last season, the New York Liberty were fined a WNBA-record $500,000 for chartering flights to away games. The league typically doesn’t allow teams to charter flights because it could create a competitive advantage for franchises that can afford to pay for them.

Given the WNBA’s still-shoestring budget, it’s easy to see why Griner was headed back a country where she reportedly makes more than $1 million a year even as the US State Department advised against it with the threat of war looming.

The most immediate concern is Griner’s well-being.

The specifics of her case have been hard to come by, from both sides. Griner was taken into custody in mid-February at a Moscow airport, but the news was kept under wraps until a Russian news agency revealed it more than two weeks later, after the invasion of Ukraine was under way.

The Griner camp clearly wanted to keep the case out of the public eye until the two-time Olympic gold medalist and seven-time WNBA allstar was safely ferried out of Russia.

Even now, those closest to the player have been reticent to make any comment beyond her agent confirming Griner was detained after Russian customs officials said they found vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis in her luggage. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Griner’s wife, Cherelle, thanked

everyone for their support of the star player, but said little else in an Instagram post.

This wouldn’t be the first time a high-profile person has essentially been taken hostage by a country in the pursuit of larger foreignrelations goals.

Just this week, Venezuela released two Americans who had been imprisoned in the South American country over dubious charges, not so coincidentally as President Nicolás Maduro signaled a desire for improved relations with the US. One of those released, oil executive Gustavo Cardenas, was imprisoned for more than four years in Venezuela. He described the experience as a “nightmare.”

At the moment, there is no indication that Griner is being held on trumped-up charges. Maybe this was just a lapse in judgment, which has put her at risk of being subjected to stricter punishments for cannabis oil under Russian law.

But the war in Ukraine certainly complicates matters, at least raising the possibility that Russia is dragging its feet on Griner’s case to give Putin a potential bargaining chip in a negotiated settlement or to lessen the sting of crushing economic sanctions.

The State Department can designate someone as a “wrongful detainee,” entitling an American citizen to far more resources than a standard criminal case in another country.

It doesn’t appear Griner has been placed in that category, at least not yet. Strict Russian guidelines on Covid-19 have likely extended Griner’s period of isolation, making it tougher for the US consulate to get a full picture of the case.

Hopefully, in the very near future, Griner will be back home with her loved ones, this nightmare behind her.

Until then, let’s keep her at the forefront of our concerns.

Griner’s fate is far more important than the new baseball labor deal, or who makes the NCAA Tournament, or pretty much anything else happening in the fantasy world of sports.

This is real life.

Yeshiva University basketball team ends unforgettable era

G

ALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, New Jersey—On a Sabbath evening, the Yeshiva University men’s basketball team held hands in a circle at a hotel where they gathered for postgame.

Smiling, the Maccabees sang in Hebrew: “When the month of Adar begins, joy increases!”

It was the start of what’s known as the happiest month in the Jewish calendar, when the joyful holiday of Purim takes place. It was also the start of March Madness. As the sun set, it was hard to tell that just a few hours before, there had been tears in the locker room—the Macs had lost the first game of the NCAA’s Division III tournament and a chance to realize their dream of a national championship.

It was the end of an unforgettable three-year, four-season era, in which the team representing an Orthodox Jewish institution grabbed national and international headlines and inspired the Jewish people at a time of growing antisemitism and a relentless pandemic.

The NBA congratulated them on Twitter in December when they built a 50-game winning streak.

Yeshiva also was ranked No. 1 in Division III for the first time.

The team won three Skyline Conference championships in four years and went on to the Division III tournament, where last Friday they lost 63-59 to Johns Hopkins University.

In the locker room after the game, some players— and even their usually stoic coach—choked back tears.

But they reminded each other that their achievements went beyond basketball. They made the Jewish people proud: Kids dressed up like them for Purim and pretended to be them in pickup games. The home crowd roared when they scored often wearing the skullcaps

THE Yeshiva Maccabees gather for a time out in the second half of their NCAA Division III game against Johns Hopkins University in Galloway Township, New Jersey, recently. AP that identify them as Jewish. Their faithful fans followed them on the road or tuned in to live broadcasts of their games around the world.

“That’s historical stuff,” Coach Elliot Steinmetz told them. The former Yeshiva player, who works full time as a lawyer, took the coaching job in 2014 with one goal: recruiting the best Jewish players nationwide. “That’s bigger than wins and losses,” he said.

The players came from across the United States and vary in observance of their faith—from Max Leibowitz, who leads them in prayer and gives them lessons inspired by the Torah before they go on the court, to Ofek Reef, a 6-foot junior from Texas who goes on the court without the skullcap, wearing tattoos and a Star of David-shaped earring, and captivates the crowds when he dunks over taller rivals.

The roster also includes Jordan Armstrong, a 6-foot-8 forward who wears a beard and a man bun and describes himself as a hippie from northern California, and Gabriel

Leifer, who returned to play as a graduate student while he juggled a full-time job at an accounting firm and became the team’s all-time leader in assists and rebounds.

All of them, though, are united by their Jewish identity and their love of basketball.

The Macs were led by senior Ryan Turell, a 6-foot-7 point guard, who turned down Division I offers to play for the Orthodox school in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood because he wanted to be a “Jewish hero.”

Professional scouts took notice of his talent and followed him closely. ESPN and The New York Times profiled him when the Macs had the longest active winning streak in men’s basketball and he became the school’s—and for a while, the country’s—top scorer.

His goal? To become the first Jewish Orthodox player in the NBA [National Basketball Association], so he can continue to inspire Jewish people “to stay proud.”

“It’s a dream come true,” Turell

said. “The fact that people have pride to wear a kippah or be Jewish is what we set out to do, and we accomplished it.”

The game against Johns Hopkins came down to the final seconds. The Macs were losing 60-52 with less than a minute and a half left to play.

Turell then led a comeback, scoring three straight free throws followed by a three-pointer. Trailing just by two with less than a minute on the clock, Turell had the tying shot but missed it and Johns Hopkins won, scoring on free throws.

After the buzzer, Turell embraced every teammate on the court and congratulated them on an amazing season.

“It’s about Jewish pride. It’s really meaningful for myself and for the kids. They look at them like heroes,” said Daniel Hermann, who attended the game at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey, with three of his children.

Two years ago, the Macs advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Division III tournament for the first time.

The team made history in their own way playing the first US sports event held without fans because of Covid fears.

After a four-hour bus ride for their next game in Virginia, they got the news that Covid-19 had forced the NCAA to cancel the tournament; the pandemic put a sudden, shocking end to their season and their dream of winning a national championship.

In the next year and a half, some teammates and their families across the US contracted Covid-19. Players quarantined, practiced isolated in small groups, and saw game after game canceled. Two seasons later they had their comeback to reach the top of the national rankings, and a shot at the Division III title.

“Our team does not just play for a school, they play for a people,” said Rabbi Ari Berman, Yeshiva’s president. AP

BusinessMirror

March 13, 2022

Who gets to decide when the pandemic is over?

2

BusinessMirror MARCH 13, 2022 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

EMPOWERING DIVERSE EXPERIENCES Spotify celebrates Filipina artistry

A

By Stephanie Joy Ching

S a platform that encourages diversity, Spotify is certainly no stranger to seeing content creators from all walks of life, particularly women creators. So in honor of International Women’s Day, Spotify celebrates Filipina artists, creators and listeners with fresh content through the #PinayPowerInAudio, the flagship International Women’s Day campaign. Held last March 7 and hosted by Joyce Pring of the Adulting with Joyce Pring podcast, the panel touches on the importance of gender representation, as well as tips on how to break new grounds in the music and podcasts space, and its importance to the fabric of Pinoy culture and creativity.

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

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

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.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725.

Fax line: 813-7025 Advertising Sales: 893-2019;

817-1351,817-2807.

Circulation: 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. www.businessmirror.com.ph

According to Spotify’s Head of Music, Kossy Ng, the world is currently at an “Age of Audio Renaissance” where there are little to no barriers of entry.

“It’s a very exciting phase, to be honest, the growth has been tremendous, there has been so many tracks released everyday because there is so much access, and we are also consciously making sure we float all these great music out there. We are at an age of audio renaissance, and we are very excited to see it be heard,” she said.

However, despite the entryway being much easier, many content creators still find that the hardest thing to do is to just start. Particularly in a very male dominated world, the content creators on the panel stressed the importance of just making one’s voice heard.

“That was actually my difficulty in starting, ‘do I have something to say’ and that is the most difficult thing. Like Keiko said, starting is the hardest part because you don’t know if what you have to say is valid or if you even have an opinion people are interested in hearing. And what I found is that, I really just had to shut that insecurity down by saying that it’s not for people. At

the end of the day, when you start you have to know what your goal is within yourself,” said Hannah Pangilinan, Creator of Spotify Original, Pausecast with Hannah.

Moreover, the panelists also shared that with the pandemic came radical changes in lifestyle,

KEIKO Necesari

and many have turned to music and podcasts as a means to stay connected. At the end of the day, content creators, particularly women content creators, are there to create a safe space for men and women from all walks of life.

“Being in a pandemic is super hard, but having a platform here really opened some doors for me. It’s such a beautiful thing to connect with people all around the world, not just in the Philippines. And hearing them talk about how they say that something changed in their lives because they heard the podcast or they heard a song from you. It’s so good because I think that’s the purpose of being a creative. We all have different stories to tell, but we’re still able to connect with people and hear people who have been through the same thing,” concludes Keiko Necesario.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | MARCH 13, 2022

3

BUSINESS

ARTIST IN OVERDRIVE Marcus Adoro releases 2022 Eraserheads Calendar Set

MARCUS Adoro

G

By Rick Olivares

OOD ideas spring forth when you least expect them.

For Marcus Adoro, while engaged in a Marie Kondo exercise of making the best use of space and throwing out what is not needed in his condo, he found boxes of that now famous issue of Esquire magazine that documented the Eraserheads’ London tour.

It so happened that a friend of his was visiting and Marcus handed him a spare copy of the magazine.

“Could you doodle on the cover?” his friend asked.

A lightbulb switched on…painted variations of an iconic band on an iconic crossing and an iconic

magazine cover.

That’s the Eraserheads on the Abbey Road crossing that made the cover of Esquire magazine.

And Adoro painted variations of a theme from including the Philippine jeepney and tricycle, to a paean to Robert Smith and the Cure, panic buying, summertime blues, superheroes, and animals to name but a few… all traversing the famous Abbey road crossing.

Adoro compiled all the 12 pieces of painted artwork (including two bonus ones), each one for a month of the calendar beginning February

2022 and ending on February 2023.

“The calendar pages are professional quality prints of the paintings,” explained the former madcap guitarist of the Eraserheads. “We chose the best possible paper and available printing to make this project look vibrant and alive.”

The entire project took a year to complete and was done so during lockdown.

“I had a lot of time on my hands and wondered what to do,” shared Adoro. “I recorded my pandemic album in ‘Mr. Kubido’ and it wasn’t enough. I was doing a lot of painting at that time and this project kept me focused and in good spirits.”

The calendar starts at 02-222022; has 22 pages, is priced at Php 2,222, with only 222 copies available.

“This play on numbers is also part of the concept,” noted Adoro with his trademark sense of humor.

Completing the calendar set

also includes a painted tote bag, refrigerator magnets, stickers, and a coffee mug all featuring the same painted art.

“This is a legit collectible,” summed up Adoro. “I was also surprised that fans responded well.

Of the 222 copies, we have sold a hundred to fans based in Europe. The remaining ones are for local fans.”

Eya Cheung is the executive producer with designs made by Doy Buenaventura.

Those interested in acquiring this cool collectible may reach out to Marcus at @marcus_punkzappa on Instagram.

Who gets to decide when the pandemic is over?

By Ruth Ogden, Liverpool John Moores University & Patricia Kingori, University of Oxford

those who felt that the crisis was over were generally younger and male. Many with this belief also felt that the crisis had lasted longer than two years and stated that they had often not complied with restrictions.

Interestingly, however, a number of other factors we looked at didn’t appear to be related to people’s beliefs about the legitimacy of ending restrictions.

For instance, we didn’t find a link between people’s thoughts about lifting restrictions and their concerns about the social, economic, educational and employment consequences of Covid, or their engagement with the vaccination program, or them having a close relative die from Covid.

I

t’s been two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid outbreak a pandemic. Since then, people around the world have been asking the same thing: when will it end?

This seems like a simple question, but historical analysis shows that “the end” of a disease is rarely experienced in unison by everyone affected.

For some, the threat is over quickly and a return to normality is eagerly anticipated. But for others, the continued threat from infection—as well as the long-term health, economic and social impacts of the disease—render official announcements of the end premature. This could, for example, include immunocompromised people, some of whom remain vulnerable to Covid despite being vaccinated.

Determining when a disease outbreak has ended is even difficult for global health agencies. The Ebola outbreak that began in 2018 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared over by the WHO in 2020, but subsequently flared up again.

This revival was then re-declared over in December 2021.

In England, the government recently decided to lift all remaining Covid legal restrictions. But does this push towards “living with” the virus mean that England’s pandemic is over? And if not, who should

“Determining when a disease outbreak has ended is even difficult for global health agencies. The Ebola outbreak that began in 2018 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared over by the WHO in 2020, but subsequently flared up again. This revival was then re-declared over in December 2021.” decide when it is?

In the 24 hours following the announcement ending COVID restrictions, we conducted a survey to explore whether people in England believed the pandemic was over.

We also explored whether they believed it was legitimate to end all COVID restrictions at this point in time, and who they believed should be able to decide when the pandemic is over.

In total, we surveyed just over 1,300 people. We recruited 500 participants who were representative of the population through the surveying company Prolific, while the remaining 800 were recruited via social media and university mailing lists. Blending these two methods meant that, while our sample wasn’t wholly representative of the public, it was diverse. For instance, 35 percent of participants were under 25 years old, 40 percent were aged 26-50 and 15 percent were over 50. It therefore gives us an interesting insight into how opinions may differ among the public.

Has the pandemic ended?

Of the people we surveyed, 57 percent disagreed that the removal of Covid restrictions indicated the end of the pandemic. In fact, only 28 percent agreed that the end of restrictions signalled the pandemic’s end.

For most people involved in the survey, the end of the pandemic was still somewhere in the future.

We also asked people if they thought it was legitimate to end Covid restrictions. In general, the perceived legitimacy of ending restrictions was low. And while approximately 40 percent of people agreed that it was pragmatic to have ended restrictions in February, fewer than 25 percent agreed that it was the moral thing to do.

When we looked at what influenced people’s beliefs, we found that, in general, people were more likely to believe that the pandemic was over and that it was legitimate to end all restrictions if they believed that the physical and mental health threats of Covid were in the past. Additionally,

Who should decide when it ends?

Half of our participants believed that it should be scientists who decide when the pandemic ends. In contrast, fewer than 5 percent believed that the government should decide. Belief that the government should decide also appears to be falling. When participants were asked to think back to how they would have answered this question 18 months ago, over 10 percent said that they would have said back then that the government should take the decision.

Critically, beliefs about who should end the pandemic varied between groups of people. Men were more likely than women to believe the decision should rest with the government. Unvaccinated people were more likely to believe that a public vote should be held to decide. And perhaps unsurprisingly, being vaccinated was associated with a greater belief that this decision should be taken by scientists.

Despite a long-held wish for the pandemic to end, our findings suggest many may feel it is far from over, and that the public may disagree over whether the government has the right to make this call. The Conversation

Covid may have made us less materialistic

T

he early days of Covid brought a new sense of urgency to shopping for certain items. Toilet paper, pasta and bread flew off the shelves as people stocked up on vital supplies. Then came the must-have purchases to help with the tedium of lockdowns, with hot tubs, kitchen gadgets and new pets becoming extremely popular purchases. So did the pandemic make us generally more materialistic?

Research suggests that a tendency towards materialistic behavior is caused by high levels of stress, anxiety and loneliness. Materialism is also fueled by media consumption. Early reports found that during periods of lockdown and social restrictions, people became even more glued to their screens than before.

But despite these conditions which might

have been expected to make people more materialistic, our research suggests that the opposite was true.

We asked people in the UK about their beliefs and values before and after the arrival of Covid and found that, overall, most people have moved to caring less about money and material gains. They rated goals like “being financially successful” and “having a job that pays well” lower than before. Other social values to do with self-acceptance and sharing our lives “with someone I love” remained the same.

We believe that these changes might be explained by other factors related to the pandemic. For example, Covid focused attention on the importance of health. Also, advertising and social media promoted social values like

4 BusinessMirror

solidarity and dealing with the challenges of a shared experience.

There may be benefits to such a change in attitude. Research has found that materialism leads to lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction, as well as causing negative moods and anxiety.

Yet popular culture and social media make materialism hard to avoid. From a very early age, many children quickly learn to associate material gain with rewards for good behavior.

The media and advertising sectors also generally promote materialistic beliefs through stories and images that link money and consumption to happiness, high self‐esteem and social recognition.

Of course, big advertisers and marketing March 13, 2022

departments didn’t completely avoid their traditional methods during Covid. Our research also revealed a higher number of social-media posts from brands promoting consumption as a way to cope with negative emotions and improve well-being.

This, combined with a widespread reduction in value placed on financial and material gain, could eventually lead to the development of polarized mindsets. The kind that could develop into part of the long-term social impact of the global health crisis, with serious ramifications for younger generations.

A pandemic which pushed many away from the damaging effects of materialism may have pulled others much closer towards them. The Conversation