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TREE OF THE GODS

DENR races to draft guidelines for commercial cultivation of rare, valuable Aquilaria timber species, source of precious agarwood.

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

DRAFT administrative order that may pave the way for the commercial propagation of the agarwood-producing Aquilaria tree species in the Philippines amid the pandemic is now being reviewed by a technical working group of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Central Office.

A FARM worker cuts off portions of an infected Aquilaria tree, revealing dark aromatic resins that would produce agar. DAPHANYC | DREAMSTIME.COM

Endangered species

COMMONLY called Lapnisan, Aquilaria tree species naturally occur in Southeast Asian and Asian countries and only one or two species are common to one or more countries.

In the Philippines, Aquilaria is an endangered species, which means it is in danger of being extinct, all because of the frenzied hunt for agarwood and its exotic fragrance.

The DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau is eyeing the establishment of agarwood farms starting with the commercial propagation of Aquilaria as a conservation measure, with hopes of preventing the illegal trade that targets Aquilaria tree species in the deep forests of the Visayas and

Mindanao.

“The draft guideline is still with the planning and technical working group undergoing review,” Atty. Theresa Tenazas, chief of the DENR’s Wildlife Resource Division, told the BusinessMirror.

Nevertheless, she said, interested parties may now apply for a wildlife collector’s permit (WCP) for the purpose of gathering Aquilaria trees, which they can propagate, perhaps as an incomegenerating venture amid pandemic economic difficulties. The prospect of the draft guidelines eventually getting the approval may happen soon.

Seeds and seedlings of Aquilaria are also now available on the market, as some countries have started commercial propagation of the unique tree species, it was learned.

“I think so. It will be approved, eventually. As a policy-making body, we recommended it. It is now in the planning and technical working group for further study,” says Tenazas.

JURATE BUIVIENE | DREAMSTIME.COM

Once it passes the crucial assessment, the draft administrative order will be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of the DENR for signing, finally putting in place guidelines for the establishment of commercial or backyard tree farms for the purpose of producing agarwood.

Listed under Apendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, trading of Aquilaria species is regulated and requires a specific permit to import and export.

Targeted commodity

BECAUSE it is expensive, agarwood is a target of illegal wildlife traders. The market for this rare wood product is not local but outside the country. “Buyers are from Continued on A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 47.8340

n JAPAN 0.4371 n UK 67.2307 n HK 6.1578 n CHINA 7.4111 n SINGAPORE 35.8764 n AUSTRALIA 36.9565 n EU 57.8026 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.7561

Source: BSP (May 14, 2021)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, May 16, 2021

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Wealthy nations once lauded as successes lag in vaccinations

By Nick Perry

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The Associated Press

ELLINGTON, New Zealand— Some wealthy nations that were most praised last year for controlling the coronavirus are now lagging far behind in getting their people vaccinated—and some, especially in Asia, are seeing Covid-19 cases grow.

In Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, the vaccination rates are languishing in the single figures. That is in sharp contrast to the US, where nearly half of all people have gotten at least one shot, and Britain and Israel, where rates are even higher.

Not only do those three Pacific countries rank worst among all developed nations in vaccinating against Covid-19, they also rank below many developing countries such as Brazil and India, according to national figures and the online scientific publication Our World in Data.

Australia, which isn’t providing a full breakdown of its vaccination numbers, is also performing comparatively poorly, as are several other places initially considered standout successes in battling the virus, including Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan.

That could change as vaccination campaigns gather pace and supplies loosen. But meanwhile, previously successful countries are being left exposed to the virus and face longer delays in reopening to the world.

Japan, for instance, has fully vaccinated only about 1 percent of its population and is facing a significant new outbreak just 10 weeks before it is to host the already delayed Olympic Games—although without spectators from abroad.

The government last week announced an extension of a state of emergency through the end of the month and confirmed more than 7,000 new cases on Saturday alone, the highest daily number since January.

The possible culprit

BUREAUCRACY has been part of the problem. Countries that faced

mounting death tolls from the virus often threw out the rulebook, rushing through emergency vaccine approvals and delaying second shots past the recommended timeline in order to maximize the number getting their first.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally negotiated with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to get early access to vaccines, and called in the military to get them in people’s arms. In the US, some groups handed out doughnuts, free drinks and even marijuana to get people to roll up their sleeves.

Japan went through a more traditional approval process that required an extra layer of clinical testing for vaccines that had already been tested elsewhere and were being widely used.

And once it did start getting shots, Japan faced a shortage of people to administer them. Under the conservative medical culture, people only trust doctors and nurses enough to do so.

Dentists are willing to help and are authorized, but have not been called upon. Getting shots from pharmacists at drug stores like in the US or from volunteers with no medical background other than a brief training like in Britain remains unthinkable in Japan.

New Zealand also went through its own approval process, finally giving a thumbs up to the Pfizer vaccine in February, two months after US regulators had approved it for emergency use.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins last year promised New Zealand would be “at the front of the queue” for vaccines. Now he says the issue is supply.

NEW Zealand Olympian shot putter Dame Valerie Adams reacts as she receives her Covid-19 vaccination in Auckland, New Zealand, on April 17, 2021. Some wealthy nations that were most praised last year for controlling the coronavirus are now lagging far behind in getting their people vaccinated—and some, especially in Asia, are seeing Covid-19 cases grow. BRETT PHIBBS/NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP

“We can’t move any faster than we can get the vaccines into the country,” Hipkins told The Associated Press.

Pfizer declined to discuss whether it could have supplied New Zealand any faster, referring questions back to the government.

Australia has faced its own set of issues. Its plans to use mainly Australian-made vaccines took a blow in December when development was halted on a promising candidate because it produced false-positive HIV results.

Then the European Union blocked a shipment of more than 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Australia in March, considering the EU’s needs greater. Australian regulators also switched from recommending the AstraZeneca vac-

cine to the Pfizer vaccine as their preferred option for people under age 50, slowing the rollout further.

In South Korea, government officials initially insisted on a waitand-see approach with vaccines, saying the country’s outbreak wasn’t as dire as in America or Europe.

Where to procure?

BUT as transmissions worsened in recent months, public pressure mounted and officials sped up their negotiations with drug companies.

Worried about possible shortages, South Korea’s Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and other officials began pointing fingers at measures taken by the US, Europe and India to tighten controls on vaccine exports to deal with large outbreaks at home.

TREE OF THE GODS

Collection, propagation

ONCE put in place, Tenazas said, the guidelines would allow the process for wildlife collectors’ permit application to start rolling.

“Once approved, those with a wildlife collector’s permit will need to have a wildlife culture permit for trees. That’s the counterpart of a wildlife farm permit,” Tenazas said.

Upon approval by the DENRBMB, applicants for wildlife culture permits can start the commercial propagation of Aquilaria trees.

“Right now, we are open for wildlife collector’s permit. They can apply anytime. The problem is

we still haven’t identified the areas where these trees can be found,” she said.

She said the DENR-BMB and the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) might need to conduct a survey to identify the areas where the collection can be allowed.

The conduct of mapping and surveying to identify the areas is also integrated into the draft guideline submitted by the DENR-BMB. “The DAO proposes limited collection depending on the population of agarwood in an area,” she said. “We still have to work with the FMB for the mapping of the location of agarwood,” she said.

Authorities have made several arrests against those who have been caught illegally transporting small quantities of agarwood.

While the agarwood the perpetrators collected is in small quantities, it is highly possible that they have already cut several trees to collect even just a kilo.

“It’s hits and misses. Not all Aquilaria they can find are agarwood. But they cut it down, nevertheless,” Demelletes said.

What is agarwood?

AGARWOOD, also called the “wood

“It’s much easier to commit yourself to something after you’ve seen it be used 100 million times,” she said.

And having the luxury of sticking to the three-week schedule for second doses of the Pfizer vaccine will likely result in more people getting those shots, she added. Those facing lengthy waits for second doses were more likely to lose interest or move on with their lives.

Petousis-Harris said that New Zealand and many other wealthy countries that were slow to get going will likely see their vaccination rates rise quickly in the coming months as their campaigns swing into high gear.

By next year, she said, it will likely once again be developing nations that are left behind.

loss, it was listed under Appendix II of CITES in 2004,” Calderon said.

“Agarwood is highly revered in Hinduism, Chinese folk religion and Islam,” Calderon, a forestry expert, said.

He believes that through commercial propagation, overharvesting can be avoided as a legal source of the precious commodity becomes available in the Philippines.

cade or more to develop in the forest, in tree farms, agarwood can be mature in three to five years, according to Calderon.

“Agarwood is produced naturally in the forest when the tree is injured. In the plantations in Cambodia and Indonesia and in Papua New Guinea, they intentionally injure the trees for the mold to develop and produce agarwood,” says Calderon.

According to Calderon, the DENR through its forestry experts can help provide the much-needed training and capacity building for would-be agarwood farmers.

“We have Filipino foresters who have been employed in some of the tree farms doing these,” he added.

Aquilaria, he said, are usually found in secondary forests, between 300 and 400 meters above sea level. “These are rolling areas,” says Calderon.

But in tree farms, he said, it can be grown in low-elevation areas.

“In our proposed regulation, it can even be done in backyards. As long as they register the tree, they can get a permit to harvest it once it develops agar,” he said.

Huge economic potential WITTHAWAS SRISUJIT | DREAMSTIME.COM

Continued from A1

other Asian countries, not here,” Rogelio Demelletes, a wildlife law enforcer from the DENR-BMB, told the BusinessMirror.

Those who brave the dense forests of the Visayas and Mindanao in search for agarwood, he said, are highly motivated by the cost of this rare commodity.

First-class agarwood can fetch up to $100,000 per kilo. “When you say first class, it is very fragrant,” says Demelletes. Less fragrant agarwood can fetch from P500,000 to P1 million per kilo, he said.

Taiwan has given first shots to less than 1 percent of its population, after receiving just a fraction of the millions of doses it ordered.

It has also been developing its own Covid-19 vaccine, which officials say will be available by the end of July under emergency use.

After it had effectively eliminated the virus, Taiwan this week raised its emergency preparedness and imposed crowd restrictions after finding new and unexplained cases in the community. President Tsai Ing-wen has called on people not to panic.

Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at New Zealand’s University of Auckland, said there were some advantages to taking a less frantic, more measured approach to vaccinating.

of the gods,” is one of the most expensive woods in the world.

Sought for its fragrance, agarwood comes from several species of Aquilaria trees.

Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCo) Executive Director Ricardo L. Calderon said agarwood is formed in the heartwood of Aquilaria trees when in-

fected with a type of mold. As the infection progresses, a dark aromatic resin called agar is produced.

With its distinct fragrance, agarwood is used in incense and perfume, and sometimes for its medicinal value.

“Due to the depletion of the tree species from the wild caused by over-harvesting and habitat

BECAUSE of its commercial value, plantations have already been developed in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, said Calderon, who initiated the crafting of the proposed guideline for the commercial propagation of Aquilaria trees and agarwood during his stint as director of the DENR-BMB.

Calderon said there’s economic opportunity in agarwood farming.

Even backyard farming, he said, is quite promising.

Other countries have developed a way to produce agarwood, which is also possible in the Philippines, Calderon said.

The science behind it is already known and there are ways to make it happen in tree farms.

While agarwood takes a de-

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

The World

Why are fears of high inflation getting worse?

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ASHINGTON—Gas prices are rising. Auto prices are soaring.

Consumer goods companies are charging more for household basics like toilet paper, peanut butter and soft drinks.

All of which is resurrecting fears of an economic threat that has all but disappeared over the past generation: Runaway inflation. It occurs when prices for most goods and services not only rise but also accelerate, making the cost of living steadily more expensive and shrinking the purchasing power of Americans’ earnings and savings.

Growing jitters about inflation have contributed to a sharp sell-off in stock prices this week. Any significant acceleration of inflation would exert a drag on the market and potentially imperil the economic recovery.

In the past, rising inflation has usually led to higher pay as workers have demanded and received raises to keep pace. In fact, inflation can’t really accelerate for long without sizable wage gains. Yet pay raises—if they do occur—typically lag behind price increases, thereby squeezing consumers at least temporarily. And eventually, pay gains themselves will fuel further inflation: Companies raise prices further to offset higher wages for their employees.

Some companies, including Amazon, have recently raised or said they plan to raise wages.

Not since the late 1960s and early 1970s has the United States endured chronic high inflation, with consumer prices rising at or near double-digit percentages from one year to the next. In fact, the reverse has been true for about a decade: Inflation has remained persistently below the 2-percent annual target set by the Federal Reserve. Under Chair Jerome Powell, the Fed is betting that it can keep rates ultralow even as the economic recovery kicks into high gear—and that it won’t have to quickly raise rates to stop runaway inflation.

Few economists think the nation is on the verge of uncontrollably high inflation. But worries among businesses, consumers and investors about uncomfortably high inflation are growing.

What’s behind the concerns about inflation?

Mainly, it’s the fact that prices for so many things are rising and seem likely to do so for the next several months at least. One reason for that is that prices tumbled in March and April of last year, when the pandemic tore through the economy, and has since rebounded. As a result, year-over-year price increases now look much higher than most consumers are used to. The consumer price index rose 2.6 percent in March compared with a year ago, a significant rise from just 1.7 percent a month earlier. Analysts forecast that consumer prices will soar again in April when that month’s figures are reported Wednesday, to a yearover-year reading of 3.6 percent. If that prediction is accurate, that would be the largest increase in nearly a decade.

Another factor is the widespread shortages of raw materials and parts that are magnifying costs. Builders can’t find enough lumber to build new homes. Manufacturers are desperate for more copper and other commodities. Auto makers need more semiconductor chips. And some restaurants are scrambling for chicken wings.

Supply bottlenecks have occurred because companies were caught flatfooted by the speed of the economic recovery from the pandemic, with most consumers flush with cash, after multiple stimulus checks, and spending freely. With everyone now ramping up at once, manufacturers, shipping firms, miners and agricultural companies can’t keep up.

Will Americans’ paychecks increase, too?

Paychecks are starting to rise. Average hourly earnings jumped 0.7 percent in April, a substantial gain for a single month. Many companies have said they are struggling to attract applicants to fill their open jobs.

Only 266,000 jobs were added last month, far fewer than expected. Rising pay is a sign that companies are trying harder to fill their jobs. That’s good for workers, and many companies may eat the higher cost or turn to automation to reduce their labor expenses. But if businesses start to raise their prices to cover higher wage bills, that would accelerate inflation.

It’s the Fed’s job to keep prices in check. What do its officials think?

Powell said last month that he expects higher inflation to prove temporary, once the supply shortages are worked out. The Fed’s policymakers have stressed that one-time increases are not the same thing as a difficult bout of inflation, which is characterized by ongoing, chronic price increases.

“A persistent material increase in inflation would require not just that wages or prices increase for a period after reopening, but also a broad expectation that they will continue to increase at a persistently higher pace,” Lael Brainard, a Fed governor and key voice on the central bank’s interest rate policies, said in an appearance Tuesday. “A limited period of pandemic-related price increases is unlikely to durably change inflation dynamics.”

Why is the Fed so sure that price increases will prove fleeting?

Two reasons: Because the public still largely expects inflation to remain in check and because of recent history.

The Fed is closely monitoring “inflation expectations.” These are measures of where consumers and financial markets expect inflation to be in the future. Inflation expectations have changed little for more than two decades, even amid sharp price fluctuations, such as a spike in oil prices in 2008 that took oil to nearly $150 a barrel. If the public expects inflation to stick around 2 percent, then consumers and businesses won’t likely change their behavior much even if commodity prices rise.

Businesses won’t charge their customers more, because they’ll expect the increases to be temporary. And workers won’t generally demand large wage increases to offset higher prices.

Some measures of inflation expectations are rising, but not markedly so. Financial market measures, based on the yields of different Treasury securities, show that investors’ expectations for inflation are increasing in the short-run but less so over the longer term. That suggests that they agree with the Fed: They expect a temporary increase in inflation. But they also think that entrenched inflation expectations will prevent price rises from running rampant.

Another reason the Fed thinks inflation will likely be temporary is that prices have been in check for roughly a quarter-century. Even when the unemployment rate fell to a 50-year low of 3.5 percent in 2019, forcing wages higher, consumer prices remained below the Fed’s 2-percent target.

What will the Fed do if inflation stays too high?

Powell has said repeatedly that the Fed has the “tools” to address higher inflation: It could reduce its bond purchases of $120 billion in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities each month, which are intended to lower long-term interest rates. And it could also raise its short-term rate from its current level near zero. This rate influences borrowing rates throughout the economy. Such moves would likely rein in inflation. But they could also slow the economy or even cause a recession. Christopher Rugaber/AP Economics Writer

BusinessMirror

Sunday, May 16, 2021

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‘Free at last!’: UK jubilant as virus restrictions to be lifted next week

By Sylvia Hui

L

The Associated Press

ONDON—When London’s Science Museum reopens next week, it will have some new artifacts: empty vaccine vials, testing kits and other items collected during the pandemic, to be featured in a new Covid-19 display.

Britain isn’t quite ready to consign the coronavirus to a museum—the outbreak is far from over here. But there is a definite feeling that the UK has turned a corner, and the mood in the country is jubilant. “The end is in sight,” one newspaper front page claimed recently. “Free at last!” read another.

Thanks to an efficient vaccine rollout program, Britain is finally saying goodbye to months of tough lockdown restrictions.

Starting Monday, all restaurants and bars in England can reopen with some precautions in place, as can hotels, theaters and museums. And Britons will be able to hug friends and family again, with the easing of social distancing rules that have been in place since the pandemic began.

It’s the biggest step yet to reopen the country following an easing of the crisis blamed for nearly 128,000 deaths, the highest reported Covid-19 toll in Europe.

Deaths in Britain have come down to single digits in recent days. It’s a far cry from January, when up to 1,477 deaths a day were recorded amid a brutal second wave driven by a more infectious variant first found in Kent, in southeastern England.

New cases have plummeted to an average of around 2,000 a day, compared with nearly 70,000 a day during the winter.

There are some worries on the horizon. British authorities have voiced anxiety about a rise in cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India, after a closely monitored study of infections in England found it becoming more prevalent.

Ministers are poised to order further action, including door-todoor testing in the worst-affected areas. One response being considered is bringing forward the date

for a second dose of vaccine for eligible groups to increase protection. For now, the jabs are offered largely based on age, with vaccines now available to those ages 38 and 39.

British health officials have raced to get ahead of the virus by vaccinating hundreds of thousands of people a day at hospitals, soccer pitches, churches and a racecourse.

As of this week, almost 38 million people—approximately 68 percent of the adult population—have received their first dose. Almost 19 million have had both doses.

It’s an impressive feat, and many credit Britain’s universal public health system for much of the success.

Experts say the National Health Service, one of the country’s most revered institutions, is able to target the whole population and easily identify those most at risk because almost everyone is registered with a local general practitioner.

That infrastructure, combined with the government’s early start in securing vaccine doses, was key.

British authorities began ordering millions of doses from multiple manufacturers late last spring, striking deals months ahead of the European Union and securing more than enough vaccine to inoculate the entire population.

“I don’t think it’s surprising that the two countries in the world with probably the strongest primary care systems, which are us and Israel, are doing the best with vaccine rollout,” said Beccy Baird, a policy researcher at the King’s Fund, a charity for improving health care.

“We have the medical records.

We can understand where our patients are. We’re not trying to negotiate with loads of different insurance companies.… It’s the same standard right through the

In this April 12, file photo, a woman takes a photo on her phone of her drink in Soho, London, as some of England’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions were eased by the government. Thanks to an efficient vaccine roll out program and high uptake rates, Britain is finally saying goodbye to months of tough lockdown restrictions. From May 17, all restaurants and bars can fully reopen, as can hotels, cinemas, theaters and museums, and for the first time since March 2020, Britons can hug friends and family and meet up inside other people’s houses. AP/Alberto Pezzali

country,” she added. “Whereas in the States, it’s going to be harder to really think about how do you reach underserved communities, how do you get out there and provide the same access to everybody to this vaccine?”

David Salisbury, a former director of the government’s immunization program and a fellow at London’s Chatham House think tank, added that Britain also has the edge because of its track record in successfully rolling out other vaccines, such as the seasonal flu shot.

Many around the world were skeptical about Britain’s decision to delay the second dose by up to 12 weeks to free up vaccine for more people, but that strategy also paid huge dividends. The two shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were intended to be given three and four weeks apart.

Anthony Harnden, an Oxford academic and a top government vaccination adviser, said “there were lots of questions asked” and “we were up against many countries” who disagreed with spacing out the two doses, but officials stuck to the plan.

“You have to remember, looking back at that time, there were a thousand or more people dying every day in the UK So there was a huge imperative to get our vulnerable people vaccinated,” he said. “It was an innovative strategy, a bold strategy, but it was based on our experience of previous vaccines.”

The vaccine program’s success has been a much-needed boost for Britain.

Many of those who accuse the government of poorly managing the outbreak last year say the UK

is finally doing something right.

“We didn’t hand [the vaccine rollout] over to an outsourcing company. That would have been a major failure. And we also didn’t delay the way we did in the first wave. We moved quickly,” said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “So it was almost like the mirror image of the mistakes we made in the first wave.”

Still, McKee said he is worried that too many people may throw caution to the wind too soon.

Young people, who run a much lower risk of serious illness but can still spread the virus, are not included in the vaccination program. Official figures also show significant gaps in vaccine uptake among minorities and poor people.

McKee and many others are also concerned about the variants of the virus that are turning up.

That risk is especially worrying as the UK slowly reopens to foreign tourists this summer.

“We’ve seen very discouraging evidence from Chile and from the Seychelles, both of which have high proportions of people who have been vaccinated and where many restrictions were lifted, and they’ve had upsurges,” McKee said.

Harnden is more optimistic.

If the UK can roll out a booster vaccine program later this year and if people remain cautious, he said, “we can get ourselves out of this” and get close to normal by the summer of 2022.

“We’re not completely out of this yet,” he said, “but we’re in a much, much better place than in the last few months.” AP

Desperate for workers, stores and restaurants in US raise pay

By Christopher Rugaber AP Economic Writer

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ASHINGTON—US restaurants and stores are rapidly raising pay in an urgent effort to attract more applicants and keep up with a flood of customers as the pandemic eases.

McDonald’s, Sheetz and Chipotle are just some of the latest companies to follow Amazon, Walmart and Costco in boosting wages, in some cases to $15 an hour or higher.

The pay gains are, of course, a boon to these employees. Restaurants, bars, hotels and stores remain the lowest-paying industries, and many of their workers ran the risk of contracting Covid-19 on the job over the past year while white-collar employees were able to work from home.

Still, the pay increases could contribute to higher inflation if companies raise prices to cover

the additional labor costs. Some businesses, however, could absorb the costs or invest over time in automation to offset higher wages.

States and cities are easing business restrictions as Covid-19 deaths and cases plummet, and in places like Florida, Nevada, and Texas, restaurant traffic is above or near pre-pandemic levels, according to OpenTable, a software provider to the industry.

Many companies say they are struggling to find workers.

“Customers are coming back faster than restaurants can staff up,” said Josh Bivens, research director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “By raising pay, they are able to get more workers in the door.”

In April, even as overall hiring slowed, a category that includes restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues hired more new workers than it did the previous month, a sign the extra pay is working.

McDonald’s on Thursday said it will raise pay for workers in its 650 company-owned stores to an average of $15 an hour by 2024.

Entry-level employees will make $11 an hour. The company is urging its 14,000 franchised restaurants to make the same changes.

Also on Thursday, Amazon said it will pay new hires $17 an hour, as it seeks to add 75,000 new workers.

The online giant said it is offering a $100 bonus for new hires who have been vaccinated.

And Sheetz, a mid-Atlantic convenience store chain, said Monday it is giving its 18,000 employees a $2-an-hour raise and an additional $1 an hour for the summer.

Across the restaurant industry, the pay gains have largely returned overall wages to the same growth trend they were on before the pandemic, Bivens said. He expects the increases to climb above that trend in the coming months.

Consumer prices rose 0.3 per-

cent at restaurants in April, far less than their labor costs that month. That suggests many restaurants are accepting smaller profits rather than passing on the costs to customers, Bivens said.

Restaurant prices have risen 3.8 percent in the past year, which is above pre-pandemic levels.

Worries about higher inflation have dominated financial markets after consumer prices jumped 4.2 percent in April compared with a year earlier, the biggest gain in 13 years. But the rise was driven largely by soaring used car prices and more expensive airline tickets, not higher labor costs.

In a sign that companies in general are struggling to add workers, the number of available jobs in the US shot to 8.2 million at the end of March. Yet employers added just 266,000 jobs in April, far fewer than the previous month. AP Business Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this story from Detroit

Journey

»life on the go

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BusinessMirror

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Editor: Tet Andolong

WFH at The Farm

BIG Lagoon Story & photos by Bernard L. Supetran

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hen the Covid-19 pandemic struck last year, the WFH acronym or “work from home” became a byword for many office workers. But long before that, The Farm at San Benito has been advocating a different kind of WFH among workers stressed by the urban jungle’s daily grind—Wellness, Fitness and Healing.

And with the lingering health crisis which won’t go away anytime soon, this unique work mode has become more enticing. People look for ways to balance the need to work safely and improve their physical well-being by strengthening immune system and preserving mental health.

Now that the Covid-19 vaccine is available, this eco-luxury health resort is offering medically supervised treatments to boost the immune system to help the body’s defenses react well.

The specifically designed Immune Support Program covers Covid-19 testing, medically-supervised holistic treatments, nutrient-rich organic vegan food and drinks, microbiome nourishment, and mindful movements, among others. It also covers includes psychoemotional sessions that attend to the guests’ mental health and emotional state.

It also offers the Post-Covid Recovery Program for those infected with the virus with an extensive regimen which brain biofeedback, live blood analysis, colon cleans-

ing, vitamin infusion, liver compress, energy healing, immuno cell renewal, ozone therapy, and a host of functional fitness activities.

The Farm also recently partnered with Living Life Well Medical Group offering Cigna Global Healthcareaccredited services and treatments for pain and mental-health issues which are prevalent during the pandemic.

The pain management program focuses on work-related diseases and chronic pain, and helps with the symptoms while addressing the problem’s root causes.

Meanwhile, the mental-health management helps with work-related depression, stress, and anxiety, which can be availed through telemedicine to assure patient confidentiality.

Since opening more than two decades ago in Lipa City, its healing journey is focused on the pillars of diagnosis, cleansing, nourishment, repair, and sustenance to help the guests’ bodies return to their ideal balanced state and achieve holistic optimum wellness.

Beyond the pandemic, it also of-

Healing Sanctuary

LAKAN Villa

Gourmet vegan dishes at Alive! Restaurant

300-year-old mango tree

fers natural and holistic medically supervised health programs that address prevalent lifestyle illnesses, such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, chronic pain, hormonal imbalance, stress, and depression.

Programs are carefully planned and conducted by internationally trained integrative medical doctors, nurses, spa therapists, nutritionists, living food experts, fitness coaches, and yoga teachers.

It also has a wide array of pro-

grams on health optimization, cellular health, non-invasive aesthetics, and executive wellness health, and other unique offerings in a tropical resort setup.

For those who want a secluded “work from hideaway” setup, The Farm has customized a workation package where long-staying guests can blend remote online work and wellness. Visitors can also feast on gourmet vegan meals at Alive! Restaurant and seafood dishes at Pesce,

an intimate poolside al fresco dining area with acoustic musicians.

And for families who simply want a beyond-the-usual getaway, the resort is a viable alternative with its numerous swimming pools, aqua therapies, spa facilities, fitness gym, well-manicured green trails ideal for walking, jogging and biking.

Visitors can get peace of mind as The Farm at San Benito has put up its own on-site Covid-19 testing center where guests are required to undergo the antigen nasal swab test before entering the premises. Such strict health protocol is the first of its kind in the country, which has made the resort Covid-free since reopening in May last year.

Moreover, guest and treatment rooms are sanitized by Sanivir Smoke which is proven by international laboratories to kill coronavirus on all surfaces and in the air.

A sprawling 48-hectare lush green jungle, stunning view of majestic mountains of Batangas, and organic gardens, its enviable setting immediately draws the natural healing touch of Mother Earth.

Moreover, its bespoke suites and villas, recreational facilities, worldclass health services, not to mention the Filipinos’ nurturing touch, the property has become a perennial recipient international accolades, including “The Best Medical Wellness Resort in the World” by The Asia Collective.

Now a part of the prestigious Nepal-based CG Hospitality global brand, it is the pioneer and iconic resort which blazed the trail of the country’s wellness tourism industry, and inspired the integration of health-oriented services among hospitality establishments across the archipelago.

With the life-changing journey to wellness The Farm is advocating, we will surely never look at all-toofamiliar WFH the same way again.

Science

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

BusinessMirror

Sunday

Sunday, May 16, 2021 A5

Scientists propose science-based diet to feed Metro Manila by 2050

By Edwin Galvez

W

h e n t he Nat ion a l Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines (NAST PHL) submitted its vision “Feeding Metro Manila in 2050” to The Rockefeller Foundation’s Food System Vision Prize on December 5, 2019, its multiinstitutional team of proponents could not have imagined a pandemic further aggravating the pervasive problem of food insecurity in the country, particularly in the capital region that it said has a “dysfunctional food system.”

The vision proposes building a system that “nurtures the health of consumers and the environment, provides adequate income for farmers adapts to a changing climate, and is sensitive to the diversity of food culture.”

At the same time, it encourages the consumers to switch to a science-based diet—such as the Planetary Health Diet (PHD).

The PHD promotes consuming more fruits, vegetables, grain legumes, fish and starchy roots and tubers, while reducing the intake of refined carbohydrates (white rice, white bread and sugar), meat and eggs.

It should be noted that the results of the Rapid Nutrition Assessment Survey (RNAS) that the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) released on December 29, 2020, confirmed the “enormous impact” of the Covid-19 pandemic on the nutrition and food security of Filipinos.

Conducted from November 3 to December 3, 2020, the RNAS of 5,717 households with 7,240 individuals revealed that 62.1 percent (6 in 10 households) experienced “moderate to severe food insecurity,” noting that the most foodinsecure were households with infants and young children (7 in 10) and pregnant women (8 in 10).

Food insecurity peaked between March and April 2020, when the country was placed under enhanced community quarantine.

The RNAS also revealed that food-insecure families coped by buying food on credit (71.8 percent), borrowing food from relatives or neighbors (66.3 percent), bartering (30.2 percent) and limiting the food intake of adults in favor of children (21.1 percent).

Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/12/30/ households-with-children-pregnant-women-hurt-by-food-insecurity-in-pandemic/

Nourishing food future

Led by Academician Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr., NAST PHL Agricultural Sciences Division chairman who worked for more than a decade on the vision, together with 15 organizations and research institutions, it was awarded a special mention prize of $25,000 in August 2020 to pursue its design of a “nourishing food future.”

The vision’s partners included the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc.; De La Salle Araneta University; University of the Philippines Project SPICE, or Smart Plant Production in Controlled Environments; East-West Seed Co. Inc.; Coalition for Agriculture Modernization of the Philippines Inc.; Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka; Urban Agriculture PH; Management Association of the Philippines; ABCDE

Foundation; Young Professionals for Agricultural Development Philippines; Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rice Research Institute; DOST’s National Research Council of the Philippines; De La Salle University-Manila; UP Los Baños Institute of Plant Breeding; and Kapisanan ng Magsasaka, Mangingisda at Manggagawa ng Pilipinas Inc. The vision landed at the top 14 out of more than 1,300 foodsystem visions from 119 countries as represented by over 4,000 organizations working for a “more regenerative, nourishing, equitable and sustainable future.”

The vision became the “starting point” for developing inclusive and sustainable solutions on food system and health, alongside four other societal concerns, as part of the country’s 30-year strategic foresight plan being prepared

by NAST PHL, the advisory body to the president and the Cabinet on policies related to science and technology.

Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/07/12/ dost-pushes-for-30-year-foresight-plan-to-solve-phl-woes/

Accomplishing the vision by 2050

“We did not foresee that a pandemic will aggravate food insecurity, but it can be considered a positive development in making the consumers aware of the importance of eating properly,” Rasco told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail.

Rasco added that the pandemic has also accelerated the development of e-commerce that serve the farmers, making it easier for them to access farm inputs and sell products online.

He sees more investors coming into the food system, particularly those who “lost business in other sectors of the economy.”

The vision was taken up at the online science information forum, “Feeding Metro Manila in 2050: Promoting responsible consumption to address unhealthy eating preferences of consumers,” organized by the NAST PHL on March 29.

The forum’s speakers were DOST-FNRI Director Dr. Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa; Dr. Ernesto O. Brown, director of the Socio-Economics Research Division of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOSTPCAARRD); and Dr. Jose Rafael A. Marfori of the Health Economics and Policy of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at UP Manila’s College of Medicine.

Promoting responsible consumption

The vision believes that food habits are a product of culture, and promoting responsible consumption can be addressed through various approaches over the next 30 years.

These measures include formal (basic, college and medical and nutrition, e.g., “food as medicine”) and informal (promotion of science-based diet, such as PHD, recruitment of top chefs) education; adopting PHD-based recipes for feeding programs and institutions (e.g., military and police camps, hospitals, prisons); and distributing PHD food packs for disaster relief.

In technology, developing the PHD Plus app; in research and development, studying the impact

nutrition, respectively.

Developing the PHD Plus app

MORE than 1,300 community pantries across the country are providing immediate relief of colorful fresh vegetables to Filipinos who continue to cope with food insecurity.

Community Pantry PH Facebook page photo

of PHD on health and learning abilities; and adopting the PHD as a component of the universal health care.

In farming practices, diversifying and restructuring agriculture for the PHD diet, selecting crops, livestock or fish species and breeds with low environment footprints yet nutritious; adopting practices that reduce pollution or food contamination (e.g., use slow-release fertilizers, biological pesticides); and producing food closer to the point of consumption.

In processing, trading, retail and food service, using locally available biodegradable packaging materials; reducing waste through improved logistics (e.g., cold chain) and cleaning bodies of water for the food safety of fish and other aquatic food products.

Boosting immunity by staying healthy

Citing the Global Forum on Food Security of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the DOST-FNRI defined food insecurity as the “state in which people are at risk or actually suffering from inadequate consumption to meet nutritional requirements.”

Food insecurity happens when food is either not physically available or inadequately utilized, and when people lack “social or economic access” to adequate food, according to the FAO. DOST-FNRI further noted that “proper nutrition is essential especially during pandemics and calamities to stay healthy by boosting immunity and avoiding contracting Covid-19 and other diseases.”

“When people are healthy, they cannot only improve their capability to fight different virus outbreaks, but can also participate in the formation of better and healthier societies,” Agdeppa said in her presentation at the forum.

The country’s chief nutrition scientist discussed the forms of unhealthy lifestyle among Filipinos—unhealthy or poor dietary patterns is among them—and what the government has been doing to avoid their consequences.

She said the World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized

that 60 percent of the quality of an individual's life depends on his behavior and lifestyle, wherein over time healthy lifestyle behaviors, coupled with proper food intake, prevents diseases and maintains good health.

“While some [Filipinos] choose to stay healthy through their conscious choices, many carelessly behave unhealthily,” Agdeppa pointed out.

These unhealthy lifestyle practices include physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol “binge drinking,” drug abuse, stress and the excessive use of gadgets.

These result in illnesses (noncommunicable and chronic diseases), additional health expenditure, unproductivity due to economic losses and even death.

Agdeppa said that the top causes of death, such as heart illnesses and other noncommunicable diseases, are related to poor lifestyle, food choices and sedentary living.

Based on the dietary quality findings of the 2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey, Agdeppa said that the mean oneday per capita fruit and vegetable consumption among Filipino households from 1978 to 2018 has steeply declined.

“From 145 grams for vegetables, it went down to 126 grams, and for fruits, from 104 grams to 41 grams, less than the WHO recommendation of about 400 grams,” she said.

Eating fruits and vegetables reduces the probability of overweight and obesity, diabetes, high triglycerides and hypertension.

The prevalence of these “consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle” has alarmingly rose since 1993.

To help mitigate food insecurity, DOST-FNRI has implemented the Malnutrition Reduction Program, an integrated intervention strategy on nutrition education, and the transfer and commercialization of food technologies through its technology transfer program.

DOST-FNRI’s “Oh My Gulay!” and “Pinggang Pinoy” programs model the establishment of edible garden in urban offices and a healthy food plate as an easyto-understand guide on the variety of foods needed for optimum

In the vision "Feeding Metro Manila in 2050," a typical plate will have a diversity of food assembled by a robust app that considers an individual ’s health needs, the impact on the environment, local food culture and the farmers’ welfare.

Tasked to fulfill this goa l through a program developing the PHD Plus app is the DOST-wide technical working group composed of representatives from NAST PHL, FNRI, PCAARRD, Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, and the DOST Planning and Evaluation Service, headed by Brown of PCAARRD. “We are close to completing the proposal and we hope the DOST will be able to fund it,” Brown said during the forum.

According to Brown, the aim of the program is to develop a mobile application that will guide consumers to have informed food choices based on an individual’s biological information, the nutritional and health benefits of various foods and values, such as the impact on farmer’s income and environment.

“The program will also analyze the economic, environmental and nutritional aspects of the food system and pilot the transformation strategies to help transform it,” Brown said.

He added that PCAARRD has a lso implemented other programs aligned with the “structural transformation of the food system toward a more sustainable one.”

These include farm-system innovations, such as the use of chemical-free and organic farming methods; employing internalcontrol system for conventional vegetable production to assure food safety through the judicious use of pesticides; and smart agriculture technologies, such as the precise use of water and land resources, and resources conservation technologies to “reduce environmental impact.”

“PCAARRD has also invested over P300 million in the last five years for the development of crop monitoring and forecasting system intended to be institutionalized at the national, regional and community levels,” Brown said.

To strengthen the local food system, PCAARRD employs the Enriched Potting Preparation technology for urban agriculture, and backyard farming, especially in small spaces like condominiums and apartments.

It also works on building “resilient local supply chains to serve the current demand for food in the communities to shorten the supply chain.”

Brown emphasized the need for “digital inclusivity across agricultural and food-value chain” to ensure the participation of disadvantaged and marginal groups, and improve farm-data management and traceability.

“Farm-data management to track and trace production can improve operational efficiency, reduce inputs and ensure compliance with standards and regulations that are very relevant to meet the food vision,” Brown said.

Food is medicine, but medicine is not health

In the same forum, these questions

were posed in adopting the PHD as a component of universal health care: Can food be used as preventive medicine? Can doctors write prescriptions for proper diet to address health issues that are rooted on nutrition? Will the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) reimburse these expenses? “[There is] an extensive and growing evidence base—thanks to functional medicine—that food interventions can indeed be used to prevent and treat illnesses, health conditions or body ailments,” Marfori said during the forum.

Marfori added that doctors must be able to influence food choices within the health sector through the education of its health professionals and “mainstreaming the principles and approaches” of PHD in their patient interface.

But movements like PHD and food in medicine may be pursued with a government-appropriated “dedicated fund ” or a “special health fund” coming from local government units or through the Department of Health, rather than covered by a social health insurance like PhilHealth that is associated as a sickness fund, according to Marfori.

“The role of health has been to provide the why, but not necessarily the how, like why should we care about the environment when it is turned into a health issue,” he said.

Designing a PHD community pantry

More than 1,300 community pantries across the country are currently providing immediate relief to Filipinos, who continue to cope with food insecurity, according to Community Pantry PH in its Facebook page May 5 tally.

These pantries, inspired by the Maginhawa Community Pantry in Quezon City that started with a small cart of canned goods, vegetables, and other food items on April 14, distribute fruits, vegetables and fish bought directly from farmers and fisherfolks.

One social entrepreneur helping farmers’ groups, including the Buhid indigenous people of Mindoro, is Cordillera Landing on You, which sells its produce to these community pantries. It has disposed about 3,500 kilos of assorted vegetables in the past two weeks.

It is especially timely that 2021 has been declared by the 74th session of the UN General Assembly as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables to “raise awareness on the important role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, food security and health, as well in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

So how would the DOST-FNRI director “design” her community pantry?

“My pantr y must be filled w it h g reen lea f y a nd yel low vegetables, colored tubers like camote [sweet potato], banana sabá seeds and leg umes li ke mongo, c a rd i s [ g reen pea s], small fishes like dilis [anchovy] or any type of fish and other DOST-FNR I technologies like iron-for tif ied r ice, enhanced nut r i bu n , r ice - mon go ble nd and curls, and micronutrient growth mix,” Agdeppa told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail.

Faith A6 Sunday, May 16, 2021

Sunday

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

Bishops will reconsecrate PHL to Mary

T

he Philippine Catholic bishops will reconsecrate the nation to the care of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the national consecration will be

held on June 12, her feast day.

In a letter to the dioceses, CBCP Secretary General Msgr. Bernardo

Immaculate Heart of Mary CBCP News

Pantin said that the event falling on the same date as Independence Day will be an “added relevance” to the consecration.

T his consecration reaffirms the bishops’ prev ious consecrations of the countr y to the Blessed Mother.

In January 2014, the bishops approved that the consecration to Mary’s Immaculate Heart is renewed every year on her feast

day until this year that marks the 500 Years of Christianity.

Like the recent consecration to St. Joseph, the upcoming national consecration w ill be led

by A rchbishop Romulo Valles, CBCP president, from the Davao Cathedral at 9:45 a.m.

The Mass in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will then follow at 10:00 a.m. in the different cathedrals and churches led by

Pope Francis: Prayer works miracles V C ATICAN—Pope Francis said last Wednesday that persistent prayer can lead to miracles “because prayer goes directly to the heart of the tenderness of God.” Speaking at his first general audience with members of the public for six months, the pope recounted the story of a father of a nine-year-old Argentine girl who was told that his hospitalized daughter would not survive the night.

He said: “He left his wife there with the child in the hospital, he took the train and he traveled 70 kilometers [around 45 miles] toward the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, Patroness of Argentina. And there—the basilica was already closed, it was almost 10 o’clock in the evening—he clung to the gates of the basilica and spent all night praying to Our Lady, fighting for his daughter’s health.”

“This is not a figment of the imagination: I saw him! I saw him myself. That man there, fighting.”

He continued: “At the end, at six o’clock in the morning, the church opened, he entered to salute Our Lady, and returned home. And he thought: ‘She has left us. No, Our Lady cannot do this to me.’” “ T hen he went to see [his wife], and she was smiling, saying: ‘I don’t know what happened.

The doctors said that something changed, and now she is cured.’”

The pope, who devoted his May 12 address to “spiritual combat,” offered the man as an example of the fruits of tenacious prayer.

He said: “ That man, fighting with prayer, received the grace of Our Lady. Our Lady listened to him. And I saw this: prayer works miracles, because prayer goes directly to the heart of the tenderness of God, who cares for us like a father.”

“And when He does not grant us a grace, He will grant us another which in time we will see.

But always, combat in prayer to ask for grace.”

“Yes, at times we ask for grace we are not in need of, but we ask for it without truly wanting it, without fighting.... We do not ask for serious things in this way.

Prayer is combat, and the Lord is always with us.”

‘Not nice to speak in front of nothing’

The pope was speaking in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostol ic Pa l ace in his f irst Wednesday audience with the public since October 28, 2020.

The elegant courtyard has a capacity of around 500 socially distanced and masked pilgrims.

The address was the 33rd reflection in his cycle of catechesis on prayer, which he launched in May 2020 and resumed in October following nine addresses on healing the world after the pandemic.

He began by expressing his delight at once again meeting pilgrims “face-to-face.”

He explained that it was “not nice to speak in front of nothing, to a camera,” after the Vatican decided to move the audiences

the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Valenzuela City.

Pantin said that after the post communion prayer, a diocesan or parish consecration could also be made especially for those that could not follow the national consecration.

All the dioceses and churches will be linked up to the event on Facebook, radio and television.

CBCP News

Cardinal Advincula to receive ‘red hat’ in a rite on May 28

Pope Francis’s general audience in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace on May 12. Vatican Media

behind closed doors last fall as a precaution against the spread of Covid-19.

He told those taking their seats in the courtyard that “seeing each one of you pleases me as we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, and looking at each other helps us to pray for each other.”

He added: “Thank you for your presence and your visit. Take the pope’s message to everyone. The pope’s message is that I pray for everyone, and I ask you to pray for me, united in prayer.”

Not a walk in the park

The pope acknowledged that Christian prayer was not a “walk in the park.”

“None of the great people of prayer we meet in the Bible and in the history of the Church found prayer ‘comfortable.’ Yes, one can pray like a parrot—blah, blah, blah, blah, blah—but that is not prayer. Prayer certainly gives great peace, but through inner struggle, at times hard, which can accompany even long periods of life. Praying is not something easy, and this is why we flee from it,” he said.

“Every time we want to pray, we are immediately reminded of many other activities, which at that moment seem more important and more urgent,” he added.

“This happens to me too! It happens to me. I go to pray a little...and no, I must do this and that...We flee from prayer, I don’t know why, but that is how it is. Almost always, after putting off prayer, we realize that those things were not essential at all, and that we may have wasted time.

This is how the Enemy deceives us,” the pope pointed out.

‘The dark night’

He acknowledged that throughout the ages saintly people have described prayer not only as joyful but also as tedious and tiring.

Nevertheless, they persisted in prayer despite not finding satisfaction in it.

He said: “Silence, prayer, and concentration are difficult exercises, and sometimes human nature rebels. We would rather be anywhere else in the world, but not there, in that church pew, praying.”

“Those who want to pray must remember that faith is not easy, and sometimes it moves forward in almost total darkness, without points of reference.”

“There are moments in the life of faith that are dark, and therefore some saints call this ‘the dark night,’ because we hear nothing.

But I continue to pray.”

Enemies of prayer

The pope observed that the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the “enemies of prayer.”

The worst enemies, he said, were “found within us.”

He advised people afflicted by these internal enemies to turn to “the masters of the soul,” who personally discovered ways to overcome them.

Francis, the first Jesuit pope, recommended reading the “Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola,” which he described as “a short book of great wisdom that teaches how to put one’s life in order.”

He explained: “It makes us understand that the Christian vocation is militancy, it is the decision to stand beneath the standard of Jesus Christ and not under that of the devil, trying to do good even when it becomes difficult.”

‘I was not alone; Jesus was with me’

Above all, he said, we should remember in times of trouble that we are not alone.

He told a story from the life of St. Anthony the Great, who helped to spread Christian monasticism in the fourth century.

He said: “His biographer, St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, recounts one of the worst episodes in the life of the hermit saint when he was about the age of 35, a time of middle age that for many people involves a crisis.”

“Anthony was disturbed by the ordeal, but resisted. When he finally became serene again, he turned to his Lord with an almost reproachful tone: ‘But Lord, where were You? Why did You not come immediately to put an end to my suffering?’ And Jesus answered: ‘Anthony, I was there. But I was waiting to see you fight.’”

Concluding his address, the pope said: “If in a moment of

blindness we cannot see His presence, we will in the future. We will also end up repeating the same sentence that the patriarch Jacob said one day: ‘Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it’ [Genesis 28:16].”

“At the end of our lives, looking back, we too will be able to say: ‘I thought I was alone, but no, I was not: Jesus was with me.’ We will all be able to say this.”

Our Lady of Fatima

A precis of the pope’s catechesis was then read out in several languages. After the summaries, he offered a greeting to members of the various language groups.

A dd ressi ng Por t ug uese spea k i ng pi lg r i ms, he noted that May 13 is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

“Tomorrow let us remember Our Lady of Fatima with great veneration! Let us place ourselves with confidence under her maternal protection, especially when we find difficulties in our prayer life,” he said.

To Polish-speaking pilgrims, he said: “Tomorrow is the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima and the 40th anniversary of the assassination attempt on St. John Paul II.” “He himself emphasized with conviction that he owed his life to the Lady of Fatima. This event makes us aware that our lives and the history of the world are in God’s hands.”

“To the Immaculate Heart of Mary we entrust the Church, ourselves, and the whole world. We ask in prayer for peace, an end to the pandemic, a spirit of penance, and our conversion.”

Speaking to Italian pilgrims, he said: “During this month of May, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, I invoke Our Lady’s heavenly protection on each one of you and on your respective families.”

He added: “Have frequent recourse to Mary, Mother of believers! The various forms of Marian devotion, and especially the recitation of the holy rosary, will help you to live out your journey of faith and Christian witness.”

The general audience ended with the recitation of the Our Father and the Apostolic Blessing.

Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

ardinal Jose Advincula, the archbishop-elect of Manila, will receive his “red hat,” called a biretta, in a ceremony at the Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral in Roxas City on May 28.

The celebration will be led

by Archbishop Charles Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, who will also bestow the cardinal’s ring upon the outgoing Capiz archbishop.

Fr. Emilio Arbatin, spokesman of the Capiz archdiocese, said that only about 300 people will be allowed inside the cathedral due to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic and health protocols.

He said the attendance will be composed of the cardinal’s immediate family, some bishops, priests, and a representative from each of the archdiocese’s 67 parishes and mission stations.

In October last year, Pope Francis announced the 13 new additions to the College of Cardinals, two of them are from Asia including Cardinal Cornelius Sim,

Brunei’s first cardinal.

But with the consistory on November 28 occurring during the pandemic, Advincula and Sim didn’t make it to Rome because of travel restrictions.

While many Rome-based cardinals attended the consistory, Advincula and other cardinals joined the celebration at the St. Peter’s Basilica online.

Those physically present were given their red hats and rings as cardinals by Pope Francis.

Advincula, 69, is the country’s ninth cardinal, following cardinals Orlando Quevedo, Luis Antonio Tagle, Gaudencio Rosales, Jose Sanchez, Ricardo Vidal, Jaime Sin, Julio Rosales and Rufino Santos.

On March 25, the pope appointed h im as Manila archbishop, succeeding Tagle, who now heads the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The archdiocese has yet to officially announce the date of Advincula’s installation as the 33rd archbishop of Manila.

Roy Lagarde/CBCP News

Vatican warns US bishops over get-tough Communion proposals

T

he head of the Vatican’s doctrine office is warning US bishops to deliberate carefully and minimize divisions before proceeding with a possible plan to rebuke Roman Catholic politicians, such as President Joe Biden, for receiving Communion even though they support abortion rights.

The strong words of caution came in a letter from Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB will convene for a national meeting on June 16, with plans to vote on drafting a document on the Communion issue There is division among the bishops, with some pressing for Biden and other Catholic public figures to be excluded from Communion over their abortion stance, and other bishops warning that such a move would be politically polarizing.

Ladaria, in his letter, said any new policy “requires that dialogue occurs in two stages: first among the bishops themselves, and then between bishops and Catholic prochoice politicians within their jurisdictions.”

Even then, Ladaria advised, the bishops should seek unanimous support within their ranks for any national policy, lest it become “a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States.”

Ladaria made several other points that could complicate the plans of bishops pressing for tough action: He said any new statement

should not be limited to Catholic political leaders but broadened to encompass all churchgoing Catholics in regard to their worthiness to receive Communion. n He questioned the USCCB policy identifying abortion as “the preeminent” moral issue, saying it would be misleading if any new document “were to give the impression that abortion and euthanasia alone constitute the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching that demand the fullest accountability on the part of Catholics.” n He said that if the US bishops pursue a new policy, they should confer with bishops’ conferences in other countries “both to learn from one another and to preserve unity in the universal church.” n He said any new policy could not override the authority of individual bishops to make decisions on who can receive Communion in their dioceses.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., has made clear that Biden is welcome to receive Communion at churches in the archdiocese.

Among the leaders of the campaign to rebuke Biden is Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who recently issued a pastoral letter arguing that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should not receive Communion.

A few days later, Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego published an essay saying such an initiative “will bring tremendously destructive consequences.”

Ladaria’s letter was dated May 7. It was first reported last Monday

by Catholic News Service and the Jesuit magazine America. AP

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Municipal fishing grounds under siege

U

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

Ph i l ippine Const it ut ion pro tects t he preferent i a l r ights of subsistence f isher fol k s to f ish w it h in mu nic ipa l waters.

“This protection is also enshrined in the amended Fisheries Code. The Constitution also promotes the social justice principle that those who have ‘less in life, must have more in law,’” EismaOsorio told the BusinessMirror via e-mail on April 28.

sing Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, commercial fishing vessels were frequently detected in municipal waters in various parts of the Philippines.

The Karagatan Patrol, a Facebook page created by Oceana, a nongovernment international o ce a n con s e r v at ion ad vo c a cy group, frequently reported “sightings” of commercial fishing vessels in these areas.

The mere presence of commercial fishing vessels in municipal waters is highly suspicious because Republic Act 8550 as amended by RA 10654, or the Amended Fisheries Code, declared these fishing grounds for the exclusive use of small fishermen Municipal fishing grounds are the areas between the shorelines and 15 kilometers (km) toward the sea. They are for the exclusive use of small, mostly subsistence fishermen, who have limited capacity to fish in distant waters.

Sadly, these areas are already overfished.

Fish stocks are depleted in many of the country’s so-called traditional fishing grounds due to overfishing. Even with a law that prohibits commercial fishing in these areas, small fishermen witness the rampant violation being committed by commercial fishing companies, hauling fish as they please.

Commercial fishing, exemption

In the Philippines, commercial fishing are classified either as small scale, or fishing with passive or active gear with fishing vessels of 3.1 gross tons up to 20 gross tons; medium scale, or fishing with gears and vessels of 20.1 gross tons up to 150 gross tons: and large-scale, or using gears and vessels of more than 150 gross tons.

Small and medium-scale commercial fishing may be allowed by concerned local government units (LGUs) that have jurisdiction in municipal fishing grounds between 10.1 km to 15 km from the shoreline, provided they are with the depths of at least 7 fathoms, or 12.8 meters deep, as certified by the appropriate agency.

Threat to municipal fishing

Considered a serious threat to municipal fishing grounds, allowing commercial fishing in these areas is about to get even worse.

A proposed measure—stiff ly being opposed by 1,100 fisherfolk organizations, nongovern-

ment orga n i z at ions ( NGOs), environmental groups and conservation advocates—will allow commercial fishing without the need for special permits from concerned LGUs. Filed by Cebu Rep. Pablo John F. Garcia, House Bill 7583 seeks to allow commercial fishing between 8.1 km to 15 km inside the municipal fishing ground.

In his explanatory note, Garcia said amending the law that will include an exception ensures that the various economic gains brought about by fishing may be experienced by more LGUs, fishers and families nationwide.

“This pandemic has debilitated many industries and has left many workers destitute. All efforts must be exerted toward recovering from this crippling period of our nation’s history,” he said.

The fisherfolk groups from Aklan, Albay, Antique, Aurora province, Biliran, Bohol, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Camiguin, Capiz, Catanduanes, Cavite, Cebu, Eastern Samar, Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Palawan, Samar, Siquijor, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay believe the measure will surely impact on their livelihood.

Oceana is among those at the forefront of the nationwide campaign against the passage of the bill.

Danny Ocampo, senior campaign manager at Oceana, said f i sher fol k orga n i z at ions a re coming together to fight against the passage of the bill.

“It is significant because it shows that the main sector that will be affected by this bill is opposing it. Fisherfolk are the second poorest of the poor in our country. This bill will further curtail their [exclusive] rights to municipal water resources,” Ocampo explained.

Fragile ecosystem

Ocea na, together w ith other civil society organizations (CSOs), including R are and the NGOs for Fi sher ies R efor m, said House Bill 7853—which seeks to amend Section 18 of Republic Act 8550, or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 as amended by R A 10654 of the

Increased fishing pressure

On April 28, Diovanie de Jesus, Campa ig n and Science Specialist at Oceana, said in a separate e-mail that allowing commercial fishing in municipal waters will increase fishing pressure in these areas.

“Though this may increase the commercial fishing production initially, eventually this is not sustainable because our waters are generally overfished already,” she said.

According to de Jesus, small fisherfolk are at the losing end of the deal if the proposed measure is enacted.

“Because their [commercial fishing vessels] gears can catch more fish, they can have higher income at the expense of the small fisherfolks; and displace small fisherfolks, the tragedy of the commons,” she said.

Threat to other marine wildlife Fishermen in a municipal fishing ground Diovanie de Jesus/Oceana

Fishermen mending nets Oceana

Amended Fisheries Code—will affect the sustainability of the country’s already fragile marine ecosystem.

Oceana Vice President Gloria Estenzo Ramos reiterated that municipal waters are important areas that are highly productive because they harbor important ecosystems and habitats, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves.

“ These provide shelter and reproduction areas for fishes and other marine organisms. It i s i m p o r t a nt t h at t h e y a r e healthy and resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis and to the health emergency we all face,” she said in a statement issued on April 29.

More o v e r, R o s e - L i z a E i s m a- Osor io, lega l a nd pol ic y d irector at Ocea na, sa id t he

Commercial fishing in municipal waters, she said, is a threat to other marine wildlife species. “ T hese are ca l led bycatch.

They can be sea turtles, marine mammals like dolphins, whales, seabirds and other nontargeted fish like sharks and rays. Though smaller fisherfolk can have bycatch also, commercial fishers have the higher potential and magnitude for bycatch,” she added.

What makes commercial fishing in municipal waters dangerous, de Jesus said, is the implications, such as inequality and displacement of small fisherfolks.

She ex pla ined that higher catch, which may lead or worsen overfishing, also leads to the higher magnitude for bycatch and higher potential for habitat destruction because of the nature of gears.

She added that commercial fishing use active gears, which are bigger and cover more areas, while other methods like trawl fishing may damage substrate.

Another Oceana marine scientist, Alvin Simon, agreed with de Jesus that allowing commercial fishing between 8.1 km to 15 km from the shoreline will increase fishing pressure.

“This may induce ecological collapse since overfishing tends to erode the food web which can

lead to the loss of other important marine life, including those that are vulnerable, such as marine turtles, sharks, marine mammals and other megafauna,” he said via e-mail on April 29.

Worse, he said commercial fishers can outcompete the small-scale fisherfolks since they have higher capacity to catch more fish in the municipal water.

Moreover, Simon said there is a possibi l it y of a d ispute arising in the community once commercial fishing is allowed in municipal fishing waters, “especially since small-scale fishers will be affected.”

Still recovering

Marita Rodriguez, executive director of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform, told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on May 11, that allowing commercial fishing will adversely affect the livelihood of small fishermen.

Rodriguez said municipal fishing grounds have yet to fully recover from the impact of decades of destructive fishing methods.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, the policy of the government then is to extract [fishes]. But in the 1990s, together with other NGOs helping small fishermen, we learned about the problem of overfishing, the destruction of marine and coastal ecosystem, that’s why RA 8550 was enacted to promote sustainability,” she explained.

“Small fishermen can only fish near the shores because they do not have a big fishing boats to start with,” she said.

Rodriguez added that small fishermen do not have the means unlike commercial fishing vessels to go out and fish in distant waters with the gasoline requirement, food and other provisions.

Important ecosystems, resources

M u n icipal w at e r s a re i m portant areas that are highly productive because they harbor important ecosystems and habitats, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves. “ These provide shelter and reproduction areas for fishes and other marine organisms. It i s i m p o r t a nt t h at t h e y a r e healthy and resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis and to the health emergency we all face,” she said.

According to Ramos, sustainable fisheries supply will be in gross danger, especially now that the country is facing the Covid-19 pandemic and aggravated by low protein source from pork as a result of the Asian swine fever outbreak.

She said, “We need to protect our fishery resources now more than ever.”

16 PHL cities qualify for One Planet City Challenge 2021-2022

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he World Wide Fund for Nat u re ( W W F) Ph i l ip pines announced the 16 qualifiers for this year’s One Planet City Challenge (OPCC).

The qualifiers for the first time are the five cities of Baguio, Legazpi, Ormoc, San Fernando in La Union and Vigan.

Meanwhile, the 11 cities of Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Dipolog, Makati, Pasig, Quezon City, San Carlos in Negros Occidental, Santa Rosa, Tagum City and Zamboanga City will be returning for OPCC 2021-2022.

“The addition of five Philippine cities to the OPCC roster is a wel-

come sign of a more sustainable future,” said WWF-Philippines One Planet Cities Project Manager Imee Bellen.

“Also, we are grateful to the 11 recurring city participants that chose to continue their engagement as this means that OPCC provides greater encouragement to strengthen their commitments.

We honor what these cities have achieved, and we look forward to working with them over the next two years,” Bellen said.

Participating cities will be submitting repor ts deta i l ing their respective emissions, as well as their plans and goals for

climate action in their localities.

The plans will be checked by a panel of experts against a methodology derived from the “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.” They will then undergo an assessment framework to evaluate the city’s climate targets and their alignment with the Paris Agreement.

Participants will also receive guidance on the most effective actions to help them along this decarbonization pathway toward net zero by 2050 at the latest.

W WF-Philippines partnered with International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives

Southeast Asia to guide participating Philippine cities on their reporting through a series of city workshops and consultations.

OPCC 2021-2022 was launched on April 15. Hosted by WWF, the OPCC celebrates measures taken by cities across the globe toward combating climate change and reducing their carbon footprint, in order to keep global warming within the 1.5°C limit.

A lmost 600 cities from 53 countries have participated in the OPCC over the past 10 years.

For each run, OPCC awards a global winner for their sustainability measures.

Previous OPCC global winners include Vancouver, Canada, in 2013; Cape Town, South Africa, in 2014; Seoul, South Korea, in 2015; Paris, France, in 2016; Uppsala, Sweden, in 2018; and Mexico City, Mexico, in 2020.

Local winners are also decided per participating country. Last year, Batangas City was hailed as country winner for the Philippines. Santa Rosa was the country winner in 2016, while Pasig City took the top spot in 2018.

The OPCC is also an opportunity for WWF-Philippines to help local governments expand on their actions to combat climate change.

Over the next two years, WWFPhilippines will be working closely with participating cities to help them analyze their climate action plans and identify solutions to meet their mitigation and adaptation targets.

The United Nations estimates that approximately 4.2 billion people live in cities and urban centers, which amounts to 55 percent of the worlds’ population.

According to UN Habitat, cities produce 60 percent of greenhouse gas-emissions. Reducing the carbon footprints of cities is a crucial step toward combating climate change.

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

MAGIC TOUCH, REALLY?

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press

Y

OU’RE joining a very accomplished group, the crème de la crème of chemically enhanced miscreants.

Over there is the East German Olympic team. Right next to them, you’ll find Ben Johnson and Marion Jones. That big guy is Mark McGwire. And, of course, the shamelessly corrupt Lance Armstrong needs no introduction.

Sure, you didn’t actually inject the illicit substance into your own body, like the rest of the inductees, but you’ll fit right in.

Yep, this is Baffert’s legacy— not all those great horses he trained.

Even if one of Baffert’s myriad excuses for a positive drug test at the Kentucky Derby somehow passes muster—to hear him tell it,

he’s the innocent victim of A) cancel culture pervading the nation, B) a groom who relieved himself in the barn, C) a veterinarian who prescribed the drug in question, or D) the dog ate his homework, we presume—there is no chance of him getting his reputation back.

That’s the way it should be.

For far too long—and this is an indictment of those of us in the media, as well—Baffert has largely gotten a free pass for his seemingly magic touch with equines while everyone looked the other way at his expanding list of doping violations.

In just the past year, he’s been cited five times. The New York Times found a much more sinister record—29 cases spanning more than four decades.

In any other athletic pursuit, Baffert would have long since

unday, May 16, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

been banned.

But horse racing, in a desperate bid to stay relevant and create stars who might attract new fans to the sport of kings, has treated the whitehaired trainer’s dubious methods with repeated slaps on the wrist.

Maybe a fine, or a brief suspension from the track where the offense occurred.

In many ways, horse racing has taken a page from the playbook of Major League Baseball, which looked the other way while McGwire and others bulked up on steroids to fuel a homer-crazed revival of the national pastime in the wake of a crippling strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series.

Baseball eventually came to its senses, shunning those who

cheated their way to improbable accomplishments.

Now, it’s time for horse racing to do the same.

The sport that already faces staunch criticism from animalrights activists and waning interest from gamblers and casual fans received another huge blow to its image when Baffert-trained Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone after an upset victory in horse racing’s premier event, the Kentucky Derby.

Just like that, the inspiring story of a $1,000 yearling who defied the odds as a 12-1 underdog now seems way too good to be true.

And, while it may not be fair, it’s only natural to cast a suspicious eye toward Baffert’s two greatest horses, American Pharoah and Justify, who captured the Triple Crown a mere three years apart—after a 37-year drought without any thoroughbred sweeping the sport’s biggest races.

Amazingly, Medina Spirit is still being allowed to compete in the second leg of the Triple Crown, Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, albeit with enhanced testing measures before the race.

At least Baffert had the good

TRAINER Bob Baffert hands the winner’s trophy to jockey John Velazquez after their victory with Medina Spirit in the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby. AP

sense to stay away from Pimlico.

Imagine what a buzz-kill it would be if Medina Spirit crosses the line first again, all while waiting for officials to complete their follow-up testing of his Kentucky Derby sample to determine if he should be disqualified from the Run for the Roses.

No matter the outcome, there is a gloomy cloud hanging over the sport.

“The whole atmosphere here has changed,” said D. Wayne Lukas, a rival trainer and friend of Baffert’s. ”The enthusiasm, the feel of excitement is not here. That’s what’s bad for the industry right there.”

Street racing surges across US amid pandemic

J

AYE SANFORD, a 52-year-old mother of two, was driving home in suburban Atlanta on November 21 when a man in a Dodge Challenger muscle car who was allegedly street racing crashed into her head-on, killing her.

She is one of the many victims of a surge in street racing that has taken root across America during the coronavirus pandemic, prompting police crackdowns and bills aimed at harsher punishments.

Experts say TV shows and movies glorifying street racing had already fueled interest in recent years. Then shutdowns associated with the pandemic cleared normally clogged highways as commuters worked from home.

Those with a passion for fast cars often had time to modify them, and to show them off, said Tami Eggleston, a sports psychologist who participates in legal drag racing.

“With Covid, when we were separated from people, I think people sort of bonded in their interest groups,” said Eggleston, who is also the provost of McKendree University, a small college in suburban St. Louis. “So that need to want to socialize and

NBA sets season record for 3-pointers per game

T

HE National Basketball Association’s (NBA) three-point dependence is stronger than ever.

For the ninth consecutive season, the league record for threepointers made per game has been broken. Even if zero 3s are made in the final four days of a regular season that ends Sunday, the league’s average in 2020-21 will be higher than any other season.

The 3s-per-game record was clinched when Washington’s Davis Bertans made the NBA’s 26,375th 3-pointer of the season Wednesday night. Bertans connected with 10:04 left in the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ game against Atlanta.

Teams entered Wednesday averaging about 12.7 made 3s per game this season. The previous mark was 12.2 per game, set last season.

There’s no shortage of other three-point marks that were broken in 2020-21.

The Utah Jazz are already assured of breaking the previous NBA mark for most three-pointers per game by a team over a full season—they entered Wednesday at 16.8 per game, certain to pass the mark of 16.1 per game set by the Houston Rockets in 2018-19.

And the record for most 3s made per game by a player in a season is on the brink of falling, with Golden State’s Stephen Curry currently averaging 5.3— 0.2 per game more than the previous mark, set

by Curry himself two seasons ago.

If Curry makes one more threepointer this season in either of Golden State’s final two games, he will reset the record. There have also been 13 instances of players making at least 10 3s in a game this season, another record—seven of them from Curry.

The three-point craze has no signs of slowing down, either. AP THE three-point craze has no signs of slowing down, just like Golden State’s Stephen Curry. AP

be around other people brought the racers out.”

But people have been killed as packs of vehicles, from souped-up jalopies to highend sports cars, roar down city streets and through industrial neighborhoods.

Street racers block roads and even interstates to keep police away as they tear around and perform stunts, often captured on videos that go viral. The snarl of engines and traffic tie-ups have become huge annoyances.

Georgia is among the states fighting back with new laws.

Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill named for Sanford that mandates at least 10 days of jail time for all drag racing convictions. It also requires people convicted a third time within five years to forfeit their vehicles.

“This illegal activity is very dangerous,” the Republican governor said at a bill-signing ceremony.

“Our goal is simple: to protect every family in every community.”

In New York City, authorities received more than 1,000 drag racing complaints over six months last year—a nearly five-fold increase

over the same period in 2019.

“Illegal street racing puts lives at risk and keeps us up at night,” said New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman. “While there’s been less traffic during the pandemic, some drivers have used this as an opportunity to treat our streets like a Nascar speedway.”

The Democratic lawmaker has introduced legislation that would authorize New York City to operate its speed cameras overnight and on weekends in hot spots for illegal street racing. The Senate Transportation Committee recently unanimously approved the measure, setting it up for a floor vote.

In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law in March a bill that allows state troopers to respond to incidents in cities. On New Year’s Eve, drivers blocked traffic on an interstate highway in Jackson, the state capital, for an hour while they spun out and did donuts, etching circles in the pavement. AP

BusinessMirror

May 16, 2021

Poor sleep linked

to inability to focus

2

BusinessMirror MAY 16, 2021 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

HERE TO STAY Alexa Ilacad re-calibrates her music career with a mature, new single

N

By Stephanie Joy Ching

OW popularly known for her role as Bobbie Salazar in Four Sisters Before The Wedding, rising sensation Alexa Ilacad has been juggling singing and acting since starting her career as a child star in the kiddie gag show, Goin’ Bulilit.

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

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

Columnists

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

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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

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

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

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

817-1351,817-2807.

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

As a pop singer, Alexa quickly developed a steady following with hits like “Love at First Sight” and “Pakipot, Suplado.” Seeking to expand her musical horizons, Alexa in recent years has explored electro-pop and combining it with her mature outlook in life has resulted in her latest single, ‘Stay Right Here.”

During a recent online press conference, Alexa shared that she now considers English singersongwriter as not only one of her musical inspirations but also her “peg in life.”

“Dua Lipa really inspires me, so I really want that kind of feel for my new music. But of course, there will be new songs in the future and I hope to make different sounds for those,” she shared.

An electro pop dance single produced by Relden Campanilla, Raven Tabanera, and Ricky Ilacad for his Off The Record label, “Stay Right Here” is a stark contrast to the effervescent innocence of her previous releases, particularly “Love at First Sight”. Balancing vulnerability with a mature, almost seductive vibe, the single proved to be a challenge for Alexa as she opted to experiment with her vocals.

“I wanted it to be really different from ‘Love at First Sight’, which was really sweet and cute. When I’m at home, I have a bajillion voices when I sing. I had a voice teacher who said that I was an imitator- if I listen to this song or this artist again and again, I get their voices when I sing it. But for “Stay Right Here,” I collaborated with the duo

known as Route 83, who produced the song and made the demo. I loved the voice of singer Relden Campanilla. And I wanted that sound cause I thought if I just used my normal voice, it wouldn’t be as sultry sounding. So I had to adjust,” she recalled.

“I think it took me half of the day to get the confidence to come up with that voice from my body,” she joked. “I had to record with all the lights off and in a small corner because I was so shy of experimenting,” Despite the intimate overtures expressed in the song, however, Alexa states that the song is “mostly just asking for companionship, especially in the new normal.”

“It’s a vulnerable track, like you’re asking for companionship, especially in the new normal.

ALEXA Ilacad

Although we have to stay right here at home, sometimes we crave the companionship of the people we miss, so our family and friends.

There isn’t a specific person behind this track,I just wanted it to be a feel good song,” she said.

Looking back at Alexa’s career, it has been quite the journey as following her stint in Goin’ Bulilit, she took on several roles in both film and tv, such as The Good Son (2017-2018) and The Killer Bride (2019). Now in her final year in college, she said she finds a lot of fulfilment in juggling her school life, acting career and now her music career.

“It drives me crazy,” she admitted, “but I love every minute of it.”

Alexa Ilacad’s “Stay Right Here” is now available in major streaming platforms.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | MAY 16, 2021

BUSINESS

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

Nothin’ but OPM in the House!

ZILD Huminga

T

HIS is Zild’s second album in about a year, a followup to his immensely enjoyable debut which exuded best of 2020 bells and whistles all over it. Now, put aside expectations about sophomore jitters or jinx for “Huminga” (“Breathe”) because principally we’re in some abnormal situation where creative pursuits are being hemmed in by lockdowns and quarantine measures.

With that, it takes some playing time before Zild’s new album makes sense. His current music leans closer to soft rock with one or two tracks pursuing a more energetic inclination.

While the sounds may be a bit predictable, a unifying strand runs through the lyrics of Zild’s latest recording.

The penultimate song “Wala Nang Kumakatok” is central to this – it evokes the anxieties of someone left alone, secluded in a room at night. In that perspective, the earlier eight

songs hang together as musings of a quarantined person, probably going through depression. “Apat” is a sweet turned sour remembrance of younger days, “Kyusi” talks about a need for physical transformation while the title track conveys “Magpahinga ka na sinta/Wag matakot maramdaman ang sariling lungkot.” To breathe then is to calm the restlessness and disquiet of isolation.

License unleash their second album 15 years after their acclaimed debut.

A decade and a half separates the two recordings but the core dialectics and inner dynamics of the group remain the same.

The trio of Pochoy, Kelley Mangahas and Boogie Romero enunciate incisive commentaries on contemporary politics while displaying new dexterity in folk and rock. They even complement the musical tracks with audio voicings from nationalist Jose “Pepe” Diokno and Fr. Albert Alejo SJ. The mayhem of “Diktador,” the repression in “Posas” and the murder in “Inosenteng Bala,” sit well side by side with Fr. Alejo’s “Sanayan Lang ang Pagpatay” and Sen Diokno’s “A Nation for Children” which connects human rights protection with the future of our country, or any democratic republic, for that matter.

The overall picture that emerges is not pretty, made even worse by the lingering pandemic.

In “Pagbigkas,” Dicta License again articulate the true state of the nation.

TERRORGORE Unholy Necroholocaust 666

H

EX-SENADORS Heartlessness and the Systematic Perpetuation of Despair

T DICTA LICENSE Pagbigkas

S

TRONG voices are rising today against the apathy and despair amidst a new cycle of Covid-19 pandemic. It’s timely that Dicta

doppelgangers in the halls of Congress. The challenge though is to get past the band’s propensity towards nasty hardcore and vicious Oi! And yes, they do slip in a slow number every now and then to make the whole experience less intimidating and alarming.

That means, a date with the Ex-Senadors will surely kick out the boredom and ennui of what’s turning out to be another joyless summer.

The Ex-Senadors are: Thomas (vocals), Kit (bass), Elaine (guitars), Px (guitars) and Roman (drums).

HAT’S a nice title for a recording by a selfproclaimed anti-fascist band from Kyusi. Arguably, it captures how the common man feels about the personal impacts of the stay at home and distancing regulations currently being implemented to protect the larger community.

On record, the Ex-Senadors display a more politically correct outlook and a bolder temperament than their elected

AILING from Bacoor, Cavite, Terrorgore is a Filipino one-man metal band who produces dissonant sounds to the coming zombie apocalypse. Mixed with dark lyrics delivered in death growls, he creates an immersive throbbing soundtrack that feels just as right in a continuing season of viral infections, afflictions and mounting death toll.

Terrorgore follows the tried and true template of electronic extreme music and he inserts some pretty cool thrash guitar maneuvers to set his compositions apart from the usual murky metal grind. And if you listen beyond the howls, snatches of what appears to be snippets of actual conversations filter through.

In the end, “Unholy Necroholocaust 666: is just a distraction from really intense events happening around us.

Approach with extreme caution.

3

Poor sleep linked to inability to focus

By David James Robertson University of Strathclyde

& Christopher B. Miller

T

University of Oxford

he morning after a difficult night’s sleep, it can feel impossible to wake up. You might press the snooze button just one more time in an attempt to gain a bit more of that restorative slumber. Later that day, you might notice it’s harder to stay focused.

Research has shown poor sleep is linked to increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, as well as worsening mental health and a weaker immune system. But much less research has focused on assessing the daytime effects of poor sleep on cognitive processes, such as the ability to stay focused on a given task.

In our new study we investigated the effects of poor sleep on participants’ ability to focus. We did so in a group of people diagnosed with insomnia.

In a collaboration with researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia, we assessed 23 people with chronic insomnia and 23 people without sleep difficulty (the controls). They stayed in a sleep laboratory overnight, and in the evening we gave them an attention test.

The attention test We asked participants to focus on a circle of letters at the center of a computer screen. They had to respond as quickly and as accurately as they could to a target letter (X or N) while ignoring any distracting letters that appeared outside the circle. We gave them three types of

task—easy, medium and hard—to mirror the different levels of focus needed for different daytime tasks.

Those with insomnia found it harder to focus on the task and ignore distractions compared with those in the control group who slept well. This finding adds to previous results that found impairments to daytime functioning in those with poor and limited sleep.

Brain processes We wanted to assess whether the lack of focus in those with insomnia might be due to a reduction in the effectiveness of the core attention mechanism—the brain process that allows us to focus on a task and ignore distractions. To test this, we used a well-established attention task in which we manipulated how challenging the task is.

Research has shown that when we’re focused on an easy task, our brain will automatically process distractions—we can’t prevent that. However, when focusing on a hard task all of our brain power is used by the task at hand and the distractions are eliminated from our awareness—such

as when you miss your phone notification when gripped on a TV show. This is what happens when our attention mechanism is intact and working as it should.

Reassuringly, we found the attention mechanism appeared to be working as it should in those with insomnia. However, those with the condition showed a higher baseline level of distractibility—the distracting letters were more intrusive to the insomnia group when they could be perceived.

It could therefore be a compromised cognitive control mechanism—the brain process that controls what we should focus our attention on—that might be driving the effect. That is, poor sleep could be reducing our brain’s ability to correctly decide which stimuli in the environment we should be attending to, resulting in more attention being given to distractions than would otherwise be the case.

It’s important to note that such impairments to frontal cognitive processes, however temporary, can make monotonous tasks such as driving a well-known route more difficult and dangerous, as a moment of inattention, say, to a new bill-

board, could prevent a driver from noticing a pedestrian stepping into the road.

All the more reason for any driver to be well-rested before a journey.

Future research will be needed to find out if treatment for insomnia helps people to better concentrate their attention. This is an exciting area of research because previous reports have only found small improvements in subjective measures of performance after treatment for insomnia.

Our study also found those with the most severe symptoms of insomnia were the least able to focus their attention on the task and ignore the distracting letters. With further research, our task could potentially be used to assess the extent to which poor sleep impairs people’s ability to stay focused.

We should all be aware of the potential for impairments to our attention caused by poor sleep, whether that be in relation to productivity in the office or focusing on the road while driving.

All the more reason to grab a good book and head to bed at a decent hour this evening. The Conversation

How much sleep do you really need?

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why do I need to sleep for a long time at night?—Sly M., 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts hen someone’s asleep, it can look like they are turned “off” and not doing anything at all. But, that’s not true. Your brain and body are active and doing important things while you sleep, like organizing nerve cells, regulating hormones, repairing cells and clearing out toxins.

Your brain is especially busy, helping you get lots of things done while you sleep. Among other things, it’s processing memories, gaining creative insight and learning new skills.

Sleep helps you learn, grow and thrive, and all these processes take time.

That’s why babies need 14 to 17 hours of sleep per day for the first three months of their lives—newborns are asleep way more than they are awake.

Most school-aged kids need about 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Teens can aim for nine hours, which is what some adults need too. But seven or eight hours is enough for other grown-ups.

It’s important to get not only enough sleep but also good-quality sleep. And

W

you should try to sleep on a regular schedule by going to sleep and waking up around the same time each day—even on weekends.

Getting a good night’s sleep can help you do well in school, at work and in sports (see main story).

Sleep can also help with quickness and memory, which can help you with things like singing or playing a musical instrument.

Good sleep helps you look and feel refreshed. When people are asked to rate how attractive someone is, they tend to rate people who are well rested as more attractive. Getting enough hours of good-quality sleep can help you cope with stress and get along better with your friends.

If, like many people, you struggle with getting enough sleep, there are some tricks to help you get good sleep on a regular basis. You may find it helpful to set an ideal sleep schedule and try to stick to it each day. You can set alarms to help remind you when it’s time to go to bed.

Use a wind-down routine for an hour before bedtime, to focus on keeping things relaxed and positive. You could include dimming lights, reading a fun book, and talking about the best parts of your day or just thinking about the day’s highlights. Try to avoid scary movies or books and getting into arguments just before bedtime.

4 BusinessMirror

May 16, 2021

Source: Sleep Foundation In the morning, think of something you are looking forward to that day and let the Sun or bright lights into your room to let your brain know it is time to be alert.

You’ll know your sleep habits are working when you do not feel sleepy throughout the day and you wake up most days feeling refreshed. Just like being physically fit and eating a balanced diet, regularly getting a good night’s sleep is a behavior that takes practice and can pay off for a lifetime. The Conversation