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Sunday, November 5, 2023 Vol. 19 No. 25

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Enabling the elderly and disabled to cast their vote with less difficulty on Election Day remains a daunting task.

Let all voices be heard

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By Patrick V. Miguel | Photos by Roy Domingo

N events such as elections, certain expectations were anticipated. This includes the prioritization of senior citizens, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities (PWD) to cast their votes with ease.

However, reports from poll watchers and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) itself indicate that some priority voters were inconvenienced in the recent Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE). This means that the expectation to vote with ease was unsatisfactory in a number of precincts.

This is the case for 63-year-old Jack, not his real name, who left his home in Tondo, Manila, before sunrise on Election Day. Alongside his grandson, they were expecting to cast their votes without possibly facing inconveniences so they could leave early and move on with the day.

However, upon arrival, they were met with one inconvenience: His precinct was located on the 4th floor.

For Jack, using the stairs was not much of a problem since he is relatively “younger,” compared to other senior citizens. However, he noted that this could be a big “inconvenience” to older and physically disabled voters.

“Baka kasi mapano pa sila ’pag umakyat pa sila sa hagdan [Something could happen to them if they

climb the stairs],” he noted in a phone call.

He added that he is not getting any younger and hopes that he would no longer have to use the staircase in the next election.

“Sana sa susunod, hindi na ganito [Hopefully next time, it won’t be like this],” Jack said.

What happened to Jack was not an isolated case. His experience in casting his vote in the BSKE was also encountered by not only senior citizens but also PWDs.

Not an isolated case

THESE incidents were far from what Comelec had planned for voters with special needs in BSKE 2023.

Comelec Spokesman Atty.

John Rex Laudiangco said they made sure that precincts for voters who are senior citizens, pregnant women, and PWDs are placed on the ground floor of the school.

“We established an emergency accessible polling place,” Laudiangco said in Filipino at a news briefing.

“That’s where the senior citizens, PWDs, and pregnant women will go in case their precinct in the school is on the second, third floor.”

However, Laudiangco noted that not all schools could accommodate voters with special needs on the ground floor.

Aside from senior citizens, PWDs themselves experienced several kinds of inconveniences, according to a report by poll watcher Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente).

Older persons and PWDs opted to vote in polling precincts located on the second and fourth floors in Tondo High School “due to disorganized queues and limited assistance” at the Emergency Accessible Polling Place (EAPP), Lente reported.

Then, at Bagong Barangay Elementary School, one regular polling place was said to be an “express lane.” However, according to the Electoral Board (EB), there will be no priority lane for older persons, reported Lente.

In the same school, the EAPP was on the first floor but it had only

served one barangay. According to Lente, elderly voters from other barangays had to climb to the upper floors.

In addition, Lente reported cases where poll watchers assisted elderly voters. This is an election irregularity as EBs should be the ones assisting the voters with special needs, not poll watchers, according to Laudiangco.

Meanwhile, at Fernando Ma. Guerrero Elementary School, only one room was provided for senior citizens. This resulted in long queues, and some senior citizens who arrived early couldn't vote even as late as 9 o’clock in the morning, despite the official starting time for voting being 7 a.m.

This is similar to what happened at the precincts at the Tahanang Walang Hagdan, poll officer Belen Untal told the BusinessMirror.

According to her, the PWD voters at Tahanang Walang Hag-

danan had to wait for an extended period for their ballots.

“Hanggang ngayon, naghihintay pa, dahil kailangan maayos yung pagkakuha ng balota at pangalan [Until now, they are still waiting, because their ballots and names must be obtained properly],” Untal said on the spot.

Tahanang Walang Hagdanan was turned into an accessible polling place for the 2022 National and Local Elections (NLE), alongside Hospicio de San Jose in Manila, and National Vocational Rehabilitation Center in Quezon City.

“Naiintindihan namin na yung nag-a-assist sa amin ay dalawa lang [We understand that there are only two people assisting us],” she clarified.

She added that their problems include mistakes involving the signing of waivers, but said it was resolved.

“Siguro yung nangyari, learning insights na lang nila [Comelec] sa next time kung ano bang strategy na pwede nilang gawin [Maybe with what happened, it can serve as Comelec’s learning insights on strategies they could observe next time],” Untal reflected.

Better ‘voting experience’ in the future

WITH the election irregularities involving elderly voters and PWDs, Chairman Garcia is aiming to improve the “voting experience” of electorates in future elections.

“Dapat talaga nag-i-improve ang ating voting experience, hindi pwedeng mag-stick na lang tayo lagi sa classroom na napaka-sikip [Our voting experience should improve, we should not always rely on crowded

classrooms],” he pointed out.

He expressed his empathy for the PWDs on wheelchairs and on crutches who may have experienced inconveniences at their precincts.

Thus, the BusinessMirror also asked Garcia at a press briefing: What would improve their voting experience?

Based on Garcia’s observation, he wishes there could have been more support staff in the polling centers to accommodate voters with special needs.

“Sana bigyan at damihan ang support staff [Provide and increase the support staff],” he said. “Doon lang nagkaroon ng bottleneck sa part na iyon [That’s where a bottleneck occurred].”

He noted, however, that this is only possible if Comelec would be allotted with more budget to hire more support staff in the next elections, particularly in the EAPP. Comelec’s budget in this year’s BSKE was P8.4 billion, with an additional P2.59 billion.

“Bigyan po sana kami ng sufficient na budget,” he said.

Garcia estimated that there were around 202,000 precincts in the country, and more support staff means more cost, as they will be provided honoraria.

“Sana, maipapaliwanag namin sa Executive department na bigyan naman kami ng budget [Hopefully, we can explain to the Executive department to give us a budget for this],” Garcia said.

“Hindi naman para sa amin yon, para ’yon sa magandang voting experience ng mga botante [That’s not for us, that’s for the great voting experience of electorates],” he said.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.8080 n JAPAN 0.3776 n UK 69.3285 n HK 7.2599 n CHINA 7.7675 n SINGAPORE 41.6420 n AUSTRALIA 36.5503 n EU 60.3528 n KOREA 0.0426 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1431 Source: BSP (November 3, 2023)

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Putin is expected to seek reelection in Russia, but who would run if he doesn’t?

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By Jim Heintz The Associated Press

ALLINN, Estonia—Vladimir Putin isn’t quite the man he used to be—more than a decade has passed since the Russian president engaged in public stunts to boast of his vigor by hugging a polar bear or riding a horse barechested in the mountains. The war in Ukraine has further dented that strongman image.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin poses for a photo during a mini-break in the Siberian Tyva region, Russia, August 26, 2018. ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK, KREMLIN POOL PHOTO VIA AP

SERGEI SOBYANIN

IF visuals matter in a Russian presidential race, Sobyanin could have the strongest portfolio of anyone.

As mayor of Moscow since 2010, the Russian capital has undergone remarkable and visible changes.

New recreation areas, pedestrian zones, sports facilities and other amenities have flourished.

Electric buses replaced rattling old trolleys, new commuter rail lines reduced the city’s notorious traffic jams, and once-ragged parks were tidied up and enhanced.

Sobyanin offended Westernleaning liberals by banning LGBTQ+ parades in the city, but tolerance of gay rights is not a winning stance in Russia.

Sobyanin also has avoided the flamboyance and divisiveness of his predecessor, Yuri Luzhkov.

ALEXEI DYUMIN

AS governor of the Tula region, Dyumin does not have wide public visibility, but he has been tipped for years as possible Putin successor due to his close relationship with the president, including serving as his bodyguard.

Dyumin did come to public notice with his dramatic claim that

tice, but he does have one significant potential advantage: if Putin were to die or become unable to fulfill his duties before the election, Mishustin would become acting president. That’s the same path Putin took when he became acting president upon Boris Yeltsin’s resignation on New Year’s Eve 1999, then capitalized on the position to win election the following year.

Mishustin doesn’t appear to have that ambition, however. He is a quiet technocrat, regarded as highly competent in his previous post as head of the national tax service. As prime minister, he has received approval ratings of up to 70 percent for supervising the administration and ministries.

Although many observers think he was blindsided by Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, he has continued his tasks stolidly.

PAVEL BEDNYAKOV, SPUTNIK, KREMLIN POOL PHOTO VIA AP

MEDVEDEV has unique experience as a Putin surrogate, becoming president in 2008 when Putin could not seek reelection because of term limits. Despite the post, he was widely regarded as secondary to Putin, who became prime minister and effectively still led the country.

He submissively acceded to Putin’s desire to run for a new term in 2012, serving as prime minister until 2020. He was then appointed to the new position of deputy head of the national security council.

Although that post was lowvisibility and often seen as a sinecure, Medvedev’s prominence soared last year when he abandoned his normally mild persona and became one of the most vehement defenders of the war in Ukraine, vividly denouncing the West.

That posture has appeal for Russian nationalists, but Medvedev could be tarnished by the perception he was too accommodating to the United States as president during the Obama administration’s “reset” initiative, as well as a highprofile exposé alleging corruption and garishly lavish living.

EGOR ALEEV, SPUTNIK, KREMLIN VIA AP

DMITRY MEDVEDEV

he had once saved Putin from a bear. In Dyumin’s telling, he was at a mountain residence where Putin was sleeping when he was informed a bear was outside the door.

“The bear and I looked each other in the eyes. He backed off a little, I opened the door and discharged the entire clip of my pistol at his feet,” he said.

Dyumin was the leader of special forces of the military intelligence agency, in Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, giving him an aura of valor and success related to Ukraine, in contrast to the grim struggles and failures of the current war.

NIKOLAI PATRUSHEV

DMITRY ASTAKHOV, SPUTNIK, KREMLIN VIA AP

recognition or support.

Some potential contenders if Putin isn’t in the election:

EKATERINA SHTUKINA/SPUTNIK VIA AP

voters can choose a candidate; political parties select their own contenders and then present them to the electorate.

In Putin’s absence, the loyalist United Russia party could put forth a candidate, although there’s no fixed procedure for it to choose one. Officially, Putin ran in 2018 as an independent, a precedent adding uncertainty to how a replacement could emerge.

However it plays out, a candidate almost certainly would come from within the current power structure, as none of the lesser parties’ candidates would have wide

PYOTR KOVALYEV/TASS NEWS AGENCY VIA AP

Putin is still expected to seek another term when Russia holds presidential elections next March.

In fact, he has pushed through changes in the constitution to allow him to run for two more sixyear terms.

But 71 is an age when death or serious illness are hardly distant concerns for the man who has ruled Russia for 24 years. If Putin was not on the ballot for some reason, it’s not clear who might take his place.

At the national level, Russia’s political system is hermetic. There are no primary elections where

MIKHAIL MISHUSTIN

RUSSIA’S prime minister since 2020, Mishustin has provoked no excitement and relatively little no-

THE parallels between Putin and Patrushev are striking. They were born in Leningrad 10 months apart, and Patrushev became head of the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, in 1999 when Putin became prime minister. Now head of the national security council, he echoes and sometimes amplifies Putin’s hawkish views and animosity toward the West.

Although Patrushev initially demurred on recognizing the independence of the rebel leadership in Ukraine’s separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which preceded the invasion by a few days, he later became a strong proponent of the war, arguing that Russia needed to wipe out what he called “neo-Nazis” on its doorstep and claiming that Ukraine and its Western orientation was a clear security threat.

He also denounced the alleged creep of Western neo-liberal ideas into Russia and defends preservation of the country’s traditions, a philosophical stance identical to Putin’s.

TheWorld

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

Sunday, November 5, 2023

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Hurricane-ravaged Florida beach town attracts risk-taking wealthy homebuyers

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By Michael Smith & Prashant Gopal

YEAR after Hurricane Ian ripped through southwest Florida, wealthy risk-takers are transforming one beach town.

In Fort Myers Beach, many of the middle-class cottages that once dotted the Estero Island town were wiped off the map. Ian killed 21 people and swept away a third of the homes and businesses on the narrow, 6.5-mile-long strip of sand, leaving a blank canvas for affluent newcomers—and a preview of what could take hold in other coastal communities as climate change spawns more intense storms.

Driving along the island’s whitesand beach in his Jeep Grand Wagoneer, A lex K ing, a real estate agent wearing Crocs and a marlinthemed shirt, points to four mansions taking shape among more recently built, bunker-like houses that survived the storm. They’re surrounded by empty lots once home to decades-old bungalows on wooden stilts, violently cleared by Ian’s 15foot storm surge in September of last year.

King, a lifelong resident whose grandfather arrived in the area in 1958, is a key player in the island’s transformation. Just off the beach, he swings past a string of lots he’d sold since Ian. Once filled with modest homes, they are among hundreds of recently purchased properties likely to look very different than they did before the storm.

“We were thinking gentrification would take 20 years,” said King, who is 64. “Now we’re thinking of a fiveyear gentrification.”

Across the US, the wealthy are reshaping landscapes battered by hurricanes, fires and other disasters at a time when such calamities are expected to grow in force and frequency. About 3.6 million Americans are exposed annually to floods, and that could double by 2050 as the population grows in at-risk places, according to one study last year.

Florida depends on luxury real estate for revenue. But as the effects of climate change worsen, taxpayers will increasingly subsidize the costs of beachfront living by the rich, including sea wall construction, beach replenishment and road elevation, as well as sending rescue workers in to save lives in emergencies.

Buyers and developers with the resources to build fortress-like properties that can survive extreme weather have swooped into Fort Myers Beach, showing how hurricanes often don’t deter those who can afford the cost of adapting. This form of climate-driven gentrification— occurring near areas of natural beauty like national parks and pristine white-sand beaches—is displacing people who lived or vacationed there for generations but can’t afford to rebuild or pay rising rents.

Rich pushing out the poor THE influx of money into Fort Myers Beach is helping to make some people whole, filling gaps that insurance won’t cover and even providing profits for some of those whose homes were destroyed. But these sellers are forced to leave a community they can no longer afford, using their cash to build a life somewhere cheaper and farther from the front lines of climate change.

“In the long run, it will help move people out of harm’s way because the

market is responding to where the risks are,” Jesse Keenan, a professor of sustainable real estate at Tulane University in New Orleans said of Fort Myers Beach. “The downside is the beach becomes less and less accessible to average people.”

Some officials in disaster-ravaged places have tried to slow the churn. Hawaii Governor Josh Green proposed a moratorium on purchases by out-of-state speculators in the Lahaina community of Maui following the worst wildfires in the state’s history this summer. Elsewhere, the rich have sought safety, pushing out the poor. After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, property values rose faster in elevated neighborhoods with lower incomes than in the lowlying ones that flooded.

In the hours after Ian hit, only rescue workers were allowed onto Estero Island. Greg Dosmann, a 60 -year-old retired investment adviser from St. Louis who built a 5,200-square foot house there in 2018, wasn’t willing to wait. He chartered a boat with his builder, Tom Potter, to survey the damage.

The house was built with windows, doors and reinforced concrete walls designed to resist winds of at least 170 miles per hour. Dozens of concrete pylons were driven 20 feet into the sand to keep the house from being knocked off its foundation. It had a sacrificial ground floor with breakaway walls designed to give way to floodwaters. With an elevated pool, 12-foot ceilings, elevator and highend finishes, the house cost roughly $3 million to build, on top of the $1.8 million Dosmann paid for the lot.

Dosmann and Potter anchored close and waded ashore, catching sight of the mansion still standing amid the wreckage of dozens of older houses.

“It performed like it was supposed to,” Dosmann said.

Yet such homes can be money pits even after surviving a storm.

One year after Ian, Potter’s crew was still repairing the breakout walls, busted plumbing and other damage.

When they are done, Dosmann will be out another $600,000, since he didn’t have insurance to cover all the losses.

“That’s the price of resilience,” said Potter, who charges $1,000 a square foot or more to build a home like Dosmann’s. Few builders in Fort Myers Beach charge under $500 a square foot; that means rebuilding even a modest house can approach $1 million.

Homeowners must bring damaged homes up to standards designed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to resist extreme storms if repair costs exceed 50% of the home’s assessed value.

It’s a requirement—built into local building codes—intended to spare taxpayers who fund FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program from footing the bill to reconstruct the same structures over and over.

In practice, it means severely damaged older homes must be demolished and completely rebuilt.

For many people, that is too high a cost to bear.

“It’s a deeply uncomfortable

HOMES remain destroyed in Fort Myers Beach on August 28. EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/BLOOMBERG

question,” A.R. Siders, professor at University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center, said of the displacement of poorer residents.

“This looks like a good shortterm solution because it doesn’t involve the government spending a lot of money,” she said. “In the longterm, it opens up a can of worms.”

The policy can be seen as a form of managed retreat, a wider effort to move millions of people away from perilous locales around the globe.

There are pots of federal, state and local government money in the US to pay for voluntary buyouts of vulnerable homes so the land can be returned to nature or converted into a park. But in Florida, developers and the rich are lining up to rebuild instead.

The rapid transition in Fort Myers Beach has been driven in no small part by the limited amount of government grants available— and the slow process of applying for and securing them—for rebuilding regions at risk of repeated assaults by the most dramatic effects of climate change. It takes 18 months on average for states to submit project applications and the FEMA approval process takes another four months.

As a result, wealthier homeowners are more likely to be able to make the repairs and wait years to be reimbursed, or worse, to be rejected.

FEMA can take flood coverage away from homeowners who don’t meet the requirements to rebuild storm-wracked properties to higher standards for resilience. It’s also risky for the towns themselves if they don’t enforce those building codes, because FEMA could suspend access to the insurance program for all homes and businesses in the area.

“This was a forced resilient-based gentrification, and a lot of that is driven by FEMA,” said Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt, a former Indiana state insurance commissioner. “The costs have gone up demonstrably—that was happening before the storm but the storm accelerated it.”

FEMA says it provides money to make structures and communities sturdier after flooding events, distributing more than $700 million in the last fiscal year. While it doesn’t

base assistance on race or socioeconomic status, the agency said it is studying how it can improve equity and access.

“It is also important to note that although FEMA provides the funding,” said Eric Letvin, the agency’s assistant administrator, “the decision to offer buyouts and which properties to elevate is made by the state using money that FEMA allocates.”

Homeowners need federal funding SINCE Ian hit, 333 homeowners applied for federal funding to elevate or rebuild, including 98 in Fort Myers Beach. But they may not receive the money for another year because of the extensive review process, said Keith E. Pruett, deputy director of the state’s Division of Emergency Management. “We want to do what’s best not only for the homeowner but what’s best for the state,” Pruett said. “What we don’t want to do is get into this cycle where we constantly replace what’s lost with exactly what was lost. If it was previously lost, it’s subject to get lost again.”

Already, the metamorphosis in Fort Myers Beach is forcing residents to make painful decisions. Candy Rahn is one of many who has been forced out.

“It breaks my heart to see what’s happening,” said Rahn, 69, her voice breaking up.

The storm’s surge destroyed the uninsured, 1,200-square-foot cottage Rahn and her husband bought for about $300,000 a decade ago.

They couldn’t afford to rebuild to code, so they sold their lot to an investor for $500,000, and found a house near the Fort Myers airport, 45 minutes away.

“I can’t take the sadness away,” she said. “It was my dream. I walked on the beach every day, 5 miles a day.”

Those with the cash say the price of rebuilding is worth paying. Hours before Ian, workers were putting the finishing touches on a $500,000 renovation of Tom VanderBie’s beachfront bungalow, planting palm trees and shrubs. The house, which rested atop 8-foot wooden stilts, had been through at least eight hurricanes in 50 years. Ian erased it.

“We gambled and lost,” said VanderBie, a 60-year-old factory owner from Grand Rapids, Michigan. “We knew the risks.”

VanderBie loved beach life and had the money to risk it again. But like many longtime residents, he refused to build the kind of fortified mansion favored by the superrich, which he calls “eagle boxes.” He longed for his old 1,200-square-foot house, so he’s rebuilding it—20 feet above the sea and twice the size, for well over $1 million. He will mostly be using his own money, as the old house was only partially insured.

The flow of affluent buyers to Fort Myers Beach has hardly let up since Ian. Of the 649 homes that sold in the 10 months through July, 167 had been wrecked by the storm.

Twenty of those destroyed homes sold for $1 million or more, according to an analysis of data from Attom Data Solutions and the Town of Fort Myers Beach, with the largest sale priced at $3.8 million. The median price for a destroyed home was $564,600, 6% more than the pre-hurricane assessed value. Eight out of 10 homes sold for cash.

The frenzy led some residents to move farther away, out of the likely path of future hurricanes. Maryalice Buschbacher, a retired teacher from Michigan, owned a home one block from the Gulf. She waited out Ian in a neighbor’s duplex. When the water receded, she found her light-blue cottage, built in 1959, knocked off its slab, a dresser holding up a wall caked in mold. Her neighbor and friend across the street had drowned.

“I would not be able to afford to rebuild at my age,” said Buschbacher, who is 73.

Last month, she sold her house for $535,000—nearly double the $300,000 she paid for it in 2014— to a California builder called Homebound. She also got a $250,000 National Flood Insurance Program payout. Now, she’s settling into a new life in the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills, north of Atlanta.

Homebound, founded in the wake of the 2017 Tubbs wildfire in Northern California, has been rebuilding in disaster areas. The company says it focuses on keeping costs down for homeowners who want to rebuild by

offering a narrow range of customization and using its national scale to negotiate better prices with suppliers. Homes are priced from more than $400,000 for a 1,000-square foot house to about $1.5 million.

Walking Buschbacher’s old lot, Alex King, who brokered the sale, said he could get $2.2 million for a new five-bedroom house at that site.

That’s four times what some neighboring houses were fetching before the storm, he said.

“That’s just the new reality in Fort Myers Beach,” he said. The boom has meant surging commissions for King, who lost his own house and everything inside to the storm. He is concerned Fort Myers Beach will lose some of the culture he loves.

“This isn’t really a country club, but a bunch of beach bums who love it here,” King said. “I’m just betting that we can preserve that and change for the better.”

Some—like Bettina Koss, 38— are fighting to stay. Ian pushed a wall of water through the bungalow where she lived with her husband and two kids two blocks from the beach, reducing it to rubble. All she found were some Christmas ornaments and a wrecked jungle gym, blocks away. The hotel where she worked was destroyed, leaving her unemployed.

Koss, now a real estate agent, and her husband, an air-conditioning contractor, were determined to rebuild.

The couple pooled their savings and insurance payouts, took out small business loans, and convinced friends in the construction trade to work on their home at a discount.

W hen the county announced it would close the island’s lone school, heavily damaged by Ian, Koss and other parents lobbied local officials to keep it open—and prevailed.

In late July, work began on their new, 2,300-square-foot home.

“We fought and fought,” Koss said, standing in the shadow of the 12-foot concrete pylons that will hold up her new home. “But it’s worth it, really, because we were not going to let this disaster force us out of our community.” With assistance from David Ingold /Bloomberg

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Sunday, November 5, 2023

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World’s iron ore powerhouse is preparing to reinvent itself V

By David Stringer

AST heaps of crushed brown rock hem the Indian Ocean at Western Australia’s Parker Point port—each a stockpile of 200,000 tons of iron ore, ready to be poured into a procession of bulk carriers bound for Asia’s steel mills.

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s largest iron ore producer, shipped its first cargo of the steelmaking ingredient from this spot in 1966, at the dawn of a boom that minted billionaires and lifted the Australian economy, generating A$1.3 trillion ($820 billion) in earnings in the past two decades alone. Last year, iron ore shipments accounted for about 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

But now China is cooling, while steel producers are under pressure to clean up a sector that accounts for at least 7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, a change that will require new methods and higher-quality raw materials. Much of the dry, dusty Pilbara region’s gargantuan resource base may no longer make the grade.

Rio, BHP Group Ltd. and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. produce almost two-thirds of the world’s seaborne iron ore from Western Australia, and margins remain enviable. For the first time in a generation, though, the specter of disruption looms over mining’s most reliable profit generator.

“Australia’s ore industry is now at the start of a long-term structural decline,” said Tom Price, a London-based analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. “It’s a fundamental shift that will resonate across the Australian economy.”

The first, and most urgent,

question is China, which accounts for about 85 percent of Australia’s export earnings from iron ore.

Demand for steel in the secondbiggest economy has plateaued and production is on track to peak before the end of the decade, dented by a years-long crisis in China’s property sector, which has typically consumed more than a third of the country’s steel output. While there’s some growth in smaller segments like manufacturing of electric cars and air conditioners, the economy is no longer building at breakneck speed, meaning the nation’s iron ore imports are forecast to decline. Impact is inevitable, even if other emerging nations make up for some of China’s lost appetite.

Still, the more intractable longterm challenge for the Pilbara’s giants may well be a green one.

At least 70 percent of steel is produced today using a process that’s been deployed in much the same way since the 14th century: metallurgical coal is heated to create coke, which is then used in a blast furnace to melt iron ore at temperatures of more than 1800C. It’s an energy-intensive activity and one that produces about two tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of liquid steel, according to Rio. Global demand for steel is still rising, and will climb by as much as a quarter through 2050, as India and developing economies across Asia industrialize—but investor,

IRON ore stockpiles at Rio Tinto’s Parker Point at Dampier, Western Australia. CARLA GOTTGENS/ Dampier, BLOOMBERG Western Australia. CARLA GOTTGENS/BLOOMBERG

consumer and climate pressure on one of the dirtiest corners of industry is growing. Governments are acting too, with policies like the European Union’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, which penalizes carbon-heavy imports.

The trouble for big diggers is that there are few attractive alternatives. Existing lower-emissions options include the use of electric arc furnaces—a method that doesn’t require coal and uses recycled steel scrap in place of iron ore. A shaft furnace route, deployed in about 5 percent of steel production, needs high-grade pellets with low levels of impurities.

Among the most favored prospective solutions is to combine a renewables-powered electric furnace with direct reduced iron, a material produced by deploying natural gas to remove oxygen from premium ores. Eventually replacing the gas with green hydrogen—created using solar or wind energy—could dramatically cut steel emissions.

But Australia’s typical iron ore has a grade of between 56 percent and 62 percent, making it largely unsuitable for DRI production— or only with additional processing that could add as much as 25 percent to costs, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. “ T he pre m iu m for h i g he r

grade material is going to increase significantly,” said David Cataford, chief executive officer of Champion Iron Ltd., a competitor to Australian producers that supplies higher-grade iron ore from Canada. “If you’re producing lower grade, we do feel it’s going to be more complicated in the medium-term.”

The biggest miners say they already produce the better stuff.

Vale SA, which ships higher-quality raw material from Brazil and expects to command a green premium in future, is among those eager to forecast a world that favors richer ores. But higher-grade production—with an iron content of 66 percent or more—currently makes up only about 3 percent of global supply, so the race is on to crank up output from projects like the expansive (and expensive) Simandou development in Guinea, in which Rio is an investor.

“There’s an obvious shortage if demand ramps up during the course of decarbonization,” said Liu Yinghao, technical director at the low carbon metallurgy innovation center of China Baowu Steel Group Corp., one of the world’s top steelmakers.

The shortfall in higher grade iron ore could be as much as 200 million tons a year by 2050, Wood Mackenzie estimated in a report

this month—a volume roughly equivalent to about a fifth of China’s current annual imports.

To plug the gap and hold on to their position in the market, Australia’s iron ore producers are experimenting with everything from microbes to straw, in a series of trials aimed at making their materials suitable for greener steelmaking. BHP is studying use of carbon capture technology at conventional steel mills and has a pilot with Hatch Ltd. to build an electric smelting furnace—a method that adds an additional process step and holds potential to utilize lower-grade raw material.

“If we can crack the code on the Pilbara ores, that is potentially a game changer,” Tania Archibald, chief executive for Australian steel products at BlueScope Steel Ltd.—among 40 entities collaborating with Rio—told an investor day last month.

Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue, meanwhile, has begun production of small volumes of high-quality magnetite ore at its Iron Bridge project in the Pilbara, and has tested a coal-free electrolysis method to convert ore to green iron.

Forrest sees potential to go further than that intermediate step, and to use Australia’s advantages in renewable energy for a low-carbon revival of a domestic steelmaking sector that saw output peak a quarter of a century ago.

“Australia has got everything going for it to make its own steel,” Forrest said earlier this month in Perth, citing the country’s solar and wind resources, and potential to produce green hydrogen.

“The policies right now channel against doing that—and encourage offshore production.”

Steelmakers are positioning for that shift, including South Korean giant Posco, which aims to develop new industrial facilities in Port Hed land, the Pilbara’s ex port hub.

Few changes come fast in mining. Australia’s iron ore incumbents say they have sufficient time to make the technolog y breakthroughs or strategy shifts they need to continue to prosper.

“The transition away from coalbased steel making is a reality, but it will take some time and there remain significant uncertainties,” said Simon Farry, Rio’s head of steel decarbonization.

After all, traditional blast furnaces in Asia are relatively new— on average about 12 years old in China, compared to more than 40 years across the mostly wealthy nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development—and will operate for decades more, according to BHP’s Chief Economist Huw McKay. “The age of capital stocks is a critical factor in assessing the energy transition,” he told Bloomberg Television in an Oct. 24 interview.

India will likely prioritize the need for affordable steel from existing processes, he said.

But several markets are already adapting quickly, including Japan, South Korea, and—to a more limited extent—China, as Vale said in a written response to questions. Iron ore’s No. 2 supplier is adding output tailored to direct reduction in Brazil, and developing hubs in locations including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to produce materials from as soon as 2027 for future green steelmaking.

Australia’s mining industry has been caught out before by the pace of change. Back in the early 2000s, it struggled to keep up with China’s accelerating iron ore consumption. Now, the risk is repeating the error at the other end of the economic and green cycle.

“The world is going to decarbonize,” Vale said. “If we don’t act quickly, we could miss this opportunity.” With assistance from Yee Xing Ng “Liz”, Jacob Lorinc, Mariana Durao, Thomas Biesheuvel and James McIntyre/Bloomberg

Historic London office buildings are becoming luxury apartments

By Sarah Rappaport & Damian Shepherd

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I N U T E S from Parliament at Westminster, 9 Millbank used to be the headquarters of Imperial Chemical Industries, formerly the largest manufacturer in Britain, which once made products such as the acrylic plastic Perspex.

Now brokers are ushering high-networth clients, titans of industries and finance executives through the building to see apartments like one called the Gainsborough—listed for £18 million ($22 million)—that includes a wraparound terrace offering views over Lambeth Bridge, as well as period features such as a stainedglass window depicting the female allegory of Britannia, a symbol of imperial might.

On the other side of the palace of Whitehall, the Raffles London hotel just opened in September in a building that once housed the formidable Department of War, the UK’s engine of planning during both world wars. Top hotel suites are offered for £25,000 a night, and the penthouse in the residential portion of the Old War Office, or OWO, is expected to fetch as much as £100 million.

Squeezed for space in prime central London, developers are turning what were formerly exec utive corporate

boardrooms, department stores and civil servants’ offices into high-end apartments and luxury hotels. Limited places to build has high-end developers putting historic buildings in their sights, despite the challenges and higher costs of working with listed, or landmarked, buildings.

“American clients have been loving the history and charm of some of these older buildings,” says Will Watson, partner at the Buying Solution, a property agency that represents buyers. “What puts off a lot of international buyers in London is a lot of our properties are old and higgledypiggledy, floors are uneven, you can’t get air conditioning, but when you get something as luxurious as the OWO, those concerns don’t matter anymore.”

In the converted properties, buyers love getting the stately features combined with the modern amenities—gyms, pools and, yes, even air conditioning—of the upgraded spaces. The storied histories of these buildings have been a plus for buyers who want to claim a piece of British history.

Large-scale development opportunities in prime central London are few and far between, says Toby Downes, London specialist at property advisory Haringtons. “These big landmark sites are all developed or being developed,”

he says. “The stock just doesn’t exist the way it did 15 years ago.”

In Chelsea, a power station that once powered the London underground is also set to become a residential development next year, with flats ranging from £1.7 million to £15 million. Developers say it was one of the last waterfront spaces on that section of the Thames.

Meanwhile, a quar ter of London businesses are trimming office space, according to a Bloomberg survey earlier this year. Central London has an office vacancy rate of about 8.5 percent, representing around 20 million square feet of empty space, according to a report from broker CBRE Group Inc. That could equate to an estimated 28,000 homes if converted into residential buildings, the company says.

But it’s tricky. Many empty offices in the capital aren’t entire buildings but sit alongside other tenants. And the heavy costs associated with making a building fit for living can also deter conversions. Local authorities can also be obstacles, wanting to maintain offices to protect employment.

It’s not just a London problem. Less than a third of global Class C offices, generally defined as buildings over 20 years old in need of work, can be converted to housing, according to an analysis of almost 1,000 buildings by architecture firm Gensler.

“Physically, not all office structures can enable sufficient capacity, daylight, ventilation and vibration standards without the need for significant modification,” says Zoe Bignell, head of UK development advisory at CBRE. Across Hyde Park on the edges of Westminster, the Whiteley, an historic office building that once housed one of London’s first department stores, is being converted into apartments that start at £1.5 million.

It will also contain luxury hotel brand Six Senses’ first property in the UK. It is set to open next year.

Th e d e ve l o p e r, Fi n c h at to n , wa s allowed to demolish everything besides the facade, because the concrete inside was failing. The building now has solar panels and upgraded cooling and heating systems.

“It is more challenging to work on these,” says Alex Michelin, founding partner of Finchatton. “On the Whiteley, we had these incredible windows but needed to find someone to restore them. And we found one guy in the North of England who could do the work, but he couldn’t do it all himself, so we had to work with him to train people to get these windows up to modern standards.”

Michelin says that you would have never been able to knock down a listed building, but the appetite for refitted buildings

is there now in a way that it wasn’t 10 years ago. “ Th e W h i t e l e y w a s a n u n l o ve d shopping center, desperately in need of a reinvention,” he says. “We had a vision of what this could be and just decided to go for it. It’s what we love about London— these incredible historic buildings.” One o f M i c h e l i n’s n e x t p ro j e c t s i s t h e transformation of the former Connaught Chapel, a listed building in St. John’s Wood that was previously a commercial office and TV recording studios.

Watson says his clients, who generally have budgets of £5 million and up, don’t have the patience for refurbishment projects and want them ready to move in immediately.

But it’s not just enough to be in central London. You have to be in the right part of central London for a property to be a surefire hit—and that’s not necessarily the case with properties in neighborhoods like Whitehall, which is home to Parliament and the office of the prime minister. As home to corporate and government offices, the neighborhoods grew over the decades to cater to those types of inhabitants.

Westminster can be quiet on weekends, and the area around the Whiteley is in the process of undergoing a massive transformation project that will include

a new entrance to Kensington Gardens, as more upscale shops and restaurants open nearby. Still, you’re not likely to want to borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbors at the OWO: the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Meanwhile, MI5 sits next door to 9 Millbank.

“The difficulty is the location,” says Camilla Dell, managing director and cofounder of agency Black Brick. “Most of my clients buying at the upper price range want to be by Bond Street and their private members clubs in Mayfair.”

Before the Raffles London hotel opened, along with its nine restaurants and three bars, one potential buyer was turned off from an apartment at the OWO because there was nowhere nearby to get a great coffee, says Jo Eccles, founder of high-end estate agency Eccord.

The transformation of buildings like the OWO has changed the makeup of one of London’s most famous neighborhoods.

A recent visit on a Wednesday found it buzzing, with tourists, residents and Westminster workers filling up the building in the after-work hours.

“You can buy a glass tower anywhere,” Michelin says. “But when you move into the Whiteley, it’s clear you’re in a historic building in London.” Bloomberg News

Science Sunday

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

BusinessMirror

Sunday, November 5, 2023

A5

Searca’s Dir. Gregorio is among world’s Top 2% researchers

SEARCA Director Glenn B Gregorio is among the world’s Top 2 percent researchers as listed by a team led by statistician John loannidis of Stanford University.

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I R E C TO R Glenn B. Gregorio of Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture is one of the world’s top 2 percent researchers from all disciplines, Searca said.

Gregorio’s name is listed in the

October 2023 updated database made at the Stanford University by a team led by statistician John loannidis of Stanford University. Global open access scientific publisher Elsevier published the paper (V6, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.6).

The paper said scientists were classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification.

The selection is based on the top 100,000 scientists by c-score (with and without selfcitations), or a percentile rank of 2 percent or above in the sub-field.

The data was based on the October 1 snapshot from Scopus, updated to e n d o f c i t at i o n ye a r 2 0 2 2 . S co p u s is an abstract and indexing database produced by Elsevier. The name, Scopus, was inspired by the bird, hammerkop (Scopus umbretta), which reportedly has excellent navigation skills.

PhilSA, CIPFI sign pact for remote sensing in environmental conservation, management

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HE Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) has inked an agreement with Conservation International Philippines Foundation Inc. (CIPFI) to advance environmental conservation and management through the application of remote sensing technologies.

PhilSA Director General Dr. Joel Joseph Marciano Jr. and CIPFI Country Executive Director Wilson John Barbon sealed the cooperation through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signing at the PhilSA office in Quezon City on October 27.

The agreement covers the development of a strategic work plan to support CIPFI’s Community, Conservation, and Natural Climate Solution Project: Mantalingahan Landscape Conservation Project in Southern Palawan, which aims to improve forest management of its protected landscape.

Other commitments include the conduct of learning and capacity-building activities related to satellite data processing, programming, and use of aerial mapping drones for forest monitoring and conservation; and sharing of expertise in aspects of sustainable development, environmental mapping, satellite remote sensing, and other space science and technology applications, among others.

CIPFI will also serve as one of the focal partners of PhilSA in implementing the PhilSA Integrated Network for Space-

enabled Actions towards Sustainability project in Palawan and other project sites of the CIPFI. PhilSA will provide technical assistance on the use of satellite and remote sensing data; cater to geospatial and mapping services; provide access to satellite data; and co-undertake research and development, and space data mobilization activities.

The space agency is aligned with its Key Development Areas on hazard management and climate studies, space education and awareness, and space industry and capacity building through private sector involvement.

Witnessing the event were PhilSA Space Information Infrastructure Bureau Director Ariel Blanco, and CIPFI Policy and Governance Adviser Edward Lorenzo.

“Today, we welcome another partner who is a significant contributor to the space ecosystem that we are trying to build in the country. We are honored to collaborate and excited to work with the CIPFI,” Marciano said during the signing ceremony.

CIPFI is a global champion on conservation that has introduced the Highlands to Oceans approach, implementing conservation strategies in landscapes, climate resilience and disaster risk reduction, and coastal and marine fisheries, among others, the PhilSA chief added.

GRAND winners of Gawad Alunig x Dalumat from Caraga Region. REINE ALBERTO

SEN. Francis Tolentino (left), Science Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. (center) and Director Julius L. Leaño Jr. of the DOST-Philippine Textile Research Institute check the exhibits at the National Youth Science, Technology, and Innovation Festival on October 25. HENRY DE LEON, DOST-STII

ELEMENTARY pupils explore the robotic inventions in the exhibit at the NYSTIF. HENRY DE LEON, DOST-STII

PHL’s 1st natl youth science fest calls on youth to take up STEM

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By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

ITH the Filipino youth’s declining interest in pursuing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses, and the rapid technological advancements happening all over the world, the Philippines is at risk of technological unemployment and widening income inequality.

Science Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said this during the opening ceremony of the country’s first-ever National Youth Science, Technology, and Innovation Festival (NYSTIF) that was held at The Forum Tent, PICC in Pasay City, on October 25.

The four-day event, “Science, Technolog y, Engineering, and Mathematics Education: Vibrant, Innovative, Brilliant, and Engaging [STEM VIBE],” aims to encourage the youth to pursue a career in

STEM, and highlight the innovations and emerging technologies in the country.

Solidum said that for the country to achieve economic development, the potential of science, technology, and innovation must be harnessed to thrive and survive in the new world.

“We need to have a strong STEM community of young and highly competent scientists, engineers, researchers, and mathematicians that will transform the Philippine

GAWAD Alunig Best Kalipunan Science Youth Correspondent Grand Winner Jeliane E. Endenciana of Agusan National High School in Caraga REINE ALBERTO

economy into a competitive, innovative, and relevant one. Otherwise, we will perish amid the fast rate of technological advancements that are happening across the globe,” he said.

Besides calling on the youth to take up STEM courses, Solidum told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the event that entrepreneurship and innovation are beneficial.

He cited Project Scholars Entrepreneurship Training (Project SET), an entrepreneurship pitching competition with judges coming from Japan and the business sector, that will grant P300,000 to the team with the most innovative, socially relevant, and feasible science and technology (S&T) project/startup proposal.

“This [Project SET] is a very special competition because we want to show to our kids, our youth, that this is not simply a contest of who is the most intelligent but what are the practical applications of science and how innovative we are to solve the pressing problems of the country,” Solidum said.

Special guest Sen. Francis Tolentino told the BusinessMirror that NYSTIF is “a fusion of the youth’s curiosity coupled with creativity and innovation that should

translate into entrepreneurship.”

In his keynote message, Tolentino highlighted the innovations and contributions of Filipinos in the field of science. “You will be surprised that they have done a lot. It’s just that some are not yet recognized or waiting to be recognized,” he said.

Tolentino also urged the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which organized the event, to showcase the beauty and importance of marine ecosystems in next year’s fest, an opportune moment to ignite the passion for marine conservation.

“It should be imparted on the youth that our seas are teeming with marvelous creatures which also provide sustenance and livelihood for millions of Filipinos,” he added partly in Filipino.

The week-long festival was attended by high-school and college students, out-of-school yout h, a nd you ng sc ient i st s and inventors from all over the country.

The participants engaged in simultaneous activities, such as competitions on science, fashion and journalism; workshops and forums on emerging technologies; and different exhibits by DOST’s attached agencies.

GAWAD Dalumat Science Publication Grand Winner “Thirteenth Scholar” of the PSHS-Caraga Region Campus with authors Elan Victoria Tomaneng and Paul Nelson Gonzaga. REINE ALBERTO

Students in science journ bag Gawad Alunig x Dalumat prizes

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OUTHS who shed light on science, technology and innovation through science communication and journalism were awarded in the Gawad Alunig x Dalumat by the Department of Science and Technology’s Technology Application and Promotion Insitute (DOST-TAPI) on October 28.

As part of the National Youth Science, Technology, and Innovation Festival, the competition, that was participated in by students all over the Philippines, aims to amplify stories of science and innovations in local communities through student journalism.

Gawad Alunig is a competition in search for the best science youth correspondent, while Gawad Dalumat seeks the student-led publication and science stories that uphold the highest standards in science journalism.

“Every participant, every student journalist, who ventured out of their comfort zone to tell a story, to advocate for science is a winner,”

said Science Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. in his opening remarks.

The Best Kalipunan Science Youth Correspondent Grand Winner was Jeliane E. Endencia from Agusan National High School (ANHS) in Caraga region.

She produced the story “Abaca Decorticating Machine at iba pang inobasyon [and other innovations],” which is about Pablo Petalcorin Sr., a 63-year-old grassroots innovator who invented a multi-purpose fiber stripping machine made from scrap materials.

“I don’t know if I should be happy because I won, or I should cry because of the struggles I’ve been through,” shared Endencia in Filipino in an interview with the BusinessMirror.

Recounting her struggles such as the lack of equipment and financial support, she thanked the people who sponsored them to get to Manila from Butuan City.

Endencia highlighted the importance of science communica-

tion so that the youth and the Filipino people would know the importance of innovations and inventions, to know the rare inventions and how they work, and the need to invent for the development of the country.

Also from ANHS, Moises Justin Ilogon won first runner-up, while Giov Zeane Marbel from Nieves Villarica National High School, Mark James Sunga from Eugenio M. Lopez Jr. Center for Media Arts Senior High School, and James Gabriel Regondola of Vinzons Pilot High School were awarded second, third and fourth runner-ups respectively.

Jesusa Grace Calingasan from Bansud National High SchoolRegional Science High School for Mimaropa won the People’s Choice Award.

For the Gawad Dalumat, Philippine Science High School (PSHS)Caraga Region Campus with their science publication “The Thirteenth Scholar” was hailed as the

Grand Winner.

Students Elan Victoria Tomaneng and Paul Nelson Gonzaga received the award.

“It’s just a good feeling that our collective effort in the publication and our determination had the potential to [attend this awarding ceremony],” Gonzaga told the BusinessMirror in Filipino.

“We also hope that by winning this contest we would be able to better promote student journalism in our campus. Because in our campus, journalism wasn’t really prioritized especially during the pandemic,” Tomaneng said.

Coming from a science high school, science communication is very important because not only will it propel the youth to pursue STEM, which is better for development as a whole, but it would also make them more aware of what is happening in the status quo, Tomaneng added.

“Ang Siklab” by PSHSl-Cagayan Valley Campus and “Bahaghari”

of PSHS-Central Luzon Campus won first runner-up and second runner-up, respectively.

T he stor ies—“Circad ian Rhythm and its impact on sleep and students’ health” by Francis Isaac Mijares of PSHS-Caraga Region Campus; “Lato and Guso Hypoglycemic Marvels” by Schinker Pahugot of Science and Technology Education Center; and “Breaking Through the PH’s Adlay Productivity, USMian Breeds Five Varieties” by Rico John Gorieza of University of Southern Mindanao—all won the Best Science Story category.

With the grand winners coming from the Caraga Region, Regional Director Engr. Noel Ajoc told the BusinessMirror that they are happy and proud of the students as this will inspire the young people in Caraga. “[If they could win in the national level, then those coming from Caraga as well can be successful in the field of science,

technolog y, and innovation,” Ajoc said.

In his speech, Science Secretary Solidum said, “Each story resonated, each article made us pause and reflect, and each video sparked a deep appreciation for the brilliance of the Filipino people and capability of our local inventors and innovators to create world-class inventions and innovations.”

Solidum thanked the parents, teachers, mentors and the students for letting their voice be heard and for ensuring that science stories are not just told but celebrated.

He said that through S&T, the future of every youth will be bright and full of hope, and industries and businesses will thrive and earn.

For these to happen, he said, the stories of every Filipino using S&T to ease their lives and their fellow countrymen should be disseminated. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

A6 Sunday, November 5, 2023

Faith

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

Synod proposals: Mandatory pastoral councils, performance reviews for bishops

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ATICAN—The recently concluded 2023 Synod of Bishops is proposing major changes in Church decision-making processes and the way dioceses and parishes are governed.

The word “co-responsibility” is mentioned 16 times in the synthesis report of the first session of the “Synod on Synodality,” convoked by Pope Francis to make the Church more participative and listening and to stamp out what he calls “clericalism” among the clergy.

“The exercise of co-responsibility is essential for synodality and is necessary at all levels of the Church,” according to the official English translation of the 41-page report, originally written in Italian.

Two chapters focus on the role of bishops and how they could exercise co-responsibility and become

more accountable.

“It is necessary to implement, in forms legally yet to be defined, structures and processes for regular review of the bishop’s performance,” the report said.

The proposed review will look at the bishop’s style of authority, economic administration of diocesan assets, how participatory bodies are functioning, and actions taken against all possible kinds of abuse.

“A culture of accountability is an integral part of a synodal Church that promotes co-responsibility, as well as safeguarding against abuses,” the report said.

Catholic bishops are seated in front of a statue of Saint Peter in his basilica at the Vatican during the closing Mass of the first Rome session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality on October 29. ROY LAGARDE

Mandatory councils

THE synod document said co-responsibility could be made “more operational, including in legal terms,” through the different diocesan bodies.

This means changes in canon law to make mandatory the creation of episcopal councils and diocesan pastoral councils.

Synod priests also suggested legislating an “obligatory nature” for pastoral councils in Christian communities and local churches.

“It would also be desirable to strengthen the bodies of participation, with a proper presence of the laity, recognizing the role they can play in discerning decisions by virtue of their baptism,” it said.

Lay participation in the selection of bishops also need to be expanded, the report said.

“The assembly calls for a review of the criteria for selecting candidates for the episcopate, balancing the authority of the Apostolic Nuncio with participation of Episcopal Conferences,” it said.

“There are also requests to expand consultation with the faithful people of God, and to involve a greater number of lay people and consecrated persons in the consultation process, taking care to avoid being put under any undue pressure in the selection process,” it added.

BECs to the center

PARISH pastoral councils are not yet synodal, said Estela Padilla, a theologian and pastoral worker who was among lay delegates given voting rights in the synod.

“The first issue is membership. Members should not always come from the center. It has to be more representative,” she told CBCP News.

The experience of basic ecclesial communities [BECs], the small, parish-based grassroots units ministered by lay leaders, should rise to the center and not be confined to the margins, Padilla said.

“Those who do not have a voice, how do they get in? How can the listening process be systemic in the life and decision-making of the Church?” she asked.

Malolos cleric Fr. Nicanor Lalog, a former parish priest, welcomed the proposal to institute performance reviews for bishops.

“How they are going to implement that is a big question but having it laid down during the synod is already a big step in synodality,” he said.

“In my experience as a former parish priest, much is expected from bishops to discipline the clergy, to see to it that priests are indeed shepherding the flock. They should spend more time visiting the people minus the pas/tor so people would speak,” Lalog said.

Felipe F. Salvosa II/CBCP News

Pope: Holiness is ‘a gift and a journey’

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A BANNER announces this year’s celebration of 100 years of the Carmelites in the Philippines, which started in Jaro, Iloilo, in November 9, 1923. Sitting on the concrete fence of the Carmelite Monastery in Jaro, the banner partly covers the façade of the monastery chapel. LYN RESURRECCION

INSIDE the Jaro Carmelite Monastery Chapel. LYN RESURRECCION

Carmelites mark 100 years in PHL

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HE Order of the Discalced Carmelites (OCD) is celebrating this year its historic 100 years of presence in the Philippines that started with the arrival of French Carmelite nuns in Jaro, Iloilo, on November 9, 1923,.

The historic event has the theme “Celebrating Carmelite Presence and Sharing the Gift of Prayer.”

“This year we celebrate the 100th year of the Carmelite presence in the Philippines. It is fitting to also remember the French Car melite nuns who founded Jaro Carmel, the first Carmel in the Philippines,” Sr. Dulce Inlayo, OCD, a Filipina Prioress of Carmel in Infanta, Quezon province, said in Vatican News online recently.

Highlighting the jubilee will be Eucharistic celebrations in Jaro

on November 9.

The Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown, DD, will preside at the Holy Mass at the Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Metropolitan Cathedral at 9:30 a.m.

In the afternoon at 4 p.m., Rome-based OCD Superior General Miguel Marquez Calle will lead the Mass at the Jaro Carmelite Monastery Chapel.

A few days leading to the centennial celebration will be marked by various activities organized by the Archdiocese of Jaro.

On November 4, a “Carmel and the Youth Prayer Encounter” will he held at the Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary.

The following day, all parishes at the archdiocese will hold a “Carmelite Awareness Sunday.”

A medical mission is scheduled at the Saint Teresa’s Prayer Center on November 6.

THE gate opens to the Carmelite Monastery in Jaro, Iloilo. The photo was taken in July 2023. LYN RESURRECCION

On the same day, but to be held in Quezon City, Father Marquez will have an audience, tagged as “A Date with the Father General,” with the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites at the Fr. Mark Horan Hall of the Minor Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Back in Jaro, a fusion of music and prayers, “Carmel at 100: A

Prayer Concert,” will serenade the audience at Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary on November 7.

Meanwhile, the clergy and religious will pray the “Solemn Vespers,” or evening prayer, at Jaro Carmelite Monastery Chapel on November 8. Later in the day, a “Fiesta Carmelitana” is set for the Carmelite Family at Saint Teresa’s Prayer Center. Lyn Resurreccion

ATICAN—Pope Francis on Wednesday told pilgrims in Saint Peter’s Square that holiness is both a “gift” from God and a “journey” to which we must “commit” ourselves after we’ve received it.

The Holy Father delivered the remarks from the Apostolic Palace prior to a special recitation of the Angelus for the November 1 solemnity of All Saints. The pope asked attendees to consider holiness in light of the feast day.

Holiness is “a gift, you can’t buy it,” Francis said. “And at the same time, it’s a journey. A gift and a journey.”

“Holiness is a gift of God, which we’ve received at baptism. And if we let it grow, it can completely change our lives,” he said.

The saints, the pope noted, “are not heroes who are unreachable or distant. They’re people like us, our friends, whose starting point is the same gift that we’ve received: baptism.”

“Holiness is a gift offered to everyone for a happy life,” the pope said. “After all, when we receive a gift, what’s our first reaction? It’s precisely that we’re happy, because it means that someone loves us. A gift of holiness makes us happy. It shows us how God loves us.”

But “every gift must be accepted, welcomed,” the pope said. And a gift “carries with it the responsibility of a response.”

Holiness is “an invitation to commit ourselves,” Francis said, so that we do not squander the

gift from God. Holiness, the pope explained, is also “a journey. A journey to be made together, helping each other, united with those great companions, who are the saints.”

“They’re our elder brothers and sisters on whom we can always count,” he said. “The saints support us, and when we take a wrong turn along the way, with their silent presence, they never fail to correct us.”

The pope urged the faithful to ask themselves several questions regarding receiving the gift of holiness: “Do I remember having received the gift of the Holy Spirit, who calls me to holiness and helps me to arrive there? Do I thank the Holy Spirit for this gift? Do I feel that the saints are close to me?

Do I turn to them? Do I know the history of some of them?”

“May Mary, Queen of All Saints, help us feel the joy of the gift received and increase in us the desire for our eternal destination,” he said.

After the recitation of the Angelus, the pope noted that on Thursday he would be celebrating Mass at the nearby commonwealth war cemetery in Rome, where numerous soldiers who died in World War II are buried.

“Let’s continue to pray for all those suffering from the wars of today,” Francis said. “We remember suffering Ukraine, suffering Palestine, suffering Israel. Let’s remember all the other parts of the world where war is happening.”

Vatican News via CBCP News

Mexicans honor their ancestors with flowers, altars and candles

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ANTA MARÍA ATZOMPA, México—Ana Martínez is eager to welcome her deceased loved ones back home.

Martínez and others in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state wait with anticipation for Day of the Dead celebrations every November 1, when families place homemade altars to honor their dearly departed and spend the night at the cemetery, lighting candles in the hope of illuminating their paths.

“We preserve the culture of our ancestors, and that is why we make

our altars,” said Martínez, 41, who lives in the town of Santa María Atzompa.

Each October 31, Martínez builds a three-level altar on her terrace. First come the flowers, a type of marigold known as “cempasúchil.”

Martínez ties them in an arch over the altar.

“For us, that arch is a portal so that they [the deceased] can reach our house,” she said. “We also create a path of flowers to the door as a welcoming sign.”

Next, she lights copal, an incense

which is believed to guide the souls, and places foods, such as apples, peanuts and bread. Chocolates are for her grandma, she said.

“She was like my mother, so everything I’m going to offer is with the hope that she can be here,” Martínez said.

On this date, Oaxacans don’t honor death but rather their ancestors, said the local secretary of culture, Victor Cata.

“It’s a celebration of those with whom we shared a time and a roof, who were flesh and blood like us,”

Cata said.

Santa María Atzompa traditions are embraced from childhood and passed from parents to children.

Martínez’s 8-year-old daughter asked if she could help arrange the fruit on the altar, Her mother assigned an additional task: Make sure the candles stay lit in the afternoon so that our deceased don’t lose their way.

As soon as the sun sets, locals gather at the cemetery to light candles over their family tombs and start a vigil known as “vela.”

María Martínez, 58, paid a visit to her late husband by noon.

“I do feel that they are returning today but I also think they are with us daily, not just on this date,” she said.

Oaxacan traditions vary among the 16 indigenous groups and the Afro-descendant community, but according to Cata, there’s a shared ancient knowledge that relates to the land.

“October and November are the dry season, when the land languishes,” Cata said. “But it is reborn, so there

is this thought that the dead return to enjoy what they loved in life.”

Felipe Juárez, 67, offered mezcal and beer for one of his brothers.

For other family members, his wife cooked Oaxacan delicacies, such as mole, a traditional sauce.

It will be a long night, Juárez said, until they go home at 6 a.m., but these are joyful times.

“On the day we die, we will meet them again,” Juárez said. “We will reach that place where they have come to rest.”

María Teresa Hernández/Associated Press

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, November 5, 2023 A7

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Protecting Kalayaan, saving the reefs

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

NVIRONMENT Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga recently conducted a site visit to Pag-asa Island in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the disputed West Philippine Sea (WPS).

A fifth-class municipality, Pagasa is the biggest in the Philippines in terms of area with 290 sq. km, but the least populated with a population of 193 people, according to the 2020 Census.

Part of the Spratly Islands—which is composed of islands, islets, cays and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls that lie off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia and southern Vietnam—KIG is a remote island municipality in the province of Palawan.

DENR research station YULO-LOYZAGA recently bared plans of putting up a research station on Pag-asa Island, the biggest island in the KIG and the seat of government of the municipality of Kalayaan.

The plan is part of the move to start accounting the country’s natural wealth and to rev up the so-called blue economy.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is closely working with the University of the Philippines Diliman-College of Science through the Marine Science Institute (UP-CS-MSI) on the project.

The Environment agency is planning to deploy DENR personnel to man the modest research facility that will be constructed.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the research station will be operational by next year.

She is likewise hoping to construct similar facilities in remote areas of the country.

‘Measuring our treasure’ IN visiting Pag-asa Island, YuloLoyzaga underscored the importance of ma inta ining an institutiona l presence in conducting scientific research, which is also imperative in order to account for the country’s

natural resources.

“We are developing marine research stations in the different biogeographical regions in the country.

We are looking at transitioning to the blue economy. Not only green,” YuloLozaga told the BusinessMiror.

“We need the physical basis for that natural capital to be accounted for. Without our institutional presence in the different biogeographical regions, we cannot make sense of that blue economy,” she explained.

The DENR chief is supporting a proposed measure that will establish the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System.

Rich marine biodiversity THE Kalayaan Island Group is rich in marine biodiversity. Being part of Palawan, considered the country’s “last ecological frontier,” this small group of islands is likewise Palawan’s “last frontier.”

Although far from the main island of Palawan, Pag-asa, being 508-km away from Puerto Princesa City, is surrounded by a diverse species of corals, seagrass and seaweeds, making it a haven for assorted fishes.

Scientists say the KIG is a spawning ground for commercially viable fishes and other marine wildlife.

Yulo-Loyzaga said that during their visit, her team even spotted several dolphins and marine turtles.

Tapping the blue economy THE Philippines has all the reasons to tap into the country’s so-called blue economy.

In introducing House Bill 6373, or the proposed Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal-Marine Protected Area law, the late Rep. Edward S. Hagedorn of Palawan cited a scientific study indicating that a hectare of the reef can produce a

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga inspects the dead and crushed corals dumped on Sandy Cay, some 3-kilometers from Pag-asa Island, during a recent site visit. DENR PHOTO potential value of approximately $350,000 a year.

The bill was passed with an overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives last January.

Hagedorn, then Palawan’s third district congressional representative and a long-time mayor of Puerto Princesa City, said the coral reefs in the Spratlys, which serve as the breeding ground of fishes in the West Philippine Sea, comprise 34 percent of the world’s total coral reefs, despite the territory occupying only 2.5 percent of the world’s total ocean and sea surface.

The bill said the WPS is one of the richest marine areas in the world. It is the home to diverse marine ecosystems with over 3,000 species of fishes and 600 species of corals.

These areas, including the Scarborough Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc, are traditional fishing grounds of Filipino fishermen and they have been fishing in the area for the longest time even before the Chinese started aggressively claiming the territory with its so-called 9-dash line.

It should be noted that on July 12, 2016, the Philippines won the arbitration case it lodged against China after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, invalidated Beijing’s nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea. China refused to acknowledge the arbitral ruling; its forces have been repeatedly harassing fishermen and government forces in the area.

Protecting Kalayaan Island “WE visited the island as part of the plan to declare it as a protected area,” Yulo-Loyzaga said, citing Hagedorn’s bill.

House Bill 6373 aims to declare as marine protected area all low-tide elevations, high-tide features and an area of three nautical miles surrounding the Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal.

The proposed measure prohibits and penalizes certain acts and activities within the waters in the area in order to protect the country’s marine resources and to guarantee the protection of marine habitats, fishing that is not harmful to the marine environment.

Reef destruction THE bill cited the ills of territorial disputes, such as in the West Philippine Sea. “Activities and undertakings— borne out of territorial disputes among several Asian nations, including the Philippines—being done in the area have led to significant environmental degradation in the WPS,” the bill said.

Such activities include overfishing, poaching and large-scale ocean filling or reclamation, among others.

The bill also noted that the The Hague-based Arbitral Tribunal found that the coral reef ecosystem of several reefs suffered “severe and irreparable harm” and was “permanently destroyed” due to land reclamation and

DENR officials, led by Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, are joined by scientists from the UPD-CS Marine Science Institute during her visit to Pag-asa Island recently. DENR PHOTO construction of artificial islands, installations, and structures in the area.

A mong the affected reefs in the WPS include Mischief Reef (Pang a n iba n R e e f ), Cu a r te ron R e e f (Calderon Reef ), Fier y Cross Reef ( K a g it i n g a n R e e f ), Gave n R e e f (North Burgos Reef ), Johnson Reef (Mabini Reef ), Hughes Reef, and Subi Reef (Zamora Reef ).

Threats, harassment and intimidation BEING a disputed area, visiting the WPS is associated with danger as fishermen have experienced being threatened, harassed and intimidated repeatedly by Chinese vessels.

Even the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command based in Palawan have reported having experienced the same several times.

The Environment chief was not exempted from such encounter.

Yulo-Loyzaga, in an interview w it h t he Busin e ssMir ror , de scribed her visit to Pag-asa Island as “eventful.” She recalled a close encounter with Chinese vessels while making the tour around the island.

Threatened corals YULO-LOYZAGA, in her interview with the BusinessMirror, underscored the importance of protecting the country’s natural wealth, as she backed the move to declare the Kalayaan Island Group as a Protected Area under the National Integrated

Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act. Last month, reports of piles of dead corals covering the entire Sandy Cay 2, a small sandbar 3-kilometers west of Pag-asa Island, were reported by authorities. It was suspected that the dead corals were dumped as part of Chinese military’s plan to dumpand-fill to destroy the fisheries resources, and reclaim the area.

Besides this report, Filipino scientists and environmentalists have been protesting the reported massive extraction of giant claims by Chinese fishers in the WPS, which is part of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.

Coral recruitment DENR Undersecretary Jonas R. Leones for Policy, Planning and International Affairs pointed out that the Kalayaan Island Group fits and qualifies for the classification of Protected Landscape and Seascape.

Yulo-Loyzaga and Leones agreed that protecting KIG is essential to protect the region’s rich marine biodiversity, as it can be a source of coral recruits.

Scientists say that the colonization by new corals is a key driver of reef resilience and recovery. The success of coral larvae in growing into adult corals or coral recruitment is critical to the health of coral reef ecosystems, which is important in ensuring a healthy supply of fish and other seafood.

Scientists estimate: Earth will lock into breaching key warming threshold in 2029

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N a little more than five years— sometime in early 2029—the world will likely be unable to stay below the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming if it continues to burn fossil fuels at its current rate, a new study says.

The study moves three years closer the date when the world will eventually hit a critical climate threshold, which is an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) since the 1800s.

Beyond that temperature increase, the risks of catastrophes increase, as the world will likely lose most of its coral reefs, a key ice sheet could kick into irreversible melt, and water shortages, heat waves and death from extreme weather dramatically increase, according to an earlier United Nations scientific report.

Hitting that threshold will happen sooner than initially calculated because the world has made progress in cleaning up a different type of air pollution—tiny smoky particles called aerosols.

Aerosols slightly cool the planet and mask the effects of burning coal, oil and natural gas, the study’s lead author said. Put another way, while cleaning up aerosol pollution is a good

thing, that success means slightly faster rises in temperatures.

The study in last week’s journal Nature Climate Change calculates what’s referred to as the remaining “carbon budget,” which is how much fossil fuels the world can burn and still have a 50 percent chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. That is the threshold set by the 2015 Paris agreement.

The last 10 years are already on average 1.14°C (2.05°Ft) hotter than the 19th century.

Last year was 1.26°C (2.27°F) warmer, and this year is likely to blow past that, according to scientists.

The new study set the carbon budget at 250 billion metric tons (BMT).

The world is burning a little more than 40 BMT a year—and still rising), leaving six years left.

But that six years started in January 2023, the study said, so that’s now only five years and a couple months away.

“It’s not that the fight against climate change will be lost after six years, but I think probably if we’re not already on a strong downward trajectory, it’ll be too late to fight for that 1.5 degree limit,” said study lead author Robin Lamboll, an Imperial

STEAM rises from the AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station in Petersburg, Indiana, on October 25. AP/JOSHUA A. BICKEL College of London climate scientist.

A 2021 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report gave a budget of 500 BMT pointed to a mid 2032 date for locking in 1.5 degrees, Lamboll said.

An update by many IPCC authors this June came up with a carbon budget the same as Lamboll’s team, but Lamboll’s analysis is more detailed, said IPCC report co-chair and climate scientist Valerie Masson-Delmotte.

The biggest change from the 2021 report to this year’s studies is that new research show bigger reductions in aerosol emissions—which come from wildfires, sea salt spray, volcanoes and burning fossil fuels—that lead to sooty air that cools the planet a tad, covering up the bigger greenhouse gas effect.

As the world cleans up its carbonemitting emissions it is simultaneously reducing the cooling aerosols

too and the study takes that more into account, as do changes to computer simulations, Lamboll said.

Even though the carbon budget looks to run out early in the year 2029, that doesn’t mean the world will instantly hit 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial times.

The actual temperature change could happen a bit earlier or as much as a decade or two later, but it will happen once the budget runs out, Lamboll said.

People should not misinterpret running out of the budget for 1.5°C as the only time left to stop global warming, the authors said. Their study said the carbon budget with a 50 percent chance to keep warming below 2°C (3.6°F) is 1220 BMT, which is about 30 years.

“We don’t want this to be interpreted as six years to save the planet,” study co-author Christopher Smith, a University of Leeds climate scientist, said.

“If we are able to limit warming to 1.6°C or 1.65°C or 1.7°C, that’s a lot better than 2°C. We still need to fight for every tenth of a degree,” Smith said.

Climate scientist Bill Hare of Climate Action Tracker that monitors

national efforts to reduce carbon emissions, said “breaching the 1.5°C limit does not push the world over a cliff at that point, but it is very much an inflection point in increasing risk of catastrophic changes.”

As they head into climate negotiations in Dubai next month, world leaders still say “the 1.5-°C limit is achievable.” Lamboll said limiting warming to 1.5°C is technically possible, but politically is challenging and unlikely.

“We have got to the stage where the 1.5°C carbon budget is so small that it’s almost losing meaning,” said climate scientist Glen Peters of the Norwegian Cicero climate institute, who wasn’t part of the research.

“If your face is about to slam in the wall at 100 miles per hour, it is sort of irrelevant if your nose is currently 1 millimeter or 2 millimeters from the wall.... We are still heading in the wrong direction at 100 mph,” Peters said.

People “shouldn’t worry—they should act,” said climate scientist Piers Forster of the University of Leeds, who wasn’t part of Lamboll’s team. Acting as fast as possible “can halve the rate of warming this decade.”

Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, November 5, 2023 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

NEYMAR injured his left knee in Brazil’s 2-0 loss to Uruguay on October 17. AP

Neymar has ACL surgery, recovery could last a year

S

ÃO PAULO—Brazil forward Neymar went through ACL and meniscus surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the city of Belo Horizonte, local media reported.

The procedure was performed by national team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar.

Neymar’s surgery took four hours, according to website Globo Esporte.

The 31-year-old, who is expected to be discharged from the Mater Dei hospital on Saturday, injured his left knee in the first half of Brazil’s 2-0 loss to Uruguay on October 17 in a World Cup qualifying match.

The recovery is expected to take between six and 12 months. He is likely to miss the next Copa America, which will be played in the United States in June.

Earlier on Thursday, Neymar posted a picture of his two children on Instagram with the message: “It is all going to work out fine.” Late on Wednesday, Neymar also used his social media channels to show him at the hospital.

Brazil’s all-time leading scorer was on crutches as he left Estadio Centenario in Montevideo. He had clutched his leg in visible pain and was then carted off the field.

Neymar broke Pele’s Brazil scoring record last month with his 78th goal for his country in a World Cup qualifying match against Bolivia. He added his 79th in the same game, which ended in a 5-1 win.

Neymar moved to Saudi Arabia from Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth a reported 90 million euros ($98 million).

In March, his season with Paris Saint-Germain ended after he had surgery on his right ankle. AP

LLOYD OWERS coaches children in Majuro, Marshall Islands. AP

The Marshall Islands has no national soccer team. It’s been touted as the ‘last country on Earth’ without international representation in the sport.

Marshall Islands: A work in progress appointed technical director of the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation in December of last year, and was making his first official visit in August in that capacity.

Oh, by the way, the Marshall

By Dennis Passa The Associated Press

B

RISBANE, Australia— Lloyd Owers recalls with fondness his initial visit from his home in England to the Marshall Islands, a small nation of five islands, 29 atolls and about 60,000 people situated in the western Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia.

“I felt at home,” the 33-yearold soccer coach said of his first impressions. “The community welcomed me with open arms.”

Owers wasn’t there as a widelytraveled Brit checking it out as a tourist. He was

Islands has no national soccer team.

It’s been touted as the “last country on Earth” without international representation in the sport.

“Yes,” Owers reiterates in emailed correspondence with The Associated Press. “We are the only UN-recognized nation that have never had a national representative team.”

Enter Owers, a wellcredentialled coach based in Oxfordshire in southeast England and who has provided his expertise to teams in Canada, the US and Sweden, among others.

The Marshall Islands are not a member of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. The country’s first attempt to join an official regional soccer organization could come with the Oceania Football Confederation or the Asian Football Confederation.

“We are still exploring all available

options to us,” Owers says. “OFC and AFC are both viable options. We hope to progress into more talks during 2024 but at this stage we are still in the planning phase to ensure that we are fully prepared.”

The preparation has begun, with soccer officials in the country and Owers planning a grassrootslevel entree into the sport via the country’s schools.

“The soccer federation has already agreed with the ministry of education to add soccer to the school sports curriculum alongside volleyball and basketball,” Shem Livai, president of the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation, told the AP. “To enable school teachers to deliver high-quality coaching sessions we will be training teachers to be qualified soccer coaches through a combination of online and in-person courses.”

Livai says there are about 6,000 children who live on Majuro Atoll— the largest and capital island—and about 12,000 children are spread across all of the islands.

“Eventually we want them all to have the opportunity to play football or futsal,” Livai says.

Owers, who is ver y active on social media, is doing his part, posting a request for his followers to donate balls, bibs, cones and goals to help

out the f ledgling program in the Marshall Islands.

Other w ise, Owers’ posts on X, formerly know n as Tw itter, might leave all but seasoned soccer followers, players and /or the sport’s tacticians baff led. Here is a recent one.

The Marshall Islands, about 4,300 kilometers (2,600 miles) northeast of the 2032 Olympic host city Brisbane, Australia, have a long history with the United States, and Owers thinks that might be a plus in soccer becoming popular there.

After gaining military control of the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944, the US assumed administrative control of the islands following the end of World War II. The economy of the Marshall Islands is still closely linked to the US and its gross domestic product is derived mainly from US payments—the US Army garrison on Kwajalein Atoll is the No. 2 employer in the islands behind the Marshall Islands government.

Between 1946 and 1958, the US used the Marshall Islands as an atomic bomb testing ground.

During that time, 67 atomic bombs were dropped there.

The Marshall Islands signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States in 1983 and gained independence in 1986, when the Compact agreement came into force.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now a sovereign nation.

“There’s obviously nothing to hide from that because it’s part of their culture, it’s part of the history,” Owers told the BBC of the American connection. “There’s a fully functioning US military base in Kwajalein. It’s part of their identity and, because it’s very heavily US cultured, there is a lot of interest in sports such as baseball and basketball.”

Bob Knight’s moves with 1984 US Olympic team show his scouting skills match his tactical skills PATRICK EWING (6) ducks as teammate Michael Jordan (9) goes up for a shot during the Bobby Knight-coached US team’s Olympic match against China at the Los Angeles Forum on July 29, 1984.

Free kick legend I SEE David Beckham’s life and career as being similar to the free kicks and corner kicks he’s taken.

Like a quarterback in American football and a point guard in basketball, he either takes it upon himself to score by kicking the ball and when you see the ball’s trajectory, it is a bending and curving trajectory like a curveball pitch in baseball.

He also either takes it upon himself to score or he sets up his teammates for a possible header for an assist which directly leads to a goal.

Before I digress and deviate from how I started this

I

NDIANAPOLIS—Bob Knight built his best teams with a blend of talent and fit. It was never more evident than on the 12-man roster he selected for the 1984 US Olympic team.

Sure, the General cut future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and John Stockton. But he kept three others, each of whom later made the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team”—Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan and Chris Mullin.

piece, his life and career went through a bend and a curve like his free kicks off set pieces. None more bending and curving like the then kicking incident with now Argentina manager Diego Simeone at the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals in France against Argentina which cost them a place in the semifinals.

To say that the incident bended and curved his mental health is an understatement. The constant barrage of insults, slander, defamation and character assassination threatened to end his career before it even started.

Beckham found refuge not just in the loving arms of family and friends, but also in the embrace of Manchester United teammates and fans who stayed loyal to him through thick and thin.

A lesser man would’ve probably cracked under relentless

And for a coach who seemingly won everything—902 games, three national championships, 11 Big Ten titles, Olympic gold and multiple coach of the year awards—it was his early scouting report on Jordan that might go down as his crowning achievement.

“If we’re going to pick the three or four best athletes I’ve ever seen play basketball, he [Jordan] would be one of them. I think he’s the best athlete I’ve ever seen play basketball,

bar none,” Knight said back then. “In the categories of competitiveness, ability, skill and then athletic ability, he’s the best athlete, he’s one of the best competitors, he’s one of the most skilled players. That to me makes him the best basketball player that I’ve ever seen play.”

It was quite a compliment from Knight, who often raved about the greatness of his Ohio State teammates Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek or his litany of Indiana

and unforgiving pressure but his father Ted, because of how he raised his son, disciplined and strict foresaw something, made David mentally tough and the set piece legend sort of

pupils such as Quinn Buckner, Steve Downing or Scott May. Knight even encouraged Portland Trail Blazers general manager Stu Inman to take Jordan with the No. 2 overall draft pick.

Inman chose the oft-injured Sam Bowie who had skipped the Olympic Trials, allowing Jordan to slide to the Chicago Bulls at No. 3.

For Knight—who died Wednesday at the age of 83—it was never about celebrity. AP

compartmentalized everything and continued to forge on despite all the disgusting and ridiculous abuse he received at the hands of England fans and media.

Imagine if there was social media already at the time?

Back to David Beckham’s free kick trajectory, after the ball has bended and curved, confusing and disorienting the goal keeper, the ball curls into the back of the net, winning the match for either Manchester United or England. It is a bit of a surprise that Beckham, despite all the abuse, gave it his all for his country, holding no resentment.

The free kick set piece score against Greece, sending England to the World Cup completed his redemption and vindication.

I’ve always wondered how he bends those kicks. Is it the boots? Is it the cleats?

BusinessMirror

Future queen

Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor turns 18, feted at swearing-in ceremony

November 5, 2023

2

BusinessMirror NOVEMBER 5, 2023

YOUR MUSI

BREAKING NEW GROUNDS AGAIN Paco Arespacochaga looks back, pays it forward

The author (center) flanked by Introvoys founding members Jonathan Buencamino (left) and Paco Arespacochaga (right)

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S-BASED Filipino-born musician Paco Arespacochaga has kept himself relevant as a member of a hit band from the 90s, and proven his podcasting skill with Paco’s Place. His triumph should be partly attributed to his natural ability to inspire with how he speaks and interacts with individuals. On top of that, he espouses a grateful nod to individuals who helped and circumstances that led him to where he is now.

The drummer of Introvoys and lead singer behind the classic song “Line To Heaven” is a success story who climbed his way up from being a wide-eyed teenage boy watching gigs of new wave bands. He was a regular cool-dude skirt chaser who eventually began chasing a life-changing dream with his unquestionable talent and great perseverance.

When he landed in the United States years after making it in the Philippines as a musician, Paco had to work in a warehouse to make ends meet. He is now a beloved member of the Filipino-American community, known for his admirable behavior as bandleader and life coach.

The Teddy Diaz experience

“IT was 1987, one year pa lang buo ang Introvoys noon, and we were watching The Dawn sa SM North Edsa. I saw Junboy’s pedal na nakabaklas (while they were performing) so inayos ko ‘yun, at nakita ako ni Teddy Diaz,” recalled the accomplished and inspirational professional.

He was referring to JB Leonor’s drum pedal and how the late great guitarist of The Dawn spoke to him after the gig. The latter got curious about Paco’s fledgling band. For the next encounter they were picking him up to watch their rehearsal.

Paco amusingly remembered Teddy “dolphin diving” into the car where they were packed like sardines. In the studio, the standout rock star of the era clad in white shirt and marine cap jammed with the still-nameless Introvoys. They played his band’s signature song “Enveloped Ideas.” Onlookers, not realizing it was actually Teddy who was in their midst, praised them for giving justice to the song note-for-note.

“That one moment in time changed my view of what I wanted to do,” Paco said, “All of a sudden nagkaroon ng mission ang pagbabanda ko. Prior to that, pambababae lang ang gusto kong gawin. After

PACO ARESPACOCHAGA with the author

meeting Teddy Diaz, gusto ko nang magkaroon ng impact sa mga tao.”

Imagine if Paco did not follow his instinct, and just let someone else fix Junboy’s pedal! One act of kindness virtually led him to a kind of life essentially rare for a Filipino-born musician.

Teddy obviously saw something in Introvoys that he would watch their gigs and coach them. Once or twice he insisted they play “China” (That hit by Red Rockers) and led the audience to dance.

Hottest drummer, reluctant singer

IT took a few more years before Introvoys recorded their debut album. But things began falling into place. They did a cover of “I Go Crazy” (Flesh For Lulu), played in ten shows promoting an 80s movie and which enabled them to attract fans, and landed on a compilation album. By the time they became a headliner of a popular annual school activity, they were finally promoting “a brand new album” (a phrase they keep using for years to convince fans or themselves that they have made it). “Back To The Roots” included their breakthrough hit “However Which Way.” “Naging mission namin sa Introvoys na sumikat para basagin ang stereotyping sa bands. Kami ’yung banda na hindi nagda-drugs at sporting clean cuts,” Paco shared.

When “Will I Survive” and “Di Na ‘Ko Aasa Pa” became major hits in the early 90s, or when Ely Buendia and his gang were still just a “combo on the run,” they were no doubt the biggest band in the land. Paco reluctantly lead-sung on “Line To Heaven” which he wrote for his parents—a move that practically turned him into the hottest drummer in the Philippine band scene. Yeah, hot enough to win the girl from Smokey Mountain named Geneva Cruz. The song was so special it gave him a movie contract as he and Geneva eventually named their son Heaven.

Paco’s colorful journey did not end when Introvoys’ 90s heyday stopped. He visualized a future that places him on US soil, vowing not to return until he has good news to tell his bandmates. He still wanted to break new grounds.

From uncertainty to glory

PACO flew to the US. But in two months’ time, like a punchline in a comedy flick, he was performing at some place in California oddly not knowing what tomorrow brings. Once again he needed a Teddy Diaz-like figure to help save the day. There, as fate

had arranged, entered jazz singer Louie Reyes who was dining in and watching him entertain people.

The highly respected Awit Award recipient whom Paco didn’t know personally recognized him. It was she who initiated that her lawyer assists Paco in obtaining a visa for extraordinary talents like him.

“Pinatawag ako ni Louie Reyes sa table nila, then sinamahan niya ako sa abogado niya to help me,” Paco noted.

He showed an extra smile of gratitude: “Pano ko hindi ipe-pay forward ito, when someone you don’t know personally did it to you? One year sa pagbabanda, may Teddy Diaz na dumating. Two months pa lang ako sa US, may Louie Reyes who reached out.”

Paco, who temporarily left Introvoys in 1996, urged his former bandmates to also relocate to the US so they could reunite. They did, and by the mid-2000s they’re back to being Introvoys. Some years later, their previous tag had to be tweaked to something describing them as the Number One OPM Band In North America. Not bad for a bunch of 80s new wavers who started their run humbly rehearsing somewhere in Nepa Q Mart, Cubao.

Line To Helping Others

KNOWING first-hand the benefits of righteously living the American Dream, Paco has consistently urged other musical artists to see life beyond fame in the Philippines.

There had been signs that the voice and image of the now-familiar Paco’s Place podcast was meant to fly out of “Maynila” which in the Introvoys song of that title is described as a place where someone will “makakahanap ng magagandang babae.” One time, someone from a carinderia handed Paco a calling card and boasted he could contact the person who is a relative working in the US. Fastforward to an important day when Paco needed to convince an immigration officer that he’s famous and worth the label “extraordinary alien.” Guess who had the power to tell the officer that Paco deserved an approval? You got it. It’s the one whose name was written on the calling card!

Sounding still amazed after all these years, Paco exclaimed, “Paano ako di tutulong sa ibang tao, guys?

Pano ako magyayabang na ginawa ko ito on my own?

Wala akong ginawa on my own.”

Paco once shared tips to rapper Andrew E. who wanted to tour the US. The latter promised to return the favor and called him one day, asking if he could drop by Paco’s Place to do a podcast episode. That particular interview generated the highest views for Paco’s Place entries, so far, which resulted in really good income for the drummer who can sing, host an online show, be a good husband and father, and serve as “Pacoach” for fans, artists, random people with hopes and dreams, and any drummer who needs a pedal-fix, for that matter.

Paco’s strong sense of gratitude urges him to repeatedly and animatedly share cute stories of his colorful past that pictured him as a struggling, yet motivated artist. You can retell them “however which way” and they’ll still come out inspiringly fresh.

These anecdotes are worth revisiting over and over because of the fond details that make them breathe through like beautiful scenes straight from a welldirected light hearted movie. For all the cinematic glory of moments where Paco came to “arrive at a decision,” everything happened for real, reminding us all that he made it “through this life somehow.”

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | NOVEMBER 5, 2023

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BUSINESS

TOP OF THEIR GAME

SB19 still rising amid half a decade of success

By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto “Mata sa langit, paa sa lupa.”

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HIS was expressed by Stell, the main vocalist of the phenomenal and award-winning P-pop group SB19, during their final performance in their sold-out show One Zone: SB19 Half a Decade Celebration and Fanmeet held at the Araneta Coliseum on October 28.

As their devoted fans called A’TIN lit up the Araneta Coliseum with the color blue from their glowing lightsticks, SB19 made sure the night was filled with electrifying performances and memorable interactions with A’TIN. The show started with a “ historic” 17-minute show-stopping performance of the songs from their current album PAGTATAG!, which had different arrangements and choreography that surprised the fans.

It started with the iconic and charttopping “GENTO,” followed by the bold and sultr y R&B song “I WANT YOU,” and conc luded w ith the high-energ y “CRIMZONE” that made A’TIN jumped to their feet and lose control.

It was followed by a live Showbreak that delighted the fans even more as it was hosted by Ken and Justin. Thirty lucky A’TIN were picked from the crowd after playing a series of games before the show started to participate in Showbreak.

They played a trivia game called “Quiz Bee 19,” the charades game “Guess Bee 19,” and “Hold My __” where they guessed the body part by touching the members’ hair, arms, ears, legs, and Adam’s apple. Those who lost in the games were eliminated until only one was left to play “Bento o Gento” similar to the game “Pera o Bayong.”

This time, the game was hosted by Stell and he’s at par with Willie Revillame as he enthusiastically let Mae Espino, the fan, choose between SB19 merchandise or winning the jackpot prize.

Espino was really lucky that night since she won the jackpot prize of having dinner with SB19 after the show.

As for their final performance, the boys interacted more with their fans by taking photos with them and signing different stuff as they sang “FREEDOM,” “Go Up,” “Alab (Burning),” and “SLMT.” They also threw signed stress balls and T-shirts to their fans and used catapults and cannons to reach those in farther seats.

The boys’ final surprise to the fans was watching altogether the premiere of the music video for “FREEDOM,” which was shot in San Francisco, California.

Expressing their gratitude to the fans at the end of the show, Stell said, “Forever kaming nandito para sa inyo. Hinding-hindi kami magbabago.”

He added, “Utang po namin ang lahat

A’TIN Mae Espino (center) wins a dinner with SB19 after a series of games in Showbreak.

FROM left to right: SB19’s Stell, Justin, Ken, Pablo, and Josh during their performance of “I WANT YOU” at the One Zone: SB19 Half a Decade Celebration and Fanmeet last October 28 at the Araneta Coliseum.

SB19’s Ken (left) and Justin (right) hosts the Showbreak.

SB19 during their final performance.

PHOTOS FROM SB19’S INSTAGRAM PAGE

FROM left to right: SB19’s Ken, Stell, Josh, Justin, and Pablo poses for a photo during the Billboard PH Launch.

ng nangyayari sa buhay namin dahil kayo po talaga ang naging magandang bagay sa buhay namin. Maraming salamat po.”

“Every event, every concert, lahat ng puntahan natin, parami tayo nang parami, palaki tayo nang palaki kaya maraming maraming salamat guys dahil nandyan kayo sa lahat ng pinagdadaanan namin,” Justin said.

Ken also thanked A’TIN for letting them reach their dreams, while Josh also acknowledged the team of directors, backup dancers, and their own entertainment company 1Z Entertainment who made the show possible.

Pablo, SB19’s leader, revealed they are

preparing something new and that they should watch out for it.

“Hawak kamay lang A’TIN, walang bibitaw.

Here’s to our half a decade and beyond!”

Pablo said.

In just a span of five years, it’s incredible to witness how the group has come a long way yet they remained rooted despite their rise to fame locally and internationally.

Personally, I’ve known Josh before his SB19 days when he was just performing at K-pop conventions and festivals under the cover group Se-Eon. Now, the tables have turned and K-pop groups are now covering them, dancing

along to “GENTO” and “BAZINGA.” It’s easy to understand why these boys are so humble. Prior to their debut, they started out as trainees under ShowBT Philippines, a Korean talent management company, and endured a rigorous South Korean-inspired training camp.

They would practice singing, dancing, and physical training for nine hours every day, leaving their studies and day jobs with their hopes of making it big in the entertainment industry. For three years, they sacrificed so much and they weren’t even earning money as trainees for an unsure dream.

In an interview, Josh revealed that he didn’t have food to eat and would share meals with fellow trainee Pablo.

Among the trainees, Stell was the only one who remained and Pablo, Josh, Justin, and Ken left but eventually came back. They are now the members comprising SB19, the country’s pioneer of contemporary Pinoy Pop. But after their debut in 2018 with their sentimental ballad single “Tilaluha,” their hardships didn’t stop there as they received little attention and hate comments for mimicking K-pop idols and their style among others.

Determined and resilient more than ever, they released their second single “Go Up” in 2019. As they say in that song, “Yeah, we gonna go up / Ibibigay ko ang aking puso / Sa pag-abot ng pangarap, di hihinto / Handa akong harapin ang lahat, yeah / Wala nang imposible / Yeah, we gonna go up.”

And they sure rose above it all.

They are the first Filipino act to appear on the Billboard Next Big Sound chart and to enter the Billboard Social 50. At the end of 2019, they landed No. 6 on Billboard YearEnd Social 50 chart as the only Southeast Asian act to reach the top 10.

This further expanded their growing fanbase overseas and gained recognition internationally. A testament to that is their nomination alongside their musical inspiration BTS, BLACKPINK, Ariana Grande, and Seventeen at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards for Top Social Artist. No surprise that BTS won, but it was the first time a Filipino and Southeast Asian act was nominated for this category—a triumph in itself.

In 2021, they landed on the No. 1 spot in Billboard Hot Trending Songs with “BAZINGA” and their latest single “GENTO” at No. 8 on the Billboard World Digital Sales Chart.

SB19 wrapped the North American and Canada leg of their world tour which has multiple stops in various cities, and they also recently announced the Asian leg of the tour in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and Dubai.

It’s just been five years and there are more years ahead of SB19 and A’TIN. They deserve all the recognition and fame they are getting since talent, perseverance, and humility are found within them, they’ll not just stay on the ground, they’ll surely rise higher.

Future queen

Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor turns 18, feted at swearing-in ceremony to return Spain but it’s not clear whether Felipe or the government would agree to that just yet.

Felipe and Letizia, have recovered a lot of the institution’s good image but for many in Spain the monarchy is still questioned, given that it was former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco who put Juan Carlos on the throne, bypassing his father and natural heir, Juan de Borbón.

Spain had not had a royal family since Alfonso XIII went into exile with the coming of the Second Republic in 1931, five years before Franco and other generals staged a coup.

By Ciarán Giles The Associated Press

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ADRID—The heir to the Spanish throne, Princess Leonor, swore allegiance to her country’s Constitution on her 18th birthday Tuesday, laying the groundwork for her eventual succession as queen when the time comes.

The nationally televised ceremony in the lower house of parliament is understood to symbolize the continuity of Spain’s parliamentary monarchy and the institution’s allegiance to the chamber.

Leonor de Borbón Ortiz recited the same oath as her father did when he— then prince—turned 18 in 1986. She pledged “to faithfully carry out my duties, to keep and uphold the Constitution and the laws and respect the rights of citizens and the autonomous communities and loyalty to the king.”

The ceremony was necessary for her to be able to succeed to the crown and someday become queen.

‘Leonormania’ Leonor became crown princess when Felipe VI was proclaimed king on June 19, 2014. Her photo has appeared frequently in the media lately along with the term “Leonormania,” underlining her growing popularity as the modern face of the future monarchy.

“From here forward, my duty is to all Spaniards, who I will serve in each moment

Princess Leonor (left) next to Spanish King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and her sister Sofia attend a military parade after swearing allegiance to the Constitution during a gala event that makes her eligible to be queen one day, in Madrid on Tuesday, October 31, 2023. The gala event paves the way to her becoming queen when the time comes. AP with respect and loyalty,” Leonor said in a short speech at the Royal Palace after the ceremony in parliament’s Congress of Deputies.

“I ask you to place your trust in me, just as I have all my confidence placed in the future of our nation,” she said.

Banners with her photograph decorated lampposts along several of Madrid’s main streets. Many official buildings were festooned with drapes and tapestries for the ceremony, which was broadcast on several giant screens set up in Madrid.

The royal family—Leonor, younger sister Sofia, Felipe and Queen Letizia—arrived at the parliament building escorted by a mounted squadron of Spain’s Royal Guard. Leonor and Sofia waived from inside a Rolls-Royce to the crowds lining the streets in the center of the capital.

Representatives from leftist political parties, including three government ministers, and lawmakers from Basque, Catalan and Galician regional and separatists parties boycotted the event as they favor a republic, not a monarchy.

But the parliamentary chamber was packed with lawmakers and dignitaries, including former prime ministers, and the royal family received a prolonged applause after Leonor took her oath.

Image in recovery?

The royal family is still trying to recover its former good name in Spanish society and make up for the scandals involving several family members, most notably former King Juan Carlos, Leonor’s grandfather.

Neither Juan Carlos nor former Queen Sofía attended Tuesday’s public events, but they were to be present at an evening family gathering in the Pardo Palace outside Madrid.

Juan Carlos, 85, who abdicated in 2014, left Spain for Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, in 2020 amid a cloud of financial scandals. Investigations of his finances in Spain and Switzerland have since been dropped while he won a separate lawsuit, against a former lover, in October.

He has made it known that he would like

Difficult to gauge The royal family’s popularity today is difficult to gauge. Spain’s main polling body stopped asking Spaniards what they think of the royals in 2015 amid the myriad scandals.

Leonor has been groomed by her father and mother, who before marrying Felipe was a television journalist. The princess has shown regal aplomb when presiding over the awards ceremony of the Princess of Asturias Foundation and other honorific institutions that she heads.

She is currently receiving basic military training at an academy in the northeastern city of Zaragoza. She speaks English, French, Catalan, a language spoken in northeastern Spain, and some Arabic.

Little is known about Leonor’s personality as she has yet to give media interviews.

But when she received her high school graduation diploma in Wales earlier this year, her fellow students cheered her on and her tutor praised her “unwavering passion for learning, for understanding people, and exploring diverse perspectives,” adding that they would miss her sense of humor.

Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain contributed to this report.

Last call: Don’t miss the chance to be a Samsung Galaxy Campus Ambassador

B

e a part of an exciting mentorship program to kick-start your future as a leader, tech innovator and content creator with one of the country’s top tech brands, Samsung Philippines.

If you are a university student who wants to get an insider glimpse of the exciting world of lifestyle technology, then the Samsung Galaxy Campus Student Ambassador Program is definitely for you with exciting initiatives, workshops, and missions.

Widen your exposure to the world of tech with access events and launches and learn more about Samsung’s newest devices such as the Galaxy S series, Galaxy

Z series, Galaxy Tab, and Galaxy Watch.

You’ll also be getting epic incentives such as free Galaxy products for completed missions and access to Samsung Student Discount Offers.

Upon completion of the 6-month program, you will earn a Certificate of Completion and internship opportunity at Samsung Philippines. Part of the Galaxy Camp’s mission is to encourage members to hone their leadership skills and participate in sustainability advocacies. So, get ready to spark your creativity, discover your full potential, and collaborate with the world’s premium tech brand to make a difference.

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The Samsung Galaxy Campus Student Ambassador Program is open to college students, 18 to 23 years old, who are looking to be inspired and mentored by a global game-changing tech company.

Applicants must be currently enrolled in a Philippine university or college to be qualified for Samsung Galaxy Campus. Prepare your resume, a scanned copy of your ID or enrollment slip, and a 500-word essay describing yourself and why you’d like to be part of the program. You’re also free to share other works that showcase your skills and passions. Once complete, visit the Galaxy Campus website at spr.ly/GalaxyCampusPH and submit your application. Short-

November 5, 2023

listed applicants will be notified if they will move on to the interview round.

You may also create a 1-3 minute video on why you should be part of Galaxy Campus, post it on your TikTok and/or Instagram account, and tag @samsungph. Make sure your post is visible to everyone.

So what are you waiting for? Be the next Samsung Galaxy Student Ambassador and follow your passion for tech! Sign-ups are still open for this six-month program until tomorrow, November 6, so submit your application through the website now at spr.ly/ GalaxyCampusPH. For more information, visit https:// www.samsung.com/ph/galaxy-campus/.