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Sunday, May 22, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 226

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

By Rene Acosta

PHILIPPINE Army troops train with their US Army Pacific counterparts in responding to CBRN threats in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija. ARMY.MIL.PH/SGT SANNY E PALATAO PA/ OG7, TRADOC, PA

In military use, although they are banned, WMDs pose a deadly threat, and armies around the world who never had lessons on how to deal with them or are illequipped to face such threats may not survive.

Possession and the use of WMDs—although again, they are illegal—is not entirely a new form of warfare as some modern armies have been documented to take stock of them. Still, dealing with their effects needs specialized training, gear and equipment.

Countering WMDs, both in the instance of an attack accident scenario, requires not only the military’s help, but also that of every agency of the government, especially those engaged in frontline services. Thus, they should be trained on how to handle such.

Firemen’s training

JUST a few days ago, the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) capped its two-week training course for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) on countering WMDs, which included practical lessons.

The training involved more than 100 BFP personnel from every region of the country and focused on the risks that first responders face when encountering a CBRN incident, according to a statement from the US Embassy.

A CBRN incident can be accidental or intentional and BFP officers use their specialized equipment to ascertain what type of chemical or other material is present.

“The course enabled the students to analyze an incident, plan the initial response, and implement defensive actions to include: the selection and use of personal protective equipment, air monitoring and sampling, technical and mass decontamination, victim rescue and recovery, defensive product control, evidence preservation, and illicit laboratory and improvised device awareness,” the embassy said.

The “technicians” course allowed tactical leaders to “analyze a problem, plan and implement a response, evaluate progress, adjust as needed and assist in terminating a WMD incident.”

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.3900

Slowly but surely, Philippines takes ‘baby steps’ in dealing with potential chemical, biological, even nuclear incidents.

The BFP was just among the agencies of the government that have been trained by the DRTA, as the government recognizes the need to prepare for a possible incident involving the use of CBRN and how to properly handle it.

The national action plan

AS such, the government formulated the CBRN National Action Plan in 2014 that is aimed at building the country’s capacity to counteract the risks associated with CBRN materials—whether it is natural, accidental or intentional.

The action plan established priority actions that would enhance the country’s capabilities to predict, prevent, prepare for, and perform mitigating activities on CBRN incidents and disasters and to conduct post-action activities.

Part of the plan is to train and equip agencies, including the military, law enforcement and the BFP

as first responders.

Just months after the action plan was crafted, the military trained a platoon of soldiers in handling CBRN incidents, with the help of the DRTA. The latter also donated P1 million worth of CBRN and even explosive equipment.

The military viewed the training in handling CBRN and explosives as complementing its ongoing modernization program.

The training and equipage of troops were designed for replication in other units of the military until it has a sizeable number that can deal with these kinds of threats.

“We really can’t tell about the future, but we look back [at] history, we have a lot of major disasters…but suffice it to say that it’s always better to be prepared rather than be sorry when the time comes,” one military official said at that time.

Not too late to start

“WITH the competing priorities in terms of capability development of the Armed Forces, we really, shall we say, are late in developing this capability. But thanks to our counterparts, we are given some support and we’re able to start the capability development for this specific, basically a capability gap because we don’t have that yet,” he pointed out.

The DTRA has been a longtime partner of the country, enabling both sides to learn best practices from each other.

In 2019, the DRTA first trained the BFP on CBRN handling in Metro Manila as it honed its response skills by way of a simulated incident in the capital.

During the exercise, a supposed chemical incident occurred in Manila, and an incident command post was put up. In a matter of minutes, a mock interagency re-

sponse was put up, with more than 20 agencies coordinating with each other.

The BFP, which is the premier CBRN response agency of the country, continuously holds “refresher and sustainment training on the tactics, techniques and procedures necessary to stay ahead of the emerging risks and threats to the country” with the help of the DRTA. Last month, Army troops also trained with their US counterparts in responding to CBRN threats in a four-day exercise at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

The exercise honed the interoperability and readiness of Filipino and US forces in responding to CBRN threats.

The Army’s CBRN Battalion and US Army personnel held lectures and practical exercises on mitigating and responding to CBRN attack scenarios.

n JAPAN 0.4101 n UK 65.3618 n HK 6.6761 n CHINA 7.8069 n SINGAPORE 37.9555 n AUSTRALIA 36.9192 n EU 55.4601 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9670

Source: BSP (May 20, 2022)

FERNANDO CORTÉS | DREAMSTIME.COM

HE Philippines is ramping up its personnel training on countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) with the assistance of the US, which has been teaching government responders on how to deal with threats and risks associated with chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear (CBRN) incidents in case of an attack, or even a potentially lethal mishap.

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Spy agencies urged to fix open secret: A lack of diversity

By Nomaan Merchant

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The Associated Press

ASHINGTON —The peril National Security Agency (NSA) staff wanted to discuss with their director didn’t involve terrorists or enemy nations. It was something closer to home: the racism and cultural misunderstandings inside America’s largest intelligence service.

The NSA and other intelligence agencies held calls for their staff shortly after the death of George Floyd. As Gen. Paul Nakasone listened, one person described how they would try to speak up in meetings only to have the rest of the group keep talking over them. Another person, a Black man, spoke about how he had been counseled that his voice was too loud and intimidated co-workers. A third described how a co-worker addressed them with a racist slur.

The Floyd factor

THE national reckoning over racial inequality sparked by Floyd’s murder two years ago has gone on behind closed doors inside America’s intelligence agencies. Publicly available data, published studies of its diversity programs, and interviews with retired officers indicate spy agencies have not lived up to years of commitments made by their top leaders, who often say diversity is a national security imperative.

People of color remain underrepresented across the intelligence community and are less likely to be promoted. Retired officers who spoke to The Associated Press described examples of explicit and implicit bias. People who had served on promotion boards noted non-native English speakers applying for new jobs would sometimes be criticized for being hard to understand — what one person called the “accent card.”

Some say they believe minorities are funneled into working on countries or regions based on their ethnicity.

Diversity data

DIRECTOR of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the first woman to serve in her role, has appointed diversity officials who say they need to collect better data to study longstanding questions, from whether the process for obtaining a security clearance disadvantages people of color to the reasons for

IN this image provided by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, diversity leaders with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Sherry Van Sloun, left, and Stephanie La Rue pose for a photo in Virginia, on May 12, 2022. OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE VIA AP

A SIGN stands outside the National Security Administration campus in Fort Meade, Maryland. AP

disparities in advancement. Agencies are also implementing reforms they say will promote diversity.

“It’s going to be incremental,” said Stephanie La Rue, who was appointed this year to lead the intelligence community’s efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion. “We’re not going to see immediate change overnight. It’s going to take us a while to get to where we need to go.”

The NSA call following Floyd’s death was described by a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private discussion. The person credited Nakasone for listening to employees and making public and private commitments to diversity. But the person and other former officials said they sometimes felt that their identities as people of color were discounted or not fully appreciated by their employers.

The NSA declined to comment on the call. It said in a statement that agency officials “regularly examine the outcomes of our personnel systems to assess their fairness.”

“Beyond the mission imperative, NSA cultivates diversity and promotes inclusion because we care about our people and know it is the right way to proceed,” the statement said.

A former NSA contractor alleged this year that racist and misogynistic comments often circulate on classified chatrooms intended for intelligence work. The contractor, Dan Gilmore, wrote in a blog post that he was fired for reporting his complaints to higher-ups. A spokeswoman for Haines, Nicole de Haay, declined to comment on Gilmore’s allegations but said employees who “engage in inappropriate conduct are subject to a variety of account-

ability mechanisms, including disciplinary action.”

‘Pale, male, Yale’

THE US intelligence community has evolved over decades from being almost exclusively run by white men—following a stereotype that Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, referred to in a hearing on diversity last year as “pale, male, Yale.” Intelligence agencies that once denied security clearances to people suspected of being gay now have active resource groups for people of different races and sexual orientation.

Testifying at the same hearing as Himes, CIA Director William Burns said, “Simply put, we can’t be effective and we’re not being true to our nation’s ideals if everyone looks like me, talks like me, and thinks like me.”

But annual charts published by the Office of Director of National Intelligence show a consistent trend: At rising levels of rank, minority representation goes down.

Latinos make up about 18 percent of the American population but just 7 percent of the roughly 100,000-person intelligence community and 3.5 percent of senior officers. Black officers comprise 12 percent of the community—the same as the US population—but 6.5 percent at the most senior level. And while minorities comprise 27 percent of the total intelligence workforce, just 15 percent of senior executives are people of color.

The way forward

A 2015 report commissioned by the CIA said the “underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minority officers and officers with a disability at the senior ranks is not a recent

problem and speaks to unresolved cultural, organizational, and unconscious bias issues.” Among the report’s findings: Progress made between 1984 and 2004 in promoting Black officers to senior roles had been lost in the following decade and recruitment efforts at historically Black colleges and universities “have not been effective.”

“Since its founding, the Agency has been unmistakably weak in promoting diverse role models to the executive level,” the report said.

Lenora Peters Gant, a former senior human capital officer for the CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), wrote last year that the intelligence community constantly imposes barriers on minorities, women and people with disabilities. Gant, now an adviser at Howard University, called on agencies to release some of their classified data on hiring and retention.

“The bottom line is the decision making leadership levels are void of credible minority participation,” Gant said.

ODNI is starting an investigation of the slowest 10 percent of security clearance applications, reviewing delays in the cases for any possible examples of bias. It also intends to review whether polygraph examiners need additional race and ethnicity training.

The intelligence community currently doesn’t report delays in getting a security clearance—required for most agency jobs— based on race, ethnicity or gender.

The months or years a clearance can take can push away applicants who can’t wait that long.

The office is implementing annual grant monitoring and assigning additional staff to work with universities in the intelligence community’s Centers for Academic Excellence program, intended to recruit college students from underrepresented groups.

A 2019 audit said it was impossible to judge the program due to poor planning and a lack of clear goals. The program also got a new logo after ODNI officials heard that the previous “IC CAE” insignia appeared to spell out “ICE,” an unintended reference to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Additional quiet changes are taking place across the agencies.

Officials say the changes were in process before Floyd’s death, though conversations held with employees brought new urgency to diversity issues.

The NSA stopped requiring applicants for internal promotions to disclose the date they were last promoted to the boards considering their application. Officials familiar with the change say it was intended to benefit applicants who take longer to move up the agency ladder, often including working parents or people from underrepresented communities.

The CIA two years ago formally tied yearly bonuses for its senior executives to their performance on diversity goals, measured next to factors such as leadership and intelligence tradecraft. Last year’s class of new senior executives was the most diverse in the agency’s history, with 47 percent women and 27 percent people from minority backgrounds, which exceed the percentages of women and minorities in the agency’s total workforce.

Said CIA spokesperson Tammy Thorp: “We are proud of the Agency’s progress in ensuring our hiring, assignment, and promotion processes do not create barriers to advancement.”

La Rue, the chief diversity officer for the intelligence community, has hired several data analysts and plans for her office to issue annual report cards on diversity for each intelligence agency. She acknowledges advocates have to break through enduring skepticism inside and outside government that diversity goals undermine the intelligence mission or require lower standards.

“The narrative that we have to sacrifice excellence for diversity, or that we are somehow compromising national security to achieve our diversity goals, is ridiculous,” she said.

TheWorld BusinessMirror

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Sunday, May 22, 2022

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Troops who defended Mariupol steel mill registered as POWs

By Oleksandr Stashevskyi & Ciaran Mcquillan

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The Associated Press

YIV, Ukraine—Amid fear of Russian reprisals, hundreds of Ukrainian fighters who surrendered after enduring the merciless assault on Mariupol’s steel factory were registered as prisoners of war, and the Ukrainian president vowed to seek international help to save them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had gathered personal information from hundreds of the soldiers— name, date of birth, closest relative—and registered them as prisoners as part of its role in ensuring the humane treatment of POWs under the Geneva Conventions.

Amnesty International said in a tweet that the POW status means that the soldiers “must not be subjected to any form of torture or ill-treatment.”

More than 1,700 defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have surrendered since Monday, Russian authorities said, in what appeared to be the final stage in the nearly three-month siege of the now-pulverized port city.

At least some of the fighters were taken by the Russians to a former penal colony in territory controlled

by Moscow-backed separatists. Others were hospitalized, according to a separatist official.

But an undisclosed number re-

mained in the warren of bunkers and tunnels in the sprawling plant.

In a brief video message, the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, which led the defense of the steel mill, said he and other fighters were still inside.

“An operation is underway, the details of which I will not announce,” Svyatoslav Palamar said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to seek the world’s help.

“I am doing everything I can so that the most influential international forces are informed and, as much as possible, involved in saving our troops,” he said.

While Ukraine expressed hope for a prisoner exchange, Russian authorities have threatened to investigate some of the Azovstal fighters for war crimes and put them on trial, branding them “Nazis” and criminals.

The Azov Regiment’s far-right origins have been seized on by the Kremlin as part of an effort to cast Russia’s invasion as a battle

Iryna Martsyniuk, 50, stands next to her house, heavily damaged after a Russian bombing in Velyka Kostromka village, Ukraine, on Thursday, May 19, 2022. Martsyniuk and her three young children were at home when the attack occurred in the village, a few kilometers from the front lines, but they all survived unharmed. AP/Francisco Seco

against Nazi influence in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in the first war crimes trial held by Ukraine, a captured Russian soldier testified that he shot an unarmed civilian in the head on an officer’s orders, and he asked the victim’s widow to forgive him. The soldier pleaded guilty earlier in the week, but prosecutors presented the evidence against him in line with Ukrainian law.

Two other Russian soldiers appeared in court Thursday in the Poltava region on war-crimes charges that they shelled civilians.

Prosecutors said both pleaded guilty. The next court session in their case was set for May 26.

Also, more US aid appeared to be on its way to Ukraine when the Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40 billion package of military and economic aid for the country and its allies. The House voted for it last week. President Joe Biden’s quick signature was certain.

“Help is on the way, really significant help. Help that could make

sure that the Ukrainians are victorious,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Taking the Azovstal steel plant would allow Russia to claim complete control of Mariupol and secure a long-sought victory. But it would be a mostly symbolic victory at this point, since the city is already effectively in Moscow’s hands, and analysts say most of the Russian forces that were tied down by the battle there have already left.

Kyiv’s troops, bolstered by Western weapons, thwarted Russia’s initial goal of storming the capital, Kyiv, and have put up stiff resistance against Moscow’s forces in the Donbas, the eastern industrial region that President Vladimir Putin has set his sights on capturing.

T he su r pr isi ng success of Ukraine’s troops has buoyed Kyiv’s confidence.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy who was involved in several rounds of talks with Rus-

sia, said in a tweet addressed to Moscow: “Do not offer us a ceasefire—this is impossible without total Russian troops withdrawal.”

“Until Russia is ready to fully liberate occupied territories, our negotiating team is weapons, sanctions and money,” he wrote.

Russia, though, again signaled its intent to incorporate or at least maintain influence over areas its troops have seized.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin this week visited the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, large parts of which have been under the control of Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began in February. He was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the regions could become part of “our Russian family.”

Also, Volodymyr Saldo, the Kremlin-installed head of the Kherson region, appeared in a video on Telegram saying Kherson “will become a subject of the Russian Federation.”

In other developments, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke by phone on Thursday with his Russian counterpart for the first time since the war began, and they agreed to keep the lines of communications open, the Pentagon said.

On the battlefield, Ukraine’s mi l ita r y sa id Russia n forces pressed their offensive in various sections of the front in the Donbas but were being repelled. The governor of the Luhansk region said Russian shelling killed four civilians, while separatist authorities in Donetsk said Ukrainian shelling killed two.

Zelenskyy said 12 people were

killed and dozens more wounded in the city of Severodonetsk, and attacks on the northeastern Chernihiv region included a severe strike on the village of Desna, where many more died and rescuers were still going through the rubble.

On the Russian side of the border, the governor of Kursk province said a truck driver was killed by shelling from Ukraine.

At the war crimes trial in Kyiv, Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-yearold member of a Russian tank unit, told the court that he shot Oleksandr Shelipov, a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian, in the head on orders from an officer.

Shishimarin said he disobeyed a first order but felt he had no choice but to comply when it was repeated by another officer. He said he was told the man could pinpoint the troops’ location to Ukrainian forces.

A prosecutor has disputed that Shishimarin was acting under orders, saying the direction didn’t come from a direct commander.

Shishimarin apologized to the victim’s widow, Kateryna Shelipova, who described seeing her husband being shot just outside their home in the early days of Russia’s invasion.

She told the court that she believes Shishimarin deserves a life sentence, the maximum possible, but that she wouldn’t mind if he were exchanged as part of a swap for the Azovstal defenders.

McQuillan reported from Lviv. Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, and Aamer Madhani in Washington and other AP staffers around the world contributed.

War Crimes Watch: By targeting schools, Russia bombs the future

By Jason Dearen, Juliet Linderman & Oleksandr Stashevskyi The Associated Press

K

YIV, Ukraine—As she lay buried under the rubble, her legs broken and eyes blinded by blood and thick clouds of dust, all Inna Levchenko could hear was screams. It was 12:15 p.m. on March 3, and moments earlier a blast had pulverized the school where she’d taught for 30 years.

A mid r e l e n t l e s s b o m bin g , s h e ’d opened School 21 in Chernihiv as a shelter to frightened families. They painted the word “children” in big, bold letters on the windows, hoping that Russian forces would see it and spare them. The bombs fell anyway.

Though she didn’t know it yet, 70 children she’d ordered to shelter in the basement would survive the blast. But at least nine people, including one of her students—a 13-year-old boy—would not.

“Why schools? I cannot comprehend their motivation,” she said. “It is painful to realize how many friends of mine died … and how many children who remained alone without parents, got traumatized.

They will remember it all their life and will pass their stories to the next generation.”

The Ukrainian government says Russia has shelled more than 1,000 schools, destroying 95. On May 8, a bomb flattened a school in Zaporizhzhia which, like School No. 21 in Chernihiv, was being used a shelter. As many as 60 people were feared dead.

Intentionally attacking schools and other civilian infrastructure is a war crime.

Experts say wide-scale wreckage can be used as evidence of Russian intent, and to refute claims that schools were simply collateral damage.

But the destruction of hundreds of schools is about more than toppling buildings and maiming bodies, according to experts, to teachers and to others who have survived conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, in Syria and beyond. It hinders a nation’s ability to rebound after the fight-

A man removes a destroyed curtain inside a school damaged among other residential buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. As of early May, the Ukrainian government says Russia has shelled more than 1,000 schools, completely destroying 95. AP/Rodrigo Abd ing stops, injuring entire generations and dashing a country’s hope for the future.

In the nearly three months since Russia invaded Ukraine, The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” have independently verified 57 schools that were destroyed or damaged in a manner that indicates a possible war crime. The accounting likely represents just a fraction of potential war crimes committed during the conflict and the list is updated daily.

In Chernihiv alone, the city council said only seven of the city’s 35 schools were unscathed. Three were reduced to rubble.

8,000 reports of war crimes

The International Criminal Court, prosecutors from across the globe and Ukraine’s prosecutor general are investigating more than 8,000 reports of potential war crimes in Ukraine involving 500 suspects. Many are accused of aiming deliberately at civilian structures like hospitals, shelters and residential neighborhoods.

Targeting schools—spaces designed as havens for children to grow, learn and make friends—is particularly harmful,

transforming the architecture of childhood into something violent and dangerous: a place that inspires fear.

A geography teacher, Elena Kudrik, lay dead on the floor of School 50 in the eastern Ukrainian town of Gorlovka. Amid the wreckage surrounding her were books and papers, smeared in blood. In the corner, another lifeless body—Elena Ivanova, the assistant headmaster— slumped over in an office chair, a gaping wound torn into her side.

“It’s a tragedy for us...It’s a tragedy for the children,” said school director Sergey But, standing outside the brick building shortly after the attack. Shards of broken glass and rubble were sprayed across the concrete, where smiling children once flew kites and posed for photos with friends.

A few kilometers away, at the Sonechko pre-school in the city of Okhtyrka, a cluster bomb destroyed a kindergarten, killing a child. Outside the entrance, two more bodies lay in pools of blood.

Valentina Grusha teaches in Kyiv province, where she has worked for 35 years, most recently as a district administrator

and foreign literature instructor. Russian troops invaded her village of Ivankiv just as school officials had begun preparations for war. On February 24, Russian forces driving toward Kyiv fatally shot a child and his father there, she said. “ T here w a s no more schooling,” she said. “We called all the leaders and stopped instruction because the war started. And then there were 36 days of occupation.”

They also shelled and destroyed schools in many nearby villages, she said.

Kindergarten buildings were shattered by shrapnel and machine-gun fire.

Despite the widespread damage and destruction to educational infrastructure, war crimes experts say proving an attacking military’s intent to target individual schools is difficult. Russian officials deny targeting civilian structures, and local media reports in Russian-held Gorlovka alleged Ukrainian forces trying to recapture the area were to blame for the blast that killed the two teachers there.

But the effects of the destruction are indisputable.

“When I start talking to the directors of destroyed and robbed institutions, they are very worried, crying, telling with pain and regret,” Grusha said. “It’s part of their lives. And now the school is a ruin that stands in the center of the village and reminds of those terrible air raids and bombings.”

Heart of the community

UNICEF communications director Toby Fricker, who is currently in Ukraine, agreed. “School is often the heart of the community in many places, and that is so central to everyday life.”

Teachers and students who have lived through other conflicts say the destruction of schools in their countries damaged an entire generation.

Syrian teacher Abdulkafi Alhambdo still thinks about the children’s drawings soaked in blood, littered across the floor of a schoolhouse in Aleppo. It had been attacked during the Civil War there in 2014. The teachers and children had been

preparing for an art exhibit featuring student work depicting life during wartime.

The blast killed 19 people, including at least 10 children, the AP reported at the

time. But it’s the survivors who linger in Alhambdo’s memory.

See “War crimes,” A5

A4

TheWorld BusinessMirror

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Tea and infomercials: North Korea fights Covid cases with few tools

By Hyung-Jin Kim & Kim Tong-Hyung The Associated Press

S

EOUL, South Korea—On a recent nighttime visit to a drugstore, a double-masked Kim Jong Un lamented the slow delivery of medicine.

Separately, the North Korean leader’s lieutenants have quarantined hundreds of thousands of suspected Covid-19 patients and urged people with mild symptoms to take willow leaf or honeysuckle tea.

Despite what the North’s propaganda is describing as an all-out effort, the fear is palpable among citizens, according to defectors in South Korea with contacts in the North, and some outside observers worry the outbreak may get much worse, with much of an impoverished, unvaccinated population left without enough hospital care and struggling to afford even simple medicine.

“North Koreans know so many people around the world have died because of Covid-19, so they have fear that some of them could die, too,” said Kang Mi-jin, a North Korean defector, citing her phone calls with contacts in the northern North Korean city of Hyesan.

She said people who can afford it are buying traditional medicine to deal with their anxieties.

Since admitting what it called its first domestic Covid-19 outbreak one week ago, North Korea has been fighting to handle a soaring health crisis that has intensified public anxiety over a virus it previously claimed to have kept at bay.

The country’s pandemic response appears largely focused on isolating suspected patients.

That may be all it can really do, as it lacks vaccines, antiviral pills, intensive care units and other medical assets that ensured millions of sick people in other countries survived.

North Korean health authorities said Thursday that a fastspreading fever has killed 63 people and sickened about 2 million others since late April, while about 740,000 remain quarantined. Earlier this week, North Korea said its total Covid-19 caseload stood at 168 despite rising fever cases.

Many foreign experts doubt the figures and believe the scale of the outbreak is being underreported to prevent public unrest that could hurt Kim’s leadership.

State media said a million public

workers were mobilized to identify suspected patients. Kim Jong Un also ordered army medics deployed to support the delivery of medicines to pharmacies, just before he visited drugstores in Pyongyang at dawn Sunday.

North Korea also uses state media outlets—newspapers, state TV and radio—to offer tips on how to deal with the virus to citizens, most of whom have no access to the Internet and foreign news.

“It is crucial that we find every person with fever symptoms so that they can be isolated and treated, to fundamentally block the spaces where the infectious disease could spread,” Ryu Yong Chol, an official at Pyongyang’s anti-virus headquarters, said on state TV Wednesday.

State TV aired infomercials show ing animated characters advising people to see doctors if they have breathing problems, spit up blood or faint. They also explain what medicines patients can take, including home remedies such as honey tea. The country’s main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, adv ised people w ith mild symptoms to brew 4 to 5 grams of willow or honeysuckle leaves in hot water and drink that three times a day.

“Their guidelines don’t make a sense at all. It’s like the government is asking people to contact doctors only if they have breathing difficulties, which means just before they die,” said former North Korean agriculture official Cho Chung Hui, who fled to South Korea in 2011. “My heart aches when I think about my brother and sister in North Korea and their suffering.”

Kang, who runs a company analyzing the North Korean economy, said her contacts in Hyesan told her that North Korean residents are being asked to thoroughly read Rodong Sinmun’s reports on how the country is working to stem the outbreak.

What it’s like to live through India’s nonstop heat wave

By Archana Chaudhary & Akshat Rathi

L

arge parts of northern and central India are bracing for more days of brutal heat, with temperatures forecast to hit 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit) later in the week. Hotter even than the searing 43°C heat on Thursday that scorched New Delhi, the capital city, while a teacher named Shyam Mahato struggled to keep students safe and hydrated from the school’s single tap.

“Heat is getting worse much earlier,” says Mahato, whose classroom is an exposed space underneath a bridge without air conditioning or even a fan.

No one in the city was untouched by the threat of last Thursday’s blazing temperatures. A Bloomberg Green reporter spent hours out on the streets to witness what has become an almost constant daily struggle to endure this long-running wave of severe heat. Aside from brief days of respite, extreme heat has afflicted a region with more than 1 billion people since March.

That’s when temperatures in India broke a 122-year record. Neighboring Pakistan has already experienced 50°C. The extreme heat wave across South Asia is a direct manifestation of rising global temperatures, an impact that climate scientists had predicted with certainty years

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a pharmacy in Pyongyang, North Korea, on May 15, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.

Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Since May 12, North Korea has banned travel between regions, but it hasn’t attempted to impose more severe lockdowns in imitation of China. North Korea’s economy is fragile due to pandemic border closures and decades of mismanagement, so the country has encouraged farming, construction and other industrial activities be accelerated. Kang said people in Hyesan still go to work.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed worry this week about the consequences of North Korea’s quarantine measures, saying isolation and traveling restrictions will have dire consequences for people already struggling to meet their basic needs, including getting enough food to eat.

“Children, lactating mothers, older people, the homeless and those living in more isolated rural and border areas are especially vulnerable,” the office said in a statement.

Defectors in South Korea say they worry about their loved ones in North Korea. They also suspect Covid-19 had already spread to North Korea even before its formal admission of the outbreak.

“My father and sibling are still in North Korea and I’m worrying about them a lot because they weren’t inoculated and there aren’t many medicines there,” said Kang Na-ra, who f led to South Korea in late 2014. She said a sibling told her during recent phone calls that their grandmother died of pneumonia, which she believes was caused by Covid-19, last September.

Defector Choi Song-juk said that when her farmer sister in North Korea last called her in February, she said that her daughter and many neighbors had been sick with coronavirus-like symptoms such as a high fever, coughing and sore throat.

Choi said her sister pays brokers to arrange phone calls, but she hasn’t called recently, even though it’s around the time of year when she runs short of food and needs money

transfers via a network of brokers.

Choi said the disconnection is likely related to anti-virus restrictions on movements.

“I feel so sad. I must connect with her again because she must be without food and picking wild greens,” said Choi, who left North Korea in 2015.

In recent years, Kim Jong Un has built some modern hospitals and improved medical systems, but critics say it’s mostly for the country’s ruling elite and that the free socialist medical service is in shambles. Recent defectors say there are lots of domestically produced drugs at markets now but they have quality issues so people prefer South Korean, Chinese and Russian medicines. But foreign medications are typically expensive, so poor people, who are a majority of the North’s population, cannot afford them.

“If you are sick in North Korea, we often say you will die,” Choi said.

Despite the outbreak, North Korea hasn’t publicly responded to South Korean and US offers of medical aid. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday that the world body “is deeply concerned at the risk of further spread” in North Korea and the lack of information about the outbreak.

Choi Jung Hun, a former North Korean doctor who resettled in South Korea, suspects North Korea is using its pandemic response as a tool to promote Kim’s image as a leader who cares about the public and to solidify internal unity. He says the country’s understated fatalities could also be exploited as a propaganda tool.

“One day, they’ll say they’ve contained Covid-19. By comparing its death toll with that of the US and South Korea, they’ll say they’ve done a really good job and their anti-epidemic system is the world’s best,” said Choi, now a researcher at a Korea University-affiliated institute in South Korea.

ago. Poverty and proximity to the equator increase the likelihood of illness and death from unrelenting temperatures. While New Delhi’s growing middle class may have access to air-conditioned offices, shopping malls and cars, there are millions of migrant workers who make up 40 percent of its population that have spent these extreme days without any access to relief. Even for those who can afford cooling devices, the threat of blackouts from surging power demand remains a constant worry.

The problem of extreme heat that lasts for weeks on end will only get worse as rising levels of greenhouse gases continue to trap more heat in the atmosphere, and it will be compounded by the arrival of more people to crowded cities in India and elsewhere. India’s urban population is expected to double by 2050—and so too is the loss of productivity from people unable to work in the heat.

What follows is an attempt to chronicle a day in the life of New Delhi in the midst of a climate-driven heat wave.

9 a.m. Temperature: 36°C Feels Like: 39°C

Darshan Mukhiya, a vegetable vendor, walks barefoot along the Yamuna River on the city’s eastern edge, wheeling his 83-year-old father in a cart. They’re headed to update the elder man’s health records at a government office two miles away before he loses access to state benefits. The men set out early, before it becomes too hot to stay out in the open.

“We don’t own a fan, let alone a cooler,” Mukhiya says. “What else does someone like me have to protect themselves?” His six children are spending the day at a public school where there are ceiling fans, but at home the only option for cooling off is to soak in the polluted river.

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42,915 people died on US roads last year–NHTSA

By Tom Krisher & Hope Yen The Associated Press

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ETROIT—Nearly 43,000 people were killed on US roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the roads after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay at home.

The 10.5 percent jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Exacerbating the problem was a persistence of risky driving behaviors during the pandemic, such as speeding and less frequent use of seat belts, as people began to venture out more in 2021 for out-of-state and other road trips, analysts said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said America faces a crisis on its roads.

The safety administration urged state and local governments, drivers and safety advocates to join in an effort to reverse the rising death trend.

“Our nation has taken a dangerous and deadly step backwards in traffic safety and impaired driving,” said MADD National President Alex Otte, who urged strong public-private efforts akin to the seat belt and air bag public safety campaigns of the 1990s to stem reckless driving.

“More families and more communities are feeling the crushing magnitude of this crisis on our roads.”

Preliminary figures released Tuesday by the agency show that 42,915 people died in traffic crashes last year, up from 38,824 in 2020. Final figures will be released in the fall.

Forty-four states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had increases in traffic deaths in 2021 compared to the previous year, led by Texas, California and Florida. Posting declines were Wyoming, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Maryland and Maine. Rhode Island’s figures were unchanged.

Americans drove about 325 billion more miles last year, 11.2 percent higher than in 2020, which contributed to the increase.

Nearly 118 people died in US traffic crashes every day last year, according to the agency’s figures. The Governors Highway Safety Association, a group of state traffic safety officials, blamed the increase on dangerous behavior such as speeding, driving while impaired by alcohol and drugs, and distracted driving, as well as “roads designed for speed instead of safety.”

The combination, the group said, “has wiped out a decade and a half of progress in reducing traffic crashes, injuries and deaths.”

Deaths last year increased in almost all types of crashes, NHTSA reported. Crashes occurring during out of state travel jumped 15 percent, compared to 2020, many of them on rural interstate roads or access roads off city highways. Fatalities in urban areas and deaths in multi-vehicle crashes each rose 16 percent. Pedestrian deaths were up 13 percent.

By age, fatalities among drivers 65 and older rose 14 percent, reversing a declining trend seen among them in 2020.

Deaths also surged among middle-aged

11:30 a.m. Temperature: 39°C Feels Like: 41 °C

There are also no fans at the open-air school that Mahato, 51, helps run in the shade of a nearby bridge. Metro trains roll by overhead. The air-conditioned carriages are packed with people who might otherwise walk or cycle.

There should be 300 students at this free school, but many families have left the city’s oppressive heat for open spaces in the villages. The 50 children present are drenched in sweat, making frequent trips to the only drinking water tap available. “We shut down the school when temperatures go above 45°C, but that usually doesn’t happen until late May or June,” says Mahato.

Many children who live in cramped homes have been suffering from upset stomachs and even fever, he says, with cases of malaria on the rise as mosquitoes breed in the heat and humidity.

drivers, led by those 35-to-44, which rose 15 percent. Kids under age 16 saw traffic fatalities increase 6 percent.

By vehicle, fatalities involving at least one big truck were up 13 percent, while motorcycle deaths were up 9 percent and deaths of bicyclists rose 5 percent.

Fatalities involving speeding drivers and deaths in alcohol-related crashes each were up 5 percent.

Government estimates show the rate of road deaths declined slightly from 2020.

Last year there were 1.33 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, compared with 1.34 in 2020. The fatality rate rose in the first quarter of last year, but declined the rest of the year, NHTSA said.

Traffic deaths began to spike in 2020. NHTSA has blamed reckless driving behavior for increases during the pandemic, citing behavioral research showing that speeding and traveling without a seat belt have been higher.

Before 2020, the number of fatalities had fallen for three straight years.

Deputy NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff, the Biden administration’s nominee to run the agency, said the roadway crisis is urgent and preventable. “We will redouble our safety efforts, and we need everyone—state and local governments, safety advocates, automakers and drivers, to join us,” Cliff said in a statement. “All of our lives depend on it.”

Buttigieg pointed to a national strategy unveiled earlier this year aimed at reversing the trend. He said earlier that over the next two years his department will provide federal guidance as well as billions in grants under President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure law to spur states and localities to lower speed limits and embrace safer road design such as dedicated bike and bus lanes, better lighting and crosswalks. The strategy also urges the use of speed cameras, which the department says could provide more equitable enforcement than police traffic stops.

I n Tu e s d a y ’ s s t a t e m e n t , t h e department said it opened up its first round of applications for the program, which will spend up to $6 billion over five years on local efforts to cut crashes and deaths.

The Transportation Department is moving in the right direction to stem the increase in deaths, but it will take years for many of the steps to work, said Michael Brooks, acting executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety.

NHTSA, for instance, has regulations pending to require electronic automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection systems on all new light vehicles, and to require automatic emergency braking on heavy trucks, he said. Automatic emergency braking can slow or stop a vehicle if there’s an object in its path.

The agency also is requiring automakers to install systems that alert rear-seat passengers if their safety belts aren’t buckled.

“Responding to this is difficult,” Brooks said. “It takes a lot of work on a lot of different strategies to address these issues. They’ve got a lot of work on their hands.”

Yen reported from Austin, Texas.

1 p.m. Temperature: 43°C Feels Like: 45°C

It’s the hottest time of the day. Bhumi, 18, puts on a face mask made of Fuller’s earth—a type of clay that’s used as a local cooling remedy—the moment she gets home from work. Then she takes her position under a fan. She’s downed two liters of water in an hour, but it hasn’t helped ease the stifling humidity. “Heat boils and skin allergies have worsened this year,” she says.

Bhumi, her five siblings and their parents share an eight-by-10 foot room with a single window in a shantytown in southern Delhi. They cook and sleep out on the cramped terrace where it’s slightly cooler. The single fan isn’t much help, she says, and the power could go out at any moment. Her neighborhood has experienced at least two cuts every day.

Government data shows 25 deaths have been officially reported during

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War crimes. . .

Continued from A3

“I understood in [their] eyes that they wouldn’t go to school anymore,” he said. “It doesn’t only affect the kids who were running away, with shock and trauma. It affects all kids who heard about the massacre. How can they go back to school? You are not only targeting a school, you’re targeting a generation.”

Jasminko Halilovic was only 6 years old when Sarajevo, in presentday Bosnia-Herzegovina, was besieged. Now, 30 years after the Bosnian war ended, he and his peers are the ones still picking up the pieces.

Halilovic went to school in a cellar, as many Ukrainian children have done. Desperately chasing safety, the teachers and students moved from basement to basement, leaning chalkboards on chairs instead of hanging them walls.

Halilovic, now 34, founded the War Childhood Museum, which catalogs the stories and objects of children in conflict around the world. He was working in Ukraine with children displaced by Russia’s 2014 invasion of the Donbas region when the current war began. He had to evacuate his staff and leave the country.

“Once the fighting ends, the new fight will start. To rebuild cities. To rebuild schools and infrastructure, and to rebuild society. And to heal.

And to heal is the most difficult,” he said.

Alhambdo said he saw firsthand how the trauma of war influenced the development of children growing up in Aleppo. Instilling fear, anger and a sense of hopelessness is part of the enemy strategy, he said. Some became withdrawn, he said, and others violent.

“When they see their school destroyed, do you know how many dreams have been destroyed? Do you think anybody would believe in peace and love and beauty when the place that taught them about these things has been destroyed?” he said.

Alhambdo stayed in Aleppo and taught children in basements, apartments, anywhere he could, for nearly 10 years. Continuing to teach in spite of war, he said, is an act of defiance.

“I’m not fighting on the front lines,” he said. “I’m fighting with my kids.”

After the attack on School 50 in Gorlovka, shattered glass from blown-out windows littered the classrooms and hallways and the street outside. The floors were covered in dust and debris: cracked ceiling beams, slabs of drywall, a television that crashed down from the wall.

A cell phone sat on the desk next to where one of the teachers was killed.

In Ukraine, some schools still standing have become makeshift shelters for people whose homes were destroyed by shelling and mortar fire.

What often complicates war crimes prosecutions for attacks on civilian buildings is that large facilities like schools are sometimes repurposed for military use during war. If a civilian building is being the heat wave. But that’s likely a severe undercount. A study published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health last year concluded that as many as 700,000 annual deaths in India between 2000 and 2019 can be attributed to exposure to abnormal temperatures. Deaths linked to hot temperatures increased in that period, while those to cold temperatures declined.

Warning systems set up over the past decade have helped reduce deaths, according to Kamal Kishore of the National Disaster Management Authority. The meteorological department has issued a yellow alert—the second of four levels—for parts of New Delhi that include Bhumi’s neighborhood.

Traffic is as busy as usual on the streets outside her home. Almost every car has its windows sealed shut to keep the heat out. Fewer pedestrians walk outside, and those who do tend to dress in long sleeves and pants for protection

used militarily, it is a legitimate wartime target, said David Bosco, a professor of international relations at Indiana University whose research focuses on war crimes and the International Criminal Court.

The key for prosecutors, then, will be to show that there was a pattern by the Russians of targeting schools and other civilian buildings nationwide as a concerted military strategy, Bosco said.

“The more you can show a pattern, then the stronger the case becomes that this was really a policy of not discriminating between military and civilian facilities,” Bosco said. “[Schools are] a place where children are supposed to feel safe, a second home. Obviously shattering that and in essence attacking the next generation. That’s very real.

It has a huge impact.”

As the war grinds on, more than half of Ukraine’s children have been displaced.

In Kharkiv, which has undergone relentless shelling, children’s drawings are taped to the walls of an underground subway station that has become not only a family shelter but also a makeshift school. Primary school-age children gather around a table for history and art lessons.

“It helps to support them mentally,” said teacher Valeriy Leiko.

In part thanks to the lessons, he said, “They feel that someone loves them.”

Millions of kids are continuing to go to school online. The international aid group Save the Children said it is working with the government to establish remote learning programs for students at 50 schools. Unicef is also trying to help with online instruction.

“Educating every child is essential to preventing grave violations of their rights,” the group said in a statement to the AP. On April 2, Grusha’s community outside Kyiv began a slow reemergence. They are still raking and sweeping debris from schools and kindergartens that were damaged but not destroyed, she said, and taking stock of what’s left. They started distance learning classes, and planned to relocate children whose schools were destroyed to others close by.

Even with war still raging, there is a return to normal life including schooling, she said.

But Levchenko, who was in Kyiv in early May to undergo surgery for her injuries, said the emotional damage done to so many children who have experienced and witnessed such immense suffering may never be fully repaired.

“It will take so much time for people and kids to recover from what they have lived,” she said. The kids, she said, are “staying underground without sun, shivering from siren sounds and anxiety.”

“It has a tremendously negative impact. Kids will remember this all their life.”

Stashevskyi reported from Kyiv, Dearen from New York and Linderman from Washington. The Associated Press reporters Erika Kinetz in Chernihiv and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.

from the sun. Popular outdoor shopping areas have been deserted as people stream into malls instead to enjoy free air-conditioning.

4 p.m. Temperature: 41°C Feels Like: 43°C

Madhu is frustrated. The 62-year-old grandmother just received news that government tankers meant to deliver water to her slum in southwestern Delhi have been canceled. The settlement hasn’t been recognized by the authorities, and as a consequence there’s no tap water available.

“The heat has left us to the mercy of the water mafia,” she says, referring to private dealers who charge between 100 rupees ($1.29) and 200 rupees per 20-liter jerrycan. Today’s delay means Madhu and her neighbors will have to spend hours standing in long lines the next day to secure extra water. It also means lost work hours and forcing children to skip school to make sure

Sunday, May 22, 2022

A5

Uyghur land in China has highest imprisonment rate in whole world

By Huizhong Wu & Dake Kang

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The Associated Press

EIJING—Nearly one in 25 people in a county in the Uyghur heartland of China has been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, in what is the highest known imprisonment rate in the world, an Associated Press review of leaked data shows.

A list obtained and partially verified by the AP cites the names of more than 10,000 Uyghurs sent to prison in just Konasheher county alone, one of dozens in southern Xinjiang. In recent years, China has waged a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim minority, which it has described as a war on terror.

The list is by far the biggest to emerge to date with the names of imprisoned Uyghurs, reflecting the sheer size of a Chinese government campaign that swept an estimated million or more people into internment camps and prisons. It also confirms what families and rights groups have said for years: China is relying on a system of long-term incarceration to keep the Uyghurs in check, wielding the law as a weapon of repression.

Under searing international criticism, Chinese officials announced the closure in 2019 of short-term, extrajudicial internment camps where Uyghurs were thrown in without charges. However, although attention focused on the camps, thousands of Uyghurs still languish for years or even decades in prison on what experts say are trumped-up charges of terrorism.

Uyghur farmer Rozikari Tohti was known as a soft-spoken, family-loving man with three children and not the slightest interest in religion. So his cousin, Mihrigul Musa, was shocked to discover Tohti had been thrown into prison for five years for “religious extremism.”

“Never did I think he would be arrested,” said Musa, who now lives in exile in Norway. “If you saw him, you would feel the same way. He is so earnest.”

From the list, Musa found out Tohti’s younger brother Ablikim Tohti also was sentenced to seven years on charges of “gathering the public to disturb social order.” Tohti’s next-door neighbor, a farmer called Nurmemet Dawut, was sentenced to 11 years on the same charges as well as “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.”

Konasheher county is typical of rural southern Xinjiang, and more than 267,000 people live there. The prison sentences across the county were for two to 25 years, with an average of nine years, the list shows. While the people on the list were mostly arrested in 2017, according to Uyghurs in exile, their sentences are so long that the vast majority would still be in prison.

Those swept up came from all walks of life, and included men, women, young people and the elderly. They had only one thing in common: They were all Uyghurs.

Experts say it clearly shows people were targeted simply for being Uyghur—a conclusion vehemently denied by Chinese authorities.

Xinjiang spokesman Elijan Anayat said sentences were carried out in accordance with the law.

“We will never specifically target specific regions, ethnic groups, religions, much less the Uyghurs,” Anayat said. “We will never wrong the good, nor release the bad.”

The list was obtained by Xinjiang scholar Gene Bunin from an anonymous source who described themselves as a member of China’s Han Chinese majority “opposed to the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang.” It was passed to the AP by Abduweli Ayup, an exiled Uyghur linguist in Norway. The AP authenticated it through interviews with eight Uyghurs who recognized 194 people on the list, as

well as legal notices, recordings of phone calls with Chinese officials and checks of address, birthdays and identity numbers.

The list does not include people with typical criminal charges such as homicide or theft. Rather, it focuses on offenses related to terrorism, religious extremism or vague charges traditionally used against political dissidents, such as “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” This means the true number of people imprisoned is almost certainly higher.

But even at a conser vative estimate, Konasheher county’s imprisonment rate is more than 10 times higher than that of the United States, one of the world’s leading jailers, according to Department of Justice statistics. It’s also more than 30 times higher than for China as a whole, according to state statistics from 2013, the last time such figures were released.

Darren Byler, an expert on Xinjiang’s mass incarceration system, said most arrests were arbitrary and outside the law, with people detained for having relatives abroad or downloading certain cell phone applications.

“It is really remarkable,” Byler said. “In no other location have we seen entire populations of people be described as terrorists or seen as terrorists.”

The crackdown kicked into high gear in 2017, after a string of knifings and bombings by a small handful of Uyghur militants. The Chinese government defended the mass detentions as both lawful and necessary to combat terrorism.

In 2019, Xinjiang officials declared the short-term detention camps closed, and said that all of whom they described as “trainees” had “graduated.” Visits by Associated Press journalists to four former camp sites confirm that they were shuttered or converted into other facilities.

But the prisons remain. Xinjiang went on a prison-building spree in tandem with the crackdown, and even as the camps closed, the prisons expanded. At least a few camp sites were converted into centers for incarceration.

China is using the law “as a fig leaf of legality” in part to try and deflect international criticism about holding Uyghurs, said Jeremy Daum, a criminal law expert at Yale University’s Paul Tsai China Center.

The secretive nature of the charges against those imprisoned is a red flag, experts say.

A lt hough C h ina ma kes lega l records easily accessible otherwise, almost 90 percent of criminal records in Xinjiang are not public. The handful which have leaked show that people are being charged with “terrorism” for acts such as warning colleagues a g a i n s t w at c h i n g p o r n a nd swearing, or praying in prison.

Abduweli Ayup, the Uyghur exile who passed the list to the AP, has closely documented the ongoing repression of his community.

But this list in particular floored him: On it were neighbors, a cousin, a high school teacher.

“I had collapsed,” Ayup said. “I had told other people’s stories…. and now this is me telling my own story from my childhood.”

The widely-admired teacher, Adil Tursun, was the only one in the high school in Toquzaq who could teach Uyghur students in Chinese. He was a Communist Party member, and every year his students had the best chemistry test scores in the town.

The names of Tursun and others on the list made no sense to Ayup because they were considered model Uyghurs. “ The names of the crimes, spreading extremist thoughts, separatism…these charges are absurd,” he said.

Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan.

As Elon Musk buyout looms, Twitter searches for its soul

By Barbara Ortutay AP Technology Writer

S

AN FRANCISCO—A toxic cesspool. A lifeline. A finger on the world’s pulse.

Twitter is all these things and more to its over 229 million users around the world—politicians, journalists, activists, celebrities, weirdos and normies, cat and dog lovers and just about anyone else with an Internet connection.

For Elon Musk, its ultimate troll and perhaps most prolific user whose buyout of the company is on increasingly shaky ground, Twitter is a “de facto town square” in dire need of a libertarian makeover.

Whether and how the takeover will happen, at this stage in the game, is anyone’s guess.

their families get enough to drink.

Scientists have warned repeatedly that the poor and most vulnerable will suffer the most from climate change. “We need to keep this disproportionate suffering of those who have not contributed to global warming in mind when we talk about climate justice at global forums,” says Anjal Prakash, a research director at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy based in Hyderabad.

6:30 p.m. Temperature: 40°C Feels Like: 41°C

Mahavir Singh isn’t counting on the evening to bring relief from the heat. He’s never experienced anything like this spring, where it doesn’t cool down at night. It’s too hot inside, so the 70-year-old fruit vendor has been sleeping out in the open in his cart.

Temperatures don’t drop until somewhere between midnight and 2 a.m.

Experts wor r y most about high

On Friday, Musk announced that the deal is “on hold,” then tweeted that he was still “committed” to it. On Tuesday, the billionaire Tesla CEO said he’d reverse the platform’s ban of former President Donald Trump if his purchase goes through but also voiced support for a new European Union law aimed at protecting social media users from harmful content. Twitter’s current CEO, meanwhile, fired two top managers on Thursday.

It’s been a messy few weeks and only one thing seems sure: the turmoil will continue for Twitter, inside and outside of the company.

“Twitter at its highest levels has always been chaos. It has always had intrigue and it has always had drama,” says Leslie Miley, a former Twitter engineering manager. “This,” he says, “is in Twitter’s DNA.”

temperatures in the evening. That’s when lingering heat creates the risk of crossing a crucial threshold at which the combination with humidity prevents the body from sweating enough to cool down. Within a few hours people can suffer fatal heat strokes.

With dense residential clusters and even denser slums, Indian cities are particular victims of what’s known as the urban island heat effect.

It doesn’t help that an increasing number of cooling devices are dumping residual heat of their own into closely packed concrete buildings that are good at absorbing it— making it harder for the city to cool down despite its abundant greenery. Vandana, 47, a social activist in south Delhi, says the heat in her low-income residential complex has become unbearable as more and more airconditioners whirr. “Where is this heat coming from?” she says. “Maybe we humans are being punished for our greed?” Bloomberg News

‘What people are thinking about’

From its 2007 debut as a scrappy “microblogging service” at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, Twitter has always punched above its weight.

At a time when its rivals count their users by the billions, it has stayed small, frustrating Wall Street and making it easier for Musk to swoop in with an offer its board could not refuse.

But Twitter also wields unrivaled influence on news, politics and society thanks to its public nature, its simple, largely text-based interface and its sense of chronological immediacy.

“It’s a potluck of pithy self-expression simmering with whimsy, narcissism, voyeurism, hucksterism, tedium and sometimes useful information,” Associated Press technology writer Michael Liedtke wrote in a 2009 story about the company a few months after it rejected a $500 million buyout from Facebook. Twitter had 27 employees at the time, and its most popular user was Barack Obama.

Today, the San Francisco icon employs 7,500 people around the world. Obama is still its most popular account holder, followed by pop stars Justin Bieber and Katy Perry (Musk is No. 6). Twitter’s rise to the mainstream can be chronicled through world events, as wars, terror attacks, the Arab Spring, the #metoo movement and other pivotal moments in our collective history played out in real time on the platform.

“Twitter often attracts thinkers. People who are thinking about things tend to be attracted to a text-based platform. And it’s full of journalists. So Twitter is both a reflection of and a driver of what people are thinking about,” says writer, editor and OnlyFans creator Cathy Reisenwitz, who’s

been on Twitter since 2010 and has over 18,000 followers.

These days, Reisenwitz tweets about politics, sex work, housing and land use issues among many other things. She finds it great for discovering people and ideas and having others discover her writing and thoughts. That’s why she’s stayed all these years, despite harassment and even death threats she’s received on the platform.

Twitter users in academia, in niche fields, those with quirky interests, subcultures small and big, grassroots activists, researchers and a host of others flock to the platform. Why? Because at its best, it promises an open, free exchange of facts and ideas, where knowledge is shared, debated and questioned.

Journalists, Reisenwitz recalled, were among the first to really take on Twitter en masse and make it what it is today.

“If I’m on Twitter, [almost] any journalist, no matter how big their platform was, if you said something interesting would respond to you and you could have a conversation about what they’d written and pretty real time,” Reisenwitz says. “And I just thought, this is amazing. Just whatever field you’re in, you can talk to the experts and ask them questions.”

And those subcultures—they’re formidable. There’s Black Twitter, feminist Twitter, baseball Twitter, Japanese cat Twitter, ER nurse Twitter and so on.

“It’s enabled interest groups, especially those that are organized around social identity, whether we’re talking about gender or sexuality or race, to have really important in-group dialogues,” says Brooke Erin Duffy, a professor at Cornell University who studies social media.

The Associated Press Writer David Klepper contributed to this story from Providence, Rhode Island.

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A6 Sunday, May 22, 2022

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A GLIMPSE AT THE NEWEST S.C. MEMBER

Mettle and heart: Associate Justice Singh on wielding the sword and lifelong learning

‘L

By Warlou Joyce S. Antonio*

ET us begin.” A short yet weighty phrase and a call-to-action akin to saying, “challenge accepted.”

Such was the message of Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena “Monette” Singh to her fellow judges.

In March 2021, then Court of Appeals Associate Justice Singh was conferred the Metrobank Foundation Professorial Chair in Law during the 17th Metrobank Foundation Professorial Chair Lecture—making her the first-ever female chairholder in the program’s 19-year history.

Singh took to the podium to give her lecture, entitled “Wielding the Sword: The Role of Judicial Education in the Administration of Justice,” with sureness and passion that is palpable not only to those joining in the Supreme Court En Banc Session Hall but even to those watching from their screens.

Anchored on Singh’s advocacy, that morning’s agenda focused on the sword-sharpening and shieldreinforcing roles of judicial education to arm judges in the swift and efficient administration of justice.

“Now more than ever, the public’s confidence in the judiciary is crucial if the third branch of government is to fulfill its role as the last bastion of right and justice. Integral to resurrecting such public confidence is inspiring belief in our judicial officers,” she stated.

With this, she recommended crucial pathways that the Philippine Judiciary can embark on towards “delivering justice real time.” These can be captured in three sentiments: striving for continuous learning among judges who perform the dual role of being adjudicators and administrative managers; promoting a

culture of immersion and peer-mentoring; and calling for increased financial support to implement these measures.

“The result is our shared hope: to regain the public’s trust and confidence in the judiciary,” Singh shared of the courts’ collective aspiration.

A judge’s arsenal

IT is no surprise that Singh, as a jurist and educator, is an ardent advocate of continuous learning.

She relates the act of whetting and wielding a sword to a judge’s lifelong pursuit of knowledge and training.

Indeed, one cannot put selfimprovement on hold especially, in this case, for judges whose decisions and actions carry life-changing weight as the immediate representatives of justice in the country.

“Overarching the role-based aspects of a judge is the potent constitutional epigram that public office is a public trust,” she said.

A jurist’s arsenal, then, is not complete without vast knowledge and expertise. Another trait that goes together with this, as Singh underscored in her lecture, is compassion.

She said, “At the forefront of the Justice Sector’s pursuit for a swift and fair administration of justice is encapsulated in the Filipino term for compassion, malasakit.

This will be instrumental in the changes that will be proposed in

the realm of judicial education, the logic being that malasakit is what will the present and future judges to strive to achieve a magistrate’s optimum potential.”

At its heart, being a magistrate is a human-centered practice. Singh and her peers pledge allegiance to the truth and go through volumes of case loads, all in pursuit of delivering justice to concerned citizens—from the benches to the masses.

Singh’s lecture gives a glimpse of the values she lives by, among which are compassion as well as constant pursuit of truth and knowledge. As the first female Chairholder in Law, Singh also offers this message, inspired by the tagline for last year’s women’s campaign, “I choose to challenge my fellow women to not let society define us. We must put an end to this struggle to always live up to ‘their standards’ and to ‘their qualifications.’ Let us live our lives thinking only of the possibilities, never the limitations. Instead, I choose to think that I am a woman and, therefore, I am boundless.”

Question and answer

TAKING off from the key points presented in her lecture, Singh further shares her insights on a judge’s sworn duty to oneself, peers, and the public in this interview: Q: You mentioned your passion for teaching during your lecture. How does being an educator factor in your advocacy and work as a jurist?

First, it is every judge’s ethical responsibility to keep one’s self educated and abreast of legal developments. From my study of adult education and my own experiences as a law professor, I know that teaching is the best way of learning as it gives the learner not just the needed knowledge and information, but also ensures comprehension and retention.

Second, being a teacher offers

me an excellent medium for my advocacies. Through my legal publications, school lessons and lectures to law students, lawyers, justices, judges and court personnel, I am able to spotlight my advocacies and demonstrate their relevance to the varied roles of my listeners.

Q: For you, what does a strong judiciary look like? While there’s no blueprint, what do you think are the primary tools to shape a stronger judiciary?

I do not dream of a “strong” judiciary because in no sense is that the judiciary envisioned in our Constitution. Rather, I dream of a Judicial Department that is a genuine co-equal of the Executive and Legislative Departments of our national government.

Since I first joined the judiciary in 2002, or 19 years ago, I have had so many dreams. But all this time, all my work as a jurist and reformist has always been geared towards solidifying the four cornerstones that I believe will hold up a truly co-equal Judicial Branch of government: (1) independence, which must necessarily include fiscal autonomy and equitable budgetary allocation; (2) transparency and accountability; (3) efficiency and efficacy; and, (4) integrity.

Q: What keeps you driven to contribute to this pursuit?

My answer is constant: I love this institution, I love my work.

We are told that if you love your job you will never have to work a day in your life—that is not true. You will work and toil like everyone else, but you will do it with inspiration and dedication, and you will be prompted by no selfish motive, other than your desire to serve and serve true. And your reward—the satisfaction that no money can buy: the knowledge that you did what your oath requires of you, for no money or malice, in the pursuit of truth, as a faithful ser-

vant of justice. To me, there is no nobler pursuit.

This is a journey I share with my brothers and sisters on the bench, but every single step forward takes not just us, but all future generations with us, to the aspiration of a tomorrow where the courts are truly trusted by the people we serve as the true bastion of right and justice.

Q: We’re struck by your mention of malasakit in the paper.

How is the concept of malasakit connected to the judicial system? Why is it important to practice it especially now that the country is in the middle of a pandemic?

For me, if a judge is possessed of malasakit for the institution, he or she will serve to the best of his or her ability, without counting the cost. This same malasakit for the people, whose lives, liberties and properties we pass upon and rule on on a daily basis, is the surest guarantee of competent and diligent service.

I do not believe there should be any special reason to act differently in times of a crisis, like the present pandemic, than we would in ordinary times. This attitude is something all judges must strive to practice in all instances and at all times.

Q: For you, how does compassion manifest in the work of a judge or the judiciary?

Just look at the number of judges who have lost their lives in the service, whether by illness or accident, or through violent means.

Look at the courts which have remained open even during the height of a deadly pandemic just to ensure that our people can still access the system for relief. Look at our judges who have to take plane rides or boat rides, drive for hours, take public commutes, just to get to their stations and hear the cases of our litigants. Look at the trials and

hearings being conducted in ramshackle and dilapidated structures, in makeshift tents, even in gymnasiums, just to serve the public.

We do this 24/7/365. That to me is malasakit. That to me is “service” in its purest form.

Q: Lastly, at the core of the judiciary’s work is the Filipino people. What do you think can be done to educate the public about the law and the role of the judiciary? How can this information be more accessible to them?

At the very least, there must be increased effort to make the court processes easier to comprehend and follow for our average Juan and Juana dela Cruz.

Access to justice should mean not just physical accessibility of courts. True access to justice means that every litigant is aware of the varied reliefs available to him or her, and the proper judicial remedies to utilize to avail of them.

Absent such awareness, there can be no genuine access to justice.

Aside from changes in procedural rules to streamline the processes, for better public understanding, there should be simplified informational materials made available to court users for free, such as posters depicting flowcharts of case stages from filing until case completion, FAQs, sample forms and similar materials. * This feature was first published in March 2021 on www.mbfoundation.org.ph, and this version is being published through the courtesy of Metrobank Foundation.

A joint undertaking between Metrobank Foundation, Inc. and the Philippine Judicial Academy, the professorial chair seeks to promote capacity-building and excellence in the judiciary and legal education through the delivery of timely and comprehensive discourses by seasoned legal practitioners.

A BusinessMirror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Sunday, May 22, 2022 A7

May 22 is 76 Philippine-Australia Friendship Day th

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HROUGH Presidential Proclamation No. 1282 series 2016, May 22 of each year was declared PhilippinesAustralia Friendship Day, coinciding with the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the previous years, the Friendship Day festivities were taken on the road to different cities across the Philippines, to Davao in 2018 and Cebu in 2019. The pandemic prevented the in-person gathering but this year, the celebrations will be brought back to Manila.

Experience Australia in Manila as the Australian Embassy brings the celebration of the PhilippinesAustralia Friendship Day with a weekend festival at SM Megamall Fashion Hall from May 20 to 22.

“We mark Philippines-Australia Friendship Day every 22 May and bring the celebration to a different city each year. This year, we are pleased to celebrate Friendship Day back in Manila, our first faceto-face festival since the pandemic,” said Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Steven J. Robinson AO. Experience shopping in Sydney’s The Rocks markets with Taste of Australia pop-ups featuring world-class wines, sustainable meat, fresh fruits, and healthy snacks. Shop up a storm with Australia’s best beauty products or learn about valuable opportunities to study in Australia by checking out education booths with representatives from Australia’s cutting-edge universities.

Filipino-Australian celebrities

Catch popular Filipino-Australian celebrities Diego Loyzaga, Teresa Loyzaga and Leila Alcasid on Saturday, 21 May at 3:00 PM. Try Australian cosmetic brand BYS hottest products, quench your travel thirst with the latest travel deals offered

by Australian airline Qantas, and learn about the different study options available for you in Australia from Austrade.

Join us on Sunday, 22 May, at 2 PM, as Australian-educated Filipinos showcase their social enterprises featuring hand-made clothing, accessories, and gift items, as well as fresh and artisanal food. Have a free coffee date with a psychologist at Australia’s business partner Mind You Mental Health’s booth, and join the panel discussion by our Australia Global Alumni to learn more about mental health in the Philippines.

Ambassador Robinson said “we celebrate our alumni and their individual and combined accomplishments. Our seven decades of friendship between the Philippines and Australia is strengthened by the Australia Global Alumni – an international community of scholars who have studied in Australia, and Australians who have studied overseas.”

Round trip tickets

Best of all, shop at the festival and get a chance to win round-trip tickets for two to Australia via Qantas, for free!

Despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, including border closures and logistics delays as well as disruption brought about by the war in Ukraine, the bilateral trade relationship between Australia and the Philippines has never been stronger.

From 2020 to 2021, Australia’s agrifood exports to the Philippines increased in value by 90.16 percent. The categories with the highest increase in value are wheat, beef, barley and cheese. Grapes and citrus, which are one of the horticulture exports to the Philippines, continue to do well.

There are over 200 Australian

AUSTRALIA’S Defence relations with the Philippines grow from strength-to-strength. Under Exercise Kasangga 22-1, the Joint Australian Training Team-Philippines is undertaking training with the Armed Forces of the Philippines in combat shooting, urban breaching and operations, Tactical Care of the Combat Casualty.

AUSTRALIA has worked with the Philippines to ensure equitable access to COVID19 vaccines. Through our partnership with UNICEF, Australia provided solar-powered vaccine refrigerators and walk-in cold rooms to help improve the delivery of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines to 30 rural health units in remote areas of the Philippines, including in Mindanao. Ambassador Steven J. Robinson AO was joined by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III during the ceremonial handover of cold-chain equipment.

Agrifood companies exporting to the Philippines, which are now widely available in the supermarkets and online channels such Robinsons, Landers, S&R, the Marketplace, SM, Lazada, among others.

With the economy expected to return to a pre-pandemic growth

trajectory, Australian businesses are increasingly taking interest in the Philippines. Australian companies already in the Philippines have also remained resilient through recent years. These include ANZ Bank, Austal, Crone, Macquarie, OceanaGold, Orica, Prime Metro BMD, QBE

AS one of the Philippines’ longstanding development partners, Australia provided P232 million to recovery efforts following Typhoon Odette. Top image: Australian Embassy staff handed over water containers and family food packs to more than a hundred typhoon-affected families in Getafe, Bohol. Bottom image: Australian Embassy staff visited the logistics warehouse in Dapa that was set-up in partnership with World Food Programme to support the Philippine Government’s Typhoon Odette response.

Group. Telstra and VGTI. So, what are you waiting for?

Head to SM Megamall Fashion Hall this weekend and experience Australia for yourself!

Experience Australia: The Philippines-Australia Friendship Festival is presented by the Australian Embassy

in partnership with SM Megamall, SM Markets, Qantas, BYS and the Australia Global Alumni.

Special thanks to our corporate partners: ANZ, Austal, Crone, Macquarie, OceanaGold, Orica, Prime Metro BMD, QBE, Telstra, and Victoria State Government Australia.

A8

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Science Sunday BusinessMirror

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

Pollution kills 9M people a year

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remature deaths from common pollution sources have risen by two-thirds globally since 2000, a dark consequence of the economic development that has lifted millions from extreme poverty this century.

More than 90 percent of the deaths have occurred in rapidly developing low- and middle-income countries, according to research published on Wednesday in The Lancet Planetary Health.

As population and wealth in poorer countries have increased over the last two decades, so have the number of power plants, goods manufacturers and cars on the road.

This is having deadly consequences in areas where pollution mitigation standards have not been put in place, according to Richard Fuller, lead author and founder of both the Global

Alliance on Health and Pollution network and the nonprofit Pure Earth.

“Growth without care can be very costly, with the impact on future generations being far more expensive than the immediate benefit,” he said.

Pollution causes more than 9 million deaths each year globally. While most of those are attributed to air pollution, lead and other chemicals are responsible for at least 1.8 million deaths each year—and the actual number might be much higher.

The study notes that the ubiquity of chemical pollutants in the

modern environment has made them a silent threat.

“I assumed that we would see these problems in air pollution,” Fuller said. “But I was really stunned to see that the chemicals agenda is almost as big as the air pollution agenda.”

A rou nd t wo -t h i rd s of t he world’s chemical production is now in low- and middle-income countries.

Globally, chemical production has grown at a rate of 3.5 percent a year since 2000 and today’s output is expected to double by 2030.

Only a small percentage of industrial chemicals have gone through rigorous safety studies, which means that their actual impact is unknown, according to the research.

Lead remains a top-level concern and was linked to 900,000 premature deaths in 2019, despite every country in the world removing it from gasoline.

Pure Earth and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in 2020 estimated that up to 800 million children have high lead levels in their blood—one in three.

The causes range from unsafe recycling of car batteries to use of lead in turmeric as a color enhancer.

Lead poisoning can reduce a child’s IQ by three to five points.

That means, Fuller said, they lose the equivalent of a year of education and resulting earnings potential, and that mass lead poisoning can shave points of GDP off of entire countries.

Not all the health impacts of economic development have been bad. Poverty reduction brought benefits to some

of the world ’s poorest people as cases of disease from sanitation and indoor cooking ticked down, a rare encouraging conclusion in the analysis.

Potential solutions include airand water-quality monitoring, chemical safety programs and comprehensive government policy, all of which have been proven to work in developed countries, where some pollution has declined for decades.

Specific collaborations between public and private institutions, called Health and Pollution Action Plans, have led to advances in countries where industrial and health ministries previously hadn’t worked together to prioritize the problem.

Air pollution kills 6.7 million people a year. A little less than two-thirds of the premature deaths come from fine particulate matter.

The number of men whose deaths were attributable to this form of pollution was 44 percent higher than the number of women, who were slightly more susceptible to water pollution.

The trends were similar to the those in The Lancet Commission on pollution and health’s 2017 review, a sign that countries are failing to address persistent, avoidable causes of premature death.

Fuller said acute crises, such as the pandemic, draw attention away from more chronic plagues.

“The reality is we can multitask and do multiple things at once,” he said.

The analysis is based on global health data collected by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Bloomberg News

DOST-Tapi reveals new programs for innovators

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he marketing arm of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) introduced its programs of assistance to innovators during the launching of the DOST-Tapi Roadmap and Stakeholders’ Recognition at a hotel in Quezon City on May 13.

For three and a half decades, the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (Tapi) of the DOST has accomplished milestones in promoting technology transfer and commercialization and administering inventionrelated development through the provision of the Invention Development Assistance Fund.

The institute has gained momentum in fulfilling the mandates that contributed to social and economic development of the country.

“With our existing programs that cater to intellectual property rights protection, venture financing, prototype development, market and pilot testing, special loaning facilities, and technology expositions, among others, we are adding comprehensive programs in our roster to service and reach out to more stakeholders nationwide,” said Atty. Marion Ivy D. Decena, DOST-TAPI director.

Hirang 2.0

Honing Innovations, Research, Agreements, and Negotiations of Government-Funded Technologies 2.0 (Hirang 2.0) is an improved internship program that arose from the previously completed Support to the Commercialization of 500 DOST-Generated Technologies and Strengthening the Country’s Intellectual Property (IP) and Technology Portfolios in 2020.

The previous Hirang program focused on technology transfer officers to improve their knowledge and skills on IP valuation, technology pitching, negotiation and licensing.

This time, Hirang 2.0 shifts the

The DOST-TAPI launches its Roadmap and Stakeholders’ Recognition at a hotel in Quezon City on May 13. DOST-Tapi photo

focus to train startups and spin-off companies through consultancies and capacity building activities as most local micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) are not ready to upscale for investment.

“We identified that this lack of investment-readiness has been hampering their potential for optimum growth,” said DOST-Tapi Chief Science Research Specialist Romeo M. Javate.

Local MSMEs have great potential to expand if appropriate assistance is provided to them.

“A higher investment-readiness level builds confidence and trust among investors hence, a higher investment level attracts investors to share their resources to MSMEs,” said DOST-Tapi Supervising Science Research Specialist Pierre Sonia S. Dela Corte.

Top up

Technology Optimization for Utilization and Market Preparation (TOP UP) was created to guide inventors and innovators turn their ideas into market-ready inventions, particularly for com-

mercial prototyping, IP protection, testing and validation, and pilot production.

“The program provides financial and technical assistance to create a holistic approach that harmonizes the nitty-gritty processes of innovation and invention,” said DOST-Tapi Senior Science Research Specialist Roberto R. Verzosa.

The program hopes to encourage the development of new technologies and to support the development of commercial prototypes for technology validation.

Map

Aiming to provide a more focused approach in the formulation, development and implementation of marketing strategies of assisted DOST-Tapi technologies, Marketing Assistance Program (MAP) is a detailed and oriented program designed to address the specific needs of the stakeholders.

“The program is designed with prescribed policies and implementing rules to achieve key objectives,” said DOST-Tapi Senior

Science Research Specialist Florisa Mae A. Ilagan.

Moreover, MAP targets to identify locally-developed technologies that need marketing assistance for them to have custom-fit marketing plans and strategies, and in turn publish market intelligence reports as a reference for other beneficiaries.

Self-sustaining institute

These programs solidify DOSTTapi’s position to become a selfsustaining institute that provides unique and responsive solutions to societal problems with science and technology at the very core of each response.

Stakeholders and beneficiaries from the private sector, industry, government offices and academe attended the activity.

The previously added programs support the Institute’s roadmap as DOST-TAPI is eyeing to become an investment partner for every local enterprise to start penetrating the international market from 2023 and beyond. Jund Rian A. Doringo, S&T

Media Services

This image released by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration on May 12 shows a black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way black hole is called Sagittarius A*, near the border of Sagittarius and Scorpius constellations. It is 4 million times more massive than our sun. The image was made by eight synchronized radio telescopes around the world. Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration via AP

Astronomers capture 1st image of Milky Way’s huge black hole

By Seth Borenstein

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AP Science Writer

ASHINGTON—The world’s first image of the chaotic supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy doesn’t portray a voracious cosmic destroyer but what astronomers recently called a “gentle giant” on a near-starvation diet.

Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their bustling and crowded center, where light and matter cannot escape, making it extremely hard to get images of them.

Light gets bent and twisted around by gravity as it gets sucked into the abyss along with superheated gas and dust.

The colorized image unveiled Thursday is from an international consortium behind the Event Horizon Telescope, a collection of eight synchronized radio telescopes around the world.

Getting a good image was a challenge; previous efforts found the black hole too jumpy.

“It burbled and gurgled as we looked at it,” the University of Arizona’s Feryal Ozel said.

She described it as a “gentle giant” while announcing the breakthrough along with other astronomers involved in the project.

The picture also confirms Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity: The black hole is precisely the size that Einstein’s equations dictate. It is about the size of the orbit of Mercury around our sun.

Black holes gobble up galactic material but Ozel said this one is “eating very little.” It’s the equivalent to a person eating a single grain of rice over millions of years, another astronomer said.

“Pictures of black holes are the hardest thing to think about,” said astronomer Andrea Ghez of the University of California, Los Angeles. She wasn’t part of the telescope team but earned a Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Milky Way’s black hole in the 1990s.

She said the image of “my baby” is exactly how it should be—an eerie-looking orange-red ring with utter blackness in the middle.

Scientists had expected the Milky Way’s black hole to be more violent, especially since the only other image from another galaxy shows a far bigger and more active black hole.

“It is the cowardly lion of black holes,” said project scientist Geoffrey C. Bower of Taiwan’s Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Because the black hole “is on a starvation diet” so little material is falling into the center, and that allows astronomers to gaze deeper, Bower said.

The Milky Way black hole is called Sagittarius A (with an asterisk denoting star). It’s near the border of Sagittarius and Scorpius constellations and is 4 million times more massive than our sun.

Bower said it is probably more typical of what’s at the center of most galaxies, “just sitting there doing very little.”

It is incredibly hot, trillions of degrees, Ozel said.

The same telescope group released the first black hole image in 2019. The picture was from a galaxy 53 million light-years away that is 1,500 times bigger than the one in our galaxy.

The Milky Way black hole is much closer, about 27,000 light-years away. A light year is 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers).

To get the picture, the eight telescopes had to coordinate so closely “in a process similar to everyone shaking hands with everyone else in the room,” said astronomer Vincent Fish of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Astronomers worked with data collected in 2017 to get the new images. The next step is a movie of one of those two black holes, maybe both, Fish said.

The project cost nearly $60 million with $28 million coming from the US National Science Foundation.

Even though it is quieter than expected, the center of the Milky Way is an important place to study, Ghez said.

It’s “like an urban downtown, everything is more extreme.

It’s crowded. Things move fast,” Ghez said in an interview. “We live out in the suburbs [in a spiral arm of the galaxy]. Things are calm out here.”

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A9

War on waste in Cavite

A school principal’s advocacy can help save the rivers.

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The Nagoya Protocol is a multilateral treaty that sets up a legal framework for utilizing genetic resources. Learnnagoya.com

DENR’s benefit-sharing scheme to aid rural communities, IPs

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he government will implement a benefit-sharing scheme to ensure the Philippines’ own “genetic” wealth from endemic plants and animals and give economic opportunities to indigenous people (IP) and poverty-stricken rural communities.

The Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) framework from the country’s genetic wealth will be adopted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in compliance to the Nagoya Protocol, a news release said.

The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. It entered into force on October 12, 2014.

A genetic resource is a physical object of biological origin and the intellectual information associated with it such as traditional knowledge. An example is a native people’s knowledge on the use of a plant as treatment for illness.

The poorest of society that come from ancestral domains, such as IPs, in the mountains and rural communities are among targeted beneficiaries of the treaty.

The DENR project will be carried out over six years to be financed under the seventh cycle of the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Program. ”The project will increase economic opportunity and biodiversity conservation for local communities and IPs stemming from fair and equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits,” according to a memorandum from Director Natividad Y. Bernardino of the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau.

The project costs a total of $26.015 million. Of this, $4.384 million is taken up by GEF and $21.631 million is cofinanced by the Philippine government.

Over the last decade, scientific research activities have surged due to the rise of intellectuals and Filipino “Balik Scientists,” or returning scientists, from abroad.

These intellectuals were given incentives by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to participate in the local “brain gain.”

Filipino researchers have been exploring the production of drugs, pharmaceutical products, natural ingredients for food, clothing and raw materials for home furnishings, commercial products, and

industrial products, such as commercial vehicles‘ accessories.

They have been tapping the country‘s natural resources of plants and animals from its rich biodiversity.

“Research undertaking with the private sector for possible uptake will be established,” according to the report submitted by Assistant Director Sabrina R. Cruz of DENR-Foreign Assisted and Special Projects Services.

The first component of the project, titled “Implementing the National Framework for Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge,” is harmonizing policies with the Nagoya Protocol on bioprospecting policies and scientific research.

The policies include commercialization of genetic resources on flora and fauna, or plants and animals.

The Philippines was one of the first countries to implement access and benefit sharing under Article 15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity through Executive Order 275 of 1995.

It has since been amended by the Wildlife Act, or the Republic Act (RA) 9147 and supported by the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, or RA 8371 of 1997.

With the DENR-BMB as the lead group in the project, other implementing partners are Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, DENR Regions 3 and 4, Department of Agriculture, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office-Sorsogon, National Commission on Indigenous People, DOST and local government units.

The second component consists of information dissemination on the national policy on access to these genetic resources.

Policies on Intellectual Property Rights, such as patents and commercial licensing instruments, will be strengthened.

It will carry out capacity building for IPs and local communities in asserting their rights over their Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices.

The third component consists of facilitating negotiation for ABS agreements.

“It will support community protocols for security Prior Informed Consent and Mutually Agreed Terms to ensure fair and equitable sharing of both the monetary and non-monetary benefits of genetic resources.”

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

or school principal Rhodara Sacramento, it is best to teach schoolchildren what they need to learn other than solving math, doing their science assignments or coming up with amazing science projects.

The principal at Mabolo Elementary School in Bacoor, Cavite, Sacramento said they should also learn how to be neat and tidy, including how to make their environment clean and green.

This was how she began her advocacy when she was still a teacher at Real Elementary School in 2016. Sacramento led a project teaching the more than 800 elementary pupils to turn used plastic bottles into bottle bricks.

They collect wrappers of candy or junk food, cut them into small strips and stuff them tightly inside the plastic bottles.

When full, the bottle bricks were used as fence and pathway guides in the school or even at the children’s homes.

daily in 2018, with 22 percent, or 333 tons, of which could be recycled.

With this huge volume of waste, the threat that some of them could end up in Manila Bay is real.

For one, the Imus River that traverses the highest waste-generating cities in Cavite—Bacoor, Dasmariñas and Imus— has become a conveyor belt for leaked plastic waste flowing out to Manila Bay,

Project Aseano

is very limited. The [pupils] that are required to go to school don’t go to canteens because they only spend half of the day, then go straight home,” she said.

“In case regular [face-to-face] classes resume, we will continue to implement this project,” she added.

An international initiative is aiding in making Imus River plastic-free.

Project Aseano that is funded by the government of Norway is being led by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies Indonesia.

It is in close collaboration with the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (Pemsea) Resource Facility and the Asean Secretariat under the purview of the endorsing Asean sectoral body, the Asean Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment.

Project Aseano promotes the development of sound and sustainable measures to reduce the impacts of plastic pollution and their implications on socio-economic development and the environment.

The project focuses at the local level, with Cavite’s Imus River as one of two sites in Southeast Asia.

The results of the project will be synthesized into knowledge products, such as an LGU toolkit and best practices policy handbook, monitoring tools, and technologies for plastics management that can be used as a reference by local governments across the Asean region with similar priority management concerns.

‘We need champions’

Reducing garbage

School Principal Rhodora Sacramento of Mabolo Elementary School in Bacoor, Cavite, shows how easy it is to stuff junk food plastic packages into used bottles and turn them into something useful like bottle bricks. Gregg Yan/Pemsea photo

Turning garbage into gold

“It’s fun and easy,” she told the BusinessMirror in a mix of English and Filipino on May 17.

Sacramento has been waging War on Waste (WOW) with the help of an army of young public-school students.

She is leading the program to minimize garbage in school by convincing students to stuff plastic wrappers into bottles, giving them eco-bags and persuading them to throw used bottles and cans in convenient wireframed baskets.

Sacramento said there’s money in garbage if you know how to find them.

She said the collected bottles and cans from school projects can be sold to recyclers.

One time the school’s sales proceeds reached P2,500 in just the first three months of the program, that was enough to fund one of the school organization’s Christmas party.

Construction materials

In one of Sacramento’s school projects, bottle bricks were traded with Robinsons Hypermart Bacoor for canvas eco-bags.

The bottle bricks were used to build homes for the Yangil tribe in Zambales, while the eco-bags were distributed to Cavite students’ use.

Meanwhile, to motivate students to maintain the school’s cleanliness, certificates and prizes were awarded to the cleanest rooms at the end of the school year.

War on Waste

“Our War on Waste has drastically reduced the garbage [the school] has been generating. From around 20 garbage bags a week, they were down to five,” said Sacramento, now the principal at Mabolo Elementary School that is waging its own war against solid waste.

Getting rid of plastic waste prevents them from ending and clogging canals, creeks and rivers—or worse, polluting oceans and breaking down into smaller but even deadlier microplastics.

Bottle bricks can be used as fence or pathway guide in schools and homes. Gregg Yan/Pemsea photo She said there are more solutions that can be developed and shared by other schools across the country that will lead to a cleaner, healthier environment, which she admitted needs a lot of care.

Advocacy

“When we started our advocacy in Real [Elementary School], there was a river that I really love and want to see it clean. Sadly, I haven’t been there for a while,” she confided.

She added that her transfer from one school to another never stopped her from her advocacy.

Sacramento expressed hope that her campaign in Real will be sustained, and that her colleagues will continue even after they transfer to other schools by teaching the schoolchildren the discipline to help cut down the country’s perennial garbage problem.

However, because of the pandemic schools were closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and the projects stopped, said Evelyn Resuello, a science teacher at Real Elementary School.

Discipline instilled

Nevertheless, Resuello told the BusinessMirror on May 18 that the projects on solid waste in Real instilled in every pupil the discipline that needs replication in schools.

“When we implemented the project, we were very happy to see our students participating in the activities. Sometimes, we could see them racing to fill their plastic bottles [with plastic scraps] and you could see them picking up plastics within the school compound,” she said “Right now, our face-to-face [classes]

Sought for comment by the BusinessMirror, Vice Chairman Crispian Lao of the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) said the Philippines need more real-life champions in schools to teach the younger generation to learn the value of proper solid waste management.

“By teaching them to properly dispose of their waste, you solve half of the problem already,” said Lao, who sits as a private sector representative to the NSWMC. Lao said the NSWMC is working closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Education (DepEd) in order to integrate a module on solid waste management to be taught in schools.

He added that if every student learns the discipline to dispose of their plastic waste properly, they can also adopt this at home and help to effectively cut down the country’s garbage problem.

Garbage producer

Cavite is one of the biggest producers of solid waste because of its big population.

According to the Environmental Management Bureau, Cavite generated an average of 1,514 tons of solid waste

In a news release, Dr. Ed Lineses of De La Salle University Dasmariñas, who led part of the Project Aseano’s series of studies, said residents could do a lot to minimize the trash they generate.

“On the household level, they should start with proper segregation, separating waste from items that can still be reused, salvaged or recycled,” he said.

“Households can also choose not to use plastic. There are many things we can buy without using plastic packaging. Policy-makers should also be more creative in finding ways to incentivize the refusal of plastics by collaborating with sellers, giving them sensible incentives to minimize their reliance on single-use plastics,” Lineses added.

T hrough the efforts of local champions like school principal Rhodora, Asean waterways might soon become a bit cleaner and clearer, he said.

“If a war on waste is what it takes to clean our rivers, then so be it. Schools are one avenue, apart from households, to educate young people on the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. The youth are destined to inherit the future, but how it looks shall depend on what they choose to do today,” said Pemsea Executive Director Aimee Gonzales.

Does ‘green energy’ have hidden health, environmental costs?

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here are a number of available low-carbon technologies to generate electricity. But are they really better than fossil fuels and nuclear power?

To answer that question, one needs to compare not just the emissions of different power sources but also the health benefits and the threats to ecosystems of green energy.

Production of electricity is responsible for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, and demand is poised to rise as underserved populations connect to the grid, and electronics and electric vehicles proliferate.

So stopping global warming will require a transformation of electricity production.

But it is important to avoid various environmental pitfalls in this transition, such as disrupting ecosystems and wildlife or

causing air pollution.

In a research paper, we analyzed the impact of electricity generation from renewable sources, nuclear fission power plants and fossil fuels, with and without carbon dioxide capture and storage technology for separating CO2 and storing it underground.

We accounted for the environmental effects associated with the production, operation and dismantling of facilities, as well as the production, transport and combustion of fuels.

We then compared a baseline scenario to a low-carbon electricity scenario that would prevent global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (2°C) above preindustrial levels by 2050—the point climate scientists say will avoid dangerous climate change.

Our study emphatically confirms that fossil fuels—mainly coal—place a heavy burden on the environment and that most renewable power projects have lower pollution-related impacts on ecosystems and human health.

Nonetheless, no energy source is without adverse environmental side effects. Power plant siting, project design and technology choice are critical issues that investors and governments should consider very carefully.

Solar shines

Replacing fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal power, would reduce diverse types of pollution.

The magnitude of difference in pollution between fossil and some renewable energy

options is stunning.

For example, we found that the entire process of manufacturing, setting up and operating photovoltaic (PV) panels causes less pollution than only delivering fuel to a coal-fired power plant when mining is included.

What about the environmental footprint of actually making renewable energy systems?

Photovoltaics come out very well in our analysis. Today, the production of PV cells uses much less energy than previously.

The carbon emissions per unit of PV electricity is one-tenth or less of even the most efficient natural gas power plants.

Human health problems, such as respiratory disease from particulate matter exposure, are around one-tenth of those of modern coal-fired power plants with advanced pol-

lution control equipment.

Similar conclusions hold for water and soil pollution on ecosystems, we found.

But solar panels require much more space to generate the same amount of power as fossil fuel or nuclear power generators.

Shouldn’t covering huge areas with solar panels be a problem?

Not necessarily. The amount of land needed to generate a kilowatt-hour from PV is comparable to that of coal power, when the land associated with mining coal is accounted for.

And about half of the PV installations in our future scenario in 2050 could be placed on rooftops.

Producing PV panels does require various metals, many of which are produced only in limited locations. Some of those metals are

highly toxic. Waste treatment and recycling, which we did not include in our assessment, are therefore important.

PV, of course, delivers electricity only when the sun shines. However, a different solar technology—concentrating solarthermal power, which concentrates light to make heat—may be a viable way forward as it delivers a similar performance in terms of pollution reduction yet offers the option to store heat and, thus, generate electricity in the evening.

We assumed concentrating solar power technology, which currently has very low adoption compared to PV, would provide one quarter of solar electricity in our lowemissions scenario. Edgar Hertwich, Norwe-

gian University of Science and Technology/The Conversation CC via AP

A10 Sunday, May 22, 2022

Faith

Sunday

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

Pope: ‘God is not afraid of our prayer of protest’

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ATICAN—Pope Francis urged Catholics recently to feel free to protest spontaneously to God when faced with suffering and injustice.

Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 18. VATICAN MEDIA

Reflecting on the Book of Job in his general audience address in St. Peter’s Square on May 18, the pope said that “God is not afraid of our prayer of protest.”

“Sometimes I meet people who approach me and say: ‘But, Father, I protested against God because I have this and that problem…’ But, you know, friend, that protesting is a way to pray when it is done like that,” he said.

“When children, when young people object against their parents, it is a way of attracting their attention and of asking that they take care of them,” he added.

“If you have some wound in your heart, some pain, and you want to object, object even to God. God will listen to you. God is a Father. God is not afraid of our prayer of protest, no! God understands. But be free, be free in your prayer. Don’t imprison your prayer within preconceived paradigms.”

The live-streamed catechesis was the 10th in a cycle on old age that the 85-year-old pope began in Februar y. He entered St. Peter’s Square in a white jeep, stopping to invite a group of children in red hats to join

him for part of his journey past rows of pilgrims.

After touring the square, the jeep pulled up behind a raised platform in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The pope, who suffers from knee pain, was helped to exit the vehicle and walk slowly to the white chair where he gave his address.

The pope described the Book of Job as “a universal literary classic,” meditating on how the prophet Job lost everything but retained his belief in God’s justice, despite being surrounded by spiritually ignorant friends.

He said: “On our catechetical itinerary, we meet Job when he was an old man. We encounter him as a witness of a faith that does not accept a ‘caricature’ of God, but protests loudly in the face of evil until God responds and reveals his face.”

The pope continued: “And in the end, God responds, as always, in a surprising way—He shows Job His glory without crushing him, or better still, with sovereign tenderness, tenderly, just like God always does.”

“The pages of this book need to be read well, without prejudices,

without stereotypes, to understand the power of Job’s cry. It would be good for us to put ourselves in his school to overcome the temptation of moralism due to the exasperation and bitterness of the pain of having lost everything,” he added.

The pope noted that Job reached a turning point at the height of his “venting,” when he proclaimed: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25-27).

“This passage is really beautiful,” he commented. “It makes me think of the end of that brilliant oratorio of Handel, the ‘Messiah,’ after the celebrative Hallelujah, the soprano slowly sings this passage: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives,’ peacefully.”

“And so, after this painful and joyful experience of Job, the voice of the Lord is something else. ‘I know that my Redeemer lives’—it is truly a beautiful thing. We could interpret it like this: ‘My God, I know You are not a Persecutor. My God will come and do me justice.’”

“It is the simple faith in the resurrection of God, the simple faith in Jesus Christ, the simple faith that the Lord is always waiting for us and will come.”

Pope Francis said that the drama of Job is played out today when “really heavy trials fall on a person, on a family, on a people.”

He mentioned parents of children with serious disabilities and people with chronic illnesses.

“These situations are often aggravated by the scarcity of economic resources. At certain junctures in history, the accumulation of burdens gives the impression that they were given a group appointment. This is what has happened in these years with the Covid-19 pandemic, and is happening now with the war in Ukraine,” the pope reflected.

He went on: “Can we justify these ‘excesses’ to the higher intelligence of nature and history?

Can we religiously bless them as justified responses to the sins of the victims, as if they deserve it?

No, we cannot.”

“There is a kind of right that victims have to protest vis-à-vis the mystery of iniquity, a right that God grants to everyone, that indeed He himself inspires, after all,” he added.

The pope said that many elderly people walked a similar path to Job, undergoing great sufferings but continuing to hold on to God’s promises.

He said: “They have suffered so much in life, they have learned so much in life, they have gone through so much, but in the end, they have this peace, a peace, I would say, that is almost mystical, that is, the peace from an encounter with God to the point they can say, ‘I knew you because I had heard about you, but now I have seen you with my own eyes’ (Job 42:5).”

“These elderly people resemble the peace of the Son of God on the Cross who is abandoned to the Father,” he explained.

After the pope’s address, a summary of his catechesis was read out in seven languages.

Addressing English-speaking Catholics, he said: “I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s audience, especially those from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Israel and the Middle East, Canada and the United States of America.”

“In the joy of the Risen Christ, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. May the Lord bless you!”

After addressing Italian pilgrims, Pope Francis said: “Finally, my thoughts go, as usual, to the elderly, the sick, the young, and newlyweds.”

“Dear young people, do not be afraid to put your energies at the service of the Gospel, with the enthusiasm characteristic of your age; and you, dear elderly and dear ill people, be aware that you offer a valuable contribution to society, thanks to your wisdom; and you, dear newlyweds, let your families grow as places where you learn to love God and your neighbor in serenity and joy,” he said. Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Buddhist chaplains on the rise in US, offering broad appeal

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ORTLAND, Oregon—Wedged into a recliner in the corner of her assisted living apartment in Portland, Skylar Freimann, who has a terminal heart condition and pulmonary illness, anxiously eyed her newly arrived hospital bed on a recent day and worried over how she would maintain independence as she further loses mobility.

There to guide her along the journey was the Rev. Jo Laurence, a hospice and palliative care chaplain. But rather than invoking God or a Christian prayer, she talked of meditation, chanting and other Eastern spiritual traditions: “The body can weigh us down sometimes,” she counseled. “Where is the divine or the sacred in your decline?”

An ordained Sufi minister and practicing Zen Buddhist who brings years of meditation practice and scriptural training to support end-of-life patients, Laurence is part of a burgeoning generation of Buddhist chaplains who are increasingly common in hospitals, hospices and prisons, where the need for their services rose dramatically during the pandemic.

In a profession long dominated in the US

by Christian clergy, Buddhists are leading an ever more diverse field that includes Muslim, Hindu, Wiccan and even secular humanist chaplains.

Buddhist chaplains say they’re uniquely positioned for the times due to their ability to appeal to a broad cultural and religious spectrum, including the growing number

of Americans—roughly one-third—who identify as nonreligious.

In response, study and training opportunities have been established or expanded in recent years. They include the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School and the Buddhism track at Union Theological Seminary, an ecumenical Christian liberal seminary in New York City.

Colorado’s Naropa University, a Buddhist-inspired liberal arts college, recently launched a low-residency hybrid degree chaplaincy program.

Nonaccredited certifications such as those offered by the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care or the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are also popular.

“The programs keep expanding, so it seems clear that there’s a growing demand from students. And the students appear to be finding jobs after graduation,” said Monica Sanford, assistant dean for Multireligious Ministry at Harvard Divinity School and an ordained Buddhist minister.

In the past, Buddhist chaplains were often hired by the likes of hospitals and police departments specifically to minister to Asian immigrant communities.

During World War II, they served Japanese American soldiers in the military.

Today, however, they are more mainstream.

In a first-of-its-kind report published this month, Sanford and a colleague identified 425 chaplains in the United States, Canada and Mexico representing all major branches

of Buddhism, though the researchers say there are likely many more.

More than 40 percent work in health care, the Mapping Buddhist Chaplains in North America report found, while others serve in schools, in prisons or as self-employed counselors.

Two-thirds of respondents reported holding a Master of Divinity, another graduate degree or a chaplaincy certificate.

Most of those working as staff chaplains also completed clinical pastoral education internships and residencies in health care and other settings.

Maitripa College, a Tibetan Buddhist college also in Portland, has seen increased interest in its Master of Divinity track since its launch 10 years ago, said Leigh Miller, director of academic and public programs.

It appeals to a broad range, from older Buddhists with 20 years of practice to new college graduates who just started meditating, from spiritual seekers to people with multiple religious belongings.

Hospitals and other institutions are eager to hire Buddhist chaplains, Miller said, in part to boost staff diversity and also because they are adept at relating to others using inclusive, neutral language.

“Buddhist chaplains are in the habit of speaking in more universal terms, focusing on compassion, being grounded, feeling at peace,” she said. “A lot of Christian chaplains fall back on God language, leading prayers or reading Bible scriptures.”

Meanwhile, training in mindfulness and meditation, as well as beliefs regarding the nature of self, reality and the impermanence of suffering, give Buddhists unique tools to confront pain and death.

“The fruit of those hours on the [meditation] cushion really shows up in the ability to be present, to drop one’s own personal agenda and to have a kind of awareness of self and other that allows for an interdependent relationship to arise,” Miller said.

Buddhist chaplaincy also faces challenges, including how to become more accessible to Buddhists of color.

The Mapping Buddhist Chaplains in North America report found that most professional Buddhist chaplains today are white and have a Christian family background, even though nearly two-thirds of the faith’s followers in the US are Asian American, according to the Pew Research Center.

Traditional Buddhist communities tend to be small and run by volunteers so they often lack the resources to offer endorsements to chaplains—a necessary step for board certification, which is often required for employment.

And non-Christian chaplains can struggle with feelings of isolation and a need to code-switch in Christian-founded health care institutions where crosses hang on walls, prayers are offered at staff meetings and Jesus and the Bible are regularly invoked. AP

CBCP President Bishop Pablo Virgilio David at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran on April 6. Photo by Ciriaco Santiago, CSsR

CBCP head: Fight against social evils must go on

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he head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on the faithful to keep the fight going against “evil” in the society.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David stressed the need to “keep a good attitude” and remain focused on issues that affect the nation “as we move forward together.”

“We should not surrender our hope to the forces of evil at work in our society,” David said in a message released a week after the country’s local and national elections.

The recent polls, the bishop said, had “made more obvious” the factors that continue “to challenge our democratic institutions.”

He was referring to “well-funded trolls” behind massive disinformation and rampant vote-buying “now made easier by online cash transfers.”

But if there’s anything to be hopeful for, according to him, “it’s the reawakened sense of patriotism

among many sectors in Philippine society.”

The CBCP head, who is also the bishop of Kalookan, particularly cited the young people “who have discovered the power of solidarity for the common good.”

“Their desire to give a more concrete expression to responsible citizenship as the key to achieving good governance has been strongly manifested in their many spontaneous acts of volunteerism,” David said.

The prelate even went on to call it as “a rediscovery of what we used to call ‘people power.’”

“Now it has to be harnessed through the creation of wellthought out, well-planned and better organized mass movement that will not only protect our democratic institutions but will also contribute proactively toward community development on the grassroots level and the formation of a better, more mature political culture,” he said. CBCP News

Lasallian brothers elect Luistro, first Filipino superior general

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he French-founded Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools have elected Bro. Armin Luistro as their new superior general.

Luistro becomes the Lasallian Brothers’ 28th superior general and the first Filipino to hold the global position.

The election took place on May 18 at the religious institute’s 46th general chapter in Rome.

Ty pically held ever y seven years, the election comes eight years after the previous government was elected in 2014 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Luistro joined the La Salle Scholasticate, the academic training center of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Manila in April 1979 while studying at De La Salle University (DLSU).

He received the religious habit in October 1981, professed his first religious vows in October 1982 and his final vows in May 1988.

The 60-year-old started his teaching career at De La Salle Lipa in Batangas, where he worked as a religion teacher, class counsellor and campus minister from 1983 to 1986.

In August 2000, he co-founded with Indonesian Bishop Josef Suwatan of Manado, the De La Salle Catholic University in Manado, now known as De La Salle University-Indonesia.

Luistro has more than 34 years of experience in both the private and public sectors.

From 2010 to 2016, he served as secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Education. Prior to this, he was at the helm of De La Salle University in Manila, serving as its president from 2004 to 2010.

In previous years, he also served

Bro. Armin Luistro La Salle Global photo

as president of the De La Salle University System and several other La Salle schools. From 2017 to 2019, he returned to serve as president of De La Salle Philippines, the network of La Salle schools in the country.

He is currently a board member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the largest business-led nongovernmental organisation in the country.

In May 2019, he was appointed Brother Visitor of the Lasallian District of East Asia.

Luistro has also held various positions in other governmental and intergovernmental organisations, such as the Advisory Council of the National Youth Commission, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization National Commission of the Philippines and the South East Asian Ministers of Education Organisation.

Luistro holds a doctorate in Educational Management from Saint La Salle University in Bacolod and a Master’s Degree in Religious Education and Values from De La Salle University in Manila.

He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Humanities from DLSU. CBCP News

Sports BusinessMirror

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

RAMIREZ: LOOK AT BIG PICTURE

Woods plays through pain, makes major cut at PGA

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ULSA, Oklahoma—Tiger Woods clenched his jaw when the pain hit.

He limped, occasionally used a driver like a cane, and pushed his rebuilt right leg over and through the hills and swales of Southern Hills on Friday with a singular mission: to get to the weekend at the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Championship.

And he did it. Woods shot a second-round 1-under 69 that put him at 3-over par for the tournament, one shot inside the cut line. He was in danger of missing the weekend before rallying with two birdies over the final six holes.

“You can’t win the tournament if you miss the cut. I’ve won tournaments—not major championships, but I’ve won tournaments on the cut number,” Woods said after he gingerly walked the few steps up to the stage for his post-round interview. “There’s a reason why you fight hard and you’re able to give yourself a chance on the weekend.”

Few consider that a realistic scenario the way Woods has to fight his body to get through a round. A car crash 15 months left his right leg so badly damaged that doctors considered amputation.

Woods returned to competition last month at the Masters. He made the cut there and gutted through the weekend at Augusta National in a glorious return in front of adoring galleries. He didn’t play again until returning to the PGA, a championship he has won four times, most recently in 2007 at Southern Hills.

The fans at the PGA Championship have pushed him along again, even when he looked miserable. He opened with a fourover 74. He said just about everything made his leg hurt that day before he left the course for a night of physical therapy and ice baths.

He recovered well enough to tee it up again Friday, which by itself impressed playing partner Rory McIlroy.

“Just incredibly resilient and mentally tough,” said McIlroy, who chatted with Woods often during Friday’s round. “He’s feeling it, and he’s feeling it on every swing.... Yeah, look, he’s the ultimate pro. Looking at him yesterday, if that would have been me, I would have been considering pulling out and just going home. But Tiger is different and he’s proved he’s different. It was just a monumental effort.”

Woods never considered leaving.

“Just the fact that I’m able to play golf again and play in our biggest championships,” the 15-time major champion said. “I’m not going to be playing a lot of tournaments going forward. They’re going to be the biggest tournaments. I want to be able to play the major championships. I’ve always loved playing them.”

Even if it takes a full-team effort to get him back on the course four days in a row.

“Fortunately enough, I’m able to somehow do it,” Woods said. “I’ve had a great [physical therapy] staff that have put Humpty-Dumpty back

together, and we’ll go out there tomorrow.”

Woods shut down a question about whether his leg felt better or worse than Thursday. By then, he was done talking about it.

There will be challenges over the next two days.

On the steep slope off the No. 1 tee on Friday, Woods has used his driver like a cane to ease his way down the hill. The stairs off the No. 10 tee were also slow going. A ball in a bunker can mean an awkward stance and unsteady feet.

But there are times when he can clear his mind of the aches and pains.

A birdie at No. 5 seemed to straighten his gait on the next few holes until a bogey three holes later had him flirting with the cut line again. On the ninth, he was clenching his jaw before hitting out of the rough into an uphill green.

Real trouble came the par-3 11th when he missed the green well to the left, then bashed his club against a cart path in anger. A double bogey followed and he was in danger of ending the week early.

Then came the late rally down stretch. Woods finally got the cushion he needed with a birdie at No. 16.

Woods finished the Masters with consecutive rounds of 78. He left Southern Hills on Friday hoping for a better finish in Tulsa if his leg will allow it.

“Coming back here to a place that I’ve had success on, to play against the best players in the world, that’s what we all want to be able to do,” Woods said. AP TIGER WOODS misses a putt on the sixth hole during the second round on Friday. AP

picture as regards to the country’s participation in the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games.

“We must remind everyone that our participation in the Vietnam SEA Games has a bearing in our build up to our competing in bigger international competitions such as the Asian Games and Olympics,” Ramirez, who celebrated his birthday at the thick of the fight in the SEA Games last Wednesday, said. “Let us look at the bigger picture.”

“Let us not judge or criticize our athletes who have competed and are still competing in Vietnam,” said Ramirez as he regularly monitored the progress in Hanoi from his PSC offices in Manila. “Let us not discourage them and continue to support them all the way.”

“There will be a time and place for that,” he said “We will continue to pray for their safety and health, whatever their performance. We are very happy and proud of our athletes and coaches who fought hard for our country and people.”

The Philippines ran fourth in terms of gold medals won with 43

PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez says the Vietnam games are part of the athletes’ build up for the Asian Games and Olympics.

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HILIPPINE Sports Commission William “Butch” Ramirez reiterated on Saturday his call to sports leaders and the public alike to look at the big

as of noon on Saturday, three days before the Games that Vietnam is hosting for the second time after 2003 will come to a close.

Vietnam was unreachable atop the medals race with 169 golds medals, a hundred more than second place Thailand. The hosts also had 100 silvers and 98 bronzes, a massive haul on the competition arena that could have sparkled even more had the games been organized smoothly and efficiently.

Singapore was fourth with 47 golds, while Malaysia was below the Philippines at sixth with 36 gold medals. Myanmar has eight golds, Cambodia seven and Laos and Brunei one each. East Timor has two silvers and one bronze.

“Keep the fighting spirit alive as our Filipino athletes show their resilience in achieving their goals for our beloved country,” Ramirez said.

The PSC chief cited the national judo team as a prime example in overcoming challenges even before they headed for Vietnam.

Kiyomi Watanabe is injured and Mariya Takahaski has to fulfill her academic obligations in Japan, thus

forcing them out of the Games. They won gold medals in the Philippine 2019 SEA Games.

Rather than be discouraged, the Philippine Judo Federation, under the new leadership of its president Alexander “Ali” Sulit, trained hard its other athletes for Hanoi.

Because of a never-say-die mentality, judo already delivered two golds so far courtesy of Rena Furukawa and Shugen Nakano one day after the other in women’s 57 kgs and men’s 66 kgs, respectively.

“This is the kind of robust resourcefulness and heart we expect from our athletes and their sports leaders, who don’t give excuses but do what needs to be done for their respective sport. We salute Sulit and the national judo team!” Ramirez said.

The can-do attitude exemplified by the national judo squad, Ramirez said, was one major reason why the PSC spent P232 million for the Philippines’s participation in the regional sports showcase.

The Philippines fielded 641 athletes in 38 of 40 sports in the Vietnam Games.

Bach: Russia ban to protect athletes, not punish them G The severity of the reaction to Russia and Belarus has provoked questions—including to FIFA—of why other countries which waged wars and even genocides had not previously faced the same isolation.

“The war in Ukraine is different because it is a blatant violation of the Olympic truce,” Bach said of the modern revival of an ancient tradition to pause hostilities and give athletes safe passage before and after an Olympics.

Weeks before the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, United Nations member states, including Russia, approved a truce document to last until mid-March, after the Winter Paralympics.

Putin was in Beijing for the opening ceremony when Russia had already placed thousands of soldiers near the Ukraine border.

Russia’s breach of the truce was its third in 14 years. There was a military conflict with neighboring Georgia on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the country annexed Ukrainian territory in Crimea soon after hosting the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Bach also justified the reaction to ban Russian athletes by saying “farreaching political, social and economic consequences of the war make it a turning point in world history.”

Bach distanced himself from Putin, with whom he was publicly close around the Sochi Olympics. Those Winter Games were marred by a statebacked doping program in Russia. “[The IOC’s] relationship with the Russian political leadership has dramatically deteriorated over the past years,” Bach said, citing the doping scandal, cyberattacks by Russian

ENEVA—Russian athletes and officials who have been banned from international sports because of the war in Ukraine are being protected rather than punished, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Friday.

Most sports bodies have followed the IOC guidance given on February 28—four days after Russia began its invasion—by taking teams and athletes out of their international competitions. In soccer, Russian teams were removed from World Cup qualifying for men and women.

Russian soccer is challenging those decisions and others at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and Bach’s speech Friday will likely be echoed by defense lawyers at multiple pending hearings.

“Let me emphasize again that these are protective measures, not sanctions. Measures to protect the integrity of competitions,” Bach told IOC members in an online meeting. “The safety of the Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials could not be guaranteed because of the deep anti-Russian and anti-Belarusian feelings in so many countries following the invasion.”

Sanctions should apply only to “those responsible for something,” Bach said, explaining why the IOC withdrew its Olympic Order honor from Russian officials—though he did not say Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name—and advised sports to relocate events that Russia was to host.

INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (third from left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (third from right) wave to spectators during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. AP hackers and “even personal threats to individuals,” which he did not specify.

Bach moved to protect Russia’s active and honorary IOC members, who were allowed to take part online in Friday’s meeting. They include twotime Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who is an officer in the Russian army.

The IOC has not suspended those Russian members who have not publicly criticized the war.

“There is no justice if you paint everyone with the same brush,” said Bach, noting a new Russian law that can punish dissent with 15-year jail sentences. “We can appreciate that under such circumstances silence in itself can be a message.”

In recent weeks, Russian athletes

who made public gestures supporting the war have been banned from international competitions in gymnastics and swimming.

“We are monitoring closely who is supporting this war with their statements or actions,” Bach said.

“We have drawn and will draw necessary [conclusions].”

Bach did not say if Russian teams, athletes and officials will be banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics, but he noted there would be “a time to rebuild bridges” through sport.

At a later news conference, Bach said “we do not know how this situation evolves” with the war and would not speculate on conditions that could be met to let Russia and Belarus back in to global sport. AP

Canadian athletes, parents campaign for culture change in sporting world

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CAMI GOLF WINNERS

Sunday, May 22, 2022 A11

The winners of the Eighth Capampangan in Media Inc. (CAMI) Clark Golf Cup 2022 receive their awards at the Mimosa Golf and Country Club recently. From left are CAMI Trustees Abel Cruz, Liza Carreon and Noel Tulabut; Class C Champion Stephen Marcelino; Class B Champion Virgilio Castelo; CAMI President Ashley Manabat, Over All Champion Grace Corona, Class A Champion Larry Lumba and the runners-up now former Victoria (Tarlac) Mayor now Congressman Christian Yap, media man Jerra Sison and Errol Miranda

CALES should be banned from children’s gyms. Parents should be permitted to watch. Rules of acceptable behavior should be posted on gym walls with a toll-free line to report violations.

They may sound like basic safety precautions for children in sport, but they don’t exist on a blanket scale in Canada. Amid what Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has called a safe sport “crisis,” many current and former athletes say the country is long overdue for a cultural overhaul.

More than 1,000 athletes from gymnastics, boxing and bobsled/ skeleton have called for independent investigations into their sports in recent weeks, and former gymnast Amelia Cline filed a proposed classaction lawsuit last week against Gymnastics Canada and six provincial federations.

The plaintiffs allege abuse dating back to 1978, claiming the organizations

created a culture and environment where the abuse could occur and failed to protect the athletes, most of them minors, in their care.

St-Onge has said she’s received complaints about abuse, maltreatment or misappropriation of funds leveled against at least eight national teams, including rugby and rowing.

The outpouring of stories has prompted conversations, shared experiences and suggestions for fixes.

Ciara McCormack was the soccer player who first publicly accused Canada’s under-20 women’s coach Bob Birarda of inappropriate behavior; he pleaded guilty in February to four sexual offenses involving four different people.

She said parents “have to have access to their children’s training environments.” Few gymnastics facilities permit parents to watch.

McCormack also believes nondisclosure agreements involving misconduct should be eliminated, and

making it mandatory to educate athletes and parents about what abuse looks like and how to report infractions. She also suggested an athlete-led organization with a hotline and disciplinary procedures—similar to that of teachers or medical practitioners—where cases of misconduct are recorded and accessible. “[National sport organizations] have taken advantage of having all the power and all the resources with the result being an immense amount of harm, and I think its crucial that athletes are given power, resources and a voice in the system from children as rec athletes all the way up to national team athletes,” McCormack told The Canadian Press.

“It’s long overdue.”

Kim Shore, a former gymnast and mom of a former gymnast, said she’d like to see bathroom scales banned from gyms. Gymnasts have said the public weigh-ins have left them with serious emotional scars years later around body image. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

A12

| Sunday, May 22, 2022

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SEA GAMES GOLD SHINES LIKE OLYMPIC GOLD–DIAZ

H

By Josef Ramos

ANOI—It may be a regional games among only 12 countries on this side of the globe but for Hidilyn Diaz, winning a gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games matters as much as her accomplishment at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

“This SEA Games gold medal is very meaningful because this is my first gold after winning at the Olympics last July,” the 31-year-old pride of Mampang in Zamboanga City said on Friday as she awaits to complete mandatory doping procedures at the Hanoi Sports and Competition Training Center.

Just an hour ago before gamely speaking with the BusinessMirror, Diaz prevailed in an animated duel between the region’s strongwomen, sending Sanikun Tanasan, who won an Olympic gold at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Games.

Diaz was the Asean region’s toast last year when she struck gold in the women’s 55 kgs in Tokyo in record fashion. Tanasan won hers in the lighter 49 kgs class in Rio. Diaz admitted that she didn’t train as hard for days and weeks after winning the Philippines’ historic first gold last July. She was catapulted to celebrity status and dozens of functions from the gym kept her preoccupied, not to mention losing track of her diet that resulted to unwanted six kilos in excess weight.

She attended corporate and advertising shoots, met with sponsors and attended to her studies at the College of Saint Benilde. As important was making up with lost family time after getting locked down in Malaysia for two years.

The SEA Games victory didn’t come as Tanasan threatened to spoil her moment.

“It got a lot of pain because I got so big—I have no time to train. I got a break and I ate a lot of food then,” she said. “I should be training six to nine times a week, but I didn’t do that. I had a hard time getting my weight back.

But Diaz thanked Team HD for getting her back in shape in no time.

“For the past few weeks before and after our arrival here, I focused on getting my weight back and my competitive self,” she said. “It became easy now because of Team HD. I was able to drop from 61 to 55 kilos.”

Diaz brought along the same Team HD that painstakingly chiseled her to an Olympic gold medalist. The team includes her fiancé and head coach Julius Naranjo, nutritionist Jeaneth Aro, team assistant Maria Dessa Delos

Santos and the Philippine Sports Commission’s head for sports psychology Dr. Karen Katrina Trinidad.

The Thai was indeed a stubborn opponent who aimed to rain at the Filipino sports heroine’s parade.

Tanasan went kilo heavier with her snatch at 93 kgs, sending some shivers down Diaz’s spine.

But Diaz had more muscles inside her and left the Thai dumbfounded with 114 kgs in the clean and jerk for the gold medalclinching total of 206 kgs.

The Thai, who was a no-show at the Philippines 2019 Games, was good for only 110 kgs in the clean and jerk and settled for the silver medal with a 203 total lift.

“I had anxiety before this competition and of course there was a pressure,” Diaz said. “It’s really hard to train after winning the Olympic gold.”

To battle anxiety, Diaz said she turned to yoga to shove her worries away.

Naranjo also admitted the pressure of living up to expectations.

“I guess there’s a little bit of pressure because I am officially the head coach for Team HD, but the formula has been the same since the Olympics,” said Naranjo, who took over Chinese coach Kaiwen Gao after the Olympics. “I’m pretty much lucky enough to be given the opportunity by coach Gao to do everything for Hidilyn.”

Trinidad said that a day before Diaz’s competition, she cried to release her emotions.

“That’s her way of releasing her emotions but after stepping on to the platform, everything went on smoothly as she already had the feeling of what would happen,” Trinidad said. “And everything else went okay.”

Diaz and Team HD will be returning to Manila on Monday.

H

ANOI—The Philippines is now one win away from sweeping and claiming the 31st Southeast Asian Games gold medals following convincing victories on Saturday at the Thanh Tri Gymnasium.

Thirdy Ravena sparked an early assault as the men’s team blasted Malaysia, 87-44, for its fifth straight win.

The women were also in championship more in beating Singapore, 88-61, to stay unbeaten in four games.

The team that leads after the single-round robin event will win the gold medal. The Philippines could complete a sweep of the 5x5 titles with victories by the men over

Indonesia at 4 p.m. (Manila time) and by the women over Malaysia earlier at 10 a.m. both on Sunday.

Indonesia’s men’s team was also undefeated in four games when it tool the floor against Vietnam late Saturday night.

The women’s squad faces a Malaysian side which staked its 2-1 win-loss record also against the host squad late Saturday.

Both coaches, however, felt they played flat in the contest which they hope to address for their final game of the SEA Games.

“We really treated this game as preparation for tomorrow’s match against Indonesia,” said men’s coach Chot Reyes. “Our focus was just to

B

medal in Paris that’s on my mind.”

The 30-year-old Petecio suffered a heartbreaking 2-3 split decision lost to Vietnamese Thi Linh Tran at the Bac Ninh Stadium and will settle for a bronze medal.

It wasn’t realty a clear victory for the Vietnamese although Petecio seemed to have fallen victim in the same scenario when she lost to a

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

TOTAL

1

Vietnam

171

101

100

2

Thailand

71

81

116

268

3

Indonesia

56

75

65

196

4

Singapore

47

44

65

156

5

Philippines

44

63

83

190

6

Malaysia

37

40

81

158

7

Myanmar

8

16

24

48

8

Cambodia

7

10

27

44

9

Laos

1

7

24

32

10

Brunei

1

1

1

3

11

Timor-Leste

0

2

1

3

372

RUBILEN AMIT works the table as Chezka Centeno waits on her seat during the women’s 10-ball final on Saturday. NONIE REYES

ROCKIN’ AND ROLLIN’ IN BILLIARDS, TENNIS

By Jun Lomibao

H

ANOI—The guaranteed victories in billiards and tennis were officially etched on Saturday but the Philippines anxiously stared at breaking the 50-gold medal barrier and a potential fourth-place finish in the 31st Southeast Asian Games that winds down to its last day of active competitions.

Rubilen Amit and Carlo Biado pocketed the 10-ball gold medals and Ruben Gonzales finally won that elusive mint in partnership with Treat Huey in tennis’s men’s doubles that hiked Team Philippines’ gold haul to 43 as of midday Saturday.

Rubilen Amit, a native of Mandaue City and now a Taguig City resident, beat compatriot Chezka Centeno in the women’s final, 7-5, to cement her status as perhaps the greatest female cue artist in the SEA Games.

It was the second gold medal for here in Hanoi after her victory in the 9-ball singles event earlier this week. Overall, she has 10 Games golds starting with the two singles mints she harvested in the Manila 2005 edition.

“I’m so glad it was a PhilippinesPhilippines final,” said Amit, world 10-ball queen in 2009 and 2014.

“There was no pressure at all.”

Amit had to fight for the gold against her friend Centeno.

“It’s always a pleasure to play Chezka. No lead is safe with her,” she said. “It showed when I was up 5-2 and I made an error and suddenly it was 5-5. I was just lucky.”

Centeno, a two-time SEAG winner in 10-ball, settled for the silver.

Biado, meanwhile, was the better player on Saturday after he beat 9-ball final tormentor—and also his buddy—Johann Chua, 9-3, in the 10-ball singles gold medal duel.

The venue was again packed with enthusiastic Filipinos and Vietnamese fans who witnessed Filipino maestros at work.

Biado and Chua broke into a smile after the eventual champion nailed the 10-ball into the right corner pocket.

With the twin victories, the Philippine team led by the legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes harvested four gold, four silver and two bronzes.

Gonzales and Huey dethroned their countrymen Jeson Patrombon and Francis Casey Alcantara, 6-1, 6-4, in another all-Filipino men’s

make sure to keep our level high.”

“Unfortunately, we didn’t start off that way,” Reyes said. “It wasn’t the good start that we wanted.”

Women’s coach Pat Aquino said the team slowed down on Saturday.

“We played lackluster today,” he said. “Maybe the girls got tired.”

Aquino added: “The girls have giving everything they’ve got in every game…we’ll try to adjust and see which aspect of our game needs inkering against Malaysia.”

Ravena had 17 points—12 in the first half—seven rebounds, five assists and two steals against Malaysia, while Roger Pogoy had a near double-double of nine points and 10 rebounds.

Clare Castro led the women with 15 points as her team continued to wax hot from threes with 12 in the match. Jun Lomibao

Petecio moves on from missed target in Hanoi AC NINH City, Vietnam— Tomorrow’s another day for Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio who lost to a hometown bet in women’s featherweight semifinals of boxing on Friday night.

“I already moved on so nothing’s changed in my boxing plans and career,” Petecio said. “It’s still that gold

COUNTRY

Source: seagames2021.com

HIDILYN DIAZ is flanked by her Team HD—(from left) niutritionist Jeaneth Aro, head coach Julius Naranjo, team assistant Maria Dessa Delos Santos and sports psychologist Dr. Karen Katrina Trinidad. JOSEF RAMOS

Basketball twin victories within reach

MEDAL TABLE R

Chinese in the quarterfinals at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games.

And Petecio gamely accepted the decision.

“I will try my best to qualify for Paris [2024 Olympics] and fight next year at the Asian Games,” she said.

“We also have the ASBC [Asian Boxing Confederation] in November and more international competitions.”

doubles final of tennis at the Hanaka Sports and Service Center.

“It’s always great to win the tournament, but especially with a great friend like Treat [Huey] to do it together for my first gold,” Gonzales said. “It’s my fourth finals, and to finally get it done, it feels really good.”

It was the first gold medal for the Filipinos in tennis here. They also had one silver courtesy of Patrombon and Alcantara and four bronze medals in women’s singles courtesy from Alex Eala, mixed doubles from Huey and Eala and men’s team from Huey, Patrombon and Eric Olivarez Jr. and women’s team from Eala, Marian Jade Capadocia, Shaira Hope Rivera and Jenaila Rose Prulla.

“It was great to have the Philippine team in the finals for the sure gold, just like three years ago,” Huey said. “Today we played really well, Ruben [Gonzales] and I came out strong and with a lot of energy and from the first point on we were so happy to get the win.”

“It was a great week for the team events, singles, mixed, everybody in the team had a really good week, so we’re happy to finish here with gold in the men’s doubles,” he added.

The champions turned back Vietnam’s Giang Trinh Linh and Mihn Tuan Pham in the semifinal, 6-4, 6-2, last Friday.

Patrombon and Alcantara beat another Vietnamese pair of Quoc Khan Le and Văn Phuong Nguyen, 6-4, 6-2, in the other semifinals match to arrange a second straight championship duel with Gonzales and Huey.

With 43 gold medals that went with 61 silvers and 83 bronzes, Team Philippines, whose participation in the games is supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippines Sports Commission, remained at fifth in the medals race.

Vietnam is unreachable with 169 golds on top of 101 silvers and 100 bronzes, with Thailand miles behind at second with a 71-80-115 goldsilver-bronze tally. Indonesia ran third with 56-75-64 and Singapore still potential for the Philippines to overtake at fourth with 47-44-64.

IT’S one happy family picture for the tennis team that winds up 1-2 in men’s doubles— (from left) Jeson Patrombon, Francis Casey Alcantara, Treat Huey, Ruben Gonzales, national coaches Chris Cuarto and Czarina Mae Arevalo, Marian Capadocia, Shaira Mae Rivera, Jen Prulla and Jed Olivarez and (front) Alex Eala and Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

“So life goes on, there’s no stopping until there’s no [Olympic] gold medal,” the 2019 world champion added.

The Asian Games, set this September in Huangzhou, however, were postponed because of a Covid-19 surge in China.

For now, Petecio will be cheering for four of her teammates—Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial, Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista and Tokyo Olympian Irish Magno—when they shoot for gold

medals on Sunday.

Bautista blasted Cambodian Rangsey Sao in the semifinal round of their featherweight bout with a referee stops the contest decision and will face Naing Latt of Myanmar in the finals, while Magno beat Indonesia’s Novita Sinadia via unanimous decision and will meet Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Tam in a women’s flyweight duel.

Ladon fights for gold against hometown bet Tran Van Thao in the men’s flyweight class, while Marcial

is heavily favored to bag the men’s middleweight gold against Timor Leste’s Delio Anzaqeci Mouzinho.

Marjon Piañar lost to Indonesian Sarohatua Lumbantobing via majority decision in the welterweight class to also settle for a bronze medal.

The other bronze medalists for the Philippine boxing team were lightweight James Palicte, light flyweight women’s boxer Josie Gabuco and women’s lightweight Risa Pasuit.

Josef Ramos

BusinessMirror

May 22, 2022

Learn your parents’ financial plans ASAP

2

BusinessMirror MAY 22, 2022 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

ANSWERING THE CALL Zeke Finn’s ‘warm-colored music’

F

By Stephanie Ching

OR many artists, music is a way to process strong emotions such as sadness, anger and heartbreak. And for upcoming artist Zeke Finn, heartbreak is the bread and butter of his career.

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

“Heartbreak is a recurring theme for me, and the concept of pursuit of happiness, I don’t know, music is just a path to joy for me,” he said.

As such, his latest single, a collaboration with German singer/ songwriter & producer NoMBe, “Coulda Been a Phone Call” is no different. Combining a happy melody with sad lyrics about moving on, the two manage to create a breakup song that’s equal parts fun and thought provoking.

“I got two texts from a girl I was seeing. She said “we need to talk” and “maybe you should come over”. I went over and she told me she was getting back with her ex. I put my wine glass down and said “This coulda been a phone call”. I turned to leave but then one thing led to another and

I ended up spending the night.

The next day I wrote the hook to this song,” he said.

“Zeke came up to me at a festival in LA and he told me the story of the song,” NoMBe recalled, “And for half a year, probably even longer, he just sent me a bunch of songs, and I really enjoyed what I was hearing,” Being both people who find inspiration in being in a room with people, the two artists really pushed to find time to be together in the same studio, though they still did some virtual aspects.

“We found a date despite our time and schedule differences.

I love the song, I love the instrumentals, I love the hook,” said NoMBe, “I think it made me open to more long distance collaboration, and maybe

: 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.

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ZEKE Finn

NOMBE

creatively, you can work on smaller parts and send them back and forth,” “For this song, we were in the room together but there was still some virtual aspect to it, like Noah did a lot of production back in his studio in Hawaii, but we kinda sent some stuff back and forth,” said Zeke.

With Zeke coming from a folk music background thanks to his father, and NoMBe’s hiphop background, the pair were able to craft “warm colored music” with poetic lyrics that are guaranteed to worm their way into anyone’s brains.

“I listened to a lot of folk music as a kid, and learning the poetry in songs was an important part of my upbringing, and I focus a lot on lyrics when writing. I really value good lyrics and I listen to every word of the songs that I hear,” explained Zeke.

“My dad listened to a lot of 60s and 70s music, so I have a love for warm colored music and distortions,” recalled NoMBe, “I’ve always loved gritty sounds, fat drums, and that was really it in the early days, and at this stage I really do listen to everything as long as there’s heart,” “Coulda Been a Phone Call” is now available on all major streaming platforms.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | MAY 22, 2022

BUSINESS

3

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

From ageless kundiman to sexy synth pop to brat punk

ORANGE & LEMONS La Bulaqueña

Y

OU probably won’t get any older school than the echoes of kundiman. On their fourth studio album titled “La Bulaqueña”, the newly reformed Orange & Lemons mixes and matches the sounds of an earlier generation with the strains of contemporary OPM. But make no mistake, there’s no obvious stress in the effort. Rather, it’s an effortless undertaking beautifully balancing lush instrumentation with the louder thump of Pinoy indie even as the lyrics recreate visions of love and life set in the idealized rural past of our great grandfathers. This will strike a serious chord or two with anyone who still looks back at a more glorious era of a great nation.

PAPER SATELLITES Manila Meltdown

T

HE band Paper Satellites bill themselves as an “indie pop/rock band from East Manila that likes to dance.” “Manila Meltdown” is their first full-

length after a cluster of singles and while their avid fans may find their debut album to be just a mere compilation of the band’s songs, old and new, it’s also a summation of the things Paper Satellites can deliver as musicians. They do jangle rock well (i.e. “Seafoam”, the pretty “Have Fun Tonight”), groovy AfroCaribbean rhythms (“Towns”) and the insanely goose-pimple popping “Scene.” Like that other description of their musical chops, Paper Satellites is a “feast for the senses.”

POLYMERASE Unostentatious

T

HEY’RE just some dudes trying to jam and create stoner music and from the get-go, Polymerase circles around sludge/psychedelic/ stoner block. Despite titled “Unostentatious,” their EP is a flashy display of their firm hold on the sludge/stoner playbook: funky wah-wah riffage in “The Traveler,” soft-loud-louder in “A Night of the Succubus” and a magnificent cross of psychomeets-metalhead perception in the 5-minute opus, “Green Is the Color of Evil.” Polymerase do paint with ostentatious yet unsettling colors.

WARPAINT Radiate Like This

A

MERICAN all-women outfit Warpaint is one of those bands that surprises with every new album. They debuted 12 years ago slinging the music and mindset of singles without a care in the world. Their latest album radiates with renewed interest in “day jobs, family, tour and a new recording.” This time also, the old come-whatmay attitude has been replaced with the acceptance that life happens. “Altar,” for instance, isn’t a solemn affair but a chance for the band to explore new sounds ramping up to massed choral voices. “Trouble” hints at a samba-like undertow though its dreamy tones get undermined by dark thoughts. While the overarching arc is quiet music for rainy afternoons, Warpaint’s words have a way of upsetting the contemplative mood, just like that.

latest album, Girlpool adds a sensual dimension to lure the converted to their honeyed aural trap. In “Nothing Gives Me Pleasure,” vocalist Harmony Tividad croons, “Do you even want me if I even have to ask?/Break it to me gently with your fingers up my ass.” Elsewhere, this pops out from her salacious mouth: “I wanna be your sin boy, baby/ Company that you’ve waited to meet.” The music already sells and the sex sells it even more.

PUP The Unraveling Of Puptheband

C

GIRLPOOL FORGIVENESS

T

HE synth-pop duo Girlpool returns with tales of failed romances and lurid sex in the afterglow of their really cooler-than-you music. Let’s get something out of the way first. Girlpool makes music that hugs the senses as it slithers from vocoder-tinted vocals to fiery punk rockers to straight country romps. On their

ANADIAN punk band Pup previously hailed fire and brimstone at authority figures just like every other rowdy group that reveled in the power of three chords. This time, Pup got inside their inner punks and found out that they can be as self-absorbed and snobbish as any angry youth in the Western World. They turned their ire on themselves first, then on to their parents, their non-punk loving buddies and even passing acquaintances. Still, the band creates some pretty gorgeous music starting with the tunefully rocking “Matilda” and the flaming rage of “Totally Fine.”

Brat punk, anyone?

The albums reviewed here can be listened to at most digital music platforms, especially bandcamp.

Learn your parents’ financial plans ASAP

By Laura McMullen

M

Nerdwallet

y mom died at age 61, when I was 31. Seeing her headstone in a field of others smacked me with a brutal, if obvious fact: Everyone, including everyone’s parents, will die.

I promise I’m not trying to depress you.

I want to prepare you, as this loss can happen sooner than you’d expect. And when parents die, it’s often up to their children to manage not just grief but also financial tasks.

Planning for those to-do’s now could help later, when you experience what may be some of your hardest days.

“We surely ought to have some idea of what we’re facing,” says Melanie Cullen, San Francisco Bay Area-based author of Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won’t Have To. She adds: “On the other side of it, our parents need to know we’re interested, we care, we’re there to help.” Here’s why, how and what to talk about with your parents.

Why must I discuss this morbid topic?

Without documented plans for your parents’ end-of-life finances, you may wind up scraping for cash.

Say you weren’t given access to your parents’ financial accounts in the case of incapacitation or death. What would happen if your parents were too sick to manage their finances? You would need to pay their bills but couldn’t tap their money to do so. Then you couldn’t use their money for their funeral, which could cost thousands of dollars.

Many caregivers wind up “digging into their own money,” says AARP family caregiving expert Amanda Singleton. You can’t save or invest money that’s covering your parents’ expenses, she adds. And if you’re short on cash, you may take on debt.

Beyond this potential financial hit, your parents’ plans and wishes are less likely to be fulfilled if you don’t know what they are.

For example, in the months when my mom was dying, we never discussed her funeral.

So when I planned it, I was engulfed in both grief and guesswork.

My family spent an enormous sum of money on an open-casket service, in part because we didn’t know what to do and struggled to focus on the decision. I suspect that my thrifty, camera-shy mom would have preferred a simple (and less expensive) cremation.

How do I frame the conversation?

Broach the subject with sensitivity and

respect. Personal finance is an uncomfortable topic for many. Now your parents must talk about both money and death with their kid.

Your parents have likely attended more funerals than you and may have managed their own parents’ deaths. Consider tapping those experiences to start your conversation, suggests Singleton, who’s also an estate-planning attorney in St. Petersburg, Florida. Ask how they handled their loved ones’ end-of-life care.

Did Grandma have an up-to-date will and make her financial information easy for your parents to find? Maybe they can follow her lead. Or if your parents had to sort out messy finances, recalling that experience could prompt them to get organized.

Another option: Lead with a topical or personal prompt. That’s what Mark Schrader, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based certified financial planner, did with his mom.

When his CFP courses covered certain planning-related topics, he would bring up what he was learning and ask about her intentions.

If you’ve learned about end-of-life planning on your own—say, in an article—or are making your own arrangements, let your parents know and ask for their point of view.

“Make it a planning and preparation conversation,” says Schrader, who’s also a financial planning strategist at TIAA, a retirement-planning organization. “It’s not as much about the numbers or ‘how much

“It’s not as much about the numbers or “how much do you have in these accounts,” says Mark Schrader, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based certified financial planner. Rather, the discussion should revolve around “what accounts do you have, and how can I help if for some reason you couldn’t be there?” do you have in these accounts?’ but ‘what accounts do you have, and how can I help if for some reason you couldn’t be there?’”

What should we cover?

Ask if your parents have a power of attorney for finances. This legal document names someone who can make money decisions on their behalf. Also learn whether they have similar documents for medical care, such as an advanced care directive, health care proxy or power of attorney for health care. A living will can be helpful, since this document outlines what they might want for end-of-life care.

When do I bring this up?

Discuss this topic now, as loved ones can die sooner than you’d imagine. And your parents’ lives and plans will change, so Cullen suggests you “go into it as a lifelong conversation.” The Associated Press ON THE COVER: Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

How good credit access enables better financial inclusion

By Pia Arellano President/CEO, Transunion Information Solutions Inc.

W

orking to improve your credit score helps ensure you can qualify for loans when you need them. However, in the Philippines, the work continues for many Filipinos across the country to enjoy sufficient access to credit and other financial services.

The latest TransUnion Consumer Pulse Survey shows almost half (48 percent) of Filipinos believe alternative data can improve access to financial services by developing credit history for people without traditional lending products.

The survey studied consumer attitudes regarding household budgets, spending, and debt. Findings showed that 94 percent of respondents agreed that access to credit and lending products are important to achieve financial goals. However, only 35 percent reported having sufficient access to credit.

With additional findings showing more millennials (49 percent) and Gen Z (50 per-

cent) planning to apply for credit within the next year, and 50 percent of all respondents who considered applying for new credit or refinancing existing credit ultimately deciding not to. The top 2 reasons for abandoning their plans were the high cost of credit (32 percent) and finding an alternative funding source (32 percent).

Understanding Filipino perceptions towards lending A preference for taking loans from informal sources was noted in a 2019 study by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on financial inclusion. Among adults with outstanding loans (33 percent), almost half of the respondents (44 percent) took them from relatives and informal lenders (10-percent).

When asked on the perceptions on the ease of applying for loans from formal financial institutions, 48 percent of respondents perceive it to be difficult, with 58 percent of them citing a lack of document required as the top reason for the difficulty.

4 BusinessMirror

Empowering financial inclusion through alternative data To improve access to formal financial services such as loans and credit for more people, lending institutions must have a better understanding of who their prospective customers are.

With new-to-credit consumers constrained by the lack of available credit information on them, TransUnion makes trust possible by exploring alternative data such as mobile telco data to help score consumers with little to no credit history—enabling more people to be visible in the formal financial system. Together with traditional data, these sources are consolidated to provide institutions with information and insights to help them better understand an individual’s creditworthiness.

Improved customer insights and loan pricing are some of the key benefits of alternative data usage for credit scoring— especially for Filipinos and small businesses with little to no formal credit history. Despite an uptick in the Philippine economy

May 22, 2022

coming from the tail end of last year, continuing to address how Filipinos view credit is a major step in fostering an inclusive financial ecosystem for more people across the country.

Alongside improving financial education with a focus on personal financial management, the availability of consolidated credit information for both consumers and businesses is a step towards changing the perception of credit—turning the idea of utang from bad debt to economic opportunities for more people. Whether to secure the funds to purchase a car, to help finance the purchase of a home, or to raise capital to start a business, good credit enables further chances for Filipinos to enjoy a better quality of life. n Pia Arellano has over 25 years of industry experience across banking, payment solutions, telecommunications, and remittance services.

She has been instrumental in establishing TransUnion as a risk management and data solutions and insights partner of banks and financial institutions in the Philippines.