BusinessMirror October 15, 2023

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A broader look at today’s business

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Sunday, October 15, 2023 Vol. 19 No. 4

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

‘SAVE BLUE. LIVE GREEN’ W

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

ITH the increasing demand for water and the perennial supply shortage being experienced in many parts of the country, especially during the El Niño or long season of drought, various options are being considered.

Around 97 percent of the raw water supply for Metro Manila, the seat of power and home to over 10 million Filipinos, plus around 2 million more living in nearby provinces, comes from the Angat Dam. The water from this dam, a project completed in 1967, however, is highly dependent on the replenishment from rivers draining to the reservoir during the wet season.

Even during the rainy season, when water is supposed to be abundant, the problem brought about by water turbidity becomes a challenge to private water concessionaires, which have both begun extracting water from Laguna de Bay. Maynilad Water recently introduced its recycled “New Water,” or treated water coming from households that go through the company’s sewage treatment plants (STP) to boost its supply.

The National Water Resources Board (NWRB), during the severe water supply shortage early this year, allowed Maynilad and Manila Water to extract groundwater to augment their supply from Angat Dam for Metro Manila customers.

National govt response

WHILE waiting for the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWS) to materialize, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

In May this year, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said the project, which is about 25 percent complete, is expected to be completed, and hopefully, made operational by December 2026.

The Kaliwa Dam is supposed to augment the supply coming from Angat for Metro Manila and nearby provinces’ ever-growing population and demand for clean water.

Among other measures, the WRMO led government offices occupying old buildings and those offices in huge compounds to plug leaks, while practicing water conservation measures, including water recycling and rainwater harvesting—hitting two birds with one stone in the process—reducing water consumption and saving costs that go to monthly water bills for a lot of water that only goes to waste.

Solar desalination

“There are communities that can be considered water-stressed communities.

Imagine, just to get drinking water, they will have to ride a banca for two to three hours to get to the mainland to fetch drinking water.

And if there’s no rain, they are forced to bathe using saltwater.”

—DENR Undersecretary for Integrated Science Carlos Primo David

signed Executive Order No. 22, s.

2023, creating the Water Resource Management Office (WRMO), which recently launched a campaign by appealing to government offices to start water conservation measures.

The much-delayed Kaliwa Dam Project, an initiative that dates back to the 1970s during the presidency of the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., was stalled primarily because of environmental and sociocultural issues relating to the planned construction.

FOR far-flung areas with no access to electricity and water, the DENRWRMO is now looking at solar desalination to provide potable water to fishing communities in 67 isolated communities in various parts of the country.

DENR Undersecretary for Integrated Science Carlos Primo David, who also heads the WRMO and the Geospatial Database Office, told the BusinessMirror in an interview that solar desalination will be using a combination of solar energy to produce power and desalination—or the process by which the dissolved mineral salts in water are removed so that the communities in these isolated fishing villages will have clean, potable water.

Off-grid, water-stressed communities

USING geospatial technology, he said they were able to identify these water-stressed communities where the provision of clean,

KOLDUNOVA ANNA | DREAMSTIME.COM

Desalination may help the Philippines face its water supply challenges, but how about the cost? drinking water by the government has no other choice, except for desalination.

And because these are isolated islands and islets, he said they are looking at solar energy to power up the equipment that will desalinate salt water.

David said he had initial talks with funding institutions, adding that such ambitious projects could be implemented through grants.

“And I already have donors for some projects,” he added.

“There are communities that can be considered water-stressed communities. Imagine, just to get drinking water, they will have to ride a banca for two to three hours to get to the mainland to fetch drinking water. And if there’s no rain, they are forced to bathe using saltwater,” David said.

According to David, these isolated communities are mostly in Bohol, but all of these are fishing communities, a sector considered to be among the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.

Cost of desalination

DESALINATION is costly, a reason behind the cautious stance of companies, even the government, in looking at investing in this technology.

Operating the facility would require the use of electricity and hiring of adequately skilled personnel to operate it, since putting up a desalination plant for seawater costs around $1 million. At such a cost, the plant can produce 1 million liters per day (MLD) of clean water.

For brackish desalination, the cost of putting up a plant or facility that could produce 1 MLD would be around P10 million. Translating it further, seawater turned into clean water would entail a cost of around P75 per cubic meter, while for brackish water, the cost would be P45 per cubic meter.

For surface water, the cost of

putting up a desalination plant with a similar water-production capacity is P5 million.

Feasible, practical

ASKED to weigh in on the DENRWRMO’s plan, Engr. Antonio Carmelo Tompar, president and CEO of Mactan Rock Industries, said the solar-powered desalination process is indeed feasible, and applicable in remote areas where there’s no water and electricity.

He said there are now quality and affordable, 12-volt DC water pumps in the market, which can run on battery-stored power through solar panels.

Considering the cost of water being charged by water utility companies like Maynilad and Manila Water, opting for desalination is cheaper.

A manufacturer of water treatment chemicals and equipment has been providing desalinated water to businesses and communities.

Among its biggest water systems is a 22,000-cu. m. per day (CMD) seawater facility in South Road Properties in Cebu City, which supplies SM Seaside and City de Mari of Filinvest.

It also has a brackish water facility installed in Waterfront Hotel and Casino supplying the hotel requirements, which it also distributes to Cebu Business Park supplying Ayala Mall and Cebu Holdings.

Mactan Rock also has a seawater facility established in Coral Point Gardens in Punta Engano, Mactan, which also supplies Discovery Bay of Sta. Lucia and Amisa of Robinland.

Big prospects in Metro Manila

ACCORDING to Tompar, Mactan Rock has already penetrated Metro Manila, providing desalinated water systems for Mall of Asia, one of the biggest malls in Asia.

“Our water is cheaper than Maynilad or Manila Water. Ours is just P85 per cu. m. compared to the

P100 plus they are charging,” says Tompar, a Cebuano water expert.

He said quality-wise, desalinated water passes the standard for drinking water, as well.

“Quality-wise, since it is purified water, it passes the water standard for drinking water,” he added.

Tompar highlighted the business model offered by his company, which requires no investment on the part of prospective clients.

“No investment is needed. Except for a minimum of 10-year contract,” he said. After that, they can extend or terminate the contract,” says Tompar.

Unlimited supply

UNLIKE other companies that rely on raw water coming from water reservoirs, such as Angat, or other dams that run dry during long seasons of drought, Mactan Rock says it has the technology and knowhow to provide an unlimited supply of freshwater from saltwater.

Several years back, Tompar touted his company’s capability of transforming water drawn from the Pasig River into potable water.

Tompar said the company does not extract water directly from the ocean or the river, but from a nearby well that they will put up for the process.

“We don’t extract water directly from the sea. We get water near the shore. It’s still salt water, which we then process to remove the salinity, making it fresh, clean and drinkable water,” he said.

Installing the system, he said, is likewise convenient, because the plant for water desalination would only require a small space.

Tompar said desalination works well for a lot of countries with limited freshwater supply, and the government, as well as the private sector, should take a close serious look into the feasibility of water desalination to ensure water sufficiency in the future.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.7430 n JAPAN 0.3789 n UK 69.1130 n HK 7.2527 n CHINA 7.7668 n SINGAPORE 41.4424 n AUSTRALIA 35.8332 n EU 59.7674 n KOREA 0.0421 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1384 Source: BSP (October 13, 2023)

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A2 Sunday, October 15, 2023

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CIA publicly acknowledges 1953 coup it backed in Iran was undemocratic as it revisits ‘Argo’ rescue

By Jon Gambrell

D

The Associated Press

UBAI, United Arab Emirates— While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times—the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 US Embassy seizure in Iran — the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well.

The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic.

Other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, but the CIA’s acknowledgment in a podcast about the agency’s history comes as much of its official history of the coup remains classified 70 years after the putsch. That complicates the public’s understanding of an event that still resonates, as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its aiding of militia groups across the Mideast and as it cracks down on dissent.

The “CIA’s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,” the agency said in a statement responding to questions

from The Associated Press. “The agency’s podcast is part of that effort—and we knew that if we wanted to tell this incredible story, it was important to be transparent about the historical context surrounding these events, and CIA’s role in it.”

The Langley Files

IN response to questions from the AP, Iran’s mission to the United Nations described the 1953 coup as marking “the inception of relentless American meddling in Iran’s internal affairs” and dismissed the US acknowledgments.

“The US admission never translated into compensatory action or a genuine commitment to refrain from future interference, nor did it change its subversive policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the mission said in a statement.

The CIA’s podcast, called ‘The

PRIME Minister Mohammad Mossadegh rides on the shoulders of cheering crowds in Tehran’s Majlis Square, outside the parliament building, after reiterating his oil nationalization views to his supporters on September 27, 1951. AP

Langley Files” as its headquarters is based in Langley, Virginia, focused two recent episodes on the story of the six American diplomats’ escape.

While hiding at the home of the Canadian ambassador to Iran, a twoman CIA team entered Tehran and helped them fly out of the country, while pretending to be members of a crew scouting for a made-up sciencefiction film.

A ROYALIST tank moves into the courtyard of Tehran Radio a few minutes after pro-shah troops occupied the area during the coup which ousted Mohammad Mossadegh and his government on August 19, 1953. AP

The caper, retold in the 2012 Academy Award-winning film Argo directed by and starring Ben Affleck, offered a dramatized version of the operation, with Affleck playing the late CIA officer Antonio “Tony” Mendez. The podcast for the first time identified the second CIA officer who accompanied Mendez, naming him as agency linguist and exfiltration specialist Ed Johnson. He previously only had been known publicly by the pseudonym “Julio.”

“Working with the six—these are rookies,” Johnson recounts in an interview aired by the podcast. “They were people who were not trained to lie to authorities. They weren’t

trained to be clandestine, elusive.”

But in the podcast, another brief exchange focuses on the 1953 coup.

In it, CIA spokesman and podcast host Walter Trosin cites the claims of agency historians that the majority of the CIA’s clandestine activities in its history “bolstered” popularly elected governments.

“We should acknowledge, though, that this is, therefore, a really significant exception to that rule,” Trosin says of the 1953 coup.

‘Exceptions’

CIA historian Brent Geary, appearing on the podcast, agrees. “This is one of the exceptions to that,” Geary says.

DEMONSTRATORS tear down the Iran Party’s sign from the front of the headquarters in Tehran on August 19, 1953, during the coup that ousted Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and his government. AP

Seven decades later, the 1953 coup remains as hotly debated as ever by Iran, its theocratic government, historians and others.

Iran’s hard-line state television spent hours discussing the coup that toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on its anniversary in June. In their telling, a straight line leads from the coup to the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ultimately toppled the fatally ill shah. It still fuels the anti-Americanism that colors decisions made by the theocracy, whether in arming Russia in its war on Ukraine or alleging without evidence that Washington fomented the recent nationwide mass protests targeting it.

From the US side, the CIA’s hand in the coup quickly was revealed as a success of Cold War espionage, though historians in recent years have debated just how much influence the agency’s actions had.

It also led the CIA into a series of further coups in other countries, including Guatemala, where American clandestine action in 1954 installed a military dictator and sparked a 40year civil war that likely killed some 245,000 people.

That’s led to an American political reappraisal of the 1953 CIA action in Iran. Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright acknowledged the US’ “significant role” in the coup in 2000. President Barack Obama, speaking in Cairo in 2009, described the CIA’s work as leading to the “overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.”

But largely absent from the discussion was the CIA itself. After years of conflicting versions of the coup both in public and classified papers, a member of the CIA’s own in-house team of historians wrote a reappraisal of the operation in a 1998 paper titled “Zendebad, Shah!” in Farsi—or “Long Live the Shah!”

But despite a series of American historical documents being made public, including a major tranche of State Department papers in 2017, large portions of that CIA reappraisal remain heavily redacted despite attempts to legally pry them loose by the George Washington Universitybased National Security Archive.

That’s even after pledges by former agency directors Robert Gates and James Woolsey Jr. in the 1990s to release documents from that coup and others engineered by the agency.

Further complicating any historical reckoning is the CIA’s own admission that many files related to the 1953 coup likely had been destroyed in the 1960s.

“It’s wrong to suggest that the coup operation itself has been fully declassified. Far from it,” said Malcolm Byrne of the National Security Archive. “Important parts of the record are still being withheld, which only contributes to public confusion and encourages myth-making about the US role long after the fact.”

TheWorld

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

Sunday, October 15, 2023

A3

From oil trade to defense, Singapore’s US-China balancing act gets trickier

By Serene Cheong

O

NE afternoon in May, an oil tanker called the Pablo made its way through the South China Sea. Owned by an obscure company in the Marshall Islands, it was 26 years old, ancient by industry standards, and according to global databases, it carried no insurance—telltale signs that it was part of what’s become known as the “dark fleet.”

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin’s regime has relied on hundreds of decrepit, hardto-trace ships like this one to evade US and European Union restrictions designed to keep it from profiting from the world’s oil markets.

The journey of the Pablo, which had previously carried Iranian crude, might have passed unremarked, except for one thing: An explosion tore through its upper deck that day, leaving the ship little more than a smoldering hulk. Three crewmembers are still missing. The Pablo had just returned from China, according to ship-tracking data, and, fortunately for most of the crew, its oil tanks were empty.

As is so often the case, the Pablo appeared headed through the crowded sea-lanes near Singapore. Each day, hundreds of cargo and container ships line up at the country’s deep-water port, one of the busiest in the world.

The Southeast Asian city-state, whose population of 5.9 million is smaller than New York City’s, handles hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil and fuel shipments each year.

The Pablo and the rest of the dark fleet represent the delicate position of Singapore. The country has long thrived because it prioritizes open commerce—a “free port” dating to its founding as a British colony—and can work with opposing superpowers. Ever since winning independence in 1965, Singapore has managed to negotiate any conflict, like a captain steering a ship through the narrow strait that runs by the island, connecting China to India, the Middle East and the West.

But what happens when China, its largest trading partner, wants more Russian oil while the US, its biggest foreign investor, wants to restrict revenue going to Moscow? It seems like an irreconcilable conflict, but not for Singapore, which has found a way—so far—to remain in the good graces of both. How? By imposing its own sanctions on Russia’s banks and military goods while letting the local oil industry figure out how to comply with Western restrictions.

Singapore is sometimes described as trying to hew to a “middle” approach in politics and business. It’s the only way a country with few natural resources and a small local consumer market could have risen from poverty to having one of the highest living standards in the world.

“The whole point of Singapore being in the middle is to find and use that middle space,” says Chong Ja Ian, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore. “You want to show you go with the rules, but you also keep it largely symbolic, with a lot of wriggle room.”

That balancing act manifests itself in Singapore’s sights and sounds: English and Mandarin are two of the island’s four official languages, the American and Chinese embassies sit next to each other near the main shopping district, and US and Chinese banks fill skyscrapers downtown.

Its defense strategy is the same.

American warships regularly dock at Singapore’s Changi Naval Base, US naval officers work out of a facility on the island’s northern tip, and the city-state is a big buyer of US weaponry, including its stealthy F-35 jets. Singaporean troops even train in the US. Still, China’s navy also has access to Singapore’s ports, and the two countries conduct joint training drills as well.

Satisfying all sides in energy may be especially tricky because of the vast scale and diversity of countries involved in Singapore’s trading op-

Each day, hundreds of cargo and container ships line up at Singapore’s deep-water port, one of the busiest in the world. BLOOMBERG

erations. The city-state handles far more than physical oil; it’s considered a critical energy hub because so many deals and trades are made on the island. Oil doesn’t even have to pass through Singapore: Traders based there can negotiate to buy Colombian crude for a Chinese refinery on a ship that never travels through Southeast Asian waters.

Some of the world’s biggest commodities traders, such as Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group Pte Ltd., have operations in Singapore. (Trafigura has one of its headquarters there.) So do dozens of other trading outfits, including two major Chinese companies: China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, and PetroChina Co., which are conduits for meeting Beijing’s energy demands.

Private sector’s strategies BECAUSE of geopolitical sensitivities, few in the petroleum industry or Singapore’s government will talk publicly about how the country can balance US and Chinese priorities. But interviews with more than a dozen traders, company officials and oil experts show the private sector’s various strategies for letting the suspect oil flow—and trade—freely.

Amid the gleaming office towers of the Suntec City business district, home to China’s commodities trading industry in Singapore, the mood in company offices was somber. Cafes and restaurants favored by Chinese crude traders fell silent.

Singapore had lured them to the island more than a decade before under its Global Trader Program, which offered a corporate tax rate of as little as 5 percent on trading income for several years. The traders would help secure crude for China’s private refiners, once rickety startups nicknamed “teapots” but now multibillion-dollar enterprises with big ambitions. By situating in Singapore, they could also rack up US dollar profits outside of China.

It was March 2022, the month after Russia invaded Ukraine, and Singapore had announced unilateral -­ military and financial sanctions on Russia. The US was pleased, but some Singapore business leaders worried about being seen as taking sides. It was the first time in at least four decades that the country had imposed such measures, according to Bilahari Kausikan, who once served as one of Singapore’s most senior diplomats. (It last did so after Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia in the late 1970s.)

The country’s explanation for the move was straightforward: “For a small state like Singapore, this is not a theoretical principle but a dangerous precedent,” the foreign ministry said.

“This is why Singapore has strongly condemned Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.”

At the time, many international companies had stopped doing business with Russia, and the energy market was rattled. “Volatility was off the charts,” says John Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services Pte Ltd. in Singapore. “Russia was being taken out of the equation—one of the top producers, a major crude exporter—so the initial response was that markets froze.”

The blow was severe. China’s energy needs were enormous, and like

India, it saw the benefit of buying discounted Russian crude. Unsure if they could handle the Russian oil that Beijing wanted, Singapore-based traders for Chinese companies began to look to rival hubs Hong Kong and Dubai, which were placing fewer restrictions on business with Russia.

But within weeks, the US and EU began talks to create a price cap, a move meant to deprive Putin’s government of revenue from higher crude prices while still letting the oil flow in global markets. Oil sold above the $60-perbarrel cap would be blocked from access to critical Western-provided services such as shipping insurance, making it essentially untouchable in some parts of the world. Early on, however, it was clear that many nations, including China and India, wouldn’t join in that effort.

Enter the dark fleet COMPANIES would be left to themselves when it came to complying with the restriction, which took effect in December 2022. And they quickly found ways of benefiting from Russia’s reliance on the dark fleet, which grew enormously, as well as through practices that have long been a part of the oil shipping industry.

Singapore-based traders found they could move some transactions to jurisdictions that still welcomed Russian business, passing on deals to subsidiaries in Beijing, Hong Kong or Dubai. Some traders set up corporate intermediaries that helped shield the origin of the oil or the firms involved, all while operating in Singapore. About a dozen Singapore-based oil traders say it was common for such trades, including with Russia and Iran, to be discussed, negotiated and brokered from Singapore, with the financing, finalization of deals and paperwork carried out elsewhere.

In other corners of the oil industry, merchants would turn to age-old shipping and logistical workarounds to mitigate the risks of handling sensitive oil. At some storage tanks in Singapore, and elsewhere, traders would discharge Russian oil into large onshore facilities where it got mixed with petroleum from other countries.

At that point, it’s difficult to determine the origin of any single barrel.

Another approach involves ship-toship transfers of oil just outside Singapore’s waters in the Malacca Strait.

The process, which can be legal, helps create “clean documents” for sensitive or suspect cargoes, making them more palatable to many traders, including some in Singapore. Some traders say they were unwilling to have their Singapore-registered companies touch those barrels because of the chance of legal liability.

The reliance on the dark fleet also raises the risk of another Pablo-style incident, which could have been an environmental disaster with a far higher human toll. Malaysian officials said in September that salvage operations were set to begin on the Pablo, which was still stranded nearly 40 nautical miles off the country’s east coast. Still, there are always other traders willing to risk being associated with a tanker disaster, as well the legal exposure that citizens of the US and its allies could face for failing to honor the price cap.

On the high seas or in a foreign port, the US doesn’t have any jurisdiction over a ship carrying Russian oil sold in violation of the cap. The US has seized ships carrying Iranian oil, but that crude is under international sanctions. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore directed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry any questions about the country’s sanctions enforcement and the storage of Russian crude. The trade ministry referred to February and March statements: “Companies and financial institutions in Singapore have been informed of the ban imposed by the EU and other countries,” Minister of Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said in February. “This is so that they are aware of such ­measures and can

consider and manage any potential impact on their business activities, transactions and customer relationships accordingly.”

Grave safety threat A MONTH later, a statement suggested companies should check the US Treasury Department website for information about the price cap policy. That website says the government could take enforcement action against US individuals trading in oil sold in violation of the price cap, and it urges record-­keeping to show compliance. Citizens of the many other Western countries imposing the cap could face similar peril. “It is up to each individual company to decide the level of risk they are will-

ing to take,” says Prakaash Silvam, a partner and head of the shipping department at Singapore law firm Oon & Bazul.

Another risk remains. As the Pablo explosion illustrated, the dark ships hauling Russian crude to China pose a potentially grave safety threat.

Although the fire’s cause isn’t known, the dilapidated vessels are operating well beyond their intended life spans and tend to have poor safety practices, such as turning off their tracking beacon when in suspect waters to avoid detection. At a news conference, its captain said crewmembers jumped into the ocean. In response, Singapore has stepped up detentions of oil and chemical tankers. It has held 35 ships for failing safety inspections so far this year, more than it did in the entire decade through 2019, according to figures from Tokyo MOU, a regional port control organization.

Those actions represent one of the few public responses to the dark fleet and the private sector’s handling of the restriction on Russian oil. Another one was more subtle. Soon after the US and EU talks on price caps got underway, and workarounds became commonplace, some familiar figures from the Suntec City trading crowd started to reappear in local restaurants. They dug into plates of steamed leek dumplings washed down with Tsingtao beer. The Chinese traders were back in business. With Anuradha Raghu, Alfred Cang, and Clara Ferreira Marques/Bloomberg Markets

Journey

»life on the go

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BusinessMirror

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Editor: Tet Andolong

A Sweet Journey to Camiguin

Lanzones Festival street dancing Lanzones Festival FB page

White Island Sandbar in Mambajao

Noveau Camiguin

S

Plant-based gourmet food at Haruhay Eco-Beach Tavern

Ardent Hibok-Hibok Resort

Story & photos by Bernard L Supetran

weet experiences and memories are what every traveler, jaded or newbie, seeks in every journey, regardless of the distance or character of the location.

One under-the-radar hideaway which won’t disappoint is Camiguin, an island province north of mainland Mindanao, which is a proverbial paradise in a nutshell because of its natural wonders in a compact land.

Not only does it abound the sweet tropical fruit lanzones, but it is also the home of a warm and hospitable populace who will create sweet memories in your brief sojourn.

The idyllic island’s aerial gateway is the capital town of Mambajao which can be reached by air from Manila via Sunlight Air or from Cebu via Philippine Airlines or Cebu Pacific.

The more adventurous ones can fly to Cagayan de Oro, take a van or bus to Balingoan town and take the ferry boat to Benoni port in Mahinog town, or to fly to Bohol, board a bus for Jagna and board the ship bound for Balbagon port in Mambajao. These two alternatives may be more taxing, but will give you the unequaled thrill of an air, land and sea odyssey, the, and the prospect of staying in another exciting locale.

L a s t s u m m e r, C a m i g u i n launched its new tourism branding dubbed “Isle Be There” which evokes its tropical, upbeat and exotic vibe. The provincial government has also put in place the Clean Camiguin QR code as part of its Smart Tourism digitalization program for a secure and organized travel for visitors.

Jetsetters can bask at the luxe Nouveau Resort in Mahinog, the best in Camiguin, and revel in its amenities, delectable cuisine, manicured landscapes, and sweetsmiling staff. Those who want to travel in style can cruise onboard the Nouveau Magic speedboat

Mantigue Island Marine Protected Area by Fra-And Quimpo

A poster image and a must-go is the White Island Sandbar which boasts of its talcum sand, crystaline water and a view of the towering Mount Hibok-Hibok in the background.

After foray into the sun, sea and sand, rinse at the icy natural of Katibawasan Falls whose slim 100-meter drop is a mesmerizing sight. For a waterfalls overload, swing by Tuasan Falls in Sagay on the other side of the mountains.

Alternatively, you can also dip at the warm natural pools of the Ardent Hibok-Hibok Spring Resort for a rejuvenating hydromassage in the bosom of the mountain ranges.

Mambajao is also the lodging hub of Camiguin with quaint boutique resorts, most notably Paras Beach Resort, the native-themed Haruhay Eco-Beach Tavern, and the Bintana sa Paraiso for a mountain-top panorama of the island.

The adjoining municipality of Catarman laid-back is home to the Sunken Cemetery is punctuated by the iconic giant white cross, which was submerged by the 1871 Mt.

which can shuttle you from their private port at Kinoguitan direct to the resort’s jetty. The resort can also arrange all sorts of tourist services for a worry-free stay.

Just around the bend is Taguines Lagoon, a restaurant row with a soothing seaview and an array of watersports such as kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and pedal boating.

The town’s pride is Mantigue Island Nature Park, a marine sanctuary with a gleaming powdery coral sand, and rich marine biodiversity which has made it a haven for scuba diving in this part of Mindanao.

The provincial capital of Mambajao is the hub of recreation and dining outlets, which are a pleasant surprise despite its operational challenges. Among the notable ones are La Dolce Vita which serves arguably the best pizza and pasta in the province, Kape Isla which offers all-time favorites in a repurposed ancestral house, and Haruhay Eco-Beach Tavern which specialize in plant-based gourmet dishes.

Vulcan eruption, and whose remnants can be easily seen by snorkeling or freediving. Its deeper portion is also a unique dive site which takes you a surreal underwater necropolis which is now teeming with marine life.

Another must-see is the Old Church Ruins, site of the old town square, which was declared by the National Museum as a National Cultural Treasure a few years back.

Around the vicinity is the Stations of the Cross at the Vulcan Daan (old volcano) which can be ascended through a 1,000-step walkway which can provide a moderate cardio exercise. The 15 lifesize tableaus depict the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is the climax of the Good Friday Panaad sa Camiguin 64-km penitential pilgrimage on foot.

And the best time to visit is this week as the province kicks off the annual Lanzones Festival today and runs until October 28 with a bevy of activities to keep guests occupied and filled with sweet memories that will keep you coming back again and again.

Access Travel celebrates 12 years of pioneering female leadership and tourism excellence

A

s the pulse of travel beats stronger, 7 in 10 Filipinos are gearing up for overseas adventures, according to a recent study by GrabAds. With this trend, Access Travel emerges as the premier choice for luxury expeditions.

This female-led company celebrates its 12th year anniversary, a journey of innovation, global explorations, and a nurturing work environment.

Access Travel has carved out a significant place in the Philippine travel industry, delighting Filipino travelers with bespoke experiences across all seven continents. As the founder and inspirational force behind the company, Angely Dub embodies the spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship, leading her team to new heights each year.

“At Access Travel, we are a team that grows, learns, and explores the world together. And our mission is to bring these unique travel experiences to Filipino travelers. We know what we’re talking about because

we’ve experienced it firsthand.” says Angely Dub, a leader celebrated for her visionary approach and commitment to her team’s well-being.

“As we step into our 13th year, we renew our promise to deliver not just travel, but experiences that are a class apart, meticulously crafted to satisfy the wanderlust of the Filipino community.”

12 Years: The Highlights of Access Travel’s Journey:

1. Global expeditions spanning seven continents: In 12 years, Ac-

cess Travel has ventured where few have gone before, offering unique expeditions that span the globe, connecting Filipino adventurers with the wonders of destinations from Iceland to Mongolia.

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mote team at Access Travel brings a wealth of knowledge to their clientele, showcasing must-see destina-

tions and hidden gems in places like Iceland, Finland, South America, Bhutan, Tanzania, Central Asia, and Mongolia.

3. Personalized luxury travel with celebrity clients to prove it: Synonymous with luxury and

Iceland expedition of Access Travel with clients.

The Access Travel team.

Angely Dub, founder of Access Travel, conquered Antarctica before the age of 30.

personalization, Access Travel has caught the attention of celebrity clientele, including Julia Baretto, Jodi Sta Maria, Dimples Romana Toni Gonzaga-Soriano, Dingdong Dantes, and Nadine Lustre.

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At its helm, a dynamic female

For Angely Dub, her TED Talk during her master's program at IE University

Climbing Rainbow Mountain in Peru.

leader ensures an encouraging and nurturing work environment where employees flourish and contribute to the company’s innovative vision.

Celebrating this milestone,

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To uncover more about Access Travel’s offerings and initiatives, please visit travelwithaccess.com.

Science Sunday BusinessMirror

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

Sunday, October 15, 2023

A5

Nuclear researchers that found fake honey brands get CSC award SEEN under an electron microscope, these nanoflowers—each less than half the width of a human hair—feature a gold center surrounded by “petals” made from a copper compound.

This nanomaterial has been found to facilitate the degradation of widely used but highly toxic azo dyes. WILEY-VCH

UP scientists make nanocomposite flowers to fight cancer-causing dyes

S

CIENTISTS from the University of the Philippines Diliman-College of Science have simplified the process of making microscopic composite flowers that can neutralize the highly carcinogenic azo dyes widely used in food, clothes and medicines, the UPD-CS Science Communications said.

Azo dyes are synthetic colorants that come in a variety of vivid colors, including red, orange and yellow. They were commonly used in everything from denim and leather to soft drinks and jams.

However, it was discovered that some azo dyes are closely linked to bladder cancer. Moreover, the regulated use and safe disposal of these carcinogenic azo dyes remain a global concern.

A new material that may help to safely degrade azo dyes was recently investigated by Enrico Daniel R. Legaspi, Prof. Michelle D. Regulacio and Leila Andrea E. Pineda from the Institute of Chemistry (UPD-CS IC); Luce Vida A. Sayson of the Material Science and Engineering Program (UPD-CS MSEP); and colleagues from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), UPD-SC SC said.

The nanocomposite material

exhibits a flower-like structure, each just around 50 nanometers in diameter, or less than half the width of a human hair, with a gold (Au) center surrounded by petallike copper oxide (Cu2O) crystals.

It was found that this configuration greatly enhances Cu2O’s ability to catalyze the breakdown of azo dyes into harmless chemicals.

The researchers said that this is the first time that this flower-like configuration has been synthesized in a single manufacturing setup, thereby paving the way for easier and more affordable production.

“The one-pot synthesis protocol presented in this work is a more straightforward and less laborious approach that does not require a separate pre-synthesis step. Furthermore, the synthesis can be conveniently performed at ambient conditions using nontoxic reagents,” the researchers explained in their paper.

“The uniquely designed AuCu2O nanoflowers were found to effectively catalyze the borohydride-mediated degradation of synthetic azo dyes. The hybrid exhibited superior catalytic activity relative to pristine Cu2O, underscoring the significance of creating a nanocomposite,” they added.

Scientists pry a ‘Mona Lisa’ secret on how Leonardo painted his masterpiece

P

ARIS—The “Mona Lisa” has given up another secret. Using X-rays to peer into the chemical structure of a tiny speck of the celebrated work of art, scientists have gained new insight into the techniques that Leonardo da Vinci used to paint his groundbreaking portrait of the woman with the exquisitely enigmatic smile.

The research, published on October 11 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, suggests that the famously curious, learned and inventive Italian Renaissance master may have been in a particularly experimental mood when he set to work on the “Mona Lisa” early in the 16th century.

The oil-paint recipe that Leonardo used as his base layer to prepare the panel of poplar wood appears to have been different for the “Mona Lisa,” with its own distinctive chemical signature, the team of scientists and art historians in France and Britain discovered.

“He was someone who loved to experiment, and each of his paintings is completely different technically,” said Victor Gonzalez, the study’s lead author and a chemist at France’s top research body, the CNRS. Gonzalez has studied the chemical compositions of dozens of works by Leonardo, Rembrandt and other artists.

“In this case, it’s interesting to see that indeed there is a specific technique for the ground layer of ‘Mona Lisa,’” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Specifically, the researchers found a rare compound, plumbonacrite, in Leonardo’s first layer of paint.

The discovery, Gonzalez said, confirmed for the first time what art historians had previously only hypothesized: that Leonardo most likely used lead oxide powder to thicken and help dry his paint as he began working on the portrait that now stares out from behind protective glass in the Louvre

Museum in Paris.

Carmen Bambach, a specialist in Italian art and curator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, who was not involved in the study, called the research “very exciting” and said any scientifically proven new insights into Leonardo’s painting techniques are “extremely important news for the art world and our larger global society.”

Finding plumbonacrite in the “Mona Lisa” attests “to Leonardo’s spirit of passionate and constant experimentation as a painter—it is what renders him timeless and modern,” Bambach said by email.

The paint fragment from the base layer of the “Mona Lisa” that was analyzed was barely visible to the naked eye, no larger than the diameter of a human hair, and came from the top right-hand edge of the painting.

The scientists peered into its atomic structure using X-rays in a synchrotron, a large machine that accelerates particles to almost the speed of light. That allowed them to unravel the speck’s chemical make-up.

Plumbonacrite is a byproduct of lead oxide, allowing the researchers to say with more certainty that Leonardo likely used the powder in his paint recipe.

“Plumbonacrite is really a fingerprint of his recipe,” Gonzalez said. “It’s the first time we can actually chemically confirm it.”

After Leonardo, Dutch master Rembrandt may have used a similar recipe when he was painting in the 17th century; Gonzalez and other researchers have previously found plumbonacrite in his work, too.

“It tells us also that those recipes were passed on for centuries,” Gonzalez said. “It was a very good recipe.”

Leonardo is thought to have dissolved lead oxide powder, which has an orange color, in linseed or walnut oil by heating the mixture to make a thicker, faster-drying paste. AP

DR. Angel T. Bautista VII and Norman DS. Mendoza, the leaders of the DOST-PNRI “Honey Team.” DOST-PNRI PHOTO

A

TEAM of nuclear researchers that found that four out of five local brands used fake honey, or completely substituted it with cheap sugar syrup, received an award from the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Led by Dr. Angel T. Bautista VII and Norman DS. Mendoza, the team was named regional winner of the CSC Pagasa Award (Group Category) in the National Capital Region in the Commission’s 2023 Search for Outstanding Government Workers.

Tagged as the “Honey Team” of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI),

the group used stable isotope technique to test local honey brands in the Philippine market for authenticity, said Andrei Joshua Yu of the Nuclear Materials Research Section of DOST-PNRI. Fake honey hurts the local beekeeping industry as it cuts the industry’s revenue by as much as 90 percent.

“We started the honey authenticity project as a research project

FRENCH honey from different floral sources, with visible differences in color and texture. CLAUDE TRUONG-NGOC/WIKIMEDIA CC BY-SA 3.0

but now it has become more like an advocacy,” Bautista said in a statement.

“Our mindset while implementing this project is that, first and foremost, this is for the people— our stakeholders who produce and consume honey,” he added.

The DOST-PNRI Honey Team was a part of the Technical Working Group that reviewed and amended the Philippine National Standards (PNS) Honey Product Standard Specifications, Yu said.

The revised national standard on honey now includes standards and analytical methods involving stable isotopes, as published in the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards 185:2022.

The DOST-PNRI Honey Team closely coordinates with various regulatory agencies and beekeeping organizations to continuously monitor the authenticity of honey

sold in the local market, Yu added.

The steady monitoring aims to ensure consumers that only authentic honey will be sold in the local market, which will boost the confidence of consumers in buying honey from local beekeepers and sellers.

Meanwhile, DOST-PNRI Director Dr. Carlo A. Arcilla congratulated the team for the recognition, saying that it is just one proof that nuclear R&D is indeed highly relevant down to the household level.

“We hope to get the national award,” he said.

In accordance with the guidelines outlined in Executive Order 292, the CSC Pagasa Award recognizes superior “work performance and outstanding contributions” that bring about positive impacts to an office, agency, community, or region. S&T Media Service

‘Lunduyan’ celebrates Filipino inventors, innovators

M

ORE than 20 Filipino inventors and innovators were feted at the “Lunduyan” ceremony led by the Department of Science and Technology-Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOSTTAPI) at a hotel in Mandaluyong City on October 2.

It was the culminating event that marked DOST-TAPI’s 2023 Call for Invention, Innovation and Technopreneurship Proposals under the programs Galing, Technicom and Venture Financing for science and technology champions in ground-breaking innovations from multiple sectors, such as food and manufacturing, health and wellness, agriculture, industry, energy and environment, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), DOST-TAPI said.

With the name “Lunduyan,” a Filipino word meaning “meeting point” or “cradle,” the event symbolized the convergence of innovative minds and cooperative spirits.

The DOST-TAPI listed among the approved projects the following: 1. Johnny B. Sanchez—Motorized Multi-Purpose Machine for Grater and Shredder; 2. Dr. Nanette D. Bilbao—Market Validation and Packaging of Organic Coffee; 3. AlAnni A. Asgali—Lanasug Cooking Oil; 4. Evan Titus Paul Llenaresas Labrador—Utilization of Pinoy Coco Sorbetes as Base Formulation for Commercial Ice Cream Products of the Bicol Region; 5. Ma. Bettina Argañosa Macaraeg—Test Marketing Study for Ready-to-Eat Boiled Quail Eggs: A Pre-Commercialization Strategy for DOST-ITDI New Developed Product; 6. Engr. Mark Kennedy Bantugon—Technology Validation of Pili Seal; 7. Gibsonjis B. Rosales— Channel Multiplier Remote Control System; 8. Jay F. Sanchez— Abaca Fiber Tiles from Abaca Waste; 9. Anton Louise Pernez De Ocampo (BatStateU)—Collapsible

RECIPIENTS of the recent DOST-TAPI’s Approved Invention and Innovation Projects on food and manufacturing; energy, environment and industries; agriculture; health and wellness; and other innovations are feted at the “Lunduyan” ceremony at a hotel in Mandaluyong City on October 2 With them is DOST-TAPI Director Atty. Marion Ivy D. Decena. ROY DOMINGO

Solar Power Station; 10. Albertson De Chavez Amante (BatStateU)— ParallaxED: A Commercial-Ready Prototype of an Engineering Simulation System Using Mixed Reality; 11. Eleanor Olegario—Foldable Water Tank with Zeramic Filter; 12. Rowena Faith A. Sucalit—Heat Retaining Bag; 13. Engr. Yolanda A. Santorcas—Engineered Water Hyacinth; 14. Orlie D. Panes—Machine for Collecting and Bagging Rice Grains; 15. Luder Zarate— Improved Belt Conveyor; 16 . C y nt h i a Z a r at e — Un screened Hammer Mill for Dried Root Crops; 17. Engr. Dan William C. Martinez—Scale-up and Market Validation of Automated Industrial-type Compression Molding Machine for Bamboo Composite Products; 18. Dr. Ma. Carmen Ablan Lagman, PhD—BTC Lab Kit: a Classroom Friendly Tissue Culture System for Instruction in Life Science Courses in Senior High School; 19. James Bryan B. Camacho—Nano Foldable Crutch; 20. Jose Ingles Jr.—Greenleaf Essential Oil; 21. Mar iecel A . Fuentes— Alpha Herbal Oil; 22. Teotimo L. Reyes (Qualimeal Feedmills

Inc.)—Poultry Feeds; 23. Irene D. Herrero (Jacob ’s Gour met Foods)—Bottled Food Products; 24. Edralin Lagajino (RS Unitech Manufacturing and Trading Corp.)—Semiconductor parts; 25. Manuel Galut (MPGJ AgriIndustrial Supply and Services)— Industrial supplies; 26. Victoria Y. Bulan (V. Weisz Synergy. Inc.)— Personal Care, Cosmetics, and Household Products.

DOST-TAPI’s support to the initiative was evident in its allocation of over P30 million for invention and technology development and intellectual property rights protection. An additional P12 million has been earmarked for commercialization projects for MSMEs as of August 30.

In his remark, Science Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. said, “The DOST-TAPI has established 13 collaborations with various DOST regional offices, inventors’ organizations and profit institutions through various writeshops and marketing campaigns. From this combined efforts, approximately 1,150 potential inventors, innovators, and technopreneurs were reached by DOST-TAPI in

just three months of gathering proposals.”

DOST-TAPI Director Atty. Marion Ivy D. Decena reflected on the journey: “We began this journey with two primary objectives: to showcase the success of the 2023 Call for Proposal Period and to encourage potential partners for the innovative initiatives of DOSTTAPI. As this significant day concludes, it’s clear that we not only achieved these objectives but also set a more positive future for our local innovators and inventors.”

Marvin de la Cruz, event head and head of Applied Communications Unit for Inventors, said that as they “push for more recognition of our beneficiaries, we hope that with it comes a recognition of the societal needs addressed by their technologies.”

He added: “This should lead to more collaboration and support for our shared goals, ultimately moving towards the betterment of our society.”

The event also garnered robust corporate backing and received overwhelmingly positive feedback, underscoring Lunduyan’s success and potential.

A6 Sunday, October 15, 2023

Faith

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

How ‘nones’–the religiously unaffiliated–are finding meaning, purpose and spirituality in psychedelic churches

By Morgan Shipley, Michigan State University The Conversation

M

ORE and more sur veys point to decreasing membership in religious institutions and a corresponding rise of “nones.” Many people might assume that this indicates the absence of belief or a lack of spirituality.

Particularly in the West, people tend to think about religion in terms of belief in a higher power, such as God. For many nones, however, spirituality does not need a god or the supernatural to address questions of purpose, meaning, belonging and well-being.

While abandoning mainstream religious affiliation, many turn to alternative expressions, including secular, atheist and psychedelic churches.

For about a decade, as a scholar who studies alternative expressions of spirituality, I have tracked these groups online, visited churches and interacted with attendees. At times, I have been able to attend services or simply visit locations. At other times, out of respect for participants, I have met members—but not during ser v ices and rituals.

These churches demonstrate not a rejection of religion, as surveys suggest, but continued interest in spiritual community, rituals and virtues.

Psychedelic churches ONE such church is The Divine Assembly, or TDA, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Founded in 2020 as “a magic mushroom church” by Steve Urquhart, a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,TDA conducts worship that connects people without dogma or intermediaries.

TDA is not atheistic but maintains an inclusive notion of belief regarding God or a higher power.

Where members depart from traditional notions of religion and church, however, is within their practices and aims. Through psychedelic drugs, members believe they can directly experience the divine—as they define it—while gaining insight into their

own and others’ well-being. Within the church, members participate in collective meaning-making rituals that fortify their everyday lives.

Distinctly, using psilocybin is not part of these activities, nor are instructions provided on conducting mushroom ceremonies. This is done on one’s own time, according to individual practices.

Through the church, members participate in practices to help cultivate the value of psychedelic exploration.

These include a range of activities, from ice baths to meditation in a room with flashing lights. TDA also offers courses on growing psilocybin through its educational initiative “shroomiversity.”

To borrow from its stated mission, TDA works to connect “people to self, others and the Divine.” It also seeks to “protect responsible and religious use of psilocybin, and cultivate health and healing.” This mission does not deny the place of belief but highlights broader therapeutic concerns.

Through shared rituals, members cultivate community while enhancing their total well-being.

Mushroom churches: an American tradition LOUISVILLE, Kentucky’s Psanctuary Church brings “people together for healing and connection to divine revelation through communion with sacred mushrooms.” Nondenominational, Psanctuary defines itself as a “Constitutional Church.”

Indicating their legal status as a a nonprofit, tax-exempt, faithba sed orga n i z at ion, Psa nc t u a r y situates itself as a uniquely American religion. For Psanctuary and other psychedelic churches, the use of psychedelics is simultaneously a sacred right and an expression of political freedom.

A s w ith many psychedelic churches, Psanctuar y is not atheistic. It understands div inity as “pure consciousness” that “permeates all being.” Positioned this way, religion moves away from monotheistic understandings of God.

California-based Hummingbird Church, for example, draws from ayahuasca rituals to provide “participants with opportunities to recharge their body, mind and soul with positive energy and reconnect with themselves.”

Its “Statement of Faith” emphasizes this commitment to holistic healing.

It also situates the div ine in “earthly” terms. Members, they believe, “should seek within Nature that which is contributory to our health and well-being.”

L oc ated i n Orl a ndo, F lor id a, members of Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth believe l i ke w i se. A s members contend , “ W hat is of the Earth is our holy sacrament.” Like others, they position psychedelics “as tools” that benefit “physical health, spiritual growth, and personal evolution.”

Through ayahuasca, members of both churches see psychedelic rituals as aiding in individual rejuvenation. Once rejuvenated, members believe they help restore nature or assist in another’s healing.

IMAGE CREDIT: BISAMS | DREAMSTIME.COM

Instead, it follows non-Western, indigenous and New Age understand ings that v iew d iv init y as within everyone. It also reorients people from seeking salvation in a world to come by encouraging focus on the present.

Like TDA, religion for Psanctuary expresses the pursuit of “pure consciousness” as “the origin of health and well-being.” By experiencing this origin through psychedelics, members are “empowered to discover our own divinity.”

This dual emphasis on self-divinity and healing ref lects common themes across psychedelic churches.

The Church of Ambrosia and Zide Door INSPIRED by The Church of Ambrosia, a nondenominational, interfaith religion, Zide Door in Oakland, California, supports “the safe access and use of Entheogenic Plants.” Founded in 2019 by Dave Hodges, Zide Door affords space for members to “explore

their spirituality.”

Commonly, mainstream religion requires believers to interact with the sacred through designated leaders or texts. At Zide Door and other psychedelic churches, the emphasis is on self-realization and interconnection through direct experience.

Psychedelics offer members firsthand access to religious u nderst a nd i ng. C hu rc h, accordingly, becomes a place to support indiv idual awakening.

Sacred Garden Community captures this shift. Also located in Oakland, SGC—as it announces on its website—is a “post-modern church” based on “faith of least dogma.” Through psychedelic sacraments, SGC claims to facilitate “direct experience of and relationship to Divine presence for individuals and community.”

Beyond the experience, SGC helps members integrate “the benefits” the “experience and relationship can bring” into everyday life. Like other psychedelic churches, SGC high-

Al-Aqsa remains a sensitive site in Palestine-Israel conflict

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S a scholar of global Islam, I teach an introduction to Islam course and include a discussion about Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as part of the syllabus.

That’s because Al-Aqsa has deep religious significance for Muslims around the world.

But it is also important to highlight its remarkable political relevance for Palestinians.

These two facts make it a focal point for conflict.

The night journey of Muhammad

THE Masjid al-Aqsa, or simply Al-Aqsa, means “the farthest mosque” or “the farthest sanctuary,” and refers to the lead-domed mosque within the sacred precinct of Haram al-Sharif—“the Noble Enclosure.”

The precinct includes the Dome of the Rock, the four minarets, the compound’s historic gates and the mosque itself.

Mentioned in Sura 17, verse 1 of the Quran, the mosque is linked to the story of Muhammad’s “Isra”—the “night journey” from Mecca to Jerusalem—that in part confirms him as the last and most authoritative of the prophets for Muslims.

The Quran says the prophet was “carried...by night from the Sacred Mosque [in Mecca] to the Farthest Mosque [alAqsa], whose precincts we have blessed.”

From there, it is believed that Muhammad ascended to heaven – called the Mir’aj. The Dome of the Rock— Qubbat as-Sakhra— is said to shelter the rock from where Muhammad physically ascended.

The mosque’s origins stretch back to the seventh century. It was first built in AD 637, just five years after the prophet’s death. It has been destroyed, rebuilt and

renovated multiple times.

The current building largely dates to the 11th century and hosts daily prayers and Friday gatherings that draw large crowds.

It lies adjacent to important Jewish and Christian religious locales, particularly the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples.

At times, the Dome of the Rock—a shrine—and Al-Aqsa—a mosque—have been confused as one and the same. While part of the same “Noble Sanctuary,” they are two distinct buildings with different histories and purposes.

However, the term Al-Aqsa is sometimes used to indicate the entire “Noble Sanctuary” complex.

Originally, it is believed that the term “the farthest sanctuary” referred to Jerusalem as a whole.

Place in Islamic history

AFTER Mecca and Medina, the vast majority of Muslims worldwide consider Jerusalem the third-holiest place on Earth.

Referenced frequently in Islamic tradition and hadith—records of something the Prophet Muhammad said, did or tacitly approved of—it is believed that while in Mecca, Muhammad originally oriented his community’s prayers toward Al-Aqsa.

In A.D. 622, the community fled Mecca because of persecution, seeking refuge in Medina to the north. After a little over a year there, Muslims believe God instructed Muhammad to face back toward Mecca for prayers.

In Surah 2, verses 149-150, the Quran says, “turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque [the Kaaba in Mecca]...wheresoever you may be, turn your faces toward it.”

Nonetheless, Jerusalem and its sacred locales—specifically Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock—have remained sites of Islamic pilgrimage for 15 centuries.

The ‘most sensitive site’ in conflict

GIVEN its sacred significance, there was great concern about the precinct’s fate after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and its subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem.

Although Israel granted jurisdiction of the mosque and complex to an Islamic waqf— “endowment”—Israel still commands access to the grounds and security forces regularly perform patrols and conduct searches within the precinct.

Under the Preservation of the Holy Places Law, the Israeli government has also allowed entry to different religious groups—such as Christian pilgrims.

Many Israelis respect the sanctity of the place as the holiest site in Judaism. In 2005, the chief rabbinate of Israel said it is forbidden for Jews to walk on the site to avoid accidentally entering the Holy of Holies—the inner sanctum of the Temple, believed to be God’s dwelling place on earth.

Nonetheless, certain ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups controversially advocate for greater access and control of the site, seeking to reclaim the historic Temple Mount, in order to rebuild the Temple.

Described as “the most sensitive site in the Israel-Palestinian conflict,” it has frequently been host to political acts.

For example, in August 1969, an Au s t ra l i a n C h r i s t i a n n a m e d D e n n i s Michael Rohan attempted to burn down Al-Aqsa, destroying the historically

significant and intricately car ved minbar— or “pulpit”— of Saladin, a treasured piece of Islamic art.

On September 28, 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon and a delegation guarded by hundreds of Israeli riot police entered the precinct. This sparked protests and a violent crackdown by Israeli authorities, with multiple casualties.

Many Muslims worldwide considered this a “desecration” of the sacred mosque, and the event helped ignite the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

Tensions peaked again after an attack on Yehuda Glick, a controversial right-wing rabbi, in autumn 2014.

In response, Israeli authorities closed down access to Al-Aqsa for the first time since 1967. In March and April of that year, Israeli police used tear gas and stun grenades on Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa, prompting an international outcry.

Numerous other incidents between Israeli forces and worshipers have occurred at AlAqsa in recent years.

Controlled access to the site reminds Palestinians of their relative powerlessness in their ongoing land disputes with Israeli authorities.

At the same time, attacks at Al-Aqsa resonate with Muslims across the world who react with horror to what they see as the desecration of one of their most sacred sites.

Defending Al-Aqsa and fighting for rights to access it, I argue, have become proxy conflicts for both Palestinian claims and the need to defend Islam as a whole. Ken Chitwood, University of Southern California/ The Conversation (CC) via AP

lights how rejection of conventional religion is often accompanied by new avenues to pursue spirituality.

Ayahuasca churches and healing AYAHUASCA churches rely on indigenous understandings of ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic brew. For Indigenous people of South America, ayahuasca is a sacred rite based on local knowledge. They argue that removing ayahuasca from that context takes away its power and impact.

Ind igenous pract it ioners a nd scholars thus warn about both the appropriation and commodification of indigenous practices. W hile such concerns should not be ignored, ayahuasca churches tell us much about contemporary religion.

The turn to ayahuasca rituals highlights the growing connection between spiritual needs and healing. The emergence of ayahuasca churches in the U.S. suggests that such healing requires the support of community.

Well-being as spirituality COLLECTIVELY, these churches demonstrate not a rejection of religion, as the term “none” might suggest, but an embrace of well-being as spirituality.

And while they are distinct in many ways, they also share some common goals: They seek to provide members and practitioners ways to healemotionally, psychologically and spiritually.

A key lesson members connect to psychedelics is the intrinsic sacredness of each person: The divine is not elsewhere but within everyone.

To be a none might reflect one’s total rejection of supernatural belief.

But as psychedelic churches illustrate, identifying that way can also indicate spiritual pursuits that refuse to fit nicely within traditional religious categories.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.

CBCP head Bp. David elected to synod’s communication body

D

ELEGATES to the ongoing Synod of Bishops at the Vatican have elected the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to a commission in charge of the assembly’s communications.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, CBCP president, will represent Asia in the Commission for Information of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The synod was convoked by Pope Francis to carve out a path for a “synodal” or more consultative or listening Church.

Including David, assembly delegates voted for seven representatives of geographic regions out of 17 commission members. The body is led by Dr. Paolo Ruffini, the lay head of the Vatican’s communication dicastery.

The other geographic representatives are Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Argentine prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (Latin America); Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, C.S.R., the archbishop of Newark in the United States (North America); Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, head of the bishops’ conference of Cameroon (Africa); Bishop Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay in Australia, head of the federation of bishops of Oceania; Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, former editor of La Civilta Cattolica who is now the undersecretary for the Dicastery for Culture and Education (Europe); and Lebanese scholar Fr. Khalil Alwan

(Eastern Catholic Churches).

Assisting Ruffini in the commission is Dr. Sheila Leocádia Pires of Mozambique.

Both were appointed by the pope.

The commission has eight ex-officio members from the synod’s general secretariat, namely Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, general rappor teur of the synod; Cardinal Mario Grech of Malta, secretary general; Undersecretaries Bishop Luis Marín De San Martín, OSA, and Sr. Nathalie Becquart, X.M.C.J.; Special Secretaries Fr. Giacomo Costa S.J. and Fr. Riccardo Battocchio; Dr. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office; and Dr. Thierry Bonaventura, communication manager.

The 2023 synod opened on October 4 and will end on October 29 with a closing Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.

It has 464 participants, of which 81 are women. In a historic first, 54 of the 365 voting participants are women.

The synod functions as an advisory body to the pope and has been underway since 2021 with consultations held at various levels—parish, diocesan, national and continental.

It is expected to produce a final document after a second general assembly in October 2024 at the Vatican.

The document may serve as the basis for an apostolic exhortation that, in turn, becomes part of papal teaching or magisterium. Felipe Salvosa/CBCP News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, October 15, 2023 A7

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

PEATLANDS ARE THE WORLD’S LARGEST CARBON STORE; BUT MANY HAVE VANISHED BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN IDENTIFIED

How to save PHL’s peatlands?

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

duties due to the limited manpower and other resources for the job.

The ACB is exerting efforts to include Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, including its precious peatland, in some of the projects being developed as well as other forms of support through the AHP.

O

N May 29, the House of Representatives voted to approve on final reading House Bill 8204 that seeks to protect the country’s peatlands.

Under the proposed law, drainage, deforestation, clearing, dumping of waste and introduction of invasive alien species in peatlands are prohibited.

The measure tasked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through its Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), to take the lead in implementing it once enacted into law.

Among other measures, the bill pushes the development of the National Peatland Conservation and Restoration Program, and mandates the municipal, city and provincial local government units (LGUs) to prioritize peatland protection.

Moreover, the proposed law requires that peatlands classified as agricultural lands will be reclassified to either forest lands or national parks, upon the DENR’s recommendation.

Peatlands defined ACCORDING to the DENR, peatlands are wetland ecosystems, where the soil is composed of 65 percent or more organic matter derived from dead and decaying plant materials submerged under high water saturation.

Across the globe, peatlands cover an estimated area of 400 million hectares—equivalent to about 3 percent of the Earth’s land surface.

Most peatlands, or 350 million hectares, are in the northern hemisphere, covering large areas in North America, Russia and Europe.

Tropical peatlands occur in mainland East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Car ibbean and Centra l A mer ica, South America and southern Africa, where the current estimate of undisturbed peatland is 30 million to 45 million hectares, or 10 percent to 12 percent of the global peatland resource.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, peatlands exist in at least 175 countries,

Due diligence

BOYS enjoy rowing their boat in Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary. GAB MEJIA

A VIEW of the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary GAYDENCIO DE LA CRUZ

including the Philippines.

that benefits the community while preserving Indonesia’s peatlands.

The program, aptly named, “The Healthy Ecosystem Alternative Livelihood (HEAL) Fisheries,” supports the development and marketing of local snakehead fish and other native species, generating value-added products, such as albumin, which boosts community incomes.

Through the Village-Owned Enterprises (Bumdes), community members hold shares, providing them with dividends from annual company profits and fostering economic well-being and long-term sustainability.

Vanishing Philippine peatlands THERE are only nine identified peatland areas in the Philippines. Together, they occupy only around 20,000 hectares.

Peatlands play very important ecosystem functions. But like most wetland ecosystems, peatlands are facing numerous threats, among them is land conversion for agricultural purposes.

Some peatlands may have vanished before they were even identified or discovered.

According to the DENR, peatlands are the world’s largest carbon store.

Kept wet, they store twice as much carbon as the world’s forests combined. Once they are drained, however, greenhouse gases are inadvertently released into the atmosphere.

Land conversion, peatland fires AS farmers see the need to do business in agriculture, peatland ecosystems are becoming targets of massive land conversion, through massive dumping and filling of soil to grow crops, destroying the entire ecosystem, including their crucial role as a carbon sink.

There are two major peatlands in the Philippines: Agusan Marsh in Agusan del Sur and Leyte Sab-a Basin on the island of Leyte.

However, peat land f ires have frequently occurred in recent years, primarily because of drought and deliberate drainage for agricultural

purposes, such as for palm oil, rice and corn cultivation.

Conservation effort in Indonesia THE Philippines can learn a thing or two from its neighboring countries, like Indonesia, where a communityowned enterprise, named Alam Siak Lestari (ASL) is dedicated to peatland protection.

Shar ing its best practices on how the Philippines can conserve and boost its wetland conservation by swamp fish cultivation, ASL has popularized sustainable fishing in peatlands.

The group said there are peat swamp fish that can be cultured and provide farmers with livelihood opportunities other than planting rice or other crops that can destroy the peatland.

In Siak regency in Indonesia, 57.44 percent of the area is peatland.

In a statement, ASL reported that to keep the peatlands wet and prevent forest and peatland fires, they introduced the cultivation of snakehead murrel fish (Channa striata), a native peatland species which is known as “dalag” in the Philippines, or “ikan gabus” in Indonesia.

The fish was chosen after the ASL team immersed themselves in the Malay culture and learned about its use as a supplement in women’s postpartum recovery after giving birth due to its exceptionally high albumin levels.

ASL came up with a business model

Philippine projects IN the Philippines, the Caves, Wetlands and Other Ecosystems Division (CaWED) of the DENR-BMB, an ongoing project to save the country’s peatlands, is being implemented, an email from the Environment department said on October 10.

At the same time, under the Asean Regional Project called “Sustainable Use of Peatlands and Haze Mitigation [Supa],” the Philippines is implementing the project, “Ensuring Sustainable Benefits from Protection and Wise Use of Peatlands [ESBenePeat].”

C u r r e n t l y, t h e D E N R - B M B , through CaWED, is finalizing the confirmation of probable peatlands that may be added to the number of those currently identified in the country that need to be conserved and protected‚or better yet, saved.

In cooperation with the Ecosys-

tems Research and Development Bureau, the DENR-BMB is standardizing the guidelines on the country’s peatland assessment.

So far, 17 probable peatlands need to be assessed, which could bring to 26 the number of peatlands in the Philippines. But then again, the process is still ongoing.

Peatlands and AHPs ACCORDING to the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), several peatlands can be found in some of the Asean Heritage Parks (AHPs). They include the Caimpugan Peatland in Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Mindanao, and the U Minh Thuong National Park in Vietnam.

But like any other peatlands, the Caimpugan Peatland is currently facing a serious dilemma with the draining or clearing of the area to make way for plantations, urban developments and mining operations.

“As a low-lying flat area fed by numerous riverine tributaries, the marsh is extremely critical in filtering out sediments that would otherwise smother coastal coral reefs,” the ACB told the BusinessMirror via e-mail on October 2.

According to ACB, the main challenge facing the marsh is financial resources and the political will to manage and monitor the protected area.

The protectors of Agusan Marsh and other protected areas in the country lack the technical as well as financial capacity to carry out all their

REACTING to Indonesia’s business model as livelihood support for communities to protect its vast peatland, citing studies, the ACB said snakehead murrel fish is an introduced fish species in the Philippines.

“It would be good to have feasibility studies on the appropriate fish species to farm so as not to disturb the local population in these peatland areas in the Philippines,” it said, noting that the Philippines can also learn from other Asean countries.

One is from U Min Thong AHP in Vietnam, wherein peatland management by local communities, is integrated with water management for fire prevention.

Sought for her expert opinion, ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said there are several ways to protect and conserve the country’s peatland.

Search and protect LIM said there’s a need to map out where the peatlands are and recognize their value for carbon storage, as well as for their unique characteristics, including the vegetation and other wild species that these ecosystems support.

She added that it is important to “gain a better understanding of how to make productive use of the land, without destroying its integrity and capacity to provide both tangible and nontangible benefits.”

Lim pointed out that taking into account the above-cited necessary actions, there’s also a need to develop and implement the management plan for peatlands together with LGUs, indigenous peoples and local communities, national governments, science experts and development sectors concerned, such as agriculture and tourism to save our peatlands.

Study: US whales, dolphins are losing food and habitat to climate change Malaysian office defends puppies’ use as bait to trap black panthers P ORTLAND, Maine—Whales, dolphins and seals living in US waters face major threats from warming ocean temperatures, rising sea levels and decreasing sea ice volumes associated with climate change, according to a first-of-itskind assessment.

Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAH) examined more than 100 stocks of American marine mammal species and found more than 70 percent of those stocks are vulnerable to threats, such as loss of habitat and food, due to the consequences of warming waters. The impacts also include loss of dissolved oxygen and changes to ocean chemistry.

The scientists found large whales— such as humpbacks and North Atlantic right whales—were among the most vulnerable to climate change, and that other toothed whales and dolphins were also at high risk.

The study, published last month in the journal PLOS ONE, is evidence that the way the US manages whales and dolphins needs to adapt in the era of climate change, advocates for marine mammals said.

The news is bleak, but the assessment also is the first to look solely at marine mammal stocks managed by the US and the results can help inform federal ocean managers about how to safeguard the vulnerable animals, said Matthew Lettrich, a biologist and lead author of the study.

“As the climate’s changing, we’re seeing some of the effects already, and some of our marine mammal populations are more

vulnerable to those changes than others,” Lettrich said. “Based on this study, we see a good proportion are highly and very highly vulnerable.”

The researchers studied marine mammals living in the western North Atlantic ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The animals are managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the arm of the federal government responsible for stewardship and protection of marine resources.

The scientists looked at the animals’ degree of exposure to climate change and sensitivity and capacity to adapt to it. They found 72 percent of the stocks were highly or very highly vulnerable to climate change, with a little less than half falling in the “very high” category.

The warming ocean primarily harms marine mammals by altering their ability to find food and reduces their amount of suitable habitat, the study said.

However, the scientists said changes to ocean temperature and chemistry also can change sound transmission. That can affect the sonar-like echolocation marine mammals, such as dolphins use to communicate and hunt.

Climate change “must be considered to adequately manage species,” the study states.

The NOAA study is significant because it’s the first to look broadly at US marine mammals and attempt to predict their resiliency to climate change, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, a biologist with Massachusetts-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation who was not involved in the study.

The whales will benefit from the study if the information is used to implement laws protecting them, Asmutis-Silvia said.

“The US is one of the most datarich countries when it comes to marine mammals, and those data should be driving what are arguably some of the world’s strongest laws to protect marine mammals,” she said. “However, data are meaningless without the political will to implement management measures.”

The impact of climate change on whales around the world has grown as a subject of scientific inquiry in recent years. Many studies about whales and climate change look only at a single species or a narrower geographic area, said Laura Ganley, a research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium in Boston.

But the way climate change affects the giant animals is global in nature, so the broader approach is helpful, she said.

Many scientists have said the vanishing right whale that lives off New England in the summer is made more vulnerable by changes to its food availability caused by warming waters. But climate change also clearly affects less-studied species, Ganley said.

“This isn’t just impacting North Atlantic right whales or bottlenose dolphins. This is impacting most stocks in the United States, and not just the ones in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Maine,” said Ganley, who was not involved in the study.

Climate change also could affect the distribution and behavior of marine mammals, the study states.

Whales, such as the right whale, which travels north every year from the waters off Georgia and Florida, migrate hundreds of miles annually to breed and feed.

Many also migrate across international boundaries, which could require new kinds of cooperation between countries. That is true of seals with large populations in the US and Canada, such as the gray seal, the study says.

The federal government has tried numerous methods in recent years to try to protect declining whale species, including implementing new restrictions on commercial fishing and new vessel speed restrictions.

Whales are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with large ships, and scientists have said both threats are made more severe by warming waters because ocean changes cause whales to move outside of protected zones.

Safeguarding whales during the era of climate change will require ocean managers to plan for a future in which whale habitats are potentially less suitable due to the warming waters, said Gib Brogan, campaign manager with environmental group Oceana.

“This study provides guidance on how managers could prioritize species that are most vulnerable to climate effects and give these species the attention that they need,” Brogan said. “If we are going to preserve biodiversity, including marine mammals, ocean managers need to explicitly account for current and future changes in the ocean as they consider ways to conserve marine life.” Patrick Whittle/Associated Press

K

UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysia’s Wildlife Department defended its use of puppies as live bait to capture black panthers spotted at a Malaysian village after animal rights groups protested the method and appealed to the government to use other means.

The department resorted to using puppies after earlier attempts to lure the panthers with a goat failed. It’s standard procedure to use live animals, Wildlife Department Director General Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said in remarks published last Wednesday, noting that the puppies were not physically harmed in the process.

“In this particular case, there was indication that the panther had attacked dogs [before], so we used the puppies for their barking and scent to attract the panther,” he told the Free Malaysia Today online news portal.

Farmers in a village in southern Negeri Sembilan state were terrified after spotting a panther near their home in September.

Villagers lodged a complaint with the Wildlife Department after a panther mauled their dog at a fruit orchard in the state on September 4, according to a Facebook post by Negeri Sembilan Chief Minister Aminuddin Harun.

Aminuddin said the Wildlife Department immediately installed a trap for the big cat, which was believed to have come from a forest reserve nearby. The department managed to trap three panthers on

September 18, 27 and October 1, he said.

The operation, however, sparked controversy after local media reported that puppies were used as live bait to lure the panthers.

Malaysian Animal Welfare Association slammed the move as shocking, and said it would have been more ethical for the department to use raw cattle meat. The Animal Care Society also appealed to the government to stop using live animals in such operations.

Abdul Kadir explained that the trap—a cage with a separate compartment to hold the puppies—is able to swiftly release the canines once the panther is caught.

He said the pups were unharmed and that officials adhered to operating procedures.

Abdul Kadir did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone and email.

Wildlife officials in Negeri Sembilan told local media that the first panther caught was a female weighing about 40 kilograms. The department has caught a dozen panthers in the state since the start of the year, including the three caught in September.

Aminuddin previously said the panthers have been treated and appeared healthy, though he did not say whether they were released back into the forest. He said the Wildlife Department was also conducting aerial investigations using drones to find out why the panthers had strayed into the village. Eileen Ng/Associated Press

Modern pentathlon soon finds out if swapping horses for obstacles enough for invite to LA28

Sports

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BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, October 15, 2023 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SOPHIE HERNANDEZ competing at a modern pentathlon test event in Ankara, Turkey in June last year. AP

Globetrotting for investments in women sports N

EW YORK—Billie Jean King is still globetrotting in support of more investment and equity in women’s sports.

She attended the Women’s World Cup in Australia, kicked off the player draft for the new women’s professional hockey league in Toronto and is opening an office in London for a tennis business venture involving the international Billie Jean King Cup. That’s all in the last three months for King, who turns 80 in November.

“We’re kind of at a tipping point,” King said. “People are actually looking at women’s sports like a great investment.”

She’s part of ownership groups involved with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the National Women’s Soccer League’s Angel City FC and the PWHL hockey league that starts in January.

Her busy schedule is reminiscent of the summer of 1973, when a 29-year-old King established the Women’s Tennis Association, won the Wimbledon triple crown in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, achieved equal pay at the US Open and beat selfproclaimed chauvinist Bobby Riggs

in the “Battle of the Sexes” match.

On Thursday, King and about 60 athletes will celebrate the 50th anniversary of equal prize money at the US Open and the KingRiggs match at her annual awards dinner for the Women’s Sports Foundation in New York.

In August, former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium to mark the pay equity milestone.

“Let us remember all of this is bigger than a champion’s paycheck,” Michelle Obama said during the ceremony on opening night. “This is about how women are seen and valued in this world.”

King recently launched the production company “Pressure is a Privilege,” a phrase associated with the 39-time Grand Slam winner. She’s also an executive producer and host of “Groundbreakers,” a documentary about female athletes that airs on PBS on November 21.

There’s an effort by members of Congress to award King the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest US civilian honors given to individuals whose achievements have a lasting impact in their field.

Three former Australian Open

champions— Naomi Osaka, Caroline Wozniacki and Angelique Kerber—are set to return to Melbourne Park in January following maternity leave, joined by 2022 winner Rafael Nadal and hometown favorite Nick Kyrgios.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley told the tournament launch Wednesday that Nadal (left hip flexor) and Kyrgios (knee, wrist) are expected to return from major injuries in a bid to challenge Novak Djokovic’s dominance at Rod Laver Arena, where he has clinched 10 of his record 24 Grand Slam titles.

“Our 2022 champion Rafa Nadal has been working hard on his rehab for most of this year,” Tiley said. “He always brings his best to Melbourne and no one can doubt how hard he competes. I’ve been in touch with his team and he’s now back on the court and looking forward to returning to Melbourne in January.”

Nadal has won two of his 22 Grand Slam titles in Melbourne— the first came in 2009.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence from the Australian Open…I am practicing every day and working

BILLIE JEAN KING delivers opening remarks ahead of the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League draft in Toronto recently. AP

hard to come back asap,” Nadal wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Tiley said Djokovic and No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz are expected to lead the men’s contingent, while leading players Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff are also expected to play in the women’s draw.

The tournament will run from January 14 to 28, with its opening day of play on a Sunday for the first time. The Australian Open joins the French Open as the only tennis majors to be held over 15 days.

Tiley also announced that the tournament will honor Australian great Evonne Goolagong Cawley on the 50th anniversary of the first of her four Australian Open titles in 1974. She also won Wimbledon twice and the French Open once.

Tiley said Goolagong Cawley’s image will feature on the coin used before matches at the Australian Open and at all warm-up tournaments in Australia in advance of the first major of the year. AP

HE athletes in modern pentathlon know for certain horses won’t be part of their event at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

They just hope they get invited.

Although the centuryold Olympic sport is on the docket for the Paris Games next summer—with horses—it’s not currently part of the LA Games program.

That could soon change as the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board meets this week to decide whether modern pentathlon, boxing and weightlifting will gain inclusion.

The three were tasked with demonstrating they’ve made changes to the governance or organizational culture.

That meant a dramatic makeover for modern pentathlon after issues that arose during the show-jumping portion at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

The sport swapped equestrian for obstacles (think: “American Ninja Warrior”) as the fifth discipline to join swimming, laser shooting, running and fencing.

To some, it was a radical, sport-altering move that ushers in a new sort of athlete, while saying farewell to horses—an integral part of the event’s history.

To others, a completely necessary action because being placed on the Olympic sideline would’ve meant a significant financial blow. The Olympic revenue distribution to the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), the sport’s governing body, has been a combined $26 million from the Tokyo and the 2016 Rio Games.

Unlike, say, basketball, the Olympics are everything for modern pentathlon.

“It’s our Everest,” said Jamie Cooke, a two-time Olympian who’s now coaching the Swiss team. “It’s how we showcase our event to the world.”

The sports landscape is crowded these days, and the Olympics are trending toward a younger audience. LA28 recently delivered a proposal to put flag football on the program when the Summer Games return to the United States for the first time in 32 years. Also on the LA proposal were baseball and softball, lacrosse, squash, and cricket.

Not picked up by LA28 were breakdancing—which makes its debut in Paris—motorsports, kickboxing and karate.

“Yes, there is competition with other sports. But we hope that we will be confirmed in the program after the change we’ve made,” Joel Bouzou, the vice president of UIPM, said in an interview with The Associated Press in May. Modern pentathlon has been part of the Olympics since the 1912 Stockholm Games. Over the years, the sport invented

by IOC founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin has gone through assorted transformations. For instance, pistol shooting was replaced by laser guns before the 2012 London Games.

This, though, tested the fabric of the sport, as the equestrian

Paralyzed from waist down for five years, Wickens zeroes in on racing championship

R

OBERT WICKENS was determined from the very first days after his lifechanging 2018 IndyCar accident not to let it define—or end—his racing career.

The Canadian was 29 years old at the time, engaged to be married, and a breakout rookie star in a United States-based racing series after a successful career in Europe. Wickens nearly won his IndyCar debut, scored four podiums, and was sixth in the championship race when he sailed into the fence at Pocono Raceway with three races remaining in the season.

He was paralyzed from the waist down.

Wickens moved to a

rehabilitation facility in Colorado, at first as an inpatient, before he moved into an extended stay motel to continue the work. Six hours a day, six days a week.

“In the months and years that I spent rehabbing my body, trying to get the best quality of life possible for myself and for my family, always in the back of my mind I was wanting to return to racing,” Wickens told The Associated Press. “I wanted my own closure on my racing career.

How it ended in Pocono in 2018 was not how I was going to end things.

“I’d been racing since I was 7 years old. It’s all I know.

And before I started another

motorsports journey, I felt like I needed closure on me as a driver.”

Wickens was retained by his race team (he drove for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, which is now Arrow McLaren) as a consultant but was still angling for ways to drive. He got his opportunity with Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai, which had experience in building and racing cars fitted with a hand control system to accommodate a paralyzed driver.

Just two seasons and 19 races into his comeback, Wickens heads into the Touring Car Class finale of the Michelin Pilot Challenge season as the championship leader. AP

ROBERT WICKENS is in his pit stall as he prepares to go out on the track during practice for the Rolex 24 hour auto race at Daytona International Speedway in January last year. AP

component came under fire during the Tokyo Olympics. TV footage showed German coach Kim Raisner leaning over a fence to strike the horse Saint Boy, which refused to jump the fences in the show-jumping round. That cost German athlete Annika Schleu a chance of winning the gold medal.

Athletes in modern pentathlon are expected to ride horses they haven’t met before.

Bonding with them quickly is part of the challenge.

After Tokyo, the sport was under pressure to replace the equestrian part—or risk being dropped from LA28. An athlete focus group came up with suggestions.

The choice was obstacles, where athletes navigate a course filled with ring swings, rope mazes and climbing walls. It drew on the popularity of the reality TV show “American Ninja Warrior” and obstacle-course events such as the “ Spartan Race.”

But not all are sold on obstacles being a long-term solution. Pentathlon United is an athlete-driven movement created to build a new vision for pentathlon. One that believes the decision to “remove the equestrian discipline was unfounded, unnecessary and reckless.”

“The sport getting back in, that’s brilliant. Athletes will have an Olympic experience. That’s wonderful. I wouldn’t want to take that away from anybody,” said Kate Allenby, a two-time Olympian for Britain and a representative of Pentathlon United. “But the question is this: Is the sport [still] pentathlon if it’s got obstacle racing in it? Because it’s an entirely different athlete.”

Allenby compared it to track and field changing one of the 10 events that make up the decathlon. Say, switching out the pole vault for a 200-meter swim.

“Is that still the decathlon?” she pondered.

“When do you stop calling it pentathlon?” Allenby added.

“Where’s your line?”

This remains a complicated time as athletes train for Paris, where horses are part of the program, and have a eye down the road with obstacles. This has essentially turned into training for six events.

“It’s challenging because we already have so many hours of training,” said modern pentathlete Sophie Hernandez of Guatemala, who is focusing on Paris and hoping for LA28 (pending inclusion). “But we were already training in the gym and doing strength exercises. We were already putting in the time.

We now just have to manage it differently and start making exercises that will prepare us for the obstacles.”

A public survey conducted by YouGov, an international online research group, found that 45 percent of Generation Z (born in 2000 or later) polled in the U.S. were more likely to tune into the Olympics on TV if a Ninja-style obstacle race was included. UIPM surveyed 159 athletes at events, with the research showing 95.6 percent were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with obstacles.

The addition of obstacles may reduce cost barriers, too, given the price of training with horses.

Ahmed Elgendy, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, said that he and about a dozen Egyptian modern pentathletes share one horse (named “Charlie”). It’s not the most ideal situation with the Paris Games less than a year away.

“The obstacles just are more affordable,” Elgendy explained, “and we can build it in any place.”

Hernandez said she sometimes trains for obstacles at a kids’ playground.

“It’s something that’s going to happen,” she said of obstacles, “so we have to prepare for it.”

In Paris, the modern pentathlon competition will bid an Olympic farewell to the horses.

The sport, though, hopes it’s done enough to proceed.

“That chapter will close,” Cooke said. “But the pen will keep on writing. We will have new champions and we will have new athletes forging their new paths and forging our new sport.” AP

BusinessMirror

What’s an ‘ethical’ bag of beans?

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October 15, 2023

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YOUR MUSI

25 YEARS STRONG A1 still living their dreams Text and Photo By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

T

EENAGEHOOD is incomplete without idolizing a boy band or group. In those tumultuous times, teens find comfort and their identities through those boys.

Although everyone grew up (the boy bands included), some things changed while others remained the same.

The love and support of Filipino 90s kids for their idols stayed the same and that is why British-Norwegian boy group A1 keeps on coming back to the Philippines.

The group is composed of Ben Adams, Christian Ingebrigtsen, Mark Read, and Paul Marazzi.

For the seventh time, A1 returns to

the Philippines for “A1: Twenty-Five Tour” to celebrate their 25th anniversary with multiple concerts on October 12 in Davao, October 13 in Cebu, and October 14 and 15 in Manila presented by Concert Republic.

‘Still doing it’

SINCE the group’s formation back in 1998, A1 never really looked back. Ben Adams said during the media conference, “We’re still doing it after all these years.”

Expressing his gratitude to their Filipino fans for always being “treated so fantastic” whenever they return, he added: “The greetings, smiles, enthusiasm and joy, that make us so happy and make us want to keep doing what we do.”

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On the subject of specific changes that happened in the last 25 years, Mark Read talked about the members starting a family and becoming fathers.

“Family changes everything because it changes your focus and your priorities.

Everything that you do or every time you travel, you think about leaving your family,” he stated and related it to their new song “Call Me When You Land,” which is more sentimental than their previous songs now that they have all matured.

Christian Ingebrigtsen shared that his favorite line from the song is “Hug them while you can” and for him, the song’s meaning is “treasuring the moments with the people we love while we still can.”

He also said that is how he approaches their concerts now, 25 years later, “I wanna be really present, enjoy it, and treasure each moment.”

Mark added that they were all so young when they started the group and since then, they’ve traveled and been away from their families most of their lives.

With always being told, “Call me when you land” now that they’re on tour again, Mark said, “This song is very prevalent right now, especially with what we are going through recently.”

For Paul Marazzi, his favorite lyrics are “Go see mom and dad,” explaining the time spent being so busy with life, planning, and being somewhere else.

“Just remember to take some time to go see the people that we love,” he added.

‘1,500 times better’

STATING that they’ve done thousands of shows since the 90s, Mark assured that every time they have a concert, they aim for it to be “better than the last” by bringing their individual experiences to the show.

While things have changed in the span of 25 years, the difference in their Manila concert “is going to be us at our strongest,” said Mark.

“It’s going to be 1,500 times better

than the first concert,” Ben chimed in.

Aside from their hit songs “Everytime,” “Like a Rose,” “Caught in the Middle,” “Heaven By Your Side,” and others that they’ve been singing for so long, Mark said they’re fortunate when they come to the other side of the world where they get to perform a lot of their songs that weren’t hits in the United Kingdom like “Walking in the Rain” and “One Last Song.”

Upon knowing that their first show in Manila sold out and that they’re going to hold another one, Mark shared that “it’s the most amazing thing” and they never take that for granted.

‘Incredible Filipino fans’

DESPITE taking a pause to focus on their solo pursuits from 2002 to 2009 and Paul briefly leaving the band, their Filipino fans never left their side and patiently waited for them to get back together.

“The Filipino fans are just so special to us,” Paul said and admired how their fans turn their songs into “massive hits” and how they love playing those songs to them.

He added that if he were to write a song inspired by the Philippines, the song title would be “Going to a Home Away From Home.”

Sharing what he loves about the Philippines, Christian said, “When we come here, we feel empowered in a way to think positively and optimistically about existence and they make us smile.”

With no way to describe how invaluable their Filipino fans are, Mark declared, “The Filipino fans have been the heart of what we do.”

A1 has been in the industry for 25 years and it seems like they’re not stopping anytime soon.

After the release of “Call Me When You Land,” they’ll also be releasing a few more songs and an album.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep touring until we’re 78,” Christian laughed at the thought but sounded optimistic at the same time.

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | OCTOBER 15, 2023

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BUSINESS

Another Oktoberfest of exciting new releases

NICOLE ASENSIO – “ Kiss Me Now”

NICOLE Asensio’s latest release titled “Kiss Me Now” is a slow, syrupy soulful song that was written and recorded almost entirely impromptu. Gabe (guitar and bass), Tobi (Drums) and Brad (Keys) begun jamming chords and rhythm at a soundcheck, and Nicole pulled off extemporaneous lyrics and melody that immediately encapsulated the “hit” essence and process of the song.

Mirroring its unscripted nature, the lyrics describe the urgency of finally giving into a first kiss that has been brewing for months. Nicole’s velvet vocals glide over scales with power, range and stirring sensibilities while the instruments play within the textures of gospel-soul influences seasoned with rich deep tones.

ICA FRIAS - “Oh Honey”

IN the new single titled “Oh Honey,” Filipino singersongwriter Ica Frias reflects on her fears of being vulnerable and her wariness of romantic entanglement.

Still, the young artist manages to deliver a soulful number brimming with hopeless romanticism built on jazzy instrumentation.

The rising star explains, “The song Oh Honey is about the fear of falling in love with the person you’re quite unsure of. Regardless of what you feel for him or her, it’s normal to be cautious about being romantically committed to someone. You deserve to receive all the love you give, but it needs to be with the right person at the right time.” Ica Frias recently made a significant mark with the release of her first song, “Ayoko Na.”

BENJ PANGILINAN - “Dance Like You”

ON his new upbeat single “Dance Like You,” Filipino singer-songwriter Benj Pangilinan expresses the joy of living life with a positive mindset. Encapsulating the essence of youthful excitement in a euphoric, fourminute pop song, the exciting newcomer encourages listeners to dance their worries away and surrender to the beat of a fun, vibrant day.

“Dance Like You is a song for all ages and all people who just want to have fun and dance,” Pangilinan explains. “I wrote this song during the pandemic. I remember just playing the guitar when I suddenly came up with an interesting chord progression.

Instantly, I picked up my phone and opened the Voice Memos app. From there, I remember getting this feeling that a song was about to be made.” “Dance Like You” will be part of an upcoming EP.

BEN&BEN - “Courage”

THE Filipino folk-pop outfit Ben&Ben dedicates this stripped-down version of their new song “Courage (acoustic version)” to the dreamers who are struggling to gather the strength to face up to an unforgiving world. The Filipino band encourages listeners to reach for their dreams and goals in life despite dealing with personal tribulations Taking a confident stride back to their distinct brand of intuitive intimacy, Ben&Ben’s “Courage (acoustic version)” offers a compelling snapshot of their journey as individuals and artists. In a press statement, the band offers, “The past few months have been mentally tough for the band, with challenges surrounding us and driving us to low points and times of discouragement. These valleys have been the inspiration for “Courage.” We realized that, as visceral as the feeling of being hopeless may be for us, we wanted to channel it into an uplifting piece of music for a lot of people who have a hard time verbalizing what they’re going through now.”

SHOEGAZE PILIPINAS – “Alimpuyo” compilation.

TRANSLATED as “whirlwind or whirlpool”, “Alimpuyo!”

Is a swirling assemblage of celestial vocals, hurricane guitars, and beautiful noise. About the release, former Sonnet LVIII band member Dale Marquez who conceived of this collection told SoundStrip: “I offered the idea to the admins of Shoegaze Pilipinas during the pandemic and I kind of gave them an extra push since I did something similar in the past with Popscene MNL. It took a lot of time to curate but the people I worked with, they’re all my friends.

It’s not really work; it’s more of a passion project.

It’s also really about getting together the shoegaze community, and help make it grow, or even flourish.”

MANILA UNDER FIRE - “Your Ghost”

THIS new track speaks about a toxic kind of romantic love that’s devastating yet addictive. The first verse goes “You say shit in silence You shape shift on the surface The violence you don’t want But I do I miss you” – a testament as to how even in terrible circumstances, two lovers can’t let each other go.

Another first for the band, Manila Under Fire’s latest song is very minimalist wherein the synths and electronic drums are the main instruments while only the guitar and acoustic drums in the background provide the rockin’ feel.

What’s an ‘ethical’ bag of beans?

Navigating the complex buzzwords of coffee

By Spencer M. Ross

Y

UMass Lowell

ou’re shopping for a bag of coffee beans at the grocery store. Perusing the shelves in the coffee aisle, though, you see too many choices.

First up is the red tub of Folgers “100 percent Colombian,” a kitchen staple— “lively with a roasted and rich finish.”

On the side of the tub, you see the icon of Juan Valdez with his donkey, Conchita— a fictional mascot representing the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation.

Next might be Starbucks “Single-Origin Colombia.” One side of the green bag tells “the story” of the beans, describing “treacherous dirt roads” to “6,500 feet of elevation” that are “worth the journey every time.” The other shows a QR code and promises Starbucks is “Committed to 100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing in partnership with Conservation International.”

If you’re about ready to toss in the towel, you’re hardly alone. Consumers are often asked to make more responsible choices. Yet when it comes to commodity goods like coffee, the complex production chain can turn an uncomplicated habit into a complicated decision.

Marketers attempt to simplify this overload by using buzzwords that sound good but may not get across much nuance. However, you might consider some of these terms when trying to decide between “100 percent Colombian” and the Vieira family.

“Fair trade” As a benchmark, the coffee industry typically uses the “C-price,” or the traded price on the New York Intercontinental

Consumers are often asked to make more responsible choices. Yet when it comes to commodity goods like coffee, the complex production chain can turn an uncomplicated habit into a complicated decision. Photo by Chevanon Photography on Pexels.com

Exchange for a pound of coffee ready for export. “Fair trade” implies the coffee is fairly traded, often with the goal of paying farmers minimum prices—and fixed premiums—above the C-price.

There are a few different fair-trade certifications, such as Fairtrade America or Fair Trade Certified. Each of these has its own, voluntary certification standards linked with the associated organization.

Yet obtaining certification can come at significant additional cost for farms or importers.

In contrast, some importers, or even roasters, have established relationships with specific farms, rather than buying beans at auction on the open market.

These relationships potentially allow the importers to work directly with farmers over multi-year periods to improve the coffee quality and conditions. Longerterm commitment can provide farmers more certainty in times when the C-price is below their cost of production.

“100 percent arabica” There are several species of coffee, but approximately 70 percent of the world’s

production comes from the arabica species, which grows well at higher altitudes. Like with wine, there are several varieties of arabica, and they tend to be a bit sweeter than other species—making arabica the ideal species for satisfying consumers.

In other words, a label like “100 percent arabica” is meant to signal deliciousness and prestige—though it’s about as descriptive as calling a bottle of pinot noir “100 percent red.”

When it comes to the environment, though, arabica isn’t necessarily a win.

Many arabica varieties are susceptible to climate change-related conditions such as coffee rust—a common fungus that spreads easily and can devastate farms— or drought.

“Single-origin” If someone labeled a peach as “American,” a consumer would rightly wonder where exactly it came from. Similarly, “single-origin” is a very broad description that could mean the coffee came from “Africa” or “Ethiopia” or “Jimma Zone”— even the zone’s specific town of “Agaro.”

“Single-estate” at least gives slightly more

farm-level information, though even this information may be tough to come by.

Consumers have tended to want their coffee’s journey from seed to cup to be traceable and transparent, which implies that everyone along the production chain is committed to equity—and “single-origin” appears to provide those qualities.

As a result, some coffee marketers invest quite a bit in being able to craft a narrative that emotionally resonates with consumers and makes them feel “connected” to the farm. Others have developed blockchain solutions where each step along the coffee’s journey, from bean to retail, is documented in a database that consumers can look at. Since blockchain data are immutable, the information a consumer gets from scanning a QR code on a label of a coffee bag should provide a clear chain of provenance.

“Shade-grown” Shade-grown labels indicate that farms have adopted a more environmentally sustainable method, using biomatter like dead leaves as natural fertilizer for the coffee shrubs growing beneath a canopy of trees. Unlike other methods, shade-grown coffee doesn’t increase deforestation, and it protects habitats for animals like migratory birds—which is why the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, which has developed its own coffee certification program, calls it “bird-friendly.”

In the end, all this information—or lack thereof—is a tool for consumers to use when making their coffee choices.

Like any tool, sometimes it’s helpful, and sometimes not. These labels might not make your decision any easier, and might drive you right back to your “usual” bag of beans—but at least your choice can be more nuanced. The Conversation Cover photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels. com

UNIQLO Manila Flagship Store turns 5, launches café and more

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apanese global apparel retailer UNIQLO mounts a big celebration to mark the 5th anniversary of its Global Flagship Store in the Philippines.

The UNIQLO Manila Global Flagship Store was introduced in 2018 as the biggest in Southeast Asia. Over the years, it has served as the home to the full line up of LifeWear items in the country, including key lines such as the AIRism, HEATTECH, UV Protection, AirSense and Bra Top collections. The store is also the venue of unique services and experiences, special displays, and collaborations with various local talents.

Now in its 5th year, UNIQLO brings a bigger and better shopping experience for customers with the theme of “Elevated Store. Elevated Essentials. Embrace the Fu-

ture.” Lined up for the exciting anniversary celebrations are massive promotions and new experiences that are sure to level up the LifeWear shopping experience.

The UNIQLO Manila Global Flagship Store anniversary celebrations include flagship-exclusive, limited-offer deals of its popular LifeWear pieces. Shoppers can also get UNIQLO branded novelty items with a single receipt purchase worth P3,500 or more.

Part of the festivities as well is UNIQLO bringing its famous UNIQLO COFFEE brand to Filipino consumers. It serves a selection of café-style food and beverage options. Menu items include the classic Americano and Spanish Lattes, paired with food items such as Smoked Salmon Panini and Red Bean Bun. UNIQLO Coffee also offers a local touch to

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its new home in the Philippines. The coffee drinks are made with locally sourced, high quality coffee beans from Mt. Apo, and feature goods and pastries that fuse Filipino and Japanese flavors.

UNIQLO brings as well the RE.UNIQLO October 15, 2023

Repair Studio to the Philippines. True to the philosophy of LifeWear, this is where you can bring your pre-loved UNIQLO items to give them a new life. Last but not least in the UNIQLO Manila Global Flagship Store’s exciting offerings is a refreshed line-up of their UTme! custom service. The newest collaboration features designs from local artists in the Philippines, which customers can design and get creative with on UNIQLO shirts and tote bags.

Take part in the ongoing celebrations at UNIQLO Manila Flagship Store in Glorietta 5 in Makati City until October 26.

To get more information and the latest updates, follow UNIQLO Philippines on Facebook, @uniqlophofficial on Instagram and Tiktok, and visit www.uniqlo. com/ph/en/.