Businessmirror october 01, 2017

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n Sunday, October 1, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 353

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Decongesting Metro Manila Proposal to move govt offices outside of NCR gains ground in Congress

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

ffices of national government agencies may soon inch their way out of Metro Manila to outlying regions, as a proposal for their relocation gains traction in the House of Representatives.

House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental said his panel has recently approved a substitute bill moving national government administrative offices from the National Capital Region (NCR) to the provinces.

Benitez said the proposal seeks to decongest Metro Manila and ensure the functions of government during calamities, while allowing a better government transaction system.

“Overpopulation, traffic con-

gestion and high vulnerability to natural disasters have made Metro Manila, or the NCR, a pariah among world cities,” Benitez said.

The measure, he added, will now be submitted to the mother committee for final approval. After the approval on the panel level, the bill will be transmitted to the plenary for deliberations.

The lawmaker said there is a need to rethink and develop a master plan that will decongest Metro Manila.

Progress after relocation

According to Benitez, several countries where government agencies were relocated outside the main city have flourished, such as South Korea, Malaysia and Brazil.

“Relocation of capitals had already been done by several countries. Malaysia, for instance, built a new administrative capital to ease congestion in Kuala Lumpur.

Putrajaya is envisioned to be a ‘green’ and ‘intelligent’ city,’ with wide parks and open spaces, and

strong ICT [information communication technology] infrastructure.

Its aesthetic design also shows distinct Islamic character to reflect Malaysian identity and heritage as a predominantly Muslim country,” he said.

Alternative plan

National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Ernesto Pernia, in a position paper, suggested that a “well-coordinated Continued on A2

Union between AR, IMT promises to bring new wave of digital revolution

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By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor

HE merging of augmented reality (AR) and image recognition technology (IMT) had come to a point both organizations or individuals alike can no longer ignore. AR and IMT bring added value to a certain brand’s communication strategies, according to a top executive of iSmartPhoto International.

“An image-recognition technology is actually a more powerful thing than an augmented-reality technology,” iSmartPhoto International Company Director Gary Martin told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

As the name suggests, he described AR as an experience put on

top of something that’s already existing, while an IMT brings something new into it.

And by combining both, Martin said innovators like iSmartPhoto help bridge the gap between print and the online world.

“That’s the real take-home

PESO exchange rates n US 51.0730

Continued on A2

A man and a girl gesture while wearing virtual-reality equipment at the Sonar advanced technology music and arts festival in Barcelona on June 16, 2017. Enriquecalvoal | Dreamstime.com

n japan 0.4547 n UK 68.6676 n HK 6.5380 n CHINA 7.6721 n singapore 37.6201 n australia 40.1229 n EU 60.2049 n SAUDI arabia 13.6195

Source: BSP (29 September 2017 )

Alex0sun | Dreamstime.com

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NewsSunday Decongesting Metro Manila BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, October 1, 2017

Continued from A1

master plan on how to decongest NCR and support the development of regional and subregional centers [must] be prepared instead.”

“This can be done through existing institutions, particularly the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which is mandated by law to formulate and coordinate implementation of medium- and long-term plans and programs for the land use and physical development within NCR,” Pernia said.

While recognizing the intention of the proposal, Pernia said under the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP), the NCR is envisioned to remain as the seat of the national government.

“The strategy for decongesting NCR is to direct growth to regional and subregional centers, which have the economies of scale and agglomeration needed to become attractive investment hosts and alternatives to NCR,” he said.

“The PDP also provides the basis for identifying strategic infrastructure projects that will ensure connectivity among urban centers and rural production areas. It encourages local government units to incorporate disaster-risk reduction in their comprehensive land-use plans, given that it is at the local level where hazards could be defined in detail, including the specific interventions to reduce vulnerability to disasters,” Pernia added.

Under the bill, the Admin-

istrative Capital City Planning Commission shall be created to lead the development of a comprehensive plan to relocate the government agencies and establish an administrative capital city outside Metro Manila.

Also, the Administrative Capital City Planning Commission shall conduct a feasibility study of relocating most of the administrative offices of government agencies outside of Metro Manila. The commission will be placed under the Office of the President.

“The authority shall call upon any department, bureau, office, agency, or instrumentality of the government, including governmentowned or -controlled corporations, government financial institutions, local government units, and request non-governmental organizations, the private sector and other entities for assistance as the circumstances and exigencies may require in carrying out his mandate,” the bill said.

It added the commission shall also submit to the President the mechanisms and oversee the initial phase of the transfer of the government agencies.

The measure said the commission shall identify the most suitable site for the administrative city and provide a master plan for the development of the site.

The bill also allows the commission to engage the assistance of local and foreign consultants and experts in the development of the master plan.

According to the measure, the master plan for the establishment of an administrative city shall guide and accomplish a coordinated, adjusted, harmonious development of the capital of the Philippines, which will, in accordance with the present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience and prosperity.

The measure said that the amount necessary to implement this proposal shall be included in the budget of the Office of the President in the annual General Appropriations Act.

ISFs

Another major concern, Benitez said, is the increasing number of squatters, informal settler families (ISFs), in Metro Manila, eating up valuable urban space.

Benitez stressed that mediumrise buildings could be constructed in the areas that will be vacated by these government agencies.

The lawmaker said the off-city government programs for the ISFs failed because many of the relocatees have returned to the NCR, as their relocation sites are far from their source of income.

“Out of the 1.5 million ISFs in the country, nearly 600,000 are found in NCR,” he said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said Metro Manila is home to 11.9 million people in 2010, making it one of the world’s most densely populated areas.

Meanwhile, Housing and Ur-

ban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Assistant Secretary Avelino Tolentino III suggested that to make housing projects more affordable, government lands should be converted into housing sites.

Avelino said this could be cheaper in the long run for the government, which will still own the lands, as relocation sites entail spending money to relocate to farflung areas the ISFs, who, however, end up returning to the NCR due to the unavailability of basic services in the new housing sites.

By allowing the free use of government lands, Avelino said, tenants will only pay a small amount for the investment the government will spend in constructing the building and for its maintenance.

Clark City

During the technical working group phase, AlloyMTD Philip-

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pines President engineer Isaac S. David presented before lawmakers their plan to build Clark Green City as the new administrative center for the national government.

Like other cities, David said the $2.5-billion project is large enough to accommodate business, government, education, housing and lifestyle amenities.

He said the Clark Green City will be well-connected through public transport like rail and expressway.

The Clark Green City is patterned after Putrajaya. Putrajaya is the administrative capital of Malaysia, where there are executive, legislative and judicial offices.

Benitez admitted that it would take a longer time to implement this project, but “what’s important here is, we are now starting the process.”

“One of our dilemmas is most of our programs are [only] at short

term because we were only looking at a six-year time frame for any administration. [With this], we cannot plan more than six years, but in this case, this requires more planning and implementation period,” he added.

The Clark Green City is envisioned as a disaster-resilient metropolis that could face the strongest typhoons and earthquakes.

“[We have to be resilient since] during Supertyphoon Yolanda, there was a time when there was no government. [This] will assure that we will not be immobilized during calamities because [of the absence of the government],” he said.

Benitez said Metro Manila also sits above a fault line that could trigger massive and destructive earthquakes.

The Clark Green City project is now being evaluated by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

Union between AR, IMT promises to bring new wave of digital revolution Continued from A1

vertising, San Miguel said.

prize for this,” he said of such an emerging trend in the information technology space.

How does it work? An application like that of iSmartPhoto can read any visual image or document (i.e., still images, graphics’ reworks, designed documents with text). Once it’s triggered via a smartphone or any mobile device, a live streaming of video ads or presentations occurs with or without an Internet connection.

While AR and IMT have already gained ground in the photography and videography industry in the Philippines, the top executive noted that they now captivate the interest of business and creative sectors in the country.

“Advertising, marketing and corporate people understand the value more. They constantly look for something new and different.

And they understand the potential of this technology,” Martin said.

“So you have to take advantage of this. For the next two years, this will be really hot.”

Social media shapes brand

PHL’s readiness

AS the Philippines goes digital in this modern age, experts agree that the local market is now ready to embrace AR and image-recognition technology.

“What we’re seeing here is that there is a digital revolution [like this] and everyone is already hopping in,” Visual Core Communications Consultant Eunice Anne San Miguel said.

But how possible is this?

It just works well in cutting through the digital noise out there, for instance, in the world of advertising and marketing, according to Martin.

By and large, the purpose of advertising and marketing is to get the people’s attention, enable them to experience or understand a certain product or service and, eventually, make them want and purchase it.

Once it’s achieved, the penchant of Filipinos to share their experience to others will then create a ripple effect, he said.

“So that’s the viral part attached to it. Because it’s just unique and has a wow factor, which is interesting and fun, so they will show it to their friends. That’s what will happen. People will like to share it physically or online,” he explained.

Social media—the country’s domain for being recognized as the social networking and selfie capital of the world—is the way to realize this.

It’s actually “one of the biggest facets” of digital marketing and ad-

A STUDY on social media users in the Philippines reveals that 54 million Filipinos are active mobile social users and 60 million consider themselves as social media users.

On the average, they use the Internet via their own personal computer or tablet for nine hours every day, while others spend three hours and 36 minutes online via mobile.

Respondents reveal that their mean daily use of social media on any device spans four hours and 17 minutes. Others watch television on a daily basis for two hours and 30 minutes.

Such figures are significant despite the fact that the Philippines has the third slowest Internet connection yet, based on a study, still spends the most number of hours on the web.

“I think right now, how we entertain ourselves has changed, where in the past we spent most of our time watching TV. But right now, what we do is go social media,” said the Visual Core Communications consultant.

In addition, the social network has altered the way Filipinos communicate “both personally and across with brands through the years,” she noted.

Given this, AR and IMT, when complemented by the power of social media, can do wonders for businesses and bring vast opportunity for growth.

For one, San Miguel said the union will help increase brand awareness and loyalty.

Per SproutSocial report, she said, the likelihood of buying from a brand that people follow on social media is pretty high at 57.5 percent.

Also, it aids in getting valuable consumer insights. She noted that “we’re able to understand who our fans are, what they like and how they feel about the brand. So it’s basically crowdsourcing.”

Enriching customer service and experience can be gained also. Doing it right for customers will make them feel that they can communicate with the entity or brand itself.

“Whereas in the past, it’s one way that brands are the only ones speaking. Now it’s consumer marketing already—so people have their voice. And social media does that. So the peoples’ top choice for customer care right now is actually social media. With it, they feel that there’s someone who’s going to respond to them,” San Miguel said.

Finally, it will serve as a venue

to engage with the customers or followers. If there is a certain personality that the brand or company has, she suggested to continue to hone it because it’s something that they will care for.

“With all these in mind, now we don’t have a choice on whether we do social media. The question is how well we do it,” she stressed.

Walking advertisement, marketing tool

ORIGINATING from Australia, iSmartPhoto International, through its exclusive local distributor Vibrant Ideas, recently launched its image recognizing technology app in the Philippines—this time for both the advertising and marketing verticals.

“Two years ago, we started to offer this to photographers and videographers. But now we are offering this and making it available for marketers and advertisers since they are more interested in this cost-effective tool to promote new products and acquire new prospects,” iSmartPhoto International Global Director Blessy Fajardo said.

Bringing powerful emotions to people, she said this is the latest platform that gives life to an image. Better experience on the latest version of iOS and Android phones, the iSmartPhoto app’s features help one to easily connect to existing clients or prospects to deliver news, updates and messages via their mobile gadgets.

It can also be used as a mobilecommerce store as long as it is connected to the Internet. Clients can add their promotional page or website that can be accessed through the app. They can also enjoy free hosting for their landing page. For those without a web portal yet, they can link their Facebook page through iSmartPhoto’s promo page.

“That’s how iSmartPhoto can increase your return on investment for up to 20 percent to 30 percent more,” she said.

The beauty of augmented reality through this app and social media is a “win-win” solution not only for advertising and marketing, but also for medical and pharmaceutical products and services, tourism and travel, education, direct promotion in live events or activations, media/journalism, resource development training videos, fastmoving consumer goods and retail, music and entertainment, and even product and service marketing, among others.

“It’s a limitless business for everybody. So let’s come on board and be ready for this revolution,” Fajardo said.

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Sunday, October 1, 2017

Wealthiest Americans doubt they’ll really win in Trump tax-break plan P

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135 million millennials drive world’s fastest retail market

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resident Donald J. Trump’s tax plan suggests that wealthy Americans could be in line for a boatload of breaks. At this point, the rich aren’t buying it. “ Trying to plan is pretty impossible,” said John Anzivino, head of the estate and trust group at Kaufman Rossin in Miami, pointing to hurdles the proposal faces in Congress. “Everybody’s a little taken aback by the blueprint they’re throwing out here.”

Trump’s proposal could be a boon for the top 1 percent of US earners.

Elements include capping the rate on pass-through entities at 25 percent, eliminating the alternative-minimum tax and repealing the estate tax. Even so, some advisers to the country’s richest people are skeptical about nuances of the plan, such as cutting the top individual rate to 35 percent, while allowing Congress to create a higher bracket for those at the peak of the income scale.

“Wealthy individuals owning partnerships or other pass-throughs may get some partial relief on rates but any such reduced rates are likely to be capped or otherwise limited,” said Lisa Whitcomb, director of wealth

strategy at Glenmede.

Another concern is that many details have been left for Congress to hash out, which makes the outcome particularly doubtful given how fractured Washington is.

Estate tax issues

Owners of enterprises such as hedge funds, private equity or law firms that pay taxes on income passed through their businesses could get a windfall if the top rate is reduced from the current 39.6 percent. The tax framework directs tax-writing committees in Congress to adopt measures to ensure that individuals don’t recharacterize personal wages as business income to take advantage of the lower rate.

Whitcomb said she’s also dubious about the prospects for the estate tax, given the huge cost of the overall proposal.

“Something still has to give and repeal of the estate tax is at the top of the list,” said Whitcomb, whose Philadelphia-based firm manages

more than $37 billion for high-networth individuals, families, foundations and institutional clients.

Even if the estate tax is scrapped, there would be a trade-off. Typically, paying estate tax on an asset results in a so-called step-up in basis, setting a new starting point from which an inheritor calculates appreciation and reducing the capital-gains hit upon a sale. What happens when that tax doesn’t exist is “a huge deal,” said William Kambas, a partner in the private client and tax group at law firm Withers Bergman Llp. The tax plan also calls for repealing the generation-skipping transfer tax, which is a levy on gifts to grandchildren or later generations.

Some of the wealthiest Americans have spent years lobbying Washington for favorable tax treatment. The new plan appears to grant many of the things they’ve asked for, despite assurances from Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that they won’t cut taxes for the rich.

Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said at a news conference on Thursday that he stayed in the administration despite his anger over its reaction to neo-Nazis because of the chance to rewrite the tax code. “I would never miss this,” he said.

Another question mark for ad-

visers is the fate of some itemized deductions. Elda Di Re, a New Yorkbased partner for private client services at Ernst & Young who works with billionaires, cited concerns for those in markets with high state and local taxes. “ T he elimination of itemized deductions is huge,” particularly in areas such as New York City, she said.

The plan calls for the end of most itemized deductions for individuals, without providing specifics, while mortgage interest and charitable giving deductions are preser ved.

However, the state and local tax deduction, which tends to benefit highincome filers in Democratic states, would be abolished. The move faces some Republican headwinds from lawmakers in districts that use the deduction heavily.

“We say: Plan as you normally would, it’s way too unpredictable. But focus on nontax issues and preserve flexibility,” Kambas said. Still, he said he’s encouraging wealthy clients not to delay taking deductions “because your income tax rate, and therefore the corresponding value of the deductions, is high right now.”

For now, many advisers are cautious.

The Republican plan “does look like an overall benefit to the wealthy,” according to Kaufman Rossin’s Anzivino. “Is it going to happen? Who knows.” Bloomberg News

akistan’s burgeoning youth and their freewheeling attitude toward rising incomes have turned the nation into the world’s fastestgrowing retail market.

The market is predicted to expand 8.2 percent per annum through 2016-2021 as disposable income has doubled since 2010, according to research group Euromonitor International. The size of the middle class is estimated to surpass that of the UK and Italy in the forecast period, it said.

Pakistan’s improving security environment, economic expansion at near 5 percent and cheap consumer prices are driving shoppers to spend up big.

Almost two-thirds of the nation’s 207.8 million people are aged under 30, according to the Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad-based think tank.

“We have a new millennial shopper at hand. They don’t mind spending to have the kind of lifestyle they wou ld l i ke,” sa id Shabor i Das, senior resea rc h ana lyst at Euromonitor. “It’s not like the Baby Boomer generation where savings for the future generation was important.”

Pakistan is bucking the trend in the US, where stores are closing at a record pace as e-commerce undermines bricks-and-mortar. It’s also attracting foreign operators: Turkish home appliance maker Arcelik AS and Dutch dairy giant Royal FrieslandCampina NV entered the market last year via acquisitions.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp. and Renault SA are all building plants in the South Asian nation.

Pakistan’s retail stores are expected to increase by 50 percent to 1 million outlets in the five years through 2021, Euromonitor said. Its three biggest malls, Lucky One in Karachi and Packages Mall and Emporium Mall in Lahore, opened in the past two years. Pakistan is mirroring what India went through about four years ago. Both countries have young populations with more income and less inclination toward saving, which is a distinct difference to what retailers elsewhere are dealing with, said Das. Bloomberg News

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Sunday, October 1, 2017 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

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US spymaster warns American firms about ‘deals’ with China

By Sara Forden & David

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Bloomberg

he top US counterintelligence official said American firms need to be cognizant of the national security risks that could arise from selling to Chinese buyers or entering into joint ventures with them.

William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said it’s understandable that executives and owners of American companies want to do the most lucrative deals, but they don’t always understand the potential risks to national security.

Evanina’s comments come as the Trump administration and lawmakers in Washington move to toughen the framework for reviewing acquisitions by foreign investors, especially those from China.

“China is our No. 1 adversary with respect to economic espionage,” Evanina said in an interview at Bloomberg in Washington on Thursday. “Their ability to steal proprietary information

and trade secrets is proficient and it’s aggressive.”

Evanina’s comments show the extent of concern within the US intelligence community about China’s push to acquire US technology. A slew of proposed deals

by Chinese investors have struggled to gain approval from a secretive panel that reviews takeovers by foreign buyers for national security threats.

Among the deals under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US are MoneyGram International Inc.’s proposed sale to Ant Financial, the financial-services company controlled by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, and Genworth Financial Inc.’s $2.7-billion sale to China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co.

A couple stands on a sidewalk as a Chinese flag flies in Shanghai, China, on January 24, 2016. For all the hand-wringing over China’s economic slowdown, the employment picture has so far remained immune to tumbling stocks, a sliding currency and waning industrial growth. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Broken deals

Sever al proposed takeovers

by Chinese investors have fallen apart over opposition from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The latest came on Tuesday when Chinese investors, led by digital-map provider NavInfo Co., called off plans to buy a stake in counterpart HERE Technologies.

Earlier this month, US President

China is our No. 1 adversary with respect to economic espionage. Their ability to steal proprietary information and trade secrets is proficient and it’s aggressive.”—Evanina

Students look to vending machines for better access to morning-after pill

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t has been four years since the federal government lifted the age limit for the morning-after pill, but college students across the country say gaining access to it remains fraught with confusion and difficulty.

Now some colleges think they have found a solution: vending machines stocked with the morning-after pill.

Stanford University unveiled one this month, following in the footsteps of several other colleges, including the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of California, Davis, which made headlines after it installed a “wellness” machine this year that sells the generic version of Plan B, as well as pregnancy tests, feminine hygiene products, Advil, Claritin and other items.

Parteek Singh, a recent graduate who urged UC Davis to install the machine, said he had heard from people at more than 30 schools who are interested in learning how to do the same thing on their campuses.

“This will be big,” Singh said. “It’s just the beginning.”

Since the vending machine was installed at UC Davis in April, he said, 50 boxes of the emergency contraception pill have been sold. The morning-after pill, a higher dose of the synthetic hormone

found in birth-control pills, primarily works by delaying the release of an egg from the ovary. It is sometimes confused with mifepristone, which induces miscarriage and is commonly called the “abortion pill.”

Unlike mifepristone, if an egg has already implanted in the uterus, Plan B cannot end the pregnancy.

It is most effective if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex.

Plan B and its generics are supposed to be over-the-counter medications, but experts say drugstores do not always keep them out in the open because they are expensive. And many university health centers have abbreviated or nonexistent hours on weekends, when Plan B is often needed the most.

In response, students have pushed for ways to buy the drug more easily.

Stanford kicked off its current quarter with the installation of a vending machine that sells My Way (a generic version of Plan B) for $25, as well as condoms.

Rachel Samuels, a recent graduate, worked for nearly three years to bring the machine to Stanford’s campus, inspired by her brother’s success installing a similar machine at Pomona College in Southern California.

Stanford’s health center pharmacy dis-

penses Plan B, but it is not open on weekends, according to its web site. So Samuels and a group of other students sent out a survey in early-2015 asking if students favored expanding access to emergency contraception.

Some of the students said they found it stressful and embarrassing to visit a drugstore or the health center and that the health center’s hours of operation were problematic, Samuels said.

A friend of Samuels said she had to check a CVS, a Walgreens and a Target before finally finding emergency contraception. In 2016 Samuels used her platform as an officer in the student government to make the vending machine a priority. The student government and the university reached an agreement: Each would pay half the cost of the machine. This year it was finally unveiled.

Contraception can still be hard to find.

In 2012 Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania became one of the first colleges in the country to offer Plan B in a vending machine. At the time, only women 17 or older could buy it without a prescription, but the following year, the Food and Drug Administration ended that restriction.

Even so, there is still “a lot of confusion

about this product,” said Kelly C. Cleland, a Princeton University researcher and the executive director of the American Society for Emergency Contraception, which has been surveying pharmacies about the morning-after pill since May. Their preliminary data shows that of the 133 pharmacies visited in 22 states, 41 percent did not have Plan B or a generic version on the shelf.

“There wasn’t even a space for it,” Cleland said.

One-third of the individuals canvassing the pharmacies were told that identification would be required to purchase the medication, and 22 percent were told that there is an age restriction. Neither is true.

In another study, published in the journal Pediatrics in June, researchers called more than 900 pharmacies and found that while 83 percent of them indicated that the morning-after pill was available, about 8 percent said it was impossible to obtain under any circumstances.

Sally Rafie, one of the study’s coauthors, runs a clinic inside an independent pharmacy in San Diego.

She said she supported the vending machines. “Anything we can do to make it easier to use emergency contraception is a good thing,” she said. NYTNS

In Taiwan, modest test of driverless bus may hint at big things to come

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AIPEI, Taiwan—Rolling with a barely audible hum beneath banyan trees, a brightly painted shuttle bus cruised through a university campus here.

The electric vehicle crawled along at a speed of no more than 6 miles per hour. And only 12 passengers could fit inside. But the bus also drove itself, raising hopes in Taipei that autonomous public transportation would be up and running here within a year.

“The idea of one day being able to ride around this city in driverless vehicles is quite exciting,” said Amber Chen, who was riding with her son Ruey-She, 8.

The bus tests are partly to prove that the autonomous-driving technology is safe to deploy on the city’s busy streets, and partly to gather the data needed to improve the artificial intelligence that steer such vehicles.

The effort, one of the earliest in Asia, could help position Taiwan as both a pioneer in autonomous public transportation and, if things go according to plan, a producer of driverless buses.

So far, the bus being tested, the EZ10, has breezed through its trials on the campus of National Taiwan University, which have been in progress since May. But successful testing on a closed course at low speeds can only reveal so much about how the buses would fare in traffic. Getting them on the road at busy times is the next

In an undated handout photo, a selfdriving bus during a test run on Xinyi Road in downtown Taipei, Taiwan. The bus tests are partly to prove that the autonomousdriving technology is safe to deploy on the city’s busy streets, and partly to gather the data needed to improve the artificial intelligence that steer such vehicles. NYTNS

step, and the program’s backers are eager to see that happen quickly.

One obstacle: Despite active support from Taipei’s municipal government and its mayor, Ko Wen-Je, the testing has only tacit approval from the central government, said Wei-Bin Lee, commissioner of Taipei’s Department of Information Technology.

“The rest of the world isn’t going to stop and wait for you just because you’re sputtering along,” he said.

Martin Ting, the general manager of 7StarLake, the Taiwanese company testing the buses, said in an interview that the

EZ10 was suited for three scenarios: closed campuses; short, fixed circuits; and city bus routes.

Such situations abound in Taiwan, which has 23.5 million people and is home to more than 150 universities and colleges, 100plus industrial parks and 15 theme parks, as well as densely urbanized sections on its northern and western coasts. In August the EZ10 began late-night trials on a short stretch of Xinyi Road, a six-lane artery in downtown Taipei.

“Our ultimate goal is to autonomize the entire Xinyi Road main line,” Ko, the mayor, told local media when the trials started.

The EZ10 is built by French company EasyMile. It uses GPS and eight laser sensors to navigate predetermined routes. Front and rear cameras enable it to detect and avoid obstacles. At $550,000 a unit, including import taxes, it is nearly twice the price of a larger bus with a driver.

Ting said he hoped to import three more buses next year and begin manufacturing them under a license from EasyMile by the end of 2018, with the goal of getting half of the components from Taiwanese suppliers.

That would eliminate the 45-percent import tax, saving approximately $200,000 per bus.

Then EasyMile could seriously consider other Asian markets, he said.

“After we’ve started supplying Taiwan, we’re going to sell to Japan, Australia, China and South Asia,” he said. “Australia already wants 100 vehicles and Japan has strong demand before the 2020 Olympic Games.”

The EZ10, with a top speed of 25 mph, achieves Level 4 automation under the standards of the global engineering association SAE International, meaning its route is chosen by humans but there is no one behind the wheel and it can avoid obstacles on its own. Tesla’s Autopilot system is considered Level 2, although Elon Musk, the company’s chief executive, said this year that Tesla was only two years away from Level 5: complete autonomy. NYTNS

Donald J. Trump blocked a Chinabacked takeover of Lattice Semiconductor Corp. on the recommendation of the panel.

Evanina outlined a scenario in which the sale of a defense-based technology company could harm the US’s ability to ensure supplies for military equipment such as fighter jets and ships.

“That’s where we have to be really creative to explain that this is a national security threat,” he said. “It’s something we have to continue to drive, especially when it involves technology.”

Congress is planning to reshape the CFIUS framework as concerns about China’s deal-making have intensified in Washington. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who has warned that Chinese investment has the potential to undermine US military capabilities, says CFIUS should have broader scope to review foreign takeovers.

The panel should examine joint ventures and minority stakes, not just acquisitions, he said at a June speech in Washington. Evanina said he supported reforming how CFIUS works.

“The CFIUS process is old, antiquated and it’s being reformatted,” he said. “There are a lot of people in the government working very hard to make it a useful tool for what we want to do.”

Pressure builds on Myanmar over ‘human-rights nightmare’

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yanmar’s authorities came under intensifying pressure on Thursday over the Rohingya refugee crisis, with the United Nations secretarygeneral calling it a “human-rights nightmare” that has driven more than a half-million civilians into Bangladesh in the past month.

The remarks by the secretarygeneral, António Guterres, came at a UN Security Council meeting devoted to the crisis, which has escalated into what he described as “the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency.”

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, demanded that Myanmar’s authorities punish those in the military who have killed and abused members of the Rohingya, a longpersecuted Muslim group in Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country formerly known as Burma. Haley also called for a halt to the shipment of foreign arms to Myanmar’s security forces.

“We cannot be afraid to call the actions of the Burmese authorities what they appear to be: a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority,” Haley said.

The 15-member Security Council took no immediate action, but diplomats called it a starting point and noted that the council had not discussed Myanmar publicly since 2009.

Haley’s remarks were the strongest she has yet made on the crisis, and raised the possibility that the United States might reimpose sanctions on Myanmar that were rescinded under the Obama administration.

Guterres, who led UN refugee operations for 10 years, demanded an immediate halt to military operations by Myanmar’s security forces against Rohingya civilians and called for unfettered access by aid groups to areas that have been cut off.

“We have received bone-chilling accounts from those who had f led—mainly women, children and the elderly,” he told the Security Council.

Myanmar’s national security adviser, U Thaung Tun, who also attended the meeting, reiterated the government’s rejection of accusations that it has systematically persecuted the Rohingya. He

described the military’s actions in Rakhine state, the center of the crisis, as counterterrorism operations against Rohingya militants who killed members of the security forces on August 25.

He also asserted that Myanmar wanted friendly relations with Bangladesh, where the total population of Rohingya refugees is nearing a million. Myanmar’s outreach to Bangladesh, he said, “gives the lie to the assertion that there is a policy of ethnic cleansing on our part.”

Hours before t he Secur it y Council meeting, officia ls in Myanmar abruptly postponed a planned visit by representatives of UN aid agencies and diplomats to Rakhine state.

The hosts blamed bad weather and said the trip would be postponed until October 2, even though the envoys had gathered at the airport in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, to board their flight.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees continue to flee into Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi diplomat said 20,000 had arrived on Wednesday alone.

Some have walked for days in search of safety, others have made the dangerous journey by boat, made even more treacherous by the monsoon rains.

At least 15 Rohingya people, including nine children, were killed on Thursday when the trawler carrying them capsized in the Bay of Bengal. Their bodies washed up on the shore alongside some survivors. “ T he women and chi ldren couldn’t swim,” one survivor, Nuru Salam, 22, told reporters. He had tried to cross with his entire family, he said, when the boat tipped.

His son drowned, and he was still searching for his wife.

The International Organization for Migration, the UN agency that has been monitoring the influx of Rohingya into Bangladesh, said about 100 people had boarded the vessel a day earlier.

A young woman who made it to shore said the captain had tried to anchor the boat in rough seas and lost control. Local residents saw the boat capsize from shore.

“These people thought they had finally arrived to safety but died before even touching land,” said Abdullah Al Mamoun, an International Organization for Migration staff member. NYTNS

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Sunday, October 1, 2017

A5

G Vonn revives request to race in men’s field

IN 2012, skiing great Lindsey Vonn’s request was rejected. AP

ENEVA—Lindsey Vonn’s request to race against men in a World Cup downhill will be studied again by the International Ski Federation (FIS) next week.

The United States team will make the formal proposal at preseason meetings hosted by FIS in Zurich, the governing body said on Wednesday.

The revived plan is expected to involve a race at Lake Louise, Canada, in the 2018-2019 season.

In 2012 FIS rejected a previous request on behalf of Alpine skiing great Vonn because its rules bar mixed gender races.

“Further details are still unknown, but this is certainly an anticipated topic that divides the FIS officials,” the governing body said on Wednesday.

Vonn, who turns 33 next month, has a longstanding ambition to race competitively against men before she retires.

Of her record 39 World Cup downhill wins, 14 have been at Lake Louise where the men typically race in late-November, one week before the women.

“All the men say, ‘We don’t think she’s going to beat us,’ which is what they’re going to say, and also that, ‘It will be great for our sport,’” Vonn told The Associated Press in April. “So, what’s the harm?”

The subject will go first to meetings of the FIS Alpine skiing executive board that start next Tuesday, and could be resolved by a broader Alpine committee, which meets on Friday next week.

In a rare direct comparison of men’s and women’s World Cup downhills in March 2014, the final races of the season were run back-toback on the same course setting at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Vonn had suffered a season-ending injury and did not start. The men’s winning time of Austrian Matthias Mayer was 2.32 seconds faster than Lara Gut of Switzerland, who won her race two hours later. AP

RONALDO: IT’S UNFAIR M

By Tales Azzoni The Associated Press

ADRID—Cristiano Ronaldo says criticism against him is getting worse, and he doesn’t think it’s fair.

Ronaldo made his comments after scoring twice in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win at Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stage early last week.

“It seems that match after match I have to show who I am,” Ronaldo said. “I’m surprised by the public opinion about me.

Again, the numbers speak for themselves.”

Ronaldo also scored twice in Madrid’s Champions League opener this season, a 3-0 win against APOEL. But he was criticized by many after a poor performance in a 1-0 home loss against Real Betis in the Spanish league. The Portuguese missed several chances in that game, including clear opportunities in front of goal.

“I’m happy because I know that when everything is normal, that when I’m well and the opportunities appear, I will score,” Ronaldo said. “Sometimes the goalkeepers will make saves, or the woodwork will stop me, but this is part of football.

“I always work the same way,” Ronaldo said. “I’m an example as a professional. I never become desperate, although some people may think that I do. I’m always with a healthy mind, a clear mind, prepared for great challenges and for the criticism, which is getting worse.”

This is not the first—or likely last—time that Ronaldo has complained about criticism against him. But Ronaldo reiterated that he is happy playing in Madrid and that he never said he wanted to leave, as widely reported after a tax-fraud investigation in Spain earlier this year.

“You didn’t hear that from me,” Ronaldo said. “People talk about Cristiano every day, everywhere in the world. If I had to answer to all the people who talk about me, I would only do that, and it can’t be that way. I live for football and for my family,

the rest is secondary. Everything that involves the name of Cristiano is news everywhere in the world, it’s normal. When you are a big name, people will always talk about you.”

Ronaldo dismissed questions about a possible new contract with Madrid, saying that’s for club president Florentino Perez to talk about.

But Ronaldo also said he doesn’t feel Madrid depends on him to succeed.

“When Cristiano is not playing, Real Madrid remains the same,” he said. “I see Real Madrid strong, with a great team, a great squad. It’s not about individual players.”

The game against Dortmund marked Ronaldo’s 400th appearance with Real Madrid since his debut in 2009. He is the club’s all-time scoring leader with 412 goals.

Ronaldo’s season got off to a slow start after a five-match suspension for shoving a referee in the Spanish Super Cup final.

He has scored five goals in six games so far.

NOT A POLITICAL STANCE P

ITTSBURGH—Pittsburgh Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan insists the franchise’s decision to visit the White House does not mean the team is wading into the increasingly charged intersection of sports and politics.

Sullivan defended the decision on Wednesday, stressing it did not serve as a signal that the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are picking a side in the increasingly heated debate between President Donald J. Trump and National Football League (NFL) players who protest during the national anthem.

“I think there appears to be a perception out there that our organization has made a decision to accept the invitation to the White House that we have taken a stance on the issue, when the reality is, it’s just the opposite,” Sullivan said. “We haven’t taken any stance. The Penguins, as an organization and our players, have chosen not to use this platform to take a stance. There appears to be a perception that we have, and it is wrong.”

The Penguins released a statement last

Sunday indicating they would attend a ceremony at the White House, a tradition for numerous championship teams. The announcement came after numerous media requests following Trump’s decision to rescind an invitation to the NBA’s Stephen Curry after the Golden State Warriors star indicated he would not attend.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said last Sunday that he supported the team’s choice to go to the White House, adding, “Everyone’s got the right to go or not go. But we’ve been invited and we accepted the invitation. I don’t think you have to read into it any more than that.”

Crosby faced criticism in his native Nova Scotia, with the Halifax Chronicle Herald—Atlantic Canada’s largest-circulation newspaper—running an editorial cartoon on Monday depicted Crosby meeting Trump in the Oval Office, with the hockey player saying, “I’m Sid the Kid,” and Trump replying, “I’m Donald the Baby.”

An opinion piece from two local professors offered six reasons for Crosby to stay home, with

the fifth saying: “Remember your roots. You are from Cole Harbour, the flashpoint of black and white race relations in Canada for the past 30 years. The parallels between your hometown and the US today are too obvious to ignore.”

A column in Halifax’s alternative weekly, The Coast, compared Crosby to a notably apolitical singer: “The Taylor Swift of hockey has no problem joining his Stanley Cup-winning teammates in Washington.”

One of Halifax’s most outspoken social activists, El Jones, weighed in with a 900-word opinion piece that took the National Hockey League star to task for failing to fall into line with other athletes. Jones, Halifax’s former poet laureate, noted that Crosby said there was “little to no discussion” in the locker room about the decision to visit the White House.

Sullivan defended Crosby from what the coach views as external pressure on the sport’s most popular player to make some sort of political statement. AP

CRISTIANO RONALDO is surprised by increasing criticism against him. AP

Christie Brinkley’s daughter to star in ‘SI Swimsuit’ issue

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EW YORK—The upcoming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue will feature a model named Brinkley—but it’s not going to be Christie.

Sailor Brinkley Cook, the 19-yearold daughter of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook, is joining the swimsuit 2018 rookie class, which already includes fellow models Chase Carter and Robin Holzken.

Cook is the first daughter of a famous Sports Illustrated model mom to be selected as an official SI swimsuit model—and her mom helped break the news. Her magazine photo shoot, slated for Aruba in October, will be livestreamed. The swimsuit edition comes out in February.

Her mother appeared in the magazine eight times between 1975 and 2004 and nabbed three consecutive covers from 1979 to 1981.

This year she was photographed with Sailor and her other daughter, Alexa Ray Joel. AP

Brazilian tops Siargao Surfing Cup

C

OMEBACKING Brazilian surfing star Raoni Monteiro scored a major surprise to top the recent Siargao International Surfing Cup held at Cloud 9 in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte.

Sidelined by a series of knee injuries in 2014, the former Championship Tour (CT) competitor returned to competitive surfing this year on his way back to the elite level.

Monteiro shone among a field of 112 wave riders from 21 countries, and romped away with a $12,000 cash prize and 3,000 ranking points.

Filled with exciting waves throughout the Cup, the Brazilian edged Costa Rica’s Tomas King, who settled for second place in a tightly contested battle.

Nic Von Rupp of Portugal and Lucca Masinas Novaro of Peru shared third spot and

Sailor Brinkley Cook is following her mother’s footsteps. AP

a $4,000 prize each.

Declared by the World Surf League as a Qualifying Series (QS) QS 3000 event, this year’s tourney had the biggest number of participants and prize money totaling to $75,000.

Rounding up the winning circle in fifth place and a $2,000 prize each were Mitchell Parkinson of Australia, Kiron Jabuor of Hawaii, Cristobal de Col of Peru and Siargao’s very own Piso Alcala, who won top awards in previous editions of the cup.

Local favorite John Mark Tokong was the only other Filipino who managed to break into the winning column at 13th place tied with Australia’s Blake Thornton.

Also sanctioned by the Asian Surfing Championships (ASC), the Siargao Cup has been given a six-star surfing ranking in 2014 by the ASC, making it one of the qualifying stops for the Asian Circuit. It has also received the rating of ASP-World Qualifying Series 1 Star and ASC Grade 6—ASC tour’s highest rating. AP

Science

BusinessMirror

A6 Sunday, October 1, 2017

Sunday

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

PHL team wins Japanese excellence award for developing agri supplement

A

research team from the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) recently bagged the 2017 Excellent Research Team of the Year Award by the Japan-based Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA).

Dr. Lucile Abad (left, front row), who heads the Plant Food Supplement (PFS) project at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), demonstrates the electron-beam applications for radiation processing of the PFS during a seminar held by the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia at the PNRI headquarters in Quezon City.

The PNRI Plant Food Supplement is developed using radiation technology

by PNRI scientists and researchers.

The team was awarded for developing the Plant Food Supplement (PFS) through the successful use of radiation technology.

T he Japa nese gover nment recognized the project for its great potential in helping spur

the development of Philippine agriculture and attaining food security. It is also eyed to help mitigate the effects of El Niño and climate change that ravage farmlands in the countryside.

The research team is led by

career scientist Dr. Lucille Abad, who heads DOST-PNRI’s Chemistry Research Section.

With just 3.2 liters per hectare of water mixed with the right proportion of the PFS, the formulation was proven effective in increasing the yield of rice, mungbean and other crops by over 20 percent.

Field tests also showed that rice applied with PFS had improved resistance against tungro bacilliform virus and bacterial leaf blight. Further, fields sprayed with PFS had higher survival rate after a violent storm compared with nearby fields that had no PFS. PFS is developed from natural polymers, such as carrageenan, a common industrial ingredient extracted from seaweeds.

Irradiation degrades polymers to form natural bioactive agents that can improve the health and increase the growth and yield of various crops.

The carrageenan used for the PFS was irradiated at PNR I’s state-of-the-art Electron Beam Irradiation Facility in Diliman, Quezon City, the first facility of its kind in the country dedicated to semicommercial services.

After successful field experiments on r ice, which proved the advantages of and benefits from FPS, the PFS project was launched in November 2015.

The following month, the DOST started the widespread testing of PFS in Luzon, Panay Island, Zamboanga and Davao.

PNR I produced severa l tons of PFS for f ie ld test pu r poses.

T he y we re ap pl ie d to t hou sands of hectares of r ice f ields i n se lec t prov i nces of C agaya n Va l le y a nd Cent ra l Lu zon, s p e c i f i c a l l y i n Tu g u e g a r a o , C agay a n; I l aga n, Isabe l a ; a nd i n P u l i l a n, Bu l ac a n. The development of the formula began under a cooperative project with

Banbros, UBtech bring robotics learning for schools, homes to PHL Story & photo

by Stephanie Tumampos

I

n a three-minute dance, the crowd at the World of Consumer Electronics Expo at the World Trade Center last weekend has witnessed a humanoid robot strutting its hands, waist and feet to the music played in the background. The Alpha 1 Pro—UBtech Robotics’s household programmable humanoid robot that can be used for education and entertainment—has now arrived in the country for schools and household learning. Robotics is one of the few emerging science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based education platforms growing in the Philippines.

Because of its rising trend in educating children and preparing them in real-world applications, making them smarter and relevant in the ever-changing information technology industry, schools—and even parents—are now acquiring tools on how they can teach robotics to their children, most especially in software and hardware programming at home or in school. For this reason, Banbros Commercial brought UBtech Robotics in the country.

“UBtech is one of the world ’s largest robotic companies and it has a ver y good portfolio of different types of robots for different segments,” said Michael Bangayan, president of Banbros Commercia l, in an inter v iew with the BusinessMirror.

Children at the UBtech Robotics booth check the Alpha 1 Pro, the first humanoid robot that can be integrated in schools and home uses.

Its range of robots incorporate not just STEM subjects but also art, making it now known as STEAM in most countries, which are developing science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

The Alpha 1 Pro, the first humanoid that can be integrated in schools and in household, is also capable of dancing, playing soccer and doing exercises, making it fit for household entertainment and learning.

“It can even do kung fu,” said Product Manager Jessel Fesarit, adding it is also good in stor ytelling.

Programming the robot is just easy, Fesarit said. “Our kits are simple, easy to build, as well as easy to program.”

Fesarit said the robot can also

help parents in making their children’s free time productive.

“Parents usually spend most of their weekdays at work and they want their children do something productive while they are away from home,” she said. “This is a great tool for children to play while their parents are away because besides playing, they can also develop their skills in STEM. The children can develop their sports skills, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.”

The Alpha 1 Pro has many servo motors and allows one to program many movements. “The more servo motors you have, the more moves you can make,” Bangayan added. Many schools in Metropolitan Manila have already given their interest in acquiring

one for their students. By the start of 2018, Banbros, in partnership with UBtech, is planning to hold a robotics competition with schools.

“The next generations of alpha humanoids will be more interactive,” Bangayan told the BusinessMirror. There will be an Alpha 1 series in the future for various applications besides education and entertainment.

UBtech Robotics also has Jimu robots for schools. “The Jimu robots are lego type robots, which one can assemble and teach kids to do coding,” Bangayan explained.

Upon assembly, the child could program the movements of the robot and execute the commands.

“It’s all very interesting and creative for the children. On the educational side, it teaches them how to code and to program.”

Bangayan envisions the future of the Philippines will be on robotics. He said the schoolchildren today should learn how to code and make simple hardware fix in schools or even at their own homes.

“Robotic education is undergoing a review by our education department. Many other schools have already started incorporating the robotics curriculum for primary and secondary schools,” Bangayan said. He said that, in the long run, robotics would grow in the country and increase on the commercial side. “We are just at the infancy stage right now but we feel the robotics industry will slowly increase.”

the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2009.

T he PFS project was funded by the DOST-Philippine Counc i l for A g r ic u lt u re, A qu at ic and Natural Resources, while the field trials were coimplemented under Dr. Gil Magsino of the National Crop Protection Center of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

The research team’s achievements will be presented at the 18th FNC A Ministerial Level Meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, on October 11.

T he F NC A i s a Japa n -le d cooperat ion f ramework for t he peacef u l appl ic at ions of nuclear technolog y. A mong the par ticipating countr ies in t he FNC A are Austra lia, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, K a za k hstan, Korea, Ma laysia, Mongol ia, t he Phi l ippines, T ha i land and Vietnam.

Hans Joshua V. Dantes/S&T News Service

ARMM recognizes champions in S&T

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—The Depar tment of Science and Technology of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOST-ARMM) has recognized the valuable contributions of several individuals and institutions in promoting science and technology (S&T).

Regional Assemblywoman Irene P. Tillah of the Second District of Sulu led the group of awardees with her championing of DOST programs in her legislative district, and implementing the Philippine Standard Time in the island-province to synchronize time.

Tillah is the assistant majority floor leader of the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) and she was named S&T ambassador on policy “for her efforts in promoting the science and technology department’s programs in her district.”

Tillah extended full support to DOST’s projects, such as Starbooks—the first Philippine science digital library—and the RxBox, a locally developed medical-grade telemedicine device deemed helpful in rural health units.

Tillah also chaired the RLA committee on women, youth and family relations.

Besides Tillah, the DOST-ARMM also named Modrika M. Masukat, municipal agriculture officer from Maguindanao, a technology adopter ambassador, and Dr. Rosemarie D. R. Josue and Prof. Rowena Caro-Benavides, both from Mindanao State University-Maguindanao, ambassadors on research and development.

The DOST-ARMM also recognized two S&T youth ambassadors, Arman Ali Ghodsinia and Jai Aliyah M. D. Salliman.

The agency named DOST scholar Ahalnida Majid Tambihasan as another ambassador.

The municipality of Panglima Sugala in Tawi-Tawi and the city of Lamitan in Basilan were recognized as “supportive local government unit ambassadors.”

The ARMM Bureau of Public I n f o r m at i o n s a i d t h e awa rd s we re announced during the region’s celebration of 2017 National Science and Technology Week on September 18 in the municipality of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

The holding of the S&T Week was meant to bring S&T “closer to the people by letting them experience the vital role of science, technology and innovation in improving the people’s quality of life, protecting the environment and contributing to national development, particularly in poverty alleviation.”

Entreps attend DOST’s oneSTore e-commerce platform orientation

V

arious private firms and local entrepreneurs attended an orientation on oneSTore, the first government e-commerce platform developed to promote and market local goods produced by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) assisted local entrepreneurs.

The orientation, held on September 22 at the DOST Central Visayas science & technology Complex, was attended by private stakeholders that are either involved in oneSTore operations or interested to get involved in the endeavor. Engr.

Jonathan Nuestro, oneSTore assistant team leader, and Christopher Musni, oneSTore lead developer, conducted the orientation.

Nuestro gave an overview on oneSTore and oneSTore Express and discussed the terms of reference in the implementation of the project. Musni, on the other hand, discussed on the oneSTore Exchange and third-party payment solution.

Launched in January 2015, oneSTore was initially intended as a solution to address difficulties in marketing goods produced by DOST-assisted companies, including small- and medium-scale businesses assisted by the DOST under the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (Setup).

The presence of oneSTore has provided an online shopping and selling destination where DOST-assisted entrepreneurs can sell their products and where consumers can

have a wider range of indigenous DOST-assisted products to choose from. About 10,000 products from DOST-assisted companies in the entire country are uploaded as online commodities on oneSTore as of August 2017. The product categories sold online include food, agriculture, furniture, handicraft and metal.

From January 2015 to August 2017, oneSTore had already registered 6,971,202 hits, and generated a total of P41.8 million in combined online and walk-in sales. To further boost sales, oneSTore administrators also plan to offer cash on delivery as a mode of payment.

To provide solution to its online payment, logistics and other concerns, oneSTore has partnered with Air 21, which takes care of safe door-to-door delivery of goods, and Land Bank of the Philippines, which e-payment portal provides online payment solution for sellers and customers.

At present, oneSTore also runs 15 operational hubs, making it a potential “chain of minimart offering unique products from different regions and provinces.”

In attendance during the orientation were the officers and representatives of the following firms: Air 21, Cebu People’s Cooperative, Arden Classic, Tekton EMPC, Kiddie Bakehaus, OSS Torta, Dundee’s Bakeshop, Feb 20 Enterprise, BonAce and Southern Partners Trade Center Inc. S&T Media Service

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, October 1, 2017

A7

Wanna visit a goat farm?

Something new: A day with goats

By Excel V. Dyquiangco Photos by Mike Alegado

A

lso known as the People’s Farm, the DV Boer Farm is not just about goat raising and cattle raising. For those who’d want to spend a day with the animals, DV Boer Farm provides just the right venue for those who would like to engage with nature.

Aside from the usual tour of the area, the farm offers time to feed the animals with an indulgence of fresh air and serene atmosphere. Guests can also revel in horseback riding. There are a couple of cottages to stay and dwell in, and naturally, most of the dishes are prepared fresh.

Perhaps, one of the most outstanding plates of food served here is the kalderetang kambing, a savoury goat-meat stew with vegetables and spices. “ We plan to put up several and different activities here in the future to entertain our guests,” says Dexter Villamin, owner of DV Boer Farm in Lian, Batangas. But this farm is not just any other goat farm or a place to relax and unwind. Occupying an 11 hectare of land, the farm is a breeding haven of fullblood Boer goats directly imported from Australia. Although the farm provides rest and recreation for its visitors, the farm also provides an integrated effort in livestock raising among individual stakeholders who are interested in a sustainable and progressive mass reproduction of hybrid offspring.

“My objective was to upgrade the quality of our country’s native livestock and in

the process, institute an innovative and profitable livestock farming never before experienced under the country’s agricultural setting. I then decided to begin with hybrid goat raising which I considered easier to manage and more economical in terms of handling cost, feed cost and energy cost compared to swine raising,” said Villamin whose revolutionary approach involves widespread sharing of livestock genetics.

Known as the DV Boer Profitable Goat Raising Livelihood Program, it was heavily promoted in its official Facebook accounts, and shortly went viral as it caught the attention of Filipino livestock farmers and agri-business enthusiasts both here and abroad.

“My social-media promotion of goatraising and cattle-raising projects paved way for people to develop that spirit of agriculture based entrepreneurship,” Villamin says. “They learned the simplified yet profitable way of livestock raising even if they didn’t have their own farms. They only have to avail themselves the services provided by the DV Boer’s own farm complete with its facilities, manpower and technical expertise to ensure successful livestock-raising and breeding processes.”

Called the “Pa-iwi System”, this simplified way of large-scale livestock raising was taught in a series of seminars abroad aside from the occasionally scheduled on-line seminars or webinars.

To accommodate the interested individuals, DV Boer Farm had expanded its number of satellite farms in Pangasinan, Sorsogon, Zambales and more will soon be established in several provinces nationwide.

Juan For Fun 2017

announces winners

P

acking more fun into your travels, leading travel and adventure gear distributor Jake Bros. recently partnered with the country’s most popular budget airline, Cebu Pacific for the latter’s, recently concluded Juan for Fun 2017, the ultimate travel challenge for those who love to give in to their wanderlust.

The competition is currently on its sixth edition and continues to raise the ante with experiences and prizes that excite participants with the grand prize being a travel-all-you-can-pass to any of Cebu Pacific’s domestic or short international haul destinations for one whole year. A prize, that this year’s winners, members of Team Juanton —Geia Mendoza, Dominic Ang, and Chyn Crisostomo—will soon be enjoying.

The contest is open to young adventurers ages 18 to 23, wherein they will be taken across the archipelago to discover the country’s most exciting destinations.

Other participants who embarked on this wild adventure are host and YouTube vlogger Wil Dasovich, Kyle Jennermann of Becoming Filipino, social-media strategist Ren Sapitan of Beautiful Destinations, international blogger Sabrina Iovino of JustOneWayTicket.com and travel writer Jude Bacalso. Representing key regions across the country are participants: Team Phun from Bacolod City, Team Malackai of Baguio City, Team Patsada of Cagayan de Oro and Team Barbie of Davao City.

Taking off from Manila, Team Juanton landed in Dumaguete and ventured into the exquisite waters of the nearby islands.

Snorkeling introduced the team to Apo

Island’s bursting marine life and the flotilla of sea turtles swimming underneath. From there they also went to Cebu, Siquijor and Legazpi to discover the country’s many natural and historical treasures.

“I realized just how beautiful the Philippines is. It’s just one country, but in it, more than 7,000 islands that are vastly different and unique in their charm,” said Mendoza, who is still in awe of the distinctly beautiful sites that each Cebu Pacific destination they visited offers.

To make their travels across the Philippine islands more comfortable, secure and stylish, Jake Bros. generously provided Boreas adventure travel gear for all the participants of this year’s Juan for Fun. In line with this, Jake Bros. also provides custom-designed luggage for Cebu Pacific flight crew, enabling them to pack well and more securely for their many flights.

A team partner of Juan For Fun for the last five years, Jake Bros. aims to inspire more people to explore and discover new things in the Philippines.

Aside from discovering the beauty of so many local sites, the challenge also aims to promote positivity and good vibes through its participants, which wasn’t much of a challenge anyway given how naturally warm as a people Filipinos are.

“We have always heard foreigners talk about the Filipinos’ hospitality. Sheltered in our own cities, we wouldn’t have realized this, but joining Juan for Fun and going out to these places across the Philippines showed us that the classic Pinoy kindness is truly out there,” Ang shares.

Peace Park is a symbol and reminder of the futility of using nuclear weapons.

Nagasaki, The City of Revivals Story & photos by Joshua Berida

I

t was like any other day, people walked home to the grocery store or doing mundane things like washing the dishes, hanging clothes and drinking coffee. However, it was no ordinary day. It was August 9, 1945, when a mushroom-like cloud enveloped the city. Nagasaki is one of two cities in Japan, the other Hiroshima, where the atomic bomb exploded and devastated the city. Thousands died; prisoners of war, criminals, priests, soldiers and children just to name a few.

Nagasaki may have a bloody past, but it has risen from the ashes like a phoenix. The city experienced revivals during different times in its history.

The industrial revolution

Japan was in seclusion centuries ago, with minimal contact with the outside world; this was during the feudal Tokugawa era. However, despite the barring of foreign visitors from entering, Nagasaki was one of the few places that allowed foreigners to enter. Built in 1636, the man-made island of Dejima segregated the Portuguese from the Japanese, and limited the former’s missionary activities. This was the time when the country focused on rangaku, or Western learning, to import science and knowledge into their country.

After 1636 the Japanese expelled the Portuguese, and the Dutch Trading Station, formerly in Hirado, was transferred to Dejima.

The Dutch stayed in Dejima during the two centuries of isolation of the country, and were the only remaining Westerners allowed to stay. Fast forward to today, Dejima is not an island anymore as reclamation took place in the 20th century. Despite the modernization of the area, many of the historical structures remain and some even reconstructed; these include gates, walls and warehouses.

Nagasaki’s openness in the second half of the 19th century provided an opportunity for Western industrialists to enter new markets and flex their influence in the region. One of the remnants of this bygone era is the Glover Garden. The park commemorates the Scot Thomas Blake Glover, a merchant who played an important role in the modernization of Japan in coal mining, shipbuilding and other heavy industries.

The park provides an overlooking view of the heavy industry that is still prevalent in Nagasaki today; the cranes swinging back and forth to move cargo, the skeletons of ships waiting for completion and the rising of buildings from the ground up. I could only imagine the transformation of feudal Japan into a bustling industrialized city. The small houses and cottage industries transformed into concrete and metal buildings that catered to foreign trade that ushered in industrialization.

The industrialists and Westerners

Glover Garden commemorates the arrival of industrialists who were integral to the industrialization of Kyushu and Japan.

didn’t only trade and build ships, they also left their religion and inf luenced the architecture of the city. The construction of the Oura Catholic Church took place at the tail end of the Edo Period in 1864. It is the oldest standing church in Japan and became the first Western building named as a national treasure. Walking toward the park made me imagine that I was in Europe; many houses and buildings have a distinct European influence on design and stature.

Revival from war

Nagasaki was a bustling city that reaped the benefits of industrialization at the turn of the 20th century. However, this all changed after the Americans dropped the second atomic bomb in Japan. The devastation left thousands dead and the survivors dealt with serious injuries and trauma for many years. Despite the tragedy that ravaged the city, the Japanese went back to work and rebuilt from the ground up. The citizens didn’t forget their past, but wanted to leave a reminder of the futility of using nuclear weapons.

The Hypocenter Park has a monument that marks the epicenter of the atomic bomb’s explosion. The nearby Peace, Park commemorates the bombing of Nagasaki on the fateful date of August 9, 1945. Its most recognizable statue is full of symbols; its extended left hand is a symbol of lasting peace while the right points to the threat of nuclear weapons. Its mild face is a picture of grace and the closed eyes is a prayer offering for the bomb’s victims. The Atom Bomb Museum provides a harrowing look at what transpired on the tragic day of the bombing.

Today the city is as vibrant as any other Japanese metropolis; glitzy shopping centers, high-rise buildings lighting up the night sky and foreign trade and ships coming and going are as they were before. Scars heal as time passes; however, Nagasaki still remembers its past and builds on it as it looks to the future.

Foreigners left lasting imprints in Nagasaki, one of which is their religion.

Heavy industries are still very much alive centuries after the industrialists came.

Martyrs shed their blood to spread the gospel in Japan.

Faith A8 Sunday, October 1, 2017

Sunday

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

‘Don’t be afraid!’: Pope starts campaign to promote migrants D

Lucifer, fallen angel and evil

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

emons or evils exist, not only in stories or movies. The exorcists of the Catholic Church will proclaim that they do. Scriptural imagery depicted them as black, grotesque figures with horns, tails, red, fiery eyes and with claws in black tights.

The scriptures simply describe them as “roaring lions seeking people to devour.”

But their existence is a defined dogma, from the Fourth Lateran Council as “ by nature spirits created by God, so originally good, but fell into sin of their own free will and are eternally damned.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church repeated this description.

V

ATICAN CITY—Pope Francis on Wednesday launched a twoyear education campaign about the plight of migrants to counteract mounting anti-immigrant sentiment in the US and Europe, urging the world: “Don’t be afraid!”

Francis posed for selfies, shook hands, kissed babies and hugged migrants at the end of his weekly general audience, teaching by example that “others” are not to be feared but embraced.

The campaign, spearheaded by the Vatican’s Caritas charity, encourages people to meet with migrants and listen to their stories, rather than treat them as statistics clouded by negative stereotypes.

Francis, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, urged individuals and governments to open their arms and welcome migrants and share in their plight, as Jesus did.

T hrow ing his arms open as he spoke, Francis said migrants are driven by the ver y Christian v irtue of hope to find a better life, and said receiv ing countries should share in that hope by welcoming them and integrating them.

“Brothers, don’t be afraid of sharing the journey. Don’t be afraid of sharing hope,” he told the crowd in Saint Peter’s Square.

The Church is undertaking the campaign amid a hardening of anti-immigrant sentiment in the West.

I n G e r m a n’s e l e c t i o n o n Sunday, the nationalist, antimigrant party Alternative for Germany secured seats in that country’s parliament for the first time. In the US President Donald J. Trump is pressing for sweeping limits on immigration, including restricting travel from Muslim and other countries and slashing refugee admissions.

Francis has repeatedly urged countries to welcome migrants and stop collective expulsions,

say ing migrants’ dignity and right to protection outweigh national security concerns.

At the same time, he has acknowledged that governments must manage refugee flows “with prudence,” taking into account how many people it can successfully integrate into society.

Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who heads Caritas, choked up during the Vatican launch of the campaign, recalling that his grandfather migrated to the Philippines from China as a “young, poor boy.”

“W ho would think that he would produce a cardinal grandson?” Tagle marveled.

After regaining his composure, Tagle took aim at anti-immigrant politicians.

“Why are you afraid? The migrant that you are rejecting might be contributing to that community,” he said. “Don’t close the doors. You might be closing the doors to people who might enrich your society.”

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which also has a leading role in the Catholic migrant campaign, has repeatedly condemned restrictions on immigration and

Pope Francis greets Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (second from right), archbishop of Manila, and a group of migrants, during his weekly general audience, at the Vatican on September 27. AP/Andrew Medichini

has taken a hard stand against some of the Trump administration’s initiatives.

“This campaign is not only the pope’s response to Trump and his nativist agenda, but also to growing xenophobia globally,” said Kevin Appleby, who headed the US bishops’ migration office for 16 years. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Archbishop Jose Gomez, who lead the bishops’ conference, have met with US Vice President Mike Pence to discuss “our reasons we’re so concerned and opposition to some of the ways the administration was deciding” immigration policy, DiNardo told The Associated Press.

The US bishops said Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects young immigrants from deportation was “reprehensible”—a decision that Francis said shouldn’t come from

Why are you afraid? The migrant that you are rejecting might be contributing to that community. Don’t close the doors. You might be closing the doors to people who might enrich your society.”—Tagle

First of two parts

War in heaven a president who considers himself “pro-life.”

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said this month that US bishops support immigrants because “they need illegal aliens to fill the churches.”

The statement drew an unusually harsh rebuke from the bishops’ conference. “Our own faith is so clear. How could you not welcome the stranger?” DiNardo said.

T he campaign launched on Wednesday aims to challenge t he a nimosit y towa rd imm igrants through web sites feat u r i ng “my t hs a nd t r ut hs” about the impact of immigration, personal stories of refugees and explanations of church teaching on migration.

Organizers are asking Catholics to take public action in support of migrants, posting pro-immigrant messages on social media and participating in programs where they can meet migrants, such as in schools or parishes.

“Having our leaders know and meet immigrants—and know that they’re people like us, that they have a story and that they need help—will change their mind and will help them create policies and decisions that include more of that reality,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, who directs Catholic Charities, the American branch of Caritas, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas on the US-Mexico border. AP

Ther e was a war in heaven, “passionate, intense, terrifying war of w il ls, of minds,” said in Revelations 12:7- 8.

Lucifer, the greatest of all angels, rebelled. One-third of the angels, according to an old tradition rebelled with Lucifer.

The war, in Christian version, as narrated by Peter Kreeft in Angels and Demons, started when God shared his plan to create man and incarnate himself as man—in Jesus.

Lucifer could not accept an “undignified plan to bow to a God of flesh and blood.”

“I will not serve.”

So he w a s ba n i shed f rom heaven. Saint Augustine said, “It is irrevocable choice and not God ’s divine mercy that made the angels’ sin unforgivable.”

So Lucifer, the Light Bearer, became Satan, the accuser, and all his followers were thrown down to the Earth, according to Revelations 12:7-9.

An angel in disguise

That Lucifer is on Earth, 24/7, should be of utmost concern to anyone who values his spirituality.

For, he is an adversary, like a roaring lion to lead one to sin (1 Peter 5:8), a tempter to induce those who preach about God (1 Thessalonians 3:5), a deceiver mouthing clever lies (2 Corinthians 11:3), a hinderer to prevent visits to those who share the faith (1 Thessalonians 2:18), keeps mind in the dark about God’s goodness (2 Corinthians 4:4) and a spiritual power who control

people who follow the world’s evil ways (2 Ephesians 2:2).

God speaks in silence and in a world drowned by noise, warning men about the wiles of the Evil One. Jesus warning man whom to fear said: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterward do anything worse…. Fear God who has the authority into hell” (Luke 12:4-5).

Sophistic insidiator

Sin is defined as “refusal of God’s love,” thus, egoism and “absolute slavery to matter.”

Man commits sin because of the self, world and Satan, according to moral theologians. The flesh means the nature of man— lustful and continuously craving for self-gratification.

The world is planet Earth. It is the world that offers material things to fulfil his cravings for a leisurely and comfortable life—money, fame and power.

The world presents varied and limitless opportunities for man to scale the ladder of success.

Because the world is continuously fashioned to cater to man’s unending desires, Satan relentlessly tempts man to sin in matters of greed, pride, envy, jealousy, hatred and resentments.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola likens him to an army commander who continuously studies man’s personality, his strength and weaknesses, and attacks during his weakest points or in dilemma.

During unguarded moments, man can be boastful, unforgiving, vain, selfish and lustful.

Although God has endowed man with a free will or liberty of choice, so by choice he can opt not to sin, his adversary the devil, 24/7, is on the lookout.

Satan influences him to make preferences, clouding his mind, especially if he is not in the state of grace to make sinful choices.

“All temptations of spiritual and physiological life, human and social, are caused by the flesh,” to allure men to their favorite or preferred vices.

Pope Paul VI calls Satan the “sophistic insidiator” of the moral equilibrium of mankind.

To be concluded

Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

Christian, Muslim leaders push for ‘peace education’ in schools

T

‘Kasalan sa SM’ Seventeen couples exchanged their “I dos” and celebrated their union in a mass wedding, dubbed “Kasalaan sa SM”, sponsored by the Felicidad T. Sy Foundation Inc., led by its founder and matriarch, Nanang Felicidad T. Sy (top photo, first row, center) on September 25. The event, officiated by Fr. Reynaldo Reyes, SSP, was held at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, at the Central Business Park in the Reclamation Area in Pasay City. The reception followed at the SMX Convention Center in the SM Mall of Asia.

The couples are employees at various SM stores in Metro Manila. Alysa Salen

op Christian and Muslim leaders s a i d i t i s t i m e to g i ve “p e a c e education” a chance in the country’s schools.In a peace declaration made in Rome on September 16, the religious leaders affirmed the lack of structured program of peace education, and recommended that such should become par t of the curriculum.

“We call for the inclusion of peace education at all levels in our schools, madaris and communities,” part of the declaration read.

“We need to build a culture of peace based on personal integrity, respect for human rights, intercultural dialogue, care for the environment, peaceful coexistence and eradication of poverty,” the declaration added.

Th e d e c l a rat i o n wa s s i g n e d by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro; Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Marawi; Dr. Said Zamahsari Salendab, secretarygeneral of the Hayatul Ulama in Mindanao; and Dr. Ustadz Abdulmuhmin Mujahid, executive director of the Regional Darul IftaAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

O ther signatories are D r. Mauro Garofalo, head of International Relations fo r t h e R o m e - b a s e d Co m m u n i t y o f Sant’Egidio (CSE), and Mona Liza Pangan, a resident of the besieged city of Marawi in Lanao del Sur. Current efforts at writing “a more inclusive histor y of Mindanao” that explores the root causes of conflic t

Government troops guard their positions outside damaged houses in Marawi City on September 19. Vincent Go/CBCPNews

and depic ts signific ant events and personalities from Muslim and indigenous people communities, they said, is a welcome development.

The declaration was the result of an informal dialogue on the peace process in Mindanao convened by the CSE in the presence of Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato and Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They also called on for the promotion of peace through interreligious

dialogue, stressing the role of young people in clearing misunderstanding about religions. This dialogue, according to them, must move from the top to the grassroots levels of society.

“We commit ourselves to reach out to our youth, who will be the future leaders of our Mindanao communities. They have so much to contribute toward building our communities with a renewed vision of Mindanao as our shared homeland,” they said.

They also renewed their appeal for the legislators to “expedite” the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) that will govern the creation of a new autonomous Muslim region in southern Philippines.

The proposed measure has been delayed since the signing of the Co m p r e h e n s i v e A g r e e m e n t o f t h e Bangsamoro in March 2014.

“An approved BBL shall provide a positive alternative to violent extremism,” they said. Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews

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www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Sunday, October 1, 2017 A9

CAGAYAN VALLEY: Grains Granary of the Philippines

A CORN trader solar dries corn kernels on an idle road in Santiago City.

FARMERS from Ilagan City, Isabela, use a corn thresher as a postharvest process.

Story and photos by Leonardo Perante II

L

Correspondent

ANDLOCKED on the west by the Cordilleras, at the southern border by the Caraballos and on the eastern side by the Sierra Madre mountain range is the Cagayan Valley region.

In the country’s second geographical region (from Nueva Vizcaya to Cagayan province up north) lies vast agricultural lands, Nueva Vizcaya, otherwise known as “gateway” to the valley, has other flagship crops, like oranges, pineapples, salad vegetables, cut-flowers, mangoes, livestock and fish farming, while Quirino, Isabela and Cagayan provinces produce substantial corn and tobacco harvests. Isabela is now dubbed as the Corn Capital of the Philippines.

But while these provinces in the Northeastern Luzon block excel in their respective agricultural products, rice farming stands out as a common denominator. The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) confirmed that some 139,000 hectares of the region’s total land area are planted to rice.

The construction of the Magat Multipurpose Dam has provided a steady irrigation for rice farms in Isabela, while Cagayan river irrigates the northernmost province in Luzon mainland.

Though not blessed with sizable reservoirs, Nueva Vizcaya is strategically located upstream of the Magat River. Its extensive watershed provides fresh irrigation water from tributaries, like Matuno, Imugan, Santa Cruz and Sante Fe rivers. This is backed by a number of creek networks enough to sustain a year-round or three cropping season rice-planting calendar. The Vizcaya watershed literally supplies Magat Hydroelectric Dam reservoir in Ramon, Isabela.

The wide-scale devastation brought about by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 damaged thousands of fertile farms in Central Luzon. It also caused the drying up of the Pantabangan Dam reservoir in Nueva Ecija, a major source of irrigation water in the central plains, thus, stripping the former rice granary of the Philippines of its lofty status.

It is precisely for this reason that the water flowing from the

controversial Casecnan river from the southern part of Nueva Vizcaya has been tapped to boost both power and irrigation requirements of Central Luzon through a 26-kilometer underground diversion weir that would siphon Vizcaya water to the Pantabangan Hydroelectric Dam in Nueva Ecija.

Today Cagayan Valley has emerged as the country’s grains granary. And of all the provinces in the region’s finest eating quality rice—dubbed as “Vizcaya Rice”. How it gained this reputation goes way back in history.

During the pre-Spanish era, Nueva Vizcaya’s rolling landscape was inhabited only by the indigenous head-hunting Bungkalot, Ifugao and Igorot tribes. When Spanish colonizers discovered the place, it was named after the people living in the coast of Mar de Vizcaine in Spain. In the beginning of the 19th century, it was a part of the vast Territorio de Missiones of the Spanish-controlled government of Cagayan.

The territory covered eastern half of Northern Luzon from Nueva Ecija to Aparri, including the Batanes Islands.

Because of the tribes’ headhunting activities and the province’s mountainous borders, Spanish conquerors and even local immigrants have found difficulty penetrating what was then a newfound land. With a considerable distance away from the shorelines and seaports, the remote introduction of more advanced farm implements and equipment from the “invaders” have kept the natives in the primitive method of farming, unwittingly organic. Rice, already a major crop by then, has likewise been grown in a traditional manner and milled manually on wooden or stone mortar and pestle.

Shortly after World War II, the Americans introduced mechanized farming with power tillers called tractors. This was followed by the introduction of a mobile

AT the foreground, heavy-laden rice panicles frame a BusinessMirror vehicle traversing a productive farm in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. Rice remains a major crop in the upland town.

tractor-mounted rice mill that roams around the towns milling rice harvest right at farm gates or at the farmer’s doorstep.

The former Bigasang Bayan, which sold subsidized rice during the war was replaced by the Farmer’s Cooperative Marketing.

Eventually, the Rice and Corn Administration took over the job of providing a stable supply of rice at a subsidized price.

In the 1950s heavy-duty rice mills installed in more permanent and bigger housing were introduced in the province. Farmers could then bring the bulk of their harvest for a relatively faster milling time.

In 1972 the National Grains Authority was created to ensure stocks and stabilize rice prices.

The Department of Agriculture was, likewise, mandated to spearhead the implementation of the Masagana 99, a government rice-production program which provided rice farmers capital via an agricultural credit system with the organization of Samahang Nayons.

With the introduction of new high-yielding rice varieties, modern farm implements and hightech methods of rice planting, like the mechanized rice planter

A TEACHER from the Santiago City National High School crosses a prolific rice field in order to reach the house of her student who is not attending classes. The country observes September 5 to October 5 as teachers’ month celebration.

and the mechanical rice reaper.

A farmer at present could double his conventional harvest. Today, a hectare could yield a minimum of 100 to as high as 200 sacks at 50 kilograms per bag.

Despite the marketing assistance offered by the National Food

Authority (NFA) authorizing conduit traders to buy rice from the farmers for the agency, surplus rice stocks spilled from NFA warehouses. Commercial rice trading then came into the picture.

With rice production stabilized in the region, commercial

rice trading hit its highest potentials. Petty rice traders scattered all over the valley serve as feeders to trading giants who, eventually, deliver what was termed “commercial rice” to key cities, like Metro Manila and Baguio City.

A10 Sunday, October 1, 2017

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Malolos showcased best of city

in 2017 Singkaban fest

COOKED chicken and eggs are the centerpiece of the long table laden with food.

HUNDREDS of Bulakenyos join a boodle fight.

Story and photos by Catherine Joy L. Maglalang

C

Correspondent

ITY OF MALOLOS—This city celebrated with gusto the 2017 edition of the Singkaban Festival’s weeklong celebration to showcase the diverse arts and culture of the province.

The event opened on September 8, with the theme “Bulacan: Babalik-balikan” with Sen. Grace Poe as guest of honor.

Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado said thousands of Bulakenyos joined the provincial government of Bulacan celebrate the festival which opened with a thanksgiving Mass, flag raising and a program held in front of the Capitol Building in this city.

A “Parada ng Karosa” followed; it highlighted the products of the towns and cities with beautiful designs. There was also an “Indakan sa Kalye”, presentation of

the candidates of the first “Hari at Reyna ng Singkaban 2017” and “Opening of the Exhibits”, such as Sineliksik Bulacan Docufest 2017 Film Showing, Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Bulacan 2017 and Bulacan Business Week.

Also, on opening night, Globe Night called “Sing Ka Band 2017” was held at the Bulacan Sports Complex, where Sponge Cola and Rocksteddy Band rocked and rolled with Bulakenyos in a concert followed by pyrotechnics in “Pasiklaban sa Singkaban”.

The governor said the provincial government of Bulacan ined

BULACAN Vice Gov. Daniel R. Fernando (first row, first from left), guest of honor Sen. Grace Poe and Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado, together with the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bulacan, during the opening of the Singkaban Festival 2017 in the city of Malolos, Bulacan.

up other activities, including “Bulacan X-Factor Grand Finals”, “Hari at Reyna ng Singkaban Coronation Night”, Gary Valenciano and Hiyas ng Bulacan Bass Brand concerts, and talent competitions, such as “Banda Rito, Sayaw Doon”. Also, the Bulakenyos joined the weeklong activities, like “Singkaban ng Bayan” (Singkaban Arc-making Competition), “Bahay Kubo, Bahay Gulay” and “Tatak Singkaban ng Central Luzon 2017”.

During the Indakan sa Kalye, contingents from different towns and cities of the province paraded from Barasoain Church to the Provincial Capitol building while showcasing Bulacan’s culture, history and traditions through dance.

Provincial History, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office (Phacto) Head Dr. Eliseo de la Cruz said the grand winner took home a trophy and P100,000, while the first and second runners-up each received a trophy and P70,000 and P40,000 in cash prizes, respectively.

Also, winners of special awards, like Best in Costume and Best in Street Dance received

P5,000 each and three groups were given P10,000 each as a consolation prize.

Also, a trade fair featuring the best of Bulacan’s local products, tourist destinations and arts and culture adorned the floats of the towns and cities that participated in the Parada ng Karosa on September 8.

The participating local government units entered floats that showcased their products, tourist destinations and arts and culture.

Winners took home trophies, plus cash incentives amounting to P100,000 for the first place; P70,000 for the second place; and P30,000 for the third place.

Before coronation night, candidates showcased various products through a series of fashion shows. Displayed were buntal hats and bags on August 20 at SM City Baliwag and Meycauayan jewelries on August 27 at SM City San Jose del Monte.

Also, 9,000 Bulakenyo youth joined this year’s “Hakbang para sa Kabataan”, a walk for a cause that aimed to raise funds for sports development and youth associations’ livelihood programs, leadership trainings and

team buildings.

Walking from two separate starting points, one from Barasoain Church and the other from Santisima Trinidad Elementary School and both ending at Tanghalan ng Sining at Kultura, Mini Forest in this city, the walk for a cause began at 7 a.m. on September 12.

Sy-Alvarado said the funds generated would benefit outof-school youth and Bulakenyo athletes.

Hundreds of members of the Bulacan Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association joined a half day of fun and appreciation as the provincial government of Bulacan held “Araw ng Lingkod Lansangan”, on September 14, at the Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center here.

The event sought to recognize the contribution of public-transport drivers in building the local economy and in providing safe public transportation for commuters.

Booths featuring different products of participating municipalities gave food enthusiasts a wide variety of food products to choose from. There was also a food talk through the Phacto

THE municipality of Calumpit displays bags, t-shirts, hanging lamps and delicacies in their booth.

that conducted the first “Bulacan Food Congress” on September 14, at the Balagtas Hall, Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center here.

De la Cruz said the whole day was filled with talks about histories of food in the province, cooking demonstrations and food presentations.

During the festives, 12 notable Bulakenyos were recognized by the provincial government of Bulacan through the Gawad Dangal ng Lipi 2017 on September 15.

The Provincial Planning and Development Office, DNL secretariat, said the nominees underwent a thorough screening process for public service, professional, community service, entrepreneur, education, science and technology, arts and culture, trade and industry, health, agriculture, sports, Bulakenyo expatriates and “Tanging Bulakenyo”.

Tanging Bulakenyo, the highest award to be given to a Bulakenyo by the provincial government of Bulacan, was awarded to a nominee who excels in any of the awards categories, with an outstanding contribution to society.

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www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Sunday, October 1 , 2017 A11

Polish priest lays foundation for Samar Archeological Museum

The Samar Archeological Museum attracts visitors from outside of the island. At the center is a retablo of the old Cathedral of the Diocese of Calbayog before it was repaired in 1965.

Portrait of Franciscan priest Fr. Cantius Kobak on his biography on the wall of the museum

C

Copy from a microfilm of the published Spanish transcript and its English translation by Philippine Studies program of the University of Chicago

By Elmer V. Recuerdo Correspondent

ALBAYOG CITY—History books do not tell much, but long before the Spaniards came to invade through the introduction of Christianity, some parts of the country already had a thriving civilization-trading with other countries, had their own system of writing and reading and even a concept of beauty.

The proof is not an oral history passed from one generation to the next, but an extensive collection of artifacts dug or found in various caves, rivers, in many other unexpected places all over Samar.

While Samar island is not mentioned much in history books, except, perhaps, for the landing of Magellan in Homonhon or maybe a bit about the Sumuroy Rebellion, artifacts discovered in the last few decades, as well as chronicles of Spanish historians indicate a relatively well-off place.

“It tells us that ancient Visayans were already literate because they already had these shell bracelets, ornaments and an idea of what is beautiful with the discovery of skulls that have flattened heads,” said Carl Bordeos, curator at the Samar Archeological Museum.

“These artifacts tell us these are ancient places where people lived long before the Spaniards came,” he added.

Museum turns 50

MANY locals are not aware that it exists, but right at the heart of this city inside a Catholic school is an important archeological museum that recently celebrated its 50 years of existence.

The Samar Archeological Museum, the only archeological museum in Eastern Visayas found at Christ the King College, celebrated its golden anniversary on August 29 with a tribute to the priest who started it all— Franciscan priest Fr. Cantius J. Kobak, OFM. “Father Kobak is undoubtedly the greatest historian of Samar and the Visayan region,” Bordeos said. “His contributions to our current understanding of our ancestors is unparalleled.

His works allowed us to understand the life and culture of early Samareños and the Visayans.”

His greatest scholarly achievement is the tracking down from different museums and archives in Europe and America the manuscripts of

Jesuit missionary priest Francisco Ignacio Alcina’s Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas 1668, which he also transcribed and translated from Spanish to English. Father Alcina was a missionary in Samar, Leyte and the Visayan islands from 1637 to 1668.

Father Kobak established the Christ the King College Archeological and Ethnographic Museum in 1967, now renamed the Samar Archeological Museum, and cofounded with Society of Divine Word priest Fr. Anthony Buchcik the Leyte-Samar Museum and the Leyte-Samar Studies journal of the now closed Divine Word University in Tacloban.

Mission life of a historian

FATHER Kobak was born Zdislaw Kobak in Torun, Poland, on June 29, 1930. His father went to America at the time of the Great Depression in 1931.

He went to Saint John Cantius School for his elementary education and later transferred to Franciscan-operated Saint Bonaventure High School and Minor Seminary in Wisconsin.

Upon graduation, he entered the Order of Friars Minor and became a novice on August 14, 1949, taking the name Cantius.

He continued his theological studies at Christ the King Seminary in Illinois and was ordained priest on June 1, 1957.

Bordeos said two years after his ordination, Father Kobak requested for an assignment in Samar in response to the plea of then bishop of Calbayog for missionary priests and to save the Catholic school Colegio de San Vicente de Paul (now Christ the King College or CKC) from bankruptcy. He arrived in Calbayog City on August 28, 1959, and was assigned to teach at CKC. The scant published materials about the history and culture

of Samar island prompted him to do an extensive research and even archeological expeditions to different areas of the island.

“He collected and compiled the histories of Samar and Leyte towns, Visayan songs, poetry, dramas, riddles and Bisaya-Spanish dictionaries,” Bordeos said.

In 1967 public-school teachers brought him stoneware jars found in Gandara, Samar that triggered his interest to visit ancient burial sites around the island. Taking cue from the works of Father Alcina on how and where the ancient Visayan people buried their deceased, Father Kobak planned some expeditions during semestral breaks.

The priest gathered a group of college students and began his first archeological expedition in Oras, Eastern Samar, where the caves yielded pottery shards and bones. In later expeditions in different areas of the island, he found Chinese porcelain, broken stoneware and porcelain shards, human bones and teeth and other artifacts.

His expeditions in Northern Samar resulted in some important relics, like a log coffin of a datu, and his son found in San Antonio, religious icons from Capul island and a dragon jar from Laoang. The dragon jar, called by early Visayans as inalasan nga tadyaw, is said to be a secondary burial jar for a royal child and was carbon dated to have originated sometime in 960 AD. Bordeos said there are only three known dragon jars in Asia, including the one in the museum.

Local researcher Charo Cabardo, who wrote a coffeetable book on the history and culture of the Calbayog diocese, said the jars, plates, bowls, potteries and skulls that Father Kobak found were from 13th to 15th century in Samar.

Wooden religious images found in Capul island, where the seat of Christianity in Samar island started

“Today we can never fully express our deep gratitude to Father Kobak for his persistence in looking for our cultural and historical artifacts, despite the complaints of his brother Franciscans for his supposedly spending too much money and time for his trips,” Cabardo said. “Back in the 1960s and 1970s, there was systematic looting by treasure hunters of our cultural artifacts that found their way into collectors and rich culturati.”

Saving the works of Alcina

APART from gathering important relics from the past, the greatest achievement of Father Kobak was his painstaking efforts to gather, translate and publish the works of Jesuit priest Father Alcina.

Father Alcina was a 22-yearold Jesuit missionary when he was assigned to Samar in 1634.

In his 34 years of spreading Christianity and administering the Jesuit Order in the islands, Father Alcina also documented the history, stories, ancient customs, traditions and beliefs, the oral literature, songs, epics and even the flora and fauna found in the island.

“He wrote down our heritage in nine books, entitled Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas 1668,” Cabardo said. “This is the most valuable source of our history and heritage, not only for Samar Island, but for the Philippines.”

In 1672 Father Alcina sent his manuscripts to Spain for publication and two years later, he died. Nothing has been heard of the manuscripts until 1784 when some pages were discovered by Dr. Juan Bautista Muñoz being used to wrap powders and ointments in a pharmacy in Spain.

Dr. Muñoz saved what remained of Father Alcina’s manuscript.

The manuscripts were kept at the Real Academia de la Historia

in Madrid and never saw print until the 1950s, when the Philippine Studies program of the University of Chicago published a Spanish transcript and an English translation of the first part of the compilation.

In 1965 Father Kobak acquired copies of Father Alcina’s manuscripts from the Central Jesuit Archives in Rome. After two years, he was able to secure copies of microfilms from the Academia de la Historia and Biblioteca de la Palacio in Madrid, Spain.

Father Kobak spent over 30 years in research, writing, editing and annotating Father Alcina’s monumental work with the help of Dominican scholars Father Pablo Fernandez and Father Lucio Gutierrez.

Father Alcina’s grand contribution to Philippine History and Culture finally saw the light in 2000, with the publication of the Part One with Spanish and English translation, after 332 years of waiting.

“Father Alcina’s Historia 1668 provide the most complete and extensive ethnographic account of any regional group in the Philippines in the 17th century,” Bordeos said.

Father Kobak also made a research and wrote on the Sumuroy Rebellion in 1649-1650 that started in Palapag, Northern Samar, and spread across the southern part of the country.

He collaborated with University of the Philippines Professor Rolando Borrinaga in translating Manuel Artigas y Cuerva’s Reseñe dela Provincia de Leyte to English. Their book The Colonial Odyssey of Leyte (1521-1914) won the 2006 National Book Awards for Translation from the Manila Critics Circle.

Father Kobak died of cancer of the lymph glands on August 15, 2004, at the age of 74.

A12 Sunday, October 1, 2017

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Zambales coordinates 2-day environment summit to consolidate ICC drive

RECYCLED: FIGURES made of empty plastic bottles adorn the Subic Bay Freeport waterfront, roving that wastes are simply resources out of place.

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Story and photos by Henry Empeño Correspondent

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—A two-day environment summit was held here this past week to conclude the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) campaign in Zambales and consolidate community efforts in protecting the marine environment in the province.

A FISHERMAN brings in a bag of trash collected from the bay of Subic during the International Coastal Cleanup on September 16.

VOLUNTEERS joining the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) drive sort trash collected along the Subic Bay shoreline during the ICC on September 16.

Zed Avecilla, ICC Zambales area coordinator, said activities for the summit was scheduled for September 28 and 29 simultaneously at the Ayala Malls Harbor Point Mall and the International

School of Sustainable Tourism in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

“The ICCPH Environmental Summit is all about lifting the levels of awareness and inspiring more people to come together and

build a legacy of a healthy planet for future generations,” said Avecilla, who is also deputy chief of staff for marine environmental protection of the 111th Squadron of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary.

“Although many people helped clean our beaches last week, there is still a lot of work to be done and beach cleanup is not enough,” he said. “We need to strengthen our connection with our environment and realize it is under threat due to indiscriminate human activities and behavior, and an inadequate understanding of its consequences.”

Avecilla explained the environment summit would be part of the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month

celebration, which aims to enhance the awareness and consciousness of Filipinos on the important features and concerns of the Philippines as a maritime and archipelagic domain.

President Duterte signed Presidential Proclamation 316, which declared September as Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month, the day before ICC Day. Avecilla said the speakers during the summit included several young and passionate environmental social entrepreneurs, and experts on waste management and leadership.

The two-day event also featured the screening of two awardwinning independent films, Nick and Chai and High Tide in partnership with Active Vista, a human-

rights education group that seeks to empower audiences in bringing about relevant social change.

Both films tackle contemporary environmental issues.

The environmental summit was organized by the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary 111th Squadron, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, The Lighthouse Marina Resort Legacy Foundation, National Solid Waste Management Council of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the National Coast Watch Council Secretariat.

Avecilla said the event partners wanted to make the call for everybody to take action to conserve the Earth and be respon-

sible citizens of the land.

In September 16 thousands of volunteers in Zambales took part in the global coastal cleanup in response to the call to help protect the marine environment.

Partial results from municipal ICC coordinators in Zambales indicated at least 71,000 participants from eight of the 13 municipalities in the province, with the capital town of Iba registering the biggest delegation at 20,700.

Avecilla said coordinators from five more towns have yet to submit their lists.

The ICC Day is held every third Saturday of September, as declared by Presidential Proclamation 470 signed in 2003 to enjoin Filipinos to observe the global coastal cleanup celebration.