Businessmirror March 30, 2019

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AN effigy of British Prime Minister Theresa May is wheeled through Trafalgar Square during a People’s Vote anti-Brexit march in London, March 23, 2019. AP/TIM IRELAND

STANDOFF OVER BREXIT

Stalemate deepens as UK fails to agree on a way forward

By Robert Hutton, Alex Morales & Tim Ross

B

Bloomberg

RITAIN’S political standoff over Brexit escalated further, with even Theresa May’s announcement that she’ll quit as prime minister doing nothing to move closer to a resolution.

It leaves the country entering another critical 48 hours after Parliament signaled it’s more willing to back a softer departure from the European Union or even another referendum than

the deal struck by May after two years of negotiations. But those options also don’t command majority support.

The UK has two weeks to go to the EU with a plan for its next

IN this November 15, 2018, file photo, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May reacts during a press conference inside 10 Downing Street in London. May told lawmakers Wednesday she is prepared to step down “earlier than I intended” in order to win passage of her Brexit divorce deal from the European Union. AP/MATT DUNHAM

steps or face the prospect of leaving without a deal, something Parliament also opposes. The likeliest outcome is that May will ask for a longer delay to Brexit, but she will have to convince European leaders that Britain is on a path to solving its apparently intractable problems.

Hours after May promised her Conservative members of Parliament on Wednesday that she’d step down if they back her Brexit deal, she still looked short of having the numbers needed to win. It’s already been overwhelmingly defeated twice.

Meanwhile, votes in the House of Commons intended to break the deadlock by finding a consensus also saw every proposal rejected. The pound fell.

May must decide on Thursday if she is going to bring her deal back for another vote and meet the EU’s Friday deadline for getting it passed. The government declared that it was still the only option in play. Yet it too appears to be doomed despite the capitulation of some Brexit hard liners.

Liz Truss, a member of Theresa May’s cabinet, told ITV television that Wednesday’s votes show there are no other “serious options” than the one already negotiated with the EU, and that has “focused minds.”

“There has been a significant shift now of people recognizing the reality of the options,” she said. “What we have seen today is Parliament does not have an Continued on A2

Data gaps imperil PHL’s reputation as one of top banana growers

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Rolando T. Dy told the BusinessMirror there have been “excessive discrepancies” between the country’s trade statistics and data reported by its trade-partners to the United Nations International Trade Centre.

Dy, University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agri Business (CFA) executive director, said the discrepancies were evi-

dent from 2013 to 2017.

UN Trade Map data crunched and analyzed by the CFA showed the Philippines’s figures on its cavendish exports to its top 5 markets were significantly higher than what the import-countries reported in the years 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Furthermore, data reported by the Philippines in the years 2015

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.7820

DANIEL KAESLER | DREAMSTIME.COM

HE government should review its data on banana production, including the volume being exported, as inaccurate figures could hurt the Philippines’s reputation as one of the world’s top producers of the fruit, according to an economist.

and 2016 were way below what was reported by its top 5 cavendish banana trade-partners.

The country’s top 5 destinations for cavendish exports are Japan, China, South Korea, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

“A look at the volume of exports to the five markets versus their reported imports from the Philippines showed excessive discrepancies in the trade statistics.

Understandably, asymmetries in international trade statistics are inevitable because of factors not limited to time period reckoning and the manner by which recording was made [either based on National Accounts data, or directly from customs or tax records],” Dy said in an analysis given to the BusinessMirror.

“However, the discrepancy remains excessive: the unexplained trade difference in 2017 between Philippines and UAE was highest at 63 percent of the reported exports, Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4771 n UK 68.8541 n HK 6.7241 n CHINA 7.8314 n SINGAPORE 38.9190 n AUSTRALIA 37.3433 n EU 59.2425 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0756

Source: BSP (March 29, 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, March 30, 2019

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STANDOFF OVER BREXIT Continued from a1

option apart from the prime minister’s deal that is really a viable option for the future.”

DUP Opposition

INDEED, May’s desperate gamble seemed at first to be working, as several pro-Brexit Conservatives—including Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith—told colleagues they would support her divorce agreement, according to people familiar with the matter.

But the Democratic Unionist Party, the small Northern Ireland group that props up May’s minority government, issued a statement saying it will oppose the deal if it’s put to another vote in Parliament. It’s almost impos-

sible for May to get it through without them.

Adding to her woes, influential Brexit cheerleader Jacob Rees-Mogg, who earlier in the week appeared to be wavering toward supporting her deal, told ITV he’d be guided by how the DUP votes. Even if her deal fails, she’s promised her colleagues she will resign.

“I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party,” May told a packed meeting of Conservative MPs inside one of Parliament’s oak-paneled rooms. “I ask everyone in this room to back the deal so we can complete our historic duty—to deliver on the decision of the British people and leave the

European Union with a smooth and orderly exit.”

According to people in the room, an emotional May made her pledge in an attempt to persuade Tories to vote for her agreement before it’s too late.

The EU has set Britain a deadline of Friday to ratify the divorce agreement, so the country can then leave the bloc on the laterthan-planned date of May 22.

Long delay

IF May can’t get her deal through a vote in the House of Commons

by Friday, the UK will be forced to choose between a potentially long delay to its departure—including an unpalatable participation in European elections— and falling out of the EU without

a deal on April 12.

A no-deal Brexit threatens the kind of economic crash that would hit the pound, disrupt trade and trigger a major slump in house prices, according to official analysis. That suggests the most likely outcome would be a long extension to the negotiations, potentially lasting more than a year, during which time pro-Brexit campaigners increasingly fear their dream of leaving the EU could be brought to a halt.

After Parliament seized control of proceedings from the government to hold a series of votes on different Brexit Plan B models, the result was one that many had predicted: the politicians rejected all options.

The closest any of them came to winning a majority was a proposal to keep the UK in a customs union with the EU, which lost 272 votes to 264. A plan to submit any Brexit deal to a confirmatory referendum secured the most support—268 MPs voted for it.

Both of these proposals secured more support than the 242 lawmakers who voted for May’s deal the last time around. But in a further complication, both were rejected by huge majorities in the Conservative Party. Only two options were supported by a majority of Tories. The most popular one was to leave without a deal.

The votes suggested that unless May can get her deal

through, any other route to a parliamentary majority will be opposed by a majority of Conservative MPs, making it unacceptable to a Tory prime minister.

It also suggests that the race to succeed May will see candidates trimming for a harder Brexit in order to win Tory votes.

The winner will then have to find a way to square that with a Parliament that wants a softer departure.

The House of Commons is slated to hold another round of voting on Plan B options, to narrow the choices down further.

But in the long term, asking voters to force a change, either through another referendum or another election, looks an increasingly likely course.

Data gaps imperil PHL’s reputation as one of top banana growers Continued from a1

South Korea and China at 9 percent each, Iran at 7 percent and Japan at 4 percent, respectively,” he added.

Analysis by the CFA showed the discrepancies in volume between the export data reported by the Philippines and the import figures by its trade partners reached 714,314 metric tons in 2013 and 1.129 million MT in 2014.

In 2015 and 2016, contractions in shipments were observed due to El Niño, but the difference in trade figures were still huge, according to Dy. CFA observed -894,693 MT and -645,698 MT volume discrepancies in cavendish banana trade in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

In 2017, the volume reported by the Philippines was 342,005 MT higher than the import volume disclosed by the top 5 markets.

“The dry spell may explain the 64.6-percent export drop in 2015

versus the previous year, and a further slip of 7.9 percent in 2016,” Dy said.

“Nevertheless, it does not explain the huge difference between the country’s exports vis-à-vis the imports reported by its key market destinations,” he added.

Dy and the CFA made the analysis as a response to a BusinessMirror story reporting that the Philippines has reclaimed its position as the second-largest exporter of bananas last year, based on the report of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Data used by UN Trade Map and the FAO are the figures submitted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its preliminary market review report, the FAO estimated that Philippine banana exports last year expanded by 77.34 percent to an all-time high of 2.95 MMT, from a recorded volume of 1.663 MMT in 2017.

Stability

DY said the country’s cavendish export data did not show any stability compared to the import volumes reported by its top five trade partners.

In 2014, the country’s total cavendish shipments reached nearly 4 MMT from 3.267 MMT recorded in 2013, before it suddenly plunged to 1.409 MMT and 1.521 MMT in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The volume suddenly recovered to 2.919 MMT in 2017.

“The pattern on the volume imported by the top 5 countries showed stability, while ours did not. Ours was erratic,” he said.

“For example, the imports reported by Japan was contracting, indicating that we are losing some market share to Ecuador and other competitors, but the decline is not that drastic compared to what our data is showing. The difference between our data should not be that

big,” he added.

Mismatch

FURTHERMORE, Dy pointed out that there seems to be a “measurement problem” with the country’s banana production that results in overestimation.

Based on the cross-checking conducted by CFA between the government’s production and trade data, Dy explained that over 1.2 MMT of the total cavendish banana produced is “missing.”

Data from the PSA showed the country produced some 4.836 MMT of cavendish bananas in 2017 －of which 2.919 MMT is being exported abroad.

The difference between the two is about 1.917 MMT with almost 500,000 MT to 725,000 MT being consumed locally, Dy explained.

“Our domestic consumption of cavendish banana is roughly 10 to 15 percent, because we are more consumers of saba and lakatan,” he said. “So, that shows that there is a measuring problem or errors in measurement.”

“Something is really wrong.

Our production data mismatches with our trade volume. It’s either the area planted or the yield is being overstated－I think our yield is being overestimated,” he said.

In 2017, the Philippines produced 9.166 MMT of bananas, with 52.8 percent of which being of cavendish variety, PSA data showed.

Total area planted with bananas in the same year was estimated at 446,763 hectares with about 88,009.60 hectares dedicated to producing cavendish.

These data from the PSA would show that the country is producing 55 MT of cavendish per hectare or about 4,070 boxes, which is far

from reality, according to Dy. Small-scale farmers can only produce about 3,000 boxes per hectare and only big farms are capable of producing over 4,000 boxes per hectare, he pointed out.

Implications

DUE to these data discrepancies and measurement problems, the government’s policy-making, particularly on the banana industry, could be compromised, Dy warned.

“We have an overstatement of production. It may be covering our production problems in reality,” he said.

“The conclusions made by policy-makers based on our data could be wrong. The government could make certain pronouncements that are wrong because the basis is shaky,” he added.

Furthermore, overestimation of supply could affect the country’s image as a global producer as the volume being indicated by our data sets are not available in reality, Dy said.

“This concerns our image with our trade-partners. We are projecting to them that we have a lot of supply but in reality we do not have,” he said.

“If we are producing 4.8 million tons of cavendish banana then our exports should be way higher than what is being shown by the data now. But in reality, our market share in cavendish exports is being taken away by Ecuador and Guatemala,” he added.

PSA defense

A PSA official said a possible reason for the trade data discrepancy would be “the different reported description of goods at the exporting country and at the importing

country [declared at the document].”

“Also, volume of the goods when dispatched from the port of loading may be different from the reported volume received at the port of unloading. Our data are based on all documents that pass through BOC [Bureau of Customs] at all ports in the country,” the official, who was not authorized to speak, told the BusinessMirror.

“Other reasons may be time lag of reporting from one country to another. Also, different valuation procedures followed by BOC and the traders,” the official added.

Nonetheless, the official admitted that “mirror statistics in trade data are usually a problem.”

In a separate statement sent to the BusinessMirror, the PSA said the data on banana production, hectarage and yield are being collected on a quarterly basis from small and big farms. Thus: “In the province, predetermined five topproducing municipalities, then five farmer producers for small farms and five from large farm if any,” Rosalinda P. Bautista, PSA OIC-National Statistician, said in an SMS. “Weighted Percent changes are computed and applied to estimates of last year,” Bautista added.

Data provided by the PSA to the BusinessMirror showed the country’s cavendish banana exports in 2018 reached 2.662 MMT, which was 253 percent over the 753,767.109 MT recorded in 2017.

PSA data showed that the country’s cavendish exports to the top 5 market (excluding Hong Kong) reached 2.318 MMT, compared to the 629,844.630 MT recorded in 2017.

News BusinessMirror

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Families of five OFWs in Nlex mishap get DOLE cash, livelihood assistance

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HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday extended financial assistance to the families of five overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who perished in a vehicular accident last week.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III met with the relatives of the OFWs, who were among the 13 passengers of the van, which lost control at the North Luzon Expressway (NLex) last Saturday, when it blew a tire.

In a news conference, the labor chief personally facilitated the release of the P200,000 worth of financial aid from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to each of the family of the deceased OFWs. OWWA Administrator Hans J. Cacdac said they will also provide the victims with livelihood assistance and scholarship to their children.

The beneficiaries also got a separate financial aid as well as insurance claims from the recruitment agencies of their deceased loved ones, the First Personnel Service Inc. and Sir Prince Global Manpower Service Inc. Josefina Flores, the mother of Mila Flores, one of the OFW fatalities, thanked DOLE and the recruitment agencies for giving them assistance.

She said she will use the amount to realize Mila’s dream of completing the construction of their new home and for the completion of her children’s schooling.

Bello said the eight other OFW passengers of the van, who suffered varying degrees of injuries, will be entitled to the livelihood and scholarship program of OWWA. The 13 OFWs were headed for the Clark International Airport in Pampanga to take a flight bound for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 23.

The driver of the van is currently facing multiple charges because of the incident.

Samuel P. Medenilla

Saturday, March 30, 2019

A3

Bet on Philippine boom pays off for this top-performing manager

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T’S a bet on infrastructure and property stocks that has helped propel a Philippine fund to the top.

And signs that President Duterte’s public-works program is taking off are poised to help it further.

That’s the view of Julian Tarrobago, head of equity at ATR Asset Management Inc., which has P125 billion ($2.4 billion) under management. His Alpha Opportunity Fund has returned 11 percent this year, the most among Philippine equity funds, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

That’s double the advance in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index and compares with gains of about 6 percent for other securities tracking the nation’s shares such as the BDO Equity Fund or UCPB Equity Fund.

“We are finally on the cusp of an infrastructure boom,” said Tarrobago, 45, who says his market experience goes back to 1995.

“Unlike in the past, when it was

just a story and theoretical, projects are now materializing. This could be one of our strongest periods given the strong GDP, strengthening corporate earnings and falling inflation.”

Mr. Duterte’s economic managers say the Philippines will enter a “golden age” of infrastructure as the government and private companies boost public works—a new Manila underground railway system and Makati subway are among the projects that have already started. To help sustain economic growth of at least 6 percent annually, the President wants the country to increase such spending to P9 trillion through 2022, compared with P2.27 trillion under his predecessor.

Infrastructure and property shares account for almost half of the Alpha Opportunity Fund

The Philippine infrastructure story isn’t a PowerPoint presentation anymore. These projects will unlock property values, create jobs, boost tourism and boost consumer spending. The challenge is to identify those that will gain most from these changes.”—Tarrobago

now, up from 43.6 percent six months ago. Tarrobago, backed by a team of four analysts, accumulated the stocks in anticipation of what he calls a “massive upside.” The Central Bank’s pronouncement that it’s waiting for the right time to cut bank reserve requirements only bolsters his conviction.

Tarrobago makes his picks based on companies’ potential.

He chooses smaller firms that aren’t popular with the market yet and have good growth prospects. EEI Corp. and Megawide Construction Corp., which gained more than 13 percent each this year, are among his favorite builders, while Robinsons Land Corp.

and DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc., up at least 20 percent each, are some of his top property holdings. Except for Robinsons, few analysts follow these stocks, and they don’t belong to the nation’s benchmark equity index. “ The Philippine infrastructure story isn’t a PowerPoint presentation anymore,” Tarrobago said, referring to the languishing public-private partnership program before Duterte’s presidency. “These projects will unlock property values, create jobs, boost tourism and boost consumer spending. The challenge is to identify those that will gain most from these changes.”

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

A4 Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

26 Philippine companies to exhibit in Mihas 2019

By Raison D. Arobinto

Senior Trade-Industry Development Specialist (STIDS) Halal Section, DTI-EMB

F

OLLOWING the successful participation of 24 Philippine companies to the Malaysian International Halal Showcase (Mihas) last year, the Philippines hopes to surpass its 2018 record with 26 participating companies with Halalcertified products this year.

Last year, the Philippine participant-companies realized negotiated sales of $10.4 million. The Department of Trade and Infustry (DTI), which spearheads the event, hopes to surpass that figure this year.

Mihas is an annual four-day gathering of local and international stakeholders of the whole global halal industry with an average trade visitor of more than 20,000 from across the globe. This year, Mihas will take place at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur from April 3 to 6.

The Philippines has registered a continuous growth of actual and negotiated sales since its participation in 2016. Participating Philippine companies presented halal food and nonfood products, and had representation also from the investments and tourism sectors.

“The Philippine government is developing and promoting the country as a significant player in the global halal ecosystem. By our continued presence in Mihas, we are informing the world that the Philippines is

ready to take on a bigger role in the halal industry. This, in turn, would increase our exports of halal products and services, as well as create more jobs for our countrymen, including our Muslim brothers and sisters,” said Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, who is also the chairman of the Halal Export Board.

Among the halal food to be exhibited in the Philippine pavilion are product variations of coconut, banana, coffee, mango and tuna, which are included the country’s “Premium 7” food exports. Also included in the showcase are mangosteen, turmeric, cassava, pickled cucumber, polvoron and marine products.

The 19 Philippine food companies joining are Fruits of Life Inc.; Greenlife Coconut Product Philippines Inc.; Castillejos Agri-Farms Inc.; Alter Trade Corp.; MFP Home of Quality Products; Mira’s Turmeric Products; B&C Healthy Snack Foods Inc.; EJT Food Products; Magic Melt Foods Inc.; Gee’s Agri Coco Products; General Nutrifoods Philippines Inc.; Cassava Growers and Processors Association; Baker’s Field Enterprises; RK Trading and Services; Herbio Agrinature Processing Center; Permex Producer and Exporter Corp.; Ahya Coco Organic Food Manufacturing Corp.; Carm Foods Enterprise Inc.; and Aliments Makkhan Bistro and Café.

The seven cosmetic and tourism players are Psalmtre Enterprises Inc.; C&H Cosmetics Industry; Starlder Laboratories Inc.; Asian Halal Centre (ZamboEcoZone); Bloomers Travel and Tours and Universe Islamic Cen-

Discovering the Russian market

By Maria Jaena P. Go-Aco

Special Trade Industry Development Specialist, DTI-EMB

EXPORT READY!

R

USSIA, the largest country in the world in terms of land mass, is the 12thlargest economy in the world with a nominal gross nominal product of $4.02 trillion.

ter; Wellness Care Int’l Corp.; and Central Affirmative Co. Inc. The Philippine delegation is spearheaded by the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau in collaboration with the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem), and in partnership with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Kuala Lumpur, Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism Region 12, and DTI Regional Offices 9 and 12.

“Our annual participation has been part of the Philippine government’s efforts to put the country on the map in the global halal ecosystem under our banner program for the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion” said Undersecretary Abdugani M. Macatoman, head of the Philippine delegation this year, during the Mihas 2019 predeparture meeting of the Philippine delegation held at the DTI-International Building, Makati City, on March 18, 2019.

“This is our way of supporting the Philippines’s small and medium and large processors/suppliers in taking advantage of the growing global demand for halal products through Mihas, where we expect buyers not only from Malaysia but the rest of the participating countries all over the world” he added.

For the investments side, the PTIC in Kuala Lumpur and the Asian Halal Centre (ZamboEcoZone) are leading this segment with the tourism sectors such as the Bloomers Travel and Tours, and Universe Islamic Center with Ali-

ments Makkan Bistro promoting the Philippine halal tourism.

Apart from the trade-related agenda, the Philippine is likewise promoting halal investments and tourism sectors, especially that the Philippines will be hosting the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) this year where significant number of Muslim spectators, guests and visitors are expected who most likely would require halal products and services.

As of this writing, preparations for the SEA Games are going on and, as a support, the conduct of the second Philippine National Halal Conference will have segments dedicated for this purpose.

The second Philippine National Halal Conference is a DTI-led major activity for halal this year. A followthrough of the first conference held last year in Davao, the event will once again gather around 400 global and local major players in the halal industry, including Philippine MSMEs, exporters and would-be-exporters with halal-certified products and services, halal Export Board member-agencies such as the Departments of Tourism, Health, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, and Science and Technology, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Mindnao Development Authority, and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, DTI Regional Operations Group, local and international or foreign investors, Philippine Halal Certification Bodies, Muslim Religious Leaders, Tourism sector, domestic consumers, academic community and other stakeholders.

The Eurasian Economic Union single market of Russia, Belarus, a nd K a z a k hst a n A r men i a a nd Kyrgyzstan increase this consumer base to over 170 million more wherein Russia is the lead country.

The visit of President Duterte in May 2017 to Russia paved the way to vast opportunities for increased economic cooperation, political security, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. To move things forward, the Department of Trade and Industry forged and signed a Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, and discussed various areas of cooperation in trade and investments, agriculture, industry, energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, transport, tourism, science and nuclear technology, labor and higher education.

The Department of Agriculture, likewise, convened the very first Philippines-Russia Joint Working Group Meeting on Agricultural Cooperation. With this meeting three Philippine fishery companies were

accredited by the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance and can now export canned tuna to Russia.

Together, the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Moscow and the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau with the DA’s Agribusiness and Marketing Service are currently organizing Philippine participation in the World Food Moscow in September 2019 at Crocus Expo Exhibition Center in Moscow. This outbound businessmatching mission (OBMM) with trade-fair participation aims to enable Filipino exporters to promote their products and meet buyers face to face. Exporters will also have the opportunity to learn and experience the intensity of business in the Russian market through market-sensing activities.

Other activities of the OBMM include meetings with major business chambers, associations and importers in Russia.

It is now time to explore opportunities and do business in Russia.

Earth Hour EARTH HOUR 2019 BusinessMirror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, March 30, 2019

A5

PROMOTING PLASTIC-FREE PHILIPPINES

By Trisha Jean V. De Leon

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ARLIER this month, news about a Cuvier’s beaked whale that spewed blood before it eventually died circulated worldwide.

This sad story is close to home, especially since this marine mammal was recovered from the east of Davao City.

But that isn’t the only thing that shocked the world. It was later discovered that this gentle giant had ingested almost 88 pounds of plastic waste.

With the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines’s #AyokoNgPlastik movement, Filipinos are encouraged to ditch their old habit of patronizing single-use plastics and switch to eco-friendlier alternatives. This campaign was also launched just right on time for the 12th Earth Hour today, March 30.

WWF Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Joel Palma reiterated the significance of collaborative effort to achieve a long-term solution to this environmental problem.

“The Philippines is the third major polluter of oceans in the world, and we Filipinos must unite and create concrete steps to stop this worsening situation,” Palma said.

The heart of the Earth Hour 2019

AS a mega diverse country, Philippines is home to 52,177 described species, of which more than half is found nowhere else in the world. The sad truth, however, is we do so little to protect our environment from man-driven activities, which threaten the whole ecosystem.

For instance, overexploitation and deforestation remain unsolved, despite the laws and ordinances that are supposed to address these issues. These man-driven activities have caused the pool of flora and fauna to dwindle.

According to the Biodiversity Management Bureau, 42 terrestrial mammals, 29 reptiles and 14 amphibians are endangered. In 2017 984 species of wild flora were considered threatened species.

Following last year’s theme #Connect2Earth, the Earth Hour 2019 calls for the urgent need to care for our planet’s biological diversity, viable resource link that we can all rely on today and in the future.

“The last decade of [the] Earth Hour has contributed so much to the global climate agenda and has paved the way for many conservation wins”, said Attorney Gia Ibay, WWF Philippines head of climate and energy program and Earth Hour Pilipinas national director.

Walking down memory lane, #Connect2Earth was first launched in 2019, wherein 17,900 landmarks and monuments in over 180 countries and territories switched off their lights to show support to this good cause. Both #EarthHour and #Connect2Earth also trended in 33 countries and received over 3.5 billion impressions worldwide.

During the kickoff event of Earth Hour 2019, the Boy Scout of the Philippines inked a memorandum of agreement with WWF Philippines to further strengthen their commitment to the cause. National Ambassadors Rovilson Fernandez and Iza Calzado, as well as National Youth Ambassador Janine Gutierrez, also renewed their contract to promote conservation of natural assets.

Main switch-off event

JOIN WWF Philippines at the Globe Circuit Event Grounds in Makati City today from 5 pm to 10 p.m. for the Earth Hour 2019 event.

The actual switch-off, however, will start from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Everyone from all over the Philippines is encouraged to turn off nonessential lights in solidarity, with millions around the world who will do the same.

To harness the power of social media, use the hashtags #Connect2Earth, #EarthHourPH2019, and #AyokoNgPlastik when posting your stories and photos. These hashtags are meant to promote sustainable living actions and plastic-free lifestyle.

You may also visit www.earthhour.org to stay updated and join facebook.com/ groups/ayokongplastik to engage in conversations about plastic.

Earth Hour through the years

IN the past climate conversations had been confined to policymakers and science experts. When the Earth Hour movement first emerged in Sydney, Australia’s busiest city, approximately 2.2 million individuals, businesses and organizations showed their support. From then on, climate change has become a mainstream

For our shared futures

By Alo Lantin

I

N the year 2020 our world leaders will be coming together for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

So what has become of our planet?

Just recently a whale washed up on the shores of Compostela Valley with 40 kilograms of plastic in its stomach. Across the country, crops have failed and farmers have suffered with smaller and smaller yields, and temperatures continue to rise, drying our dams and leaving our taps and water pipes running empty. Elsewhere, the Philippines has faced stronger and stronger storms, cutting their way across the country like never before.

A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that global temperatures were bound to increase by at least 1.5 degrees by the year 2050, with catastrophic implications for the planet. That same report said an increase of 2.0 degrees by 2050 may be seen as well.

With it would come ice-free summers in the Arctic and a 170-percent increase in floods. Simultaneous problems of rising sea levels and severe drought will leave as many as 49 million people inundated and 410 million urban dwellers without a stable supply of water. Almost all coral reefs will be gone by the year 2100, with fishery resources expected to disappear as well. With failing crops and flaring temperatures, the IPCC does not predict a good future for the planet—and this is only with a twodegree change in temperature.

With alarm bells ringing on all sides, the threat of our degrading planet seems clear as day. In fact, they have been ringing for years already and, yet, it seems we aren’t doing enough.

What can we do in these desperate times?

A People’s movement

ON March 31, 2007, the people of Sydney, Australia, switched off their lights at the same time. A total of over 2.2 million people flipped their switches in a sign of commitment to the conservation of our planet. That same day next year, cities all across the globe decided to join that commitment. Lights went off in the halls of great landmarks and the streets of city centers all over the world as Earth Hour grew into an international phenomenon. From the streets of Sydney that one day, in 2007, it has grown to encompass over 7,000 cities in more than 180 countries across the globe.

As years go by the conversation evolves.

Where before Earth Hour was a push against climate change, it has grown into a movement for biodiversity and for species conservation, an avenue to push for the security of our natural resources. In the Philippines the Earth Hour 2019 sheds a light

on the threat of plastic pollution, a major threat to biodiversity and the latest environmental crisis to catch the attention of the public.

“With 8 million tons of plastic entering our oceans every year, it’s impossible to ignore the problem. This year we’re asking people to recognize and confront the threat of single-use plastics, so we can work toward a future where there are no plastics in nature,” WWF Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Joel Palma said.

A decade of commitments to the planet has turned the Earth Hour into the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment.

Conversations grow and evolve in line with the latest, greatest threats to nature, and the movement has remained timely and progressive all throughout.

Beyond the hour

THE Earth Hour has since grown to become a force far beyond those sixty minutes of darkness every March. In Kazakhstan 17 million trees were planted in honor of the hour; in French Polynesia public protest under the banner of Earth Hour led to 5-million hectares of ocean being classified as a managed marine area; in Peru a No Plastic law was passed in the capital of Quito, in honor of the movement—and so the movement goes on across the planet.

The year 2009 saw men and women take to the streets in a march on COP 15, the first time the public took up the reigns in fighting for the planet. Crowds have gathered since then, lending their voices for the sake of environmental action.

What happened a decade ago seems poised to happen again as clamour rises for increased climate action coming out of COP 26.

Early this year an audience of over 30,000 children poured out into a public park in Sydney,

almost twelve years since the first Earth Hour.

Xander De Vries, a 20 year-old and a youth himself, took to the stage and spoke. “It’s our time to rise up,” he said, speaking to the future generation. “We don’t have a lot of time left.”

A time to act

THE gravity of today’s most pressing environmental concerns weigh down on us heavier than ever before. The signs of dramatic change are all around, and it is tempting to sit in silence and ignore what is happening or, otherwise, to stare at our news screens and despair at what is to come. We could stop and give up—or we could do something about what’s happening.

“We only have a little over a decade to keep things from spiraling out of control,” reminds WWF Philippines Climate and Energy Head and Earth Hour Pilipinas national director lawyer Gia Ibay, citing the findings of the latest IPCC report on the state of our world’s climate. Rather, it appears to be the trajectory of our planet, considering current trends and status quo.

Despite the bad news that continues to pour in, people across the world continue to come together for the sake of planet earth. Campaigns continue to push for green and transformative policies while projects and individual actions continue to protect our damaged and critical natural resources. Our impact on the planet remains clear, but people remain optimistic.

With world leaders set to meet and with public pressure stronger than ever, we have found ourselves in a critical time in the protection of our planet.

The Earth Hour might just be that little push we need to bring the whole world together for the sake of our shared futures.

issue while the Earth Hour has transformed into the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment.

Every year new countries and territories around the world take part in WWF’s Earth Hour. Even the International Space Station rallied behind this movement to show the impact of climate change on our planet.

In 2013 citizens of Uganda united to create the world’s first Earth Hour forest. This is a significant

move, especially considering how deforestation has become one of the biggest environmental problems in the country.

One year later the Unesco World Heritage site of the Galapagos Islands became the first province in Ecuador to ban plastic bags and other disposable packages.

How we can turn things around?

WHILE WWF Philippines campaigns

for a plastic-free living for this year’s Earth Hour, it’s also the perfect time for Filipinos to step up and commit to this change. It’s true that shifting to an environmentally friendly lifestyle is tough at this age, but one step toward a plastic-free nation will make a huge difference.

As said by Alo Lantin, WWF Philippines communications officer, we could stop and give up—or we could do something about what’s happening.

A6 Saturday, March 30, 2019 | Editor: Mike Besa

Story & photos

by Mike Besa

THE Callaway Epic Flash and Epic Flash Sub Zero are the hot drivers for 2019.

The Most Compelling Driver of 2019

T

HE driver wars are always the most heated in the golf industry and 2019 has produced a bumper crop of big sticks.

Given the sophistication of the available technology, the drivers of 2019 are the best that the industry has ever seen. Not only is the most advanced science used to design and build the heads, but the most exotic shafts are now available, nearly across the board, from every company.

We’ve said it before and today, and it rings truer than ever—There are no bad drivers, just bad fits. Everybody is a winner. In the battle of the ad campaigns however, this year, Callaway wins. By a mile.

Consider the Flash Face.

TO gain an upper hand in a very hotly contested market, Callaway has gone all-in with technology. They acquired a super computer to design their golf clubs using artificial intelligence. This makes them the only manufacturer of golf clubs and possibly the only company outside of the aerospace or tech industries to employ this technology.

The benefits of using such technology come in the form of rapid prototyping.

Callaway claims that the super computer went through 15,000 iterations of the clubface before settling on the one that is seeing production. To put that into perspective, a team of engineers at Callaway currently works with seven prototypes before settling on one to produce.

Mind-boggling.

BETTER still, the strange looking clubface is uniquely matched to each clubhead. The faces differ from model to model, they are optimized to work with that clubhead and that clubhead alone. They will be ineffective in another. The Epic Flash is that driver and it’s available in standard and Subzero versions, as with original Epic and Rogue (which will continue to exist alongside Epic Flash).

Beyond the revolutionary clubface, the computer optimized Callaway’s other signature technologies work in concert with the Flash Face for greatest effect. Jailbreak is back as with Epic 1.0 but slimmer and lighter.

With that the new carbon crown saves just enough weight to give the Epic Flash Subzero

a sliding weight track just like standard Epic Flash. The fitting benefits are considerable.

When making the investment in a new driver, one is best advised to leverage adjustability to better fit the club to your swing. It is what makes a good driver a great one. Callaway’s adjustable hosel allows you to adjust loft, face and lie angles to that end.

The stock shafts are Project X Evenflow Green made especially for Callaway, the Hzrdus Smoke and Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei Blue are available in weights from 50-70 grams. Apart from the Evenflow Green, these are the real deal; the same shafts the pros play. It’s a good selection and will fit a wide range of golfers. If none of these shafts is to your liking, then there are another 16 tour quality shafts that you can special order without an upcharge.

The head looks a lot like the old FT series drivers at address. Epic Flash is slightly longer from face to skirt, while the Epic Flash Subzero sports a more classic shape. Expect them to play differently from their Rogue counterparts; if you’re looking at these be sure to get a thorough fitting.

The cosmetics are going to polarize golfers who will either love it or hate it. The original green didn’t get the best response from golfers the world over and the addition of yellow to the scheme isn’t going to make a huge difference. But if you’re prepared to wait for that custom, no-upcharge shaft, you might consider a special paint scheme for

your Epic Flash driver courtesy of Callaway’s custom department. The “black out” scheme is particularly fetching.

As the Epic Flash driver hit world markets, its capabilities have impressed the YouTube golf equipment vloggers, as well as the golfers who got the drivers ahead of us. My Golf Spy, a notoriously independent site in the United States known for its comprehensive, consumer biased, product testing procedures named the Epic Flash Subzero its Most Wanted Driver for 2019.

The Epic Flash Subzero ranked first in strokes gained, second for carry and total distance, and had the highest fairways hit percentage in the tests. There is substance to the hype.

All the local distributors have launch monitors to dial in their drivers for you but only Transview Golf has a Foresght GC Quad.

This device is unique in the world of launch monitors in that its four cameras are able to not only capture actual ball and clubface data (as opposed to data arrived at through the use of algorithms). This assures the fitting is as accurate as possible.

The one downside to all the new premium drivers has been the price. The Epic Flash twins are retailing at $550 on the world market and the local price will reflect that when they arrive in local proshops in a few weeks’ time. But Callaway isn’t the only one charging premium prices. The cost of manufacturing these ultralight, extremely complicated heads is considerable, and that cost, unfortunately, must be borne by us.

Are the performance gains going to be worth it? Join us as we find out in April.

Mike Besa

THE Callaway Flash Face

INGAS COGON is perhaps one of the most insidious personality traits of the Filipino. It virtually guarantees the eventual failure of any endeavor. We start out with grand plans and full of bluster, but things flame out quickly and little, if anything, is accomplished.

Golf course maintenance is a tough nut to crack. The care and feeding of a golf course can be insanely expensive. Especially if the membership demands and can afford a course of PGA Tour quality. Things become even more expensive when there’s remedial work involved.

Therefore, when an unprofitable golf course falls into disrepair, rehabilitation is seldom possible without a massive infusion of cash.

Many cannot afford it given the meager revenues and eventually become unplayable.

There are more golf courses than we care to consider that are currently in this predicament, and it is sad to think that given the competitive disadvantage created by the courses’ unfavorable condition, these golf courses may soon cease operations altogether.

The Riviera Golf and Country Club was once in that position. If anything, their situation was particularly dire as the club was being run into the ground. There was little money being spent on the course’s upkeep and allegations of impropriety were thick. The magnificent golf courses fell into near unplayability, members stayed away and, in many instances, stopped paying their monthly dues in protest.

When we visited Riviera last year, the club had just turned the corner. New management was in place and the turn-around had begun. The courses had begun to recover, but there was much left to do. The task that faced the club was considerable as were the funds required. Tasks were prioritized and the rest has been history. There were no secrets, but given the club’s recent past, a premium was put on hard work and integrity.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

The Riviera today is in full resurgence mode.

The golf courses continue to improve, and work continues on all fronts; rehabilitation where necessary and proper maintenance everywhere else.

The club’s good work hasn’t gone unnoticed either.

Members that stayed away have begun to trickle back and new members are being inducted quite regularly. Given the regularity and volume of tourist traffic augmenting now healthy collections from monthly dues, the club has returned to profitability.

The banks have noticed and have reopened the clubs credit lines. New mowers, golf carts and other equipment vital to operations have been acquired and will enable the club to do more in less time. The club has begun to turn its attention to the clubhouse and is planning its restoration.

Beyond the economic gains, the club stands to benefit from the opening of the 47-kilometerlong Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calaex) that will connect the South Luzon Expressway (Slex) to the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex). The new artery will have an off ramp at the Riviera’s doorstep, improving the club’s (and others in the area) prospects immensely.

It only made sense for me to make the Riviera my home club.

Beyond its geographical desirability, the two golf courses at the Riviera are among the best

FIGHTIN RIVIERA GOE

in the country. If the club’s numerous awards will show, the Langer Course especially, that it is high on the shortlist of the country’s best golf courses. It is certainly one of the most difficult.

Although its an acquired taste, I love the challenge of the Langer. When you think you have this game figured out, the Langer is the one that will slap you back to reality. It’s a puzzle, a tough one at that, but one that is infinitely satisfying when you get it right. I’ve shot close to par and failed to

How to look and feel like a Tour Pro

I

By David MacKenzie

N this article, I’d like to show you a couple of easy ways to increase confidence before and during your rounds to maximize your chances of great performance.

Many of the students I work with, benefit from “acting as if” they are the player they want to be. When we do this, it can help us feel more confident and exhibit more of the behaviors of that particular player. All the players I work with know what contributes to them getting into their “optimal performance state” and one of these things is powerful body language.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BODY LANGUAGE

STRONG body language should always be a goal for your rounds. The studies show that powerful body language (and facial expressions) change the chemicals in your body, with more endorphins and testosterone being produced leading to more confidence. The opposite happens with poor posture and body language, with stress hormones and lower levels of those “feel good” chemicals, leading to less confidence.

In addition to strong body language, it’s important that you feel good about what you are wearing. You only have to watch the world’s best players to see that they all take the colors and style of the clothes they wear seriously. Wearing

clothes that look good and fit well, can make you feel like a Tour pro (and “act as if”).

THE LITTLE THINGS ADD UP TO BIG THINGS

YOUR performance on the golf course is the culmination of many small things and I believe that feeling good about your clothing is one of them. Looking good on the course might sound like I’m encouraging you to care more what others think of you, but this is more about how you feel and expressing your own

break 90 in succeeding games. Emotions here are seldom on even keel; you’ll explore both thresholds of the spectrum on the Langer’s fairways.

The Langer Course is alternately long and wide, open or short and exceedingly tight. The long holes will take their toll on the shorter hitters, but it is the short holes that are the most dangerous. The greens are all exceedingly difficult and most require local knowledge to figure out. The is the most difficult golf course of modern design in the country.

personality.

Looking good doesn’t necessarily mean you have to break the bank but investing in some quality golf clothing with long-life potential will go a long way in making you look good and feel more confident. Let’s make 2019 a season where you always feel good about what you are wearing on the golf course and feel more like the player you want to become.

n David MacKenzie is a mental coach and the founder of Golf State of Mind. He currently works with golfers on the PGA Tour, Web.com Tour, European Tour, Challenge Tour, LPGA and LET, along with many elite juniors and amateur golfers of all levels.

www.pinoygolfer.com | Saturday, March 30, 2019 A7

NG THE GOOD FIGHT ES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH THE 17th hole on the Couples course

THE 15th green is a miniscule target given the hole’s length.

Everyone talks about the six-hundredsomething-yard par 5 fifth hole, but the short par 4 sixth is every bit as dangerous at little more than half the length. The 11th is the other short, devilish par 4. Don’t let the wide fairway fool you. You need to find a comfortable yardage into the green.

Miss the approach shot, and your score could be embarrassing.

The signature 17th is a pretty hole but isn’t overly difficult unless the wind is howling. Don’t let it lull you into a false sense of security; the final hole is so difficult that it’s almost unfair. You need four nearperfect shots to make par.

It is brutal, but it is playable. You can shoot a personal best one day then fail to break 90 the next. It’s an enigma, a Rubik’s Cube of a golf course that will push and prod you to play your best. If you can find a level of comfort here, you can play anywhere.

The stretch of 14 through 16 is my favorite on the golf course; the holes offer serene settings that mask the enormity of the task at hand. If there’s a word that best describes this golf course, it’s relentless.

The Couples Course is a very nice contrast to the Langer. Like Couples, the course is laid back but is no pushover. From the tips, the locals say the Couples can

be as difficult as its German neighbor. But played from the forward tees, it is a pleasure.

The Couples occupies a more inland piece of the property. The Langer plays along the cliffside and across a stream, challenging the golfer at every turn. The Couples gives the golfer more room and a completely different ambience. It feels more relaxed in every aspect.

Couples was renown for his prowess with the driver, but he was also a consummate iron player and his golf course reflects it. The contours on some of the greens are quite severe, making it imperative to find the correct portion of the green with the approach shot.

But of course, if you’re accustomed to the Langer Course, this isn’t a problem.

My favorite stretch of holes is 12 through 15. It mimics a course on the garden isles of Hawaii. It’s as good as a quartet of holes as you’ll find anywhere in the country. I have a special affinity for 13 and 15, a pair of strong, very beautiful par fours.

I’m one of those freaks that really enjoys practicing, and to be honest, this is where the club could use the most help. The range is adequate but the short game areas fall short on variety. The new practice green at the driving range and the expanded practice green on the Couples should help address this

shortcoming when they come online.

Tough golf courses produce great players.

Riviera has two notable contributions to professional golf. Wang Jeung-hun, known to many as James, was a fixture on the Riviera Federation team. There was little doubt that he was destined for greatness. He turned professional in 2016 after winning the Philippine Amateur.

He was a regular on the Langer Course where he worked on his game tirelessly. Wang is now a three-time winner on the European Tour.

He was followed by Kim Joo-hyung, Tom to his friends. Tom has been a Philippine resident since his early teens. He speaks excellent English and swings a mean stick. After a stellar amateur career, he turned professional and now ranks 11th on the Asian Development Tour’s Order of Merit. The Riviera played a huge role in the development of both golfers.

In pure golfing terms, Riviera lacks nothing.

The tough, intervening years have set the club back, but current management has been determined to set that right and continues to fight the good fight. We can only hope that they get as much time as they need to restore the club to where it can live up to its billing as one of the best golf clubs in Philippine golf.

A coming-out party for Chinese Golf

W

HEN Zhang Lianwei lifted his first Asian Tour title in 1996 to deliver China’s first significant victory in golf, Li Haotong was one-year-old while Dou Zecheng wasn’t even born, yet.

For almost two decades, Zhang, now 53, singlehandedly blazed a trail on the international front for Chinese golf where his accomplishments include becoming the first player from the Middle Kingdom to win a European Tour tournament.

Zhang’s only setback was not getting onto the PGA TOUR, the pinnacle of the professional game but his swashbuckling brand of golf and inspiring backstory certainly paved the way for the generation after him to not only follow in his footsteps but shoot for the stars.

“I want to bring Chinese golf to the world,” said Zhang previously. “A lot of people don’t know about Chinese golfers, so I want to play in tournaments around the world to promote our cause.”

These days, the likes of Li, 23, and Dou,

22, are carrying China’s torch proudly around the world along with several other young guns emerging onto the scene. As products of the PGA TOUR Series-China, the dynamic duo is slowly but surely establishing themselves with eye-catching performances to underscore their prospects that would please Zhang mightily.

The tenacious Dou, along with Zhang Xinjun, became the first two Chinese golfers to qualify and play on the PGA TOUR in 2018, thanks largely to a pathway created by the PGA TOUR Series-China and Web.com Tour. Li, the inaugural PGA TOUR SeriesChina Order of Merit winner in 2014, has since won twice on the European Tour and hopes to become the third Chinese to find his way onto the PGA TOUR, albeit via a different route.

There is a Chinese proverb which calls on those in the present to “Consider the past and you shall know the future” which the new generation of golfers like Li and Dou have fully embraced as they seek to drive Chinese golf forward with their tenacity and talent.

Admittedly, Dou, the PGA TOUR Series-China No. 1 in 2016 following four victories, and Zhang Xinjun struggled in their PGA TOUR rookie season in 2017 but both have quickly enhanced their prospects of a quick return with flying starts on the Web.com Tour this season.

At the first event of the year, Dou brilliantly sank three closing birdies, including a clutch 50-foot monster at the last hole at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, to claim his second career victory on the Web.com Tour and put himself in prime position for another promotion onto the PGA TOUR in 2020.

Zhang, meanwhile, finished runner-up at the Panama Championship to signal his intent.

Dou conceded he took his PGA TOUR privilege lightly. “After I got my card, I started to let myself go,” said the young Chinese, who missed the cut or withdrew in 19 of his 23 starts on the PGA TOUR in 2018.

“From my time on the PGA TOUR Series-China and winning the Order of Merit and getting my card

THE clubhouse at the Riviera Golf and Country Club

LI HAOTONG, Dou Zecheng and Zhang Lianwei GETTY IMAGES

in my first year on the Web.com Tour, I thought I was good. After losing my [PGA Tour] card, I lost myself. I got to the point where I wondered if golf was for me anymore.”

Dou’s work with New Swing Coach Cameron McCormick, the man behind Jordan Spieth’s rise in the game, and a renewed fitness regime have seen him bear early season fruit. At the end of last year, he also underwent corrective laser eye surgery which he says improved his ability to read putting lines better, especially the longer putts like the one holed in Bahamas. Dou is convinced he can excel at a second crack on the PGA TOUR. “I’m going to be better prepared. The first time, you don’t have much time to make improvements. We don’t live here, and we need to figure out a lot of things,” he said.

Li, ranked 38th in the world (as of March 11, 2019), is eyeing a PGA TOUR card through the FedExCup Season Points List for NonMembers. He finished T19 at the World Golf Championships- Mexico Championship in February and with a T11 at the WGC-HSBC Champions on home soil counting toward the ranking as well, he is determined to make the

most of his opportunities.

“It’s a huge difference. On PGA TOUR, you feel like a king playing golf. It’s very big and exciting. It’s so organized and run so well. The European Tour also run well, but it is more like home, like family. They’re both really good but just different,” said Li. His credentials will be further tested when he returns for a second Masters Tournament appearance in April. He finished T32 in his debut a year ago where an opening 69 at Augusta National put him in T4 position and ensured he caught the attention of the golfing world, including Tiger Woods. “Li is now up there, and I think it’s only a matter of time before you have more professional players from China playing in this event,” said Woods, an 80-time PGA TOUR winner.

Li, who started learning the game due to his father’s influence, said: “I don’t want to waste any chance, any opportunity to get my PGA TOUR status. I just want to play solid and prepare for the new stage.”

Unlike the pioneering Zhang Lianwei, who was a javelin thrower before learning to play golf on his own accord in his early 20s, the likes

of Li and Dou now have the necessary support and technology to ensure they succeed on golf’s biggest stage.

The late Arnold Palmer, who designed and launched China’s first modern-day golf course at the Zhongshan Hotspring Golf Club, said in 2008 the mushrooming of golf courses across China would positively contribute toward the emergence of new Chinese golf stars.

“I think we are only seeing the beginning of what is going to happen in China and Asia. I think it is going to be tremendous. I know that when I built the golf course in China, that was it. And now there are hundreds of golf courses over in China, and that means millions of people there will have the opportunity to play golf,” said Palmer.

With three other Chinese golfers—Carl Yuan, Andy Zhang and Motin Yeung—holding Web.com Tour playing rights, the future for China golf looks bright-red indeed.

n Note: Chuah Choo Chiang is the senior director, Communications of the PGA Tour, and is based in Kuala Lumpur.

A8 Saturday, March 30, 2019

Sports BusinessMirror

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

‘Battle of Katipunan’ in UAAP volleyball A

TENEO collides with University of the Philippines (UP) in another one of the so-called Battle of Katipunan in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines Season 81 women’s volleyball on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Match is set at 4 p.m. with the league-leading Lady Eagles (7-1 won-lost) trying to repeat their straight-set first round win over the Lady Fighting Maroons (5-3).

Far Eastern University (5-3), on the other hand, hopes to join second-placers De La Salle University and University of Santo Tomas when it faces University of the East at 2 p.m.

With their season-opening loss to defending

champion De La Salle now a thing of the past, the Lady Eagles continued to pile up wins and stretched their streak to seven with a nail-biting 19-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-22, 15-11 escape against the Golden Tigresses last week.

Kat Tolentino unleashed 20 points off 16 spikes, two blocks and two aces, while Bea de Leon and Ponggay Gaston registered 11 and 10 points, respectively, against UST. UP, meanwhile, made short work of De La Salle, 2516, 26-24, 25-19, on Sunday in Antipolo City.

Tots Carlos had 13 points and added 11 digs as the Lady Fighting Maroons try to share second spot and break

PHL rugby body targets golden double in SEAG

a tie with the Lady Tamaraws.

UP Head Coach Godfrey Okumu said the Lady Maroons are full of potential and that they are capable of peaking at the right time.

“I still feel there’s more to come. We still can play better,” Okumu said.

Ateneo was just superb when it outlasted UP in the first round, 25-21, 25-15, 28-26, on March 10. Maddie Madayag led the Lady Eagles scored 14 points off eight attacks and six blocks.

T

KAT TOLENTINO shines for Ateneo in its first-round victory over University of the Philippines.

PAGUNSAN IN FULL CONTROL J

UVIC PAGUNSAN finally unleashed the kind of game expected from a player of his caliber as he shot a five-under 66 to storm to a whopping four-stroke lead over a late-charging Angelo Que in the third round of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Riviera Golf Challenge at the Langer on Friday in Silang, Cavite.

With the wind no longer as strong as in the first two rounds that sent the scores soaring and two of the fancied bets out of the title race, Pagunsan flaunted his superb shotmaking skills for crisp iron shots that set up a lot of birdie chances, four of which he drilled inside 10 feet at the front that put him away of halfway coleader and uncle Rey Pagunsan and the rest of his erstwhile pursuers.

He went five-under with another birdie on the 10th then rebounded from a third straight bogey on the par-three 12th with his sixth birdie on the next for a 31-35 card and a 54-hole total 208 as Asia’s former No. 1 moved 18 holes away from nailing his breakthrough win on the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) Asia.

“It was just fantastic. Everything was in place and the wind not as strong as in the first two days,” said Pagunsan, who nevertheless remained wary of Que’s threat to his title drive in the $100,000 event serving as the penultimate leg of the 10-stage second season of the region’s newest circuit put up by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. Four strokes off the pace after 36 holes, Que had earlier set the tone of the big guns’ assault on the par-71 layout with a 32, spiking his similar 66 with a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-five 10th off a superb 3-wood second shot from 247 yards.

“Finally, I regained my touch and got the feel of my game. I hit it pretty well and my iron and putting clicked,” said Que, also in pursuit of his first PGT Asia win after spending majority of the last few years on the lucrative Japan Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour.

But he remained four strokes back at 212 although the former Philippine Open champion assured an explosive final round showdown with his fellow Japan PGA Tour campaigner.

From what had been a wild first two rounds that saw at least 15 players get a crack at the lead in this event serving as prelude to next week’s Solaire Phl Open and last year’s winner and reigning PGT Order of Merit champion Jobim Carlos and former Order of Merot titlist Clyde Mondilla miss the cut, the title duel has been virtually reduced to the two local aces with the next four laying nine strokes behind at 217.

Jerson Balasabas, the reigning Philippine Masters champion, shot a 69, Rico Depilo and Elmer Salvador carded identical 70s and Lexus Keoninh of the US hobbled with a 74 with Singapore’s Gregory Foo, Korean Hwang Myung Chal and Thai Sutijet Kooratanapisan pooling similar 218s after a 70, 72 and 73, respectively.

PGT Asia Summit Point titlist Joenard Rates matched par 71 to lead the 219 scorers, who included Englishman George Twyman, who shot a 74, and PGT Aboitiz Invitational winner Damien Jordan of Australia and Macedonia’s Peter Stojanovski, who both turned in 75s.

Worse was Rey Pagunsan, who kept his spot on top with a 70 and 72 but ended the third round with seven bogeys and three double bogeys with no birdie to show in a horrible 84 for a 226 in the event backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT, Empire Golf and Sports and MY Shokai Technology Inc., expected to be a survival of the fittest.

“I threw it all away but I’m still proud that a Pagunsan remains the leader,” the former national team mainstay said.

CHAN

GABASA

Chan, Gabasa head PHL Jr amateur cast

A

JUVIC PAGUNSAN is on course to victory. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

IDRIC CHAN and Junia Gabasa gear up for a fierce duel with the rest of the best while a mix of young, promising players seek to grab the spotlight in the Philippine Junior Amateur Open Golf Championship set from April 2 to 5 at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Trece Martires, Cavite.

Chan, who has posted a number of low amateur honors in the country’s pro circuit, goes all out for one title in his final year in the junior ranks as he faces a slew of young but talented rivals, led by Sean Ramos and Josh Jorge, in the centerpiece Albatross (15-18) division of the stroke play competition serving as leg of the PLDT Group National Amateur Tour.

Ramos, 15, claimed two victories last year, ruling the Cangolf Am Open in wire-to-wire fashion then nipping the 16-year-old Jorge, a former winner of the Veritas World Junior Golf International in California, for the National Golf Association of the Philippines’s Northern Luzon Regional plum at Beverly Place in Pampanga.

Others tipped to vie for the crown in the event, sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, PLDT Group, Cignal and Metro Pacific, are Carl Corpus, Paolo Wong, Joaquin Barro, Joaquin Gomez and Jacob Rolida, both 17, David Guangko, Rald

CHAMP BELINGON MOTIVATED

BY FAMILY AND BROTHERHOOD

B

ANTAMWEIGHT world champion Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon is one of the most ferocious forces of nature inside the ONE Championship cage.

The way Belingon operates at breakneck speed and with an undeniable tenacity, it’s unique and produces incredible highlight-reel performances. To be able to do the things he does, however, takes a lot of hard work and dedication.

More important, it takes the right amount of motivation.

The 32-year-old Filipino firebrand said that every morning, he gets a big boost of self-confidence from the people closest to him.

“I start the day with my family,” Belingon said.

“I think that’s the best way to start any day. I want to

spend as much time as I can with them before heading off to training. Breakfast in the mornings is something that I look forward to every day because it means I can be with my family early,” he added.

After fueling up at home in anticipation of a long day of training ahead, Belingon heads over to the Team Lakay gym which is situated a good 30 minutes away from Baguio City center.

There he spends time with his other family, his brothers-in-arms at the renowned Team Lakay.

There, he works on honing his skills, sharpening the tools he will take into battle in his next bout.

“I proceed to meet the team and undergo various training sessions like cardio training, endurance training, strength and conditioning exercises—anything that will

HE Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU) is eyeing to score a double gold medal conquest in the 30th Southeast Asian Games which the country is hosting later this year.

International tournaments have been lined up for both the men’s and women’s teams leading to the SEA Games this November 30 to December 11 in hopes of completing a first ever two-gold medal haul in the sport.

The men’s team alone will compete in four tournaments before the biennial meet, including the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers in Incheon, South Korea, in November.

“In terms of our preparations, both the men and women’s teams are preparing to the best of their abilities. The more access we have on international exposure, the better our programs will be,” Philippine rugby team manager Jake Letts told the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum earlier this week at the Amelie Hotel Manila.

PRFU President Rick Santos, also chairman and founder of Santos Knight Frank, as well as national team members Lito Ramirez, Evan Spargo, and Sylvia Tudoc also graced the session presented by San Miguel Corp., Tapa King and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

The Philippine Volcanoes last won the SEA Games gold in 2015, while the Lady Volcanoes’ highest podium finish was a bronze medal also won in the same 2015 edition of the meet.

Spargo said the men’s side is raring to regain back the gold, especially with the country hosting the event for the first time since 2005.

“Rest assured that we will have the best team in the SEA Games,” he said.

Letts mentioned Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as the top contenders for the gold. The Malaysians are the defending men’s champion, while the Thais are the reigning titleholder in the distaff side.

“By no means will it be an easy ride to any medal. We’re expecting the best from Thailand, the best from Singapore, the best from Malaysia. But in return, we also expect the best from our athletes, from our coaches, from our managers. We’re definitely a competitive nation,” said the PRFU manager.

Sarmiento and Joachim Yu, all 15, and Riggs Illescas, Masaichi Otake and Pierre Ticzon and Koreans Kim Sang Jin, Kwon Tae Yon and Lee Sang Min. Gabasa, on the other hand, shoots for a follow-up to her W Express RVP Cup romp last February against Kristine Fleetwood, Sophia Blanco, Isabela Tee, Kayla Nocum, Rafaela Singsoin and Korean Kang Da Yun in the girls’ premier side of the event that features seven other categories as part of the National Golf Association of the Philippines’s grassroots program.

Kristoffer Arevalo and Wiggan Tapdasan banner the field in the Ace division (19-and-above) while the likes of Leandro Bagtas, Miguel Castañeda, Zachary Castro, Jet Hernandez, Miguel Ilas, Emeric Loza, Miguel Roque, Rico See and Korean Rho Hyun Ho are set to dispute the Eagle title in the 12-14 age bracket.

Eagle Ace Superal, Laurea Duque, Jessica Ignacio, Rianne Malixi and Koreans Jeong Yeah Eun and Kwon Min Seo lead the girls roster in the Eagle division along with Alexi Blanco, Annyka Cayabyab, Samantha Dizon and Arnie Taguines.

Also on tap is the Birdie category (11 and below), led

by Joshua de Guzman, Marc Nadales, Bhuvas Nagpal and Shinichi Suzuki (boys) and Celine Abalos, Nicole Gan, Jessica Ignacio, Stevie Umali and Precious Zaragosa (girls). make us physically and mentally stronger. It all helps in preparing us for our matches,” Belingon said.

“We typically go for a break in the afternoon and then resume our training in the evening. The evening sessions are reserved for skills polishing. This is where we learn new techniques to add to our game. After training, we all head back to our homes to spend time with our families again. The next day, we repeat. This is the daily grind.”

Belingon is scheduled to defend his crown against former titleholder Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes in one of three comain events to be held at ONE: A New Era on Sunday at the iconic Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Belingon is dedicating the bout to both of his families in what will be the most significant challenge of his career thus far.

“I know what’s at stake her. I know the tough challenge ahead. But with the strength from the people I love, I can conquer any mountain. I’m working extremely hard so that I can get the win in Japan,” Belingon said.“I want my family to be proud of me.”

Petronas backs Langkawi tour as title sponsor

A KEVIN BELINGON: With the strength from the people I love, I can conquer any mountain.

L BERHAD (Petronas) has officially joined the Le Tour de Langkawi as title sponsor for the next three years—beginning with the 2019 edition that gets under way next week.

The Malaysian oil and gas company was unveiled as title sponsor of the race in a sponsorship ceremony led by Minister of Youth and Sports YB Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman in Langkawi on Thursday.

Petronas’s involvement as exclusive title sponsor will stretch until 2021. The sponsorship will be in the

form of cash and kind.

The eight-stage International Cycling Union 2.0 HC race, which covers a total distance of 1,234.4 kms over nine states in the west coast of the Peninsula, will start off with a grand opening stage in the heart of Kuala Lumpur with the iconic Petronas Twin Towers as background on April 6. The tour ends with a penultimate round-island challenge and the finale on April 12 and 13.

Petronas has been Le Tour de Langkawi’s longtime partner since 1997, and has contributed immensely to

the successful organization of past editions.

It has been instrumental in nation-building and continues to be the flag bearer for Malaysia in the international arena through various platforms and has gone beyond racetracks in motorsports.

Petronas’s long-term involvement in race ensures vehicles and cars used to transport teams, riders, officials, media, cavalcade, police escorts and race staff, are adequately fueled throughout the eight-day journey.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

BusinessMirror

Saturday, March 30, 2019 A9

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THE cast of No Sleep No FOMO during the show’s launch in Singapore

PHOTO: VIU

FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR INTERNET INSTALLER

Can you survive for 60 hours without sleep?

PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

T

EN celebrities and social-media influencers are the stars of No Sleep No FOMO, a travel show that tested their endurance and ability to go without sleep for 60 hours without coffee. The program airs on Viu and is hosted by Singaporean celebrity Paul Foster, who is the perfect choice because he is adventurous and seems to be the type to try anything at least once. As the host, Foster accompanied all the stars in each episode of No Sleep No FOMO. He was the only person who did 420 hours across the whole series.

In each episode, Foster and his guest cohost or cohosts are dropped into a city with a list of 60 FOMO missions to discover new adventures, explore interesting locations, experience local delicacies within 60 hours with no sleep and nonstop fun.

The show also features Kim Jong-kook of the popular variety show Running Man (South Korea), singer-songwriter Eric Nam (South Korea), Hana Tam (Hong Kong), former U-KISS members Kevin Woo and Alexander Lee Eusebio (South Korea), Benjamin Kheng (Singapore), Nat Ho (Singapore), Laureen Uy (Philippines) and Taya Rogers (Thailand).

The show, which airs exclusively on Viu, was filmed in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Thailand. No Sleep No FOMO is Viu Original’s first production. It has a new interactive element that allows viewers to engage directly with the show and its cast members. Dubbed “Viu Engage,” the element gave social-media followers and audience the opportunity to cocreate segments in the show.

Fans were able to follow and watch No Sleep No FOMO come to life through dedicated hashtags #ViuNoSleepNoFomo and #ViuEngage.

Eric Nam, for instance, went to Malaysia and Singapore. He crashed a wedding, did stand-up comedy and went on a scavenger hunt at Mustafa Centre in Singapore.

“There was so much food,” said the singer, recalling the time he went into a food coma after he tried to eat a burger with 10 patties.

Alexander Lee Eusebio went to the Philippines with Foster for some cliff-diving and skinny-dipping.

Here’s the thing—he can’t swim.

“I can never imagine that. My manager would think I’m crazy for doing that. My manager looked at me and said ‘Are you sure? Really?’ That was crazy.”

They also ate balut (fertilized duck egg), with Foster getting the short end of the stick as his was already a mature duck fetus while Eusebio got one with a relatively young fetus.

For Eusebio, now on his last semester as a university student in Seoul, going to the Philippines was a homecoming of sorts as he has worked here before. “But I haven’t been around, like to Boracay and Palawan, and I’d like to be back.”

Hana Tam went to Indonesia and this was one of

the few times that she traveled without an assistant, an experience that was quite liberating for her.

Her memorable experience? Going inside a haunted house.

“So scary and this is so real, just like someone was walking by and stopped the camera,” said Tam. Benjamin Kheng recalls being so drunk in Switzerland that he passed out. What he remembers is crying when a wine bottle broke in his bag, soaking his camera when he ran through snow and dropped the bag.

Laureen Uy and Nat Ho, went to Korea, where they got to talk to a prince (the grandson of Korea’s last emperor), wear hanbok and try penis worms.

Dressed in hanbok, Uy and Ho also tried the rail bike. It was so cold that Ho told Uy her sneakers wouldn’t do so she bought some boots. Ho, on the other hand, discovered that the blogger was an expert at posing for photographs and finding good angles.

Kim Jong-kook, along with Kevin Woo, are in the Hong Kong episode. Kim, who only spent 10 hours in Hong Kong, got to try snake soup, which had a good taste he liked.

It was Foster who went through all the countries and challenges with them.

Uy and Ho recalled how Foster was with them every step of the way.

“He’s naturally very energetic so during the entire show, he helped me,” said Uy. “He is always so enthusiastic about everything that it’s hard not to get caught up in that, as well,” said Ho. New episodes of No Sleep No FOMO will be available on Viu every Friday, 8 pm, in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Myanmar. ■

Cloud-based Internet access offered to various biz sectors in PHL

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor RUCKUS Networks launched its cloud-managed enterprise Wi-Fi solution in the Philippines and the rest of Asia Pacific to cater to education, retail, corporate, logistics and hospitality industries.

Called Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi, it enables network administrators to handle several locations via a single Web- or mobile app-based dashboard.

“As organizations in the Asia Pacific region undergo digital transformation, reliable and high-performance Wi-Fi are a must to accelerate growth and improve operational efficiencies,” said Kho Teck Meng, regional sales director, Asean, for Ruckus Networks.

This solution helps lean information-technology (IT) staff at schools, retail, professional services, warehouses, and hotels easily deploy and manage a

multisite network while delivering connectivity for students, guests and customers.

Moreover, it allows organizations reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO) by matching cloud efficiency with high-performance access points (APs) that serve more users over a wider area.

Short videos show its new features. It has a network to auto-update and remain secure, informing them via text messages and push notifications through a mobile app of any outages.

Simple and easy to scale, Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi allows businesses of all sizes to install and remotely manage Wi-Fi networks across different sites.

With a single interface to create new Wi-Fi networks, add access points, and monitor network performance and activity, the solution lets administrators to manage from anywhere using an intuitive, Web-based interface or the Ruckus Cloud mobile app.

“By using the same enterprise-grade technology present in all of our installations, customers now have access to a combination of simplicity and performance that wasn’t previously available. We look forward to helping our partners across the region drive greater value for their customers with a solution that is easy to deploy and manage,” said Meng.

Of the many software-as-service offerings of Ruckus Network, an ARRIS company, it is the first foundational service that the company will deliver soon here and in other countries in the region.

“Built on the latest microservices-based architecture, Ruckus Cloud is highly scalable, secure and API-driven to enable innovative applications to be delivered to Ruckus technology partners. This will bring more value to our customers and partners, and differentiate the solution in the market,” said Phal Nanda, business leader and senior director, PLM, for the Ruckus Cloud platform.

YOU decide to change your provider, or perhaps have an Internet connection installed in your new apartment. One way to go would be to call an installer and quietly wait in the kitchen for the work to be done. But you can also turn this time to your advantage and ask a few questions to help you figure out how to manage your home network and achieve a secure connection.

Global cyber-security company Kaspersky Lab (www. kaspersky.com) is recommending that you ask the following questions directly to someone who knows a thing or two about your specific connection.

1. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY INTERNET SERVICE GETS DISCONNECTED? If you suddenly go offline, the easiest thing to do is to call tech support. But you probably want to avoid listening to the “your call is very important to us” chant for 20 minutes at a time, especially when the first thing the call center people will do is suggest a few actions that require no professional assistance to accomplish, and which you can learn just as well from the installer who is connecting you this very minute. Most of the time, completing the basic steps by yourself will get you reconnected. But even if it doesn’t, at least you will know that your call time has not been spent for nothing.

2. HOW DO I MAKE MY WI-FI INACCESSIBLE TO OUTSIDERS? Wi-Fi uses radio waves that cannot be contained by walls, so your network will be visible not just to the gadgets in your own home, but also to anyone within a few dozen meters of the router, including in any shared rooms or adjacent floors. Even if you have an unlimited plan and don’t mind sharing traffic, remember that people can use your network to compromise the devices connected to it.

So if your neighbor’s child downloads some malware while using your Wi-Fi connection, the infection may hit not just his own PC, but also your router, computer, smartphone, and everything else on your network.

And if that kid happens to be an aspiring cyber criminal, he may even get hold of your files, browse your personal photos or delete some important documents. A shady neighbor may use your Wi-Fi network (and your IP address) to watch illegal porn or download extremist materials—which at the very least could lead to a difficult conversation with a law enforcement officer. The bottom line is, there’s a bunch of very good reasons to secure your line so that as few outsiders as possible can use your Wi-Fi. 3. HOW DO I CHANGE MY NETWORK CREDENTIALS AND ROUTER PASSWORD? In many cases, your initial network login and password are generated by the provider either before or during setup. These often are either the same for all users or follow a simple enough algorithm: for example, your apartment number for your login and your phone number for your password. In such cases, anyone can easily fit a key to your network—from your freeloading Internet-addicted neighbor to an inveterate criminal. And though the former may not cause much damage, the latter can steal everything you transmit over Wi-Fi, such as your credit card details.

Your router has a password of its own, too. If you know it, you can reconfigure and control the device. This password is set up at the factory, and many manufacturers provide only a few passwords for an entire production batch. Criminalminded individuals will easily learn them, crack your router, and turn it into a zombie bot, or, again, use it to intercept data.

The best policy would be to change all default passwords the moment you have the opportunity. If you have trouble remembering new combinations, try a password manager to help you out.

4. HOW DO I UPDATE ROUTER FIRMWARE? A router is much like a computer in some ways. It has an operating system, too, albeit rather a special one. It is called firmware.

Sooner or later, every piece of firmware will exhibit vulnerabilities that can be used to hack the device. Experts often identify them before they can be used by criminals.

After that, router manufacturers release firmware updates to patch the holes. If you neglect these updates, you enable criminals to make your LAN their playground, even if you use the most reliable of passwords to protect it.

So, ask your installer how to update the router firmware. If your router gets so old that no firmware updates are released anymore, you might want to replace it. If hacked, the obsolete device could cost you a pretty penny in damages.

5. DOES MY WI-FI USE WPA OR WEP? AND HOW DO I MAKE SURE IT IS WPA2? WEP, WPA, and WPA2 are the security standards for Wi-Fi connections: WEP is the oldest and least reliable, WPA is newer, and WPA2 is even more recent and more robust. If your network uses WEP, you have a problem, because it is very easy to crack. It is best to replace it with WPA2. Ask your installer where and how to change the setting.

One last thing: Do not rely on your memory alone. Things you don’t use every day are easily forgotten. Write down or otherwise record your installer’s instructions, and photograph the right settings and wiring configurations. And do share tips and photos with your loved ones if you feel that the advice you get from the pro is not enough on how to make your local network more secure.

A10 Saturday, March 30, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Facebook le�t millions of passwords readable by employees

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY & FRANK BAJAK The Associated Press

Apple wins 1, loses 1 in battle over iPhone technology SAN FRANCISCO—A mind-bending battle over some of the technology used in iPhones became even more muddled on Tuesday when a federal trade agency handed separate victories to the embittered foes, Apple and Qualcomm. On Tuesday, the US International Trade Commission issued two decisions within a few hours of each other.

In one, Administrative Law Judge MaryJoan McNamara recommended blocking some iPhones from being imported into the US after concluding Apple’s best-selling device infringed on technology owned by mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.

Then the full commission weighed in another case brought by Qualcomm, and overturned a ruling issued last September by another judge, Thomas Pender. Although Pender had concluded Apple’s iPhones had violated another patent owned by Qualcomm, the ITC decided instead that Qualcomm’s claim was invalid.

The full commission still has to review McNamara’s decision, too. If it sides with McNamara, it’s unclear whether it will also impose an import ban and, if so, which iPhone models would be affected.

The tangled developments are just the latest twist in a high-stakes dispute between Qualcomm and Apple over the rights to some of the technology that connects iPhones to the Internet.

Qualcomm applauded McNamara’s findings, while Apple cheered the commission for invalidating the other patent claim.

The battle between Qualcomm and Apple broke out more than two years ago after the US Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for allegedly using its portfolio of mobile technology patents to gouge smartphone makers and stifle competition in the chip market. A federal court judge in San Jose, California, is still mulling a decision in that case, two months after presiding over a trial.

Shortly after the FTC filed its case in 2017, Apple pounced with its own lawsuit accusing Qualcomm of trying to wring licensing fees for technology that it didn’t really invent. Apple subsequently stopped paying royalties to Qualcomm, further poisoning the two companies’ relationship.

Qualcomm prevailed in another round of skirmishing when a federal court jury in San Diego decided Apple should pay $31 million in damages for making several different types of iPhones that violated Qualcomm patents. The bout is scheduled to resume on April 15 at yet another federal court trial in San Diego. AP

SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook left hundreds of millions of user passwords readable by its employees for years, the company acknowledged on Thursday after a security researcher exposed the lapse.

By storing passwords in readable plain text, Facebook violated fundamental computer-security practices. Those call for organizations and web sites to save passwords in a scrambled form that makes it almost impossible to recover the original text.

“There is no valid reason why anyone in an organization, especially the size of Facebook, needs to have access to users’ passwords in plain text,” said cyber-security expert Andrei Barysevich of Recorded Future.

Facebook said there is no evidence its employees abused access to this data. But thousands of employees could have searched them. The company said the passwords were stored on internal company servers, where no outsiders could access them. Even so, some privacy experts suggested that users change their Facebook passwords.

The incident reveals yet another huge and basic oversight at a company that insists it is a responsible guardian for the personal data of its 2.3 billion users worldwide. The security blog KrebsOnSecurity said Facebook may have left the passwords of some 600 million Facebook users vulnerable. In a blog post, Facebook said it will likely notify “hundreds of millions” of Facebook Lite users, millions of Facebook users and tens of thousands of Instagram users that their passwords were stored in plain text.

Facebook Lite is a version designed for people with older phones or low-speed Internet connections. It is used primarily in developing countries.

Last week Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted a new “privacy-focused vision” for the social network that would emphasize private communication over public sharing. The company wants to encourage small groups of people to carry on encrypted conversations that neither Facebook nor any other outsider can read.

The fact that the company couldn’t manage to do something as simple as encrypting passwords, however, raises questions about its ability to manage more complex encryption issues—such in messaging—flawlessly.

Facebook said it discovered the problem in January. But security researcher Brian Krebs wrote that in some cases the passwords had been stored in plain text since 2012. Facebook Lite launched in 2015 and Facebook bought Instagram in 2012.

The problem, according to Facebook, wasn’t due to a single bug. During a routine review in January, it say, it found that the plain text passwords were unintentionally captured and stored in its internal storage systems. This happened in a variety of circumstances—for example, when an app crashed and the resulting crash log included a captured password.

But Alex Holden, the founder of Hold Security, said Facebook’s explanation is not an excuse for sloppy security practices that allowed so many passwords to be exposed internally.

FACEBOOK said on March 21 that it stored millions of its users’ passwords in plain text for years. The acknowledgement from the social-media giant came after a security researcher posted about the issue online. AP

Recorded Future’s Barysevich said he could not recall any major company caught leaving so many passwords exposed. He said he’s seen a number of instances where much smaller organizations made such information readily available—not just to programmers but also to customer support teams.

Security analyst Troy Hunt, who runs the “haveibeenpwned.com” data breach web site , said the situation may be embarrassing for Facebook but not dangerous unless an adversary gained access to the passwords. Facebook has had major breaches, most recently in September when attackers accessed some 29 million accounts.

Jake Williams, president of Rendition Infosec, said storing passwords in plain text is “unfortunately more common than most of the industry talks about” and tends to happen when developers are trying to rid a system of bugs.

He said the Facebook blog post suggests storing passwords in plain text may have been “a sanctioned practice,” although he said it’s also possible a “rogue development team” was to blame.

Hunt and Krebs both likened Facebook’s failure to similar stumbles last year on a far smaller scale at Twitter and GitHub; the latter is a site where developers store code and track projects. In those cases, software bugs were blamed for accidentally storing plaintext passwords in internal logs.

Facebook’s normal procedure for passwords is to store them encoded, the company noted on Thursday in its blog post.

That’s good to know, although Facebook engineers apparently added code that defeated the safeguard, said security researcher Rob Graham. “They have all the proper locks on the doors, but somebody left the window open,” he said. ■

Local firm launches IoT-based security alarm system

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES LOCAL security and safety devices provider MiGuard recently launched an Internet of Things (IoT)-based alarm system that seeks to cover the residential market. “After providing security systems to local government units, we decided to create a solution for the home. The result is wireless-based technology alarm system called MiGuard,” said Raeyan Basa, vice president for sales and marketing of MiGuard in an interview following the launch of the product in Pasay City.

Over 2,000 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) are deployed in Quezon City.

Basa said MiGuard’s IoT-based technology has

enabled the company to develop an affordable security system for many Filipinos. As a proactive device, he said a MiGuard security and safety device is capable of detecting crimes, emergencies and disasters in and around a home.

MiGuard’s catalog of life-saving devices include: MiGuard Console; Wireless HD IP Camera; Door and Window Sensors; PIR Motion Sensors; Smoke Detector; Gas Leak Detector; Water Leak Detector; Medical Button; and, SOS/Emergency Button.

Up to 100 of these devices can be wirelessly connected to and controlled by the MiGuardWiFi and GSM Console.

Technopedia defines IoT as “a computing concept that describes the idea of everyday physical objects

being connected to the Internet and being able to identify themselves to other devices.

The term is closely identified with RFID as the method of communication, although it also may include other sensor technologies, wireless technologies or QR codes.”

The MiGuard Console serves as the gateway for the wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and general packet radio services (GPRS) network and is linked to the MiGuard Mobile Application, the MiGuard Website, the MiGuard Telecommunications Network, and to the MiGuard 24/7 Command Center.

The MiGuard 24/7 Command Center maintains open lines to the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Fire and Protection, and public hospitals,

enabling MiGuard to respond quickly and send the appropriate emergency response team to the user’s home. The entire MiGuard Ecosystem can be easily accessed using a mobile phone through the MiGuard Application.

“It is actually the brains of the system that integrates the products and also alarms the camera.

For people who don’t think the homes do need an alarm security, this one is for them,” he said.

Subscription has a 24 x 7 command center that can monitor the alarms. Meanwhile, the command center can call the responders such as the police and other agencies if one of the alarms has been tripped. An in-house team of software personnel developed the software for the console system.

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Oprah, Spielberg help Apple launch new streaming service

BY JAKE COYLE | The Associated Press

N

EW YORK—Apple trotted out few details on its long-awaiting streaming service on Monday, but it didn’t skimp on highwattage celebrity.

Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Jennifer Aniston were part of a parade of A-listers who took the stage at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, where the main attractions are usually the company’s latest high-tech gadgets.

This time, though, it was the likes of Big Bird and Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa, who took the spotlight at Apple’s latest live-streamed product launch. “I’m joining forces with Apple,” declared Winfrey. “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all.”

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook gave what he called “a sneak peek” of the tech giant’s plans to transform television viewing and jump—some analysts say belatedly—into the streaming business Netflix has pioneered.

The service, dubbed Apple TV Plus, will debut in the fall in more than 100 countries and feature ad-free original series and films. Cook and Apple declined to say how much the nascent streaming service will cost.

It was unveiled as an extension of Apple’s redesigned TV app, which will bundle third-party services like HBO, CBS and Showtime, along with a user’s cable subscription and some streaming services like Hulu.

Netflix has said it won’t partake.

Much of both Hollywood and Silicon Valley had eagerly awaited details on Apple’s much-ballyhooed foray into original programming, something the company had been quietly prepping for the last few years—and laying aside at least $1 billion to do so. But it’s not the only company readying a rival to Netflix, which spent $12 billion on content last year. The Walt Disney Co. and AT&T’s WarnerMedia are both set to unveil their own platforms later this year.

Standing out from the pack will be a challenge for each. Disney’s streaming service, named Disney-Plus, even bears a plus-symbol just like Apple’s service.

“It’s not just another streaming service,” said Zack Van Amburg, who along with Jamie Erlicht was hired away from Sony TV to head Apple’s video programming. Cook didn’t map out how extensive Apple’s streaming library will be; it has about two dozen series and a handful of movies in the pipeline.

But he promised big ambitions. “We partnered with the most thoughtful, accomplished and awardwinning group of creative visionaries who have ever come together in one place, to create a new service unlike anything that’s been done before,” he said.

But what the presentation lacked in particulars it sought to make up for with star power and sizzle-reel teases of its upcoming slate. Some of the highlights:

■ OPRAH: Winfrey said she has two documentaries in the works for Apple TV Plus (one on mental health, one on the toll of sexual harassment in the workplace) and is planning “the most stimulating book club on the planet.” The TV personality, whose book club choices have made dozens of works into instant best sellers, said the Apple broadcast will include streamed conversations with authors. Winfrey already has her OWN network and O magazine where she still makes book picks, most recently Michelle Obama’s Becoming.

“I am proud to be a part of this platform where I can connect with people around the world to create positive change,” said Winfrey.

■ ‘AMAZING STORIES’: Executive produced by Steve Spielberg, Amazing Stories is a science-fiction anthology series the filmmaker is reviving. It first ran for two seasons from 1985-1987 on NBC. “We want to transport the audience with every single episode,” said Spielberg.

■ ‘THE MORNING SHOW’: Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell star in this series about the behind-the-scenes drama at a TV morning show.

Witherspoon said it will “pull back the curtain on men and women in the high-stakes battle of morning television.” It is, notably, Aniston’s first time back in television since Friends. “And I’m really excited about it,” she said.

■ ‘LITTLE AMERICA’: Kumail Nanjiani unveiled this anthology series based on true-life tales of immigrants or children of immigrants from across the country. “This is no such thing as the other,” said the comedian-actor-writer. “There is only us.”

■ ‘SEE’: This post-apocalyptic series stars Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard takes places centuries after a cataclysmic event where all of humanity has lost its sight.

Other shows in development include the thriller Defending Jacob, in which Chris Evans plays a father whose 14-year-old son is accused of murder; an untitled drama from M. Night Shyamalan; a series from La La Land director Damien Chazelle; a show about computer coding for preschoolers called Helpsters, with Big Bird; a drama series about youth basketball produced by Kevin Durant; Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson; and Little Voice, a show about a young musician produced by J. J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles, who performed the theme song on Monday.

Apple’s nascent movie aims were harder to discern on Monday. It previously entered into a partnership with A24, the indie label behind films like Moonlight and Lady Bird. Their first film together is to be On the Rocks, Sofia Coppola’s reunion with Lost in Translation star Bill Murray. He plays a larger-thanlife father reconnecting with his daughter, played by Rashida Jones. ■

GOOGLE, MCCLATCHY COLLABORATING ON LOCAL NEWS EXPERIMENT NEW YORK—Google and the McClatchy publishing company say they will work together on an experiment launching three digital-only outlets to provide local news in US communities that are currently news “deserts.”

Besides providing news to the three communities, which the companies haven’t named yet, the idea is to test business approaches that could revive local journalism. More than 1,800 US newspapers have closed over the past 15 years, most of them in small towns, according to a University of North Carolina study. Big-city newspapers also are suffering declines in staff and circulation.

Google will provide the money and won’t be involved in the newsrooms, said Craig Forman, McClatchy’s president and CEO. “Our objective at McClatchy is to explore new models for independent local news and information,” Forman said in a blog post on Tuesday. “Google’s objective is to test the business models and operational aspects necessary to succeed in local news. Ultimately, those findings may lead to Google expanding its tools and services to enable other companies to do similar work.”

Google said the project is part of its $300 million, three-year news initiative. Among the other ideas it is testing is an easy-to-use system allowing people to subscribe to various publications, with The Guardian

and the Washington Post among the participants.

There’s been a flurry of philanthropic and experimental efforts recently aimed at arresting the decline in the local news industry, although finding new business models has proven elusive.

Meanwhile, a study issued on Tuesday by the Pew Research Center further illustrated some of the problems facing the local news industry.

Pew found that only 14 percent of American adults said they had paid for local news within the past year, such as through a subscription, donation or membership. Asked why, half of the people questioned said there was free content available to them. That’s not surprising, because people told Pew that television and radio was the most-preferred source of local news. The idea that the local news industry is suffering hasn’t reached most of the potential customers. Pew found that 71 percent of Americans believe their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well financially.

“Certainly, any attempt by the industry to inform consumers about their financial challenges seems to have gone unheard,” said Amy Mitchell, Pew’s director of journalism research.

The study is based on a survey of nearly 35,000 adults on Pew’s American Trends Panel and Ipsos’s Knowledge Panel, taken between October 15 and November 8, 2018.

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APPLE CEO Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey embrace at the Steve Jobs Theater during an event to announce new Apple products on March 25 in Cupertino, California.

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Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

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Ups and downs from the P30 launch Facebook extends ban on hate speech to ‘white nationalists’

THE TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook is extending its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. The company previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists.

The social network said on Wednesday that it didn’t apply the ban previously to expressions of white nationalism because it linked such expressions with broader concepts of nationalism and separatism—such as American pride or Basque separatism (which are still allowed). But civil-rights groups and academics called this view “misguided” and have long pressured the company to change its stance.

Facebook said it concluded after months of “conversations” with them that white nationalism and separatism cannot be meaningfully separated from white supremacy and organized hate groups.

Critics have “raised these issues to the highest levels at Facebook [and held] a number of working meetings with their staff as we’ve tried to get them to the right place,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a Washington, D.C.-based legal advocacy group.

“This is long overdue as the country continues to deal with the grip of hate and the increase in violent white supremacy,” she said. “We need the tech sector to do its part to combat these efforts.”

Though Facebook said it has been working on the change for three months, it comes less than two weeks after Facebook received widespread criticism after the suspect in shootings at two New Zealand mosques that killed 49 people was able to broadcast the massacre on live video on Facebook.

As part of the change, people who search for terms associated with white supremacy will be directed to a group called Life After Hate, which was founded by former extremists who want to help people leave the violent far-right. Clarke called the idea that white supremacism is different than white nationalism or white separatism a misguided “distinction without a difference.”

She said the New Zealand attack was a “powerful reminder about why we need the tech sector to do more to stamp out the conduct and activity of violent white supremacists.”

■ The Associated Press Writer Michael Kunzelman in College Park, Maryland, contributed to this story.

D

EAR Huawei; If you are spending millions of dollars on a product launch (and flying journos from all over the world to Paris), you might want to spend some of those resources to try and keep things a little bit more secret.

As Evan Blass tweeted: “Not really even trying anymore are they? #P30.”

After weeks and weeks of endless leaks (even from Amazon!), Huawei’s supposed grand reveal became more like a formal presentation as everyone in the audience already knew what to expect from the new P30 series. Granted, there were still a few surprises, especially because of those live demos, but pretty much all the information about the P30, including the specs, were already out days before the Paris Convention Centre event. Like I said last week, for a company accused of spying, they kind of suck at keeping their own secrets. If you still have no idea what the “P” stands for, Huawei CEO Richard Yu’s presentation probably gave you a very clear idea. The Huawei P30 series builds on the P Series DNA in design and photography, and is the company’s most advanced series of smartphone cameras.

Now if you’ve never owned or tried a Huawei smartphone (but why?!?), you were probably blown away by the presentation and all those advancements they have made in their camera technology, but as a longtime Huawei user—since P8 B.L. (Before Leica)—does the P30 really #RewriteTheRules?

Instead of just listing the specs and features like everyone else, I have decided to do something a bit different. To borrow a line from my favorite Internet host Simon Miller (from WhatCulture Wrestling): “Time to up those downs” from Huawei’s P30 Paris presentation.

■ UP: THE NEW DXO KING. After almost a year, the Huawei P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro have been dethroned in the DXO ranking. Their successor achieving a record-high overall DxOMark score of 112 is, of course, the Huawei P30 Pro. This, thanks to its Leica Quad Camera System: a 40MP main camera with SuperSpectrum Sensor, a 20MP ultrawide-angle camera, an 8MP telephoto camera, plus a new Time of Flight Camera for depth sensing.

■ UP: LOW LIGHT MONSTER. The P30 Pro has the highest ISO in a smartphone camera with the P30 having an ISO value of 204,800 and the P30 Pro a whopping 409,600. This allows you to capture clear photos even in (almost) total darkness using handheld night mode. I don’t know about you but I don’t plan on capturing ghostly images anytime soon.

■ UP: IMPROVED VIDEO + DUAL VIDEO. The P30 promises a new era of studio-grade videography with its lowlight video capture AIS and OIS support stabilization for all

video capture settings. Another interesting addition is Huawei Dual-View Video, which lets you capture two perspectives of the same scene at the same time by using multiple cameras simultaneously. This provides you a full view of a scene while also capturing a closeup of a subject. Not sure how you’ll be able to save and edit it though.

■ UP: COLORS. Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Pearl White, Aurora—those colors are as gorgeous as they sound.

Huawei’s gradient finish is still the best out there and I’m praying to get the Amber Sunrise.

Now for the Downs: ■ DOWN: LOWER SCREEN RESOLUTION. The P30 Pro’s OLED display, despite being bigger, is significantly less sharp; with the 6.47-inch curved screen only 1080p compared to the Mate 20 Pro’s is 1440p. Will there be a noticeable difference?

■ DOWN: LESS SECURE FACE RECOGNITION. There’s a reason the Mate 20 Pro has a larger front notch, and that is for housing its 3D facial unlock tech. Since the P30 Pro only has a tiny teardrop notch, it doesn’t have that tech and could make Face ID even less secure. It also lacks a front earpiece entirely, as it uses its display to create something called “electromagnetic levitation,” a fancy way of saying the screen is used as a speaker. Will this have an effect on call quality?

■ DOWN: STALKER CAM. Richard Yu said “The Galaxy phone cannot see [the] galaxy but [with] the Huawei P30 Pro, you can see the galaxy, you can take [a] photo of the galaxy.”

Clap. Clap. Clap. The P30 Pro has this “periscope camera” that allows you to zoom 5x and 10x without loss in quality.

Pretty good when using it during concerts, but up to 50x zoom? Now that can be a little too creepy.

■ DOWN: DESIGN. Don’t get me wrong, the P30 looks amazing, but still also looks like the P20 and all the other Android phones with vertical camera setup. I actually prefer the Mate’s square setup or the Galaxy S10s horizontal cam placement which makes them easily recognizable, with or without a case.

■ DOWN: “CHINGLISH” PRESENTATION. I met Mr. Yu a few years back and he’s a very nice guy, but I really do think they need someone else to do some of the presentation for him. A lot of comments during the livestream were from people saying that it was quite hard to understand what he was saying.

■ DOWN: GENTLE MONSTER. OK, we get it. You’ve created smart glasses that look more fashionable than weird, and, yes, they do look cool. But the presentation about the company (do we really need to know about the concept behind the stores?) took way too long. People watching the livestream were begging for him to get off the stage because it was getting boring.

Again, these are just my initial thoughts on the Huawei P30 series based on what I saw in the livestream. We’ll have a full “real-world use” review once we get our hands on a review unit in the next few weeks.

FIVE REASONS TO GO WITH THE GALAXY S10 NOT too impressed with the Huawei P30 but still on the fence about upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy S10? Here are five reasons that might help you make the decision.

1. IT FEATURES THE WORLD’S FIRST DYNAMIC AMOLED DISPLAY. It’s the first screen certified for HDR10+ content.

Simply put, it provides for a more immersive mobile experience—sharper details, crisp resolution, brilliant colors

and overall stunning display. Together with the phone’s remarkable audio quality, Digital Trends describes the S10 Plus unit as “a movie theater that can fit in your pocket.”

2. IT HAS INTELLIGENT TRIPLE-LENS REAR CAMERAS. There’s a 12MP telephoto, a 12MP wide angle and a 16MP ultrawide camera—so you’re always camera-ready to capture life’s precious moments. The intelligent camera suggests image compositions and automatically adjusts your settings to the scene.

3. IT FEATURES A SEAMLESS AESTHETIC DESIGN, COMBINED WITH INNOVATIVE SENSORS. The new Samsung S10 handsets feature prismatic color ways, and the sleeker Infinity-O Display for an uninterrupted viewing experience.

Pushing the boundaries of mobile innovation, the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ screens also tout a built-in Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner so that only you can access your phone.

4. IT REMEMBERS YOUR MOBILE HABITS. The Intelligent Performance Enhancer takes mobile efficiency and intuition to a whole new level by optimizing the way you interact with your phone. It anticipates your needs by preloading the apps you frequently use, so no time and battery life is wasted.

5. IT IS AVAILABLE ON DATA-PACKED SMART GIGAX PLANS POWERED BY THE PHILIPPINES’S FASTEST LTE NETWORK. Maximize all of Samsung Galaxy S10’s advanced features on the country’s fastest LTE network (www.smart.com.ph/ Postpaid/galaxys10), as certified by renowned third-party analysts including Tutela, Ookla and OpenSignal. With Smart LTE, you can stream your favorite videos seamlessly, upload and download files in an instant, and share your stunning photos with friends and loved ones in no time.

#CONNECT2EARTH CHALLENGE

TIKTOK is supporting Earth Hour globally through campaigns in the Philippines and various countries including Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, with the aim of raising awareness on environmental protection.

The TikTok #Connect2Earth challenge in collaboration with Earth Hour aims to raise awareness on the important role of nature in everyday life and the benefits it provides, including food production, clean air and fresh water.

Born in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to become the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring individuals, communities, businesses and organizations in more than 180 countries and territories to take tangible environmental action for over a decade. This year, Earth Hour invites everyone across the world to show their solidarity toward planet Earth by turning off their lights for an hour on March 30 at 8:30 pm local time.

As part of supporting this global moment, TikTok has introduced special customized stickers which users can use in conjunction with Earth Hour. Many local influencers have used these stickers in their creative videos to promote the #Connect2Earth campaign. TikTok users will also be able to use the special Earth Hour stickers from March 26 by uploading their TikTok videos with the local hashtags. #Connect2Earth is TikTok’s second challenge supporting the environment. TikTok also launched the #DifferentWorld challenge in January in collaboration with popular DJ Alan Walker to launch his new single and debut studio album of the same title. The single sought to bring more awareness in caring for the environment. ■

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If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. ANA C. DIONE, CPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR

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If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. ANA C. DIONE, CPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR