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Sunday, October 31, 2021 Vol. 17 No. 23

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The ‘invisible’ emergency called mental health will linger well into the new normal, experts warn.

By Rory Visco

N

Contributor

Many people around the world have reported feelings of anxiety, depression, worries and other sad states of mental issues that arose as early as the onset of the pandemic itself. Fear of contracting the virus obviously topped the list, security and safety, drastic reduction in mobility, hospitals that won’t accept nonCovid patients, employment (many lost their jobs since businesses closed shop), livelihood, lack of contact with family or even going out with friends and many others.

What is mental health, and why is it so important?

MENTAL health, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a state of well-being where a person is able to cope with the regular stresses of work and home life and is able to make a contribution.

Mental health conditions— which include depression, anxiety, substance use disorders (including alcohol) and psychoses—can be highly disabling, affecting people’s functionality and capacity to live fulfilling lives. These conditions are also associated with increased mortality. WHO figures report that worldwide, 800,000 people die from suicide every year.

According to Prof. (Adj) Dato’ Dr. Andrew Mohanraj Chandrasekaran, president of the Malaysian Mental Health Association and a member of the board of directors of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), the new nor-

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EARLY two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sees another emergency that needs attention—mental health.

DR. CHANDRASEKARAN: “As we approach this new normal, we will, for a long time, still be grappling with the same mental health issues. That’s not going away, and therefore would necessitate for us to continue the conversation.... What appears to be settling down can actually be a lull period where we don’t see things very obviously.” ANDREWMOHANRAJ.COM

mal—once the pandemic goes into the endemic stage—will not be the same as the old normal, where issues about mental health were relegated in the background.

“As we approach this new normal, we will, for a long time, still be grappling with the same mental health issues; that’s not going away, and therefore would necessitate for us to continue the conversation, “ he said. “This is for the simple reason that we know what appears to be settling down can actually be a lull period where we don’t see things very obviously but there are certain psychological and psychiatric conditions that

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.7700

will become more prominent with its symptoms much later.”

Anxious of new normal

WHILE the prospect that life is slowly going back to normal—like going back to school—may seem exciting, Chandrasekaran observes some kids are still a bit anxious with the prospect. This means that they will have to start getting used to public transport. The adults who have been working from home have already adapted to the setup and fears of the virus being in the workplace also bring anxiety.

“These will surely go on for quite a while, but this may be an opportune time to put in a sustainable intervention to address long-term issues,” Chandrasekaran added.

With regard to long-term effects of the pandemic and how people can “re-socialize” and the difficulties they may encounter, Bawani Rajendran, a clinical psychologist with MSF Malaysia, said that after more than a year of the lockdown, many

would have already dealt with the losses and stresses in terms of relationships, financial hardships, businesses going down.

Comparing this to research on effects of natural disasters, which can serve as a guide, she estimated that around 10 percent of people will develop severe psychological problems such as mood or anxiety disorders or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“But it could be much higher because unlike the other pandemics, this one affected almost everyone; even those who didn’t get sick but know someone who did will also be affected. With the prolonged lockdowns, the pandemic would probably exacerbate pre-existing conditions or may initiate a mental health condition,” she said.

Investments down the drain

NAZ RAHMAN, a TV host, emcee, actor, media trainer and family man from Malaysia, shared how his stature, his accomplishments

both as a celebrity and entrepreneur, were all gone in a flash due to the pandemic. He recalled how his investment in a start-up firm where he had grand plans, his savings of 20 years which he put into the business, were all wiped out.

“I was going through depression but I didn’t know it. From being a truly positive person, I was feeling too negative. When my son showed a planetary system that he made and was proud of, I told him to shut up. That was a revelation to me, that something was wrong; I was letting my family, my children down, and it should not stay that way,” he said.

He realized that while he may have lost what he built for the last 20 years, he also risked losing what he already has, which to him is more precious than anything in this world. He apologized to his family.

“I’ve accepted that this is the way it is. But one thing I know, if you want to get out of this funk, you should never be alone; you got to have a support group. If there’s none, don’t be afraid to seek help. That’s what I did, and we were never better.”

Baby steps

LYKA LUCERNA from the Philippines—a licensed social worker and certified specialist in women and children protection and also a book author—said that though the Philippines is struggling, the country is taking baby steps. But anxiety levels among many Filipinos rose with the thought and the main concern of infecting their loved ones. Always they are consumed with the fear that they might pass on the disease to them.

Filipinos also faced social issues like stigma, discrimination, and economic concerns like losing their jobs and not having money to support their families, especially among urban poor communities.

As a mental health and psy-

chosocial provider from MSF, she provided support to a community in Tondo, Manila, by listening to people’s thoughts and feelings, and normalizing their fears and anxieties. She highlighted their strengths so they can be reminded of their individual capacities to get through this pandemic.

“It may not be easy, but we need to find our coping strategies. So, I equipped the community with a few more positive coping strategies such as relaxation techniques or breathing exercises. We also linked them with other people in the community who can help them with their socioeconomic concerns.”

Doing what she wanted

DINA NADZIR, a singer, actress, entrepreneur and radio host from Malaysia, admitted to being too lazy to think or do anything, she did what she wanted to do—go on air, eat and sleep whenever she wants—but eventually realized it was unhealthy for her. She put on so much weight and felt bad about herself.

“I felt being static, not looking at achieving something. I still have work, but I don’t feel too proud about myself. It pained me seeing bad things happening to my friends. Work was still the same, but it was my personal being that was not,” she said.

Bawani said what happened to Dina can be an example of “fight, flight or freeze.” Some may run away (take flight or engage in an avoidant behavior), or fight (become hyperactive), or freeze.

“The impact may vary from person to person. These are some of the signs not necessarily [going] into depression or anxiety, but mental health is slowly deteriorating. When these happen, better to talk to someone you can trust or better yet, seek professional help.”

Sound advice. And one worth heeding.

n JAPAN 0.4471 n UK 70.0626 n HK 6.5278 n CHINA 7.9430 n SINGAPORE 37.7613 n AUSTRALIA 38.2857 n EU 59.3197 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5358

Source: BSP (October 29, 2021)

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CONTAGION IN OUR MIND

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US general likens China’s hypersonic test to a ‘Sputnik moment’

By Peter Martin Bloomberg News

T

HE US’s top uniformed military officer called China’s suspected test of a hypersonic weapons system a “very concerning” development in the escalating competition between Washington and Beijing.

IN this September 29, 2021, file photo, a visitor takes photos of replicas of space launch rockets at Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai, southern China’s Guangdong province. China said Monday its launch of a new spacecraft was merely a test to see whether the vehicle could be reused. AP/NG HAN GUAN

“What we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system. And it is very concerning,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview for “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-toPeer Conversations” on Bloomberg Television. “I don’t know if it’s quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it’s very close to that. It has all of our attention.”

Milley’s comments are the most significant acknowledgment by a US official of reports that China’s military conducted possibly two hypersonic weapons tests over the summer, including the launch into space of an orbiting hypersonic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The Financial Times first reported the tests, citing officials it didn’t name.

The next-generation technology, if perfected, could be used to send nuclear warheads over the South Pole and around American anti-missile systems in the northern hemisphere. Hypersonic weapons are normally defined as fast, low-flying and highly maneuverable weapons designed to be too quick and agile for traditional missile defense systems.

While Milley stopped short of declaring the weapons test on par with Sputnik—the pioneering 1957 satellite that gave the Soviet Union an early lead in the space race, shocking the US—the comparison showed the depth of concern about Beijing’s work on hypersonic arms.

Defense Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment Wednesday on Milley’s remarks about China’s hypersonics program, but he told reporters at the Pentagon that “this is not a technology that is alien to us, that we haven’t been thinking about for a while” and that the US has defensive capabilities “that we need to hone and to improve.”

“Our own pursuit of hypersonic capabilities is real, it’s tangible and we are absolutely working towards being able to develop that capability,” Kirby said, “but I won’t get into the specifics of testing and where we are.”

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall referred in a speech last month to the potential for such a Chinese space-based capability, which during the Cold War was called a “Fractional Orbital Bombardment System,” or a system

that goes into orbit and then deorbits to hit a target.

And the chief executive officer of Raytheon Technologies Corp., Gregory Hayes, said on Tuesday that the US is “at least several years behind” China in developing hypersonic technology.

China has disputed the reports of the tests, saying it simply launched a reusable space vehicle.

‘Strategic competition’

THE development comes as the US and Chinese militaries have increasingly squared off across Asia, from the South China Sea to the Taiwan Strait, as part of what the Biden administration has characterized as “strategic competition” between the world’s two largest economies. The threat of a US strike that wipes out Chinese missiles before they can hit an American target has long been seen as a deterrent against more assertive military action by Beijing.

The reported hypersonic test was part of a broader buildup of the Chinese military with broad implications for America, Milley said. “They’re expanding rapidly—in space, in cyber and then in the traditional domains of land, sea and air,” he said. “And they have gone from a peasant-based infantry army that was very, very large in 1979 to a very capable military that covers all the domains and has global ambitions.”

“As we go forward—over the next 10, 20, 25 years—there’s no question in my mind that the biggest geostrategic challenge to the United States is gonna be China,” Milley said. “They’ve developed a military that’s really significant.”

China military budget

THE scope of that buildup is greater than official defense spending figures suggest, Milley said. “You gotta zero out to the cost of labor,” Milley said.

“Chinese military troops are not anywhere close to the level of expense” of a US soldier. “So, zero that out. Then you get budgets that are much closer.”

In addition, he said much of the Chinese military’s research and development is led by state-owned companies in the commercial sector, which isn’t counted as official defense spending. “If you really peel the onion back and you do a detailed analysis” that compares “apples

to apples, you’ll see budgets that are much closer to each other than people might think.”

Milley characterized America’s long military involvement in Afghanistan as a strategic failure because “the enemy, the Taliban, ended up in Kabul, in the capital.

And the regime that we supported lost,” he said.

The failure didn’t come in the last 20 days of the war or even the last 20 months, Milley said. But “what caught us by surprise” in August was “the speed, and the scope and the timing” of the Afghan government’s collapse, he said. “So, that’s something that we need to figure out.”

Soldiers and politics

MILLEY has drawn fire from both Republicans and Democrats in recent years as military leaders struggle to steer clear of Washington’s increasingly partisan politics.

Democrats and former highranking officials criticized Milley when he marched across Washington’s Lafayette Square with then-President Donald Trump in June 2020 for a photo-op outside St. John’s Church in the midst of nationwide protests against police violence. Critics said Milley’s presence lent the military’s imprimatur to a political event that undercut freedom of speech and assembly.

“It all happened very quickly.

I thought he was going out to, you know, check troops sort of thing,” Milley said. “And I found out very, very quickly as I looked forward and I saw the press being set up, I realized it was a political event and I—I got out of the way—and broke away from that. And I regret that,” he said of his participation.

More recently, Milley was criticized by Republicans for calls he made to his Chinese counterparts in the tumultuous final weeks of the Trump administration to reassure them that the president didn’t plan to attack. Milley has said the calls were a normal part of his job and were coordinated with the acting secretary of defense.

Milley also described the January 6 Capitol riot as “one of the most significant events in recent history,” but declined to comment on what could have been done differently that day.

“I’ll let the January 6 Commission and all the various investigations do all the postmortems on it,” he said.

A4

The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Global markets face possible reality check from China risks G

lobal markets may be failing to properly grasp the risks stemming from China, evidenced by stocks trading at nearrecord levels.

A m ajor c ha l lenge is C h ina’s Covid-zero strategy, which heralds rolling mobility curbs, supply-chain snarls and trade disruption, according to Frances Donald, global head of macro-strategy at Manulife Asset Management.

“What has failed to permeate the markets’ sensitivity is, how is Covid zero in China going to impact the global economy?” Donald said in a Bloomberg Radio interview Thursday.

“That’s a global macro story that isn’t

priced, even if the bad news for China is directly in Chinese assets already.”

China is currently striving to restrain any widespread virus outbreak and is the last holdout for the Covidzero approach of closed borders and movement restrictions. If the nation continues with that kind of containment strategy to fight the pathogen, “we’re probably going to see PMIs decelerate, trade weaken and goods activity slow as well,” Donald said, referring to purchasing managers’ indexes.

Recent company results show the challenges arising from China’s Covid stance. Starbucks Corp. and McDonald’s Corp. in their latest earnings reported drops in comparable-store

sales in China amid pandemic-linked mobility curbs.

The MSCI AC World Index is up almost 16 percent so far this year and now trades near a record high.

By contrast, the MSCI China Index is down 14 percent, squeezed by Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns on an array of industries, including the indebted property sector.

Robust corporate earnings have encouraged the view that global equities can weather the pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions that are stoking inflation and pushing central banks toward tightening monetary policy.

For Jim Veneau, head of fi xed

income A sia at A x a Invest ment Ma n agers, t he headw i nd s f rom China’s property sector and w ider economic deceleration are key litmus tests for investors.

The growth slowdown is a “wild card” and is “going to have global implications,” he said. “There’s still a desire to get leverage levels in the economy down through market mechanisms—there’s a willingness to bear a little pain or spread the pain.”

Data released this month showed a sharp slowdown in Chinese growth to 4.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, compared with 7.9 percent in the previous three-month period.

Bloomberg News

Guide to G-20 leaders and why a climate deal is so hard to get

T

he Group of 20 came into its own during the 2008 financial crisis in order to avoid a global depression. It was a turning point that made clear that big decisions could no longer be taken without the fastest growing economies.

Fast forward to now, and the leaders of the nations that account for 75 percent of global carbon emissions are again being called to arms to avert another catastrophe—a climate one. The G-20 is meeting in Rome this weekend right before COP26 in Glasgow, the United Nations gathering that aims to set specific goals to wean nations off coal and other noxious substances for good.

This time around, the G-20 risks falling short and a draft communiqué seen by Bloomberg News shows just how much is still up in the air. For starters, some key players aren’t showing up in person. Last year the entire summit was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The push to consign coal to history and achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century looks out of reach. There is a sense that the old establishment represented by the Group of Seven nations tried to impose itself on the likes of China, Russia and India rather than actively engage them.

The mood of mutual suspicion is hard to bridge without the kind of faceto-face contact that can clear the air.

The meeting comes as countries grapple with spiraling energy costs and supplychain shortages, challenges that are reigniting geopolitical tensions between producers and users.

The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and President Joe Biden’s inability to set climate goals at home have also cast a shadow on US leadership when most needed.

Here is your guide to the complicated considerations of leaders as they attend, or dial in, to the two-day summit starting October 30.

Italy | Mario Draghi, The Host

It’s a bit of awkward for the man who saved the euro and likes to get things done. The reality is that, as the unelected technocratic leader of a smaller developed economy, he’s not in a position to dictate climate terms.

Italy itself has yet to make a contribution to the $100-billion fund aimed at helping poorer countries. As the former head of the European Central Bank, Draghi commands respect and is carving a larger role for himself within Europe’s circle of influence—but corralling G-20 holdouts into submission might prove beyond even his abilities.

At home he’s focused on restoring order to the economy amid speculation his next career move might be to become head of state.

UK | Boris Johnson, The Convert

In a much-cited 2000 column in the Daily Telegraph, the now Conservative prime minister ridiculed “eco doomsters” with such gusto that more than a few skeptics raised an eyebrow when he took to the United Nations General Assembly recently with an impassioned speech about the need for humanity to face its responsibilities to the planet.

Johnson is one of the few politicians who can pull off a U-turn and his unflappable optimism has been key to his political success. But his relationship with the European Union after Brexit remains difficult—with France it’s particularly antagonistic. As host of COP26 he’ll need all his powers of persuasion to force a miraculous shift.

US | Joe Biden, The Letdown

Biden will kick off his European tour with two acts of contrition. On Friday, the devoutly Catholic president will have a private audience with Pope Francis amid pressure from US conservative bishops over his stance on abortion rights. He’ll then pull France’s Emmanuel Macron aside for a chat to repair an alliance bruised by his role in convincing Australia to cancel a submarine contract with Paris to instead pursue a purchase of nuclear-powered ships from the US or the UK Biden leaves behind a stalled legislative agenda and faces the disillusionment of many allies whom he had promised “America is back.”

Germany | Angela Merkel, The Departing

It’s a passing-of-the-baton moment from the acting chancellor to her successor, finance minister Olaf Scholz, who will also be attending and whom leaders will want to approach. But as the EU’s longest-serving leader, Merkel is no ordinary lame duck. The G-20 will miss someone known as a “compromise machine.” She remained neutral in the growing US-China standoff and saw the value in staying the course as the main interlocutor with Russian President Vladimir Putin in spite of various provocations. Scholz has no such history of engagement with the Kremlin—and his future coalition partner, the Greens, have been openly hostile to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany.

France | Emmanuel Macron, The Humbled

The 43-year-old brings swagger to summits. At the G-7 he hosted in 2019, Macron gave Brazil a dressing down over deforestation in the Amazon. He courted then-US President Donald Trump and swung his arm around Biden at the G-7 this year in the UK, only to be stung by the submarine switch betrayal. Ties with the UK are at a low and some in Europe are uneasy about Macron’s ambitions to occupy the regional vacuum left

by Merkel. The next six months will see him sucked into a reelection campaign against the far right. The Paris climate agreement was struck in 2015, before Macron came to power. It remains the benchmark, one that Macron will argue must be improved on.

Canada | Justin Trudeau, The Conflicted

Trudeau recently won a third term but presides over a minority government, one that made many climate pledges yet can’t wean itself off oil.

Just this month his administration invoked a 44-year-old treaty to stop the US from shutting a pipeline. Reconciling his environmental goals with the country’s fundamental reliance on fossil fuels was never easy. But this time around critics will be looking for action, or it will be hard to shake off a sense of hypocrisy that dogs rich countries talking a big green game.

Saudi Arabia | MBS, The ClimateOil Strategist

The world’s largest oil exporter surprised many ahead of climate talks by pledging a net zero goal, showing that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman wants to be part of the global conversation on climate change even as he aims to keep the kingdom’s crude in the energy mix long-term. It’s the latest twist from the royal known as MBS, who has eased back into the limelight. The 2018 murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi

(which he denied any role in), a crackdown on domestic political opposition and the Yemen war had strained ties with Western allies. Prince Mohammed is defacto ruler but his father, the Saudi king, could opt to lead the delegation remotely. It’s unclear still if the crown prince will attend in person.

with polls showing leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the lead. Bolsonaro is a contradictory figure, presenting himself both as a climate mediator but also ready to pick up a fight. However, the fact he is skipping COP26 doesn’t bode well for the talks.

The Telling No-Shows | China and Russia

India | Narendra Modi

It’s hard not to interpret the absence of both Putin and Xi Jinping as a snub in the efforts to reach a new climate deal given their combined clout. Along with the US and India, China and Russia are the worst polluters.

Covid-19 has given both a reason to stay home. Russia just imposed the toughest restrictions for months while Xi hasn’t left China in nearly two years.

In truth, domestic politics make it imperative for Xi to hang back as he seeks to consolidate power ahead of a Communist Party leadership meeting next year.

Putin will miss the potential for a second in-person meeting with Biden following their summit in Geneva.

The energy crunch has given the Russian leader a lever to seek a reprieve on sanctions by offering to boost supplies to gas-starved Europeans. There are, of course, strings attached as he seeks swift approval to begin shipments through the controversial NS2 pipeline that bypasses Ukraine.

Who else is not going?

Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is sending his foreign minister in lieu while South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa is staying put, keeping a close eye on local elections. The coal-dependent nation uses the fossil fuel to generate most of its electricity and while the government is committed to an energy transition it’s looking for bigger financial help to carry it out.

Japan’s Fumio Kishida will take part virtually as the summit comes during an election where his ruling party is expected to lose seats, but hold on to power with the help of its coalition partner. While his predecessor set the bold target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, the plan looks shaky because it depends on restarting most of the country’s nuclear reactors, something that frightens a public scarred by the Fukushima disaster a decade ago.

Is anyone else coming?

Turkey | Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Erdogan has one goal in mind: some alone time with Biden to make his case to buy US warplanes. He’d wanted to have that conversation in Rome, but he will likely have to wait for COP26.

His presence at the G-20 comes amid frictions with the West after Turkey threatened, and then dropped, a call for 10 ambassadors to be expelled from Ankara over their demand a government critic be released. Turkey is also prepping for further military action against US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria. All this will make for uncomfortable conversations.

Brazil | Jair Bolsonaro

The firebrand former army captain is in a tight spot. At home, his popularity has dived amid criticism of his handling of the pandemic and an inf lation spike that has eroded income. He faces critics abroad over the Amazon. Latin America’s biggest economy also faces 2022 elections

Will he or won’t he commit India to a net-zero target? India is one of the worst polluters but wants goals that take into account emissions per capita, a metric that plays in its favor given the tremendous size of its population.

Modi will also be looking for tangible evidence that more money will come his way if he’s to commit (so far the signs aren’t encouraging). His other mission is to convince the world that India is open for business even as the full scale of its devastating death toll from Covid may never be known. Under him, Hindu nationalism has gained ground with a rise in religious identity politics that has concerned civil liberty activists.

Argentina | Alberto Fernandez

With midterm elections around the corner and with economic problems piling up, Fernandez will use the G-20 to try to get support for the complex renegotiation the country is undergoing with the International Monetary Fund.

Specifically, Fernandez has been seeking other country members to back his proposal to reduce commissions paid for large IMF loans, with the nation owing the Washington-based fund more than $40 billion. A meeting with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva may take place on the sidelines of the summit.

South Korea | Moon Jae-in

A long-time proponent of reconciliation with North Korea, Moon’s final months in office are all about the elusive goal of permanent peace with the regime. In a visit to the Vatican, he’ll ask the pope to visit Pyongyang with a view to reviving talks with its everunpredictable leader Kim Jong Un.

Australia | Scott Morrison

The prime minister finally unveiled a plan for zero carbon emissions by 2050, but that target is not even going to be passed into law, prompting critics to call it “glossy and slick advertising with no substance.” That’s probably because Morrison has his sights on elections next year and needs to assuage voters, particularly those in coal-mining communities, that there will be no threat to rural jobs. Morrison, whom Biden referred to as that “fella Down Under” when announcing the submarine deal, might be more interested in working out the mechanics of that agreement with US and UK officials—out of Macron’s earshot, naturally.

Indonesia | Joko Widodo

The leader of Southeast Asia’s largest economy is set to take the reins of the G-20 presidency under the cloud of a stunted national agenda back home as Indonesia recovers from the pandemic. With an ambition of building a brand-new green capital in Borneo, he’ll arrive in Italy keen to show support for greening the economy. But a lower-than-expected carbon tax is not a good look, especially when, as the world’s top exporter of thermal coal, Indonesia benefits from sky-high prices. Bloomberg News

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India deploys US weapons to fortify border with China

I

ndia has deployed recently acquired US-made weaponry along its border with China, part of a new offensive force to bolster its capabilities as the countries remain deadlocked over disputed territory in the Himalayas.The buildup in India’s northeast is centered on the Tawang Plateau adjoining Bhutan and Tibet, a piece of land claimed by China but controlled by India. It holds historical political and military significance: In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India across nearby mountain passes to escape a Chinese military operation. Three years later, both sides fought a war in the area.

Now US-manufactured Chinook helicopters, ultra-light towed howitzers and rifles as well as domestically-made supersonic cruise missiles and a new-age surveillance system will back Indian troops in areas bordering eastern Tibet. The weapons have all been acquired in the past few years as defense ties between the US and India have strengthened due to rising concerns about Chinese assertiveness.

Indian military personnel escorted a group of reporters through the region last week to highlight the country’s new offensive capabilities.

Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Manoj Pande said that boots, armor, artillery and air support were being combined to make the force “agile, lean and mean so that we can employ faster.” “The Mountain Strike Corps is fully operationalized,” he said. “All units including combat and combat support units are fully raised and equipped.” India has moved to bolster its defenses along the border with China after the worst fighting in decades last year led to the deaths of at least 20 Indian army personnel and four Chinese soldiers. While the two sides have engaged in talks to disengage, they have yet to agree on pulling back from a key flashpoint in another border area near the disputed area of Kashmir.

India’s deployments show a frustration with the lack of progress on talks with China, said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “That we are looking at a second winter engaged at the border explains why India needs to work on building its capabilities and infrastructure at the border and source more equipment from partners like the US,” she said.

Adding to the friction is a new Chinese boundary law that Beijing said was a “unified standard for strengthening border management.” India warned that the new law, passed last week, could affect ongoing border tensions, which China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said was “undue speculation.” The bulk of India’s fresh forces have gone to the east, where a formation of least 30,000 troops has been deployed over the past year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been concerned about a repeat of a bitter 1962 battle in the Himalayas, when the People’s Liberation Army took Tawang as the under-prepared and poorly led Indian Army withdrew. Unused bunkers and war memorials still dot the lone road that connects Tawang to the plains below.

India now wants to use the area to “punch” China if necessary, according to a senior military commander familiar with the situation.

The area is crucial to India’s defenses, as the borders stretching east to Myanmar are “poorly held” and the narrow corridor passing by Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh—which holds gas pipelines and railroads connecting central India to the northeast—is of “critical concern,” the commander said.

The Indian army’s offensive option along the Tawang Plateau, which is in the middle of those areas, would allow India to counter China as it steps up military activity in the area. General Pande said there was a “marginal increase in Chinese patrols in the eastern sector along the Line of Actual Control,” a disputed but de facto boundary between the two countries that runs along the Himalayas.

The LAC is patrolled by India and China, although General Pande said the scale and duration of PLA troop exercises on their side have increased since the standoff in the eastern area of Ladakh last year.

India has “adequate number of troops available,” the general said, without giving numbers.

‘Game changer’ A newly raised Indian Army aviation brigade, based about 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Tawang, forms a critical component of the new offensive plan. This was the same base that US aviators took off from to fight the Japanese Imperial Army in China and assist the nationalist forces there in World War II. The Indian aviation brigade is now equipped with Chinook helicopters, which can ferry US-made light howitzers and troops quickly across mountains. It also has Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles that relay real-time pictures of the adversary round the clock.

“The Chinook are a game changer,” said Major Kartik, a pilot in the newly formed brigade. “They offer mobility and maneuverability like never before—troops and artillery guns can be carried from one mountain ridge to other quickly.”

The preparations go beyond just boots and new equipment. Engineers in India are digging the world’s longest two-lane tunnel, which is 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level and runs underneath a critical mountain pass currently accessible by a 317-kilometer meandering road to the disputed border.

Strategic tunnel

Construction is ahead of schedule and the structure will be operational by next June, said Colonel Prakshit Mehra, a project director of the tunnel. “Currently snow clearance of the pass requires massive effort, and even then only certain kind of vehicles can cross,” he said.

“The tunnel will reduce travel time by hours, allowing faster and unhindered movement of troops round the year.”

The tunnel, once operationalized, ensures that India can move its troops without detection from China, according to a senior military commander who asked not to be identified.

A new road has been constructed close to the disputed border to move troops and supplies. A second one running along the eastern borders of Bhutan connecting the disputed border to the plains below is nearly complete, throwing up more possibilities for military commanders. “We are more comfortable than what we were a few years ago,” said Major General Zubin A. Minwalla, commander of the 5-Mountain Division of the Indian Army. Bloomberg News

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Sunday

Sunday, October 31, 2021

A5

DOST study: Lagundi helps reduce Covid-19 symptoms

By Lyn Resurreccion

C

linical trials showed that lagundi decreases the symptoms of mild Covid-19 cases, especially the loss of the sense of smell, and provides overall relief of discomfort due to other symptoms.

However, although virgin coconut oil (VCO) was found effective among suspected Covid-19 persons, the clinical trial on patients at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) showed “no significant” effect and still “has to be analyzed at the molecular level.”

The studies were led by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) with the UP-PGH and the UP Manila National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña and Undersecretary for Research and Development Rowena Cristina L. Guevara said at the recent online news conference "Talakayang HeaRT [Health Research and Technology] Beat" that the studies on lagundi and VCO were focused on “repurposing” the two natural supplements—that were already found to be effective against some illnesses—as “adjunct” treatments for Covid-19.

Lagundi’s efficacy

Lagundi has been proven years

back to be an effective medicine for cough and asthma.

Described by Guevara as “one of success stories” of the DOST, it was developed years ago as herbal medicine for cough under the department’s National Integrated Research Program on Medicinal Plants, the predecessor of its Tuklas Lunas Program. This resulted in making the herbal treatment available in the market.

T h e r e c e nt s t u d y w a s t o check its efficacy and safety for mild Covid-19 patients without comorbidities.

In the first stage, two doses of lagundi tablet or syrup—high dose against normal dose—were assessed for efficacy and safety among a total of 75 participants.

De la Peña said the result showed that "lagundi can be safely used for the symptomatic treatment of mild Covid-19."

It was determined in the dosefinding study that the standard dose of 600mg of lagundi is as safe and efficacious as high-dose of 1.2g.

“Hence, the suggested Lagundi dose for adult is 600mg to be given three times a day for 10 days,” de la Peña said.

Lagundi was found to “ have promising results...in decreasing the [coronavirus] symptoms during mild Covid-19 disease,

Virgin coconut oil and lagundi

File photo

especially for anosmia [loss of the sense of smell] and overall relief of discomfort due to other symptoms,” the Science Chief said.

Observed to be eased by lagundi were influenza-like symptoms, including cough, colds/nasal obstruction, sore throat, body malaise, fatigue, feverishness.

“In conclusion, lagundi can be safely used for the symptomatic treatment of mild Covid-19,” he added.

It can be prescribed to children with the dosage based on their body weight.

Dr. Cecilia Maramba-Lazarte, director of the Institute of Herbal Medicine at UP-NIH, pointed out that lagundi is very beneficial for

the general public, especially because it is a "cheap medication."

VCO good for mild cases; further studies for hospital patients

VCO was found in earlier studies to be having antiviral properties and can upregulate the immune system.

De la Peña recalled that recent community trials that the DOST has funded and led, demonstrated that VCO can be used as an adjunct—or supplement to be taken with the main medicines—for patients with suspected or probable cases due to its viral and immunomodulatory properties.

It was obser ved on the second day of inter vention that

sy mptoms in the VCO group demonstrated significant clinica l improvement compared to the control group.

The VCO group was found having no Covid-19 related symptoms

by Day 18.

Director Dr. Dr. Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOSTFNRI) pointed out at the webinar that VCO as a “functional food” it is important that it can help a person improve from Covid-19 “before it becomes severe.”

However, on the clinical trial at UP-PGH, de la Peña said "there is no established benefits yet in hospital trial.”

Dr. Marissa Alejandria, director of the Institute of Clinical Epidemiology at UP Manila NIH, said VCO has “no significant” difference among moderate, severe and critical Covid-19 patients in UP-PGH. “The analysis of the results for the hospital trials is still ongoing. Further study at the molecular level is needed to determine the actual effects of using VCO among hospita lized Cov id-19 patients,”he said.

Alejandria explained that it is the 48 percent of lauric acid in VCO which is the active component against the coronavirus.

Guevara noted that the UPPGH clinical trial is among the

three studies made on VCO. The other two were the earlier in-vitro study led by Dr. Fabian Dayrit of Ateneo de Manila University, and the recent community trials by the DOST-FNRI.

More projects

Guevara said the Lagundi and VCO trials are only some of the initiatives the DOST 's Big 21 program.

“I hope that you will also look forward to the next set of projects, which will include our ongoing clinical trial on tawa-tawa, two studies on drug discovery and development, and two more studies on Covid-19 disease surveillance,” Guevara announced.

Foreign interests on lagundi, VCO against Covid-19

Executive Director Jaime Montoya of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development said some countries are interested in doing research on VCO, including Indonesia.

He added that since the researches are publicly funded, they are open to developers and are available to other countries.

De la Peña also said that there is demand for lagundi in other countries.

Maramba said India is doing a study, while China has three studies.

UP, DOST study: Prospects bright for PHL’s basic science education

By Edwin P. Galvez

‘I

@edwin4science

WANT to be a scientist to learn about chemistry…and find a vaccine like in this pandemic,” a pupil from Metro Manila answered in a focus group discussion.

Meanwhile, another grade schooler from Region XII shared in Filipino, “I want to study science to cure disease and create technology better than what we have now.”

If these views by nine-year-old grade schooler reflect the sentiment of most of the over 26 million K-12 schoolchildren today, then there is hope for the country’s basic science education—and researchers of the study from which these statements were culled believe the prospects ahead are indeed “bright.”

Given the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic, the grade schoolers shared their inclination to pursue a science career in the study’s discussion groups, convinced that “the solution to this health concern will be provided by science.”

Some replied that “other cures are being discovered through science.”

As countries now rely more and more on the contributions of scientists to spur a knowledge- and innovation-driven economy for industrial growth and development, the Philippines grapples with how its K-12 science curriculum is shaping the schoolchildren’ science literacy during their formative years.

The impact of basic science education should lead them to choose the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) track in higher year levels and later pursue a career related to these fields.

A collaborative effort of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication Foundation Inc. (UPCMCFI) and the Department of Science and Technology's Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI), the study covered the first of a three-phase project titled, “A Three-Year Project on the Perception of STEM Among Filipino Grades 3 to 12 Students in the Philippines [2020 to 2022].”

The comprehensive study seeks to determine the attitudes of K-12

pupils toward STEM subjects under the new science curriculum introduced with the passage of Republic Act 10533, or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.

The new science program has integrated different disciplines— life science, chemistry, physics and earth science—in every level, placing science and technology (S&T) in “everyday human affairs” and promoting their strong link, including indigenous technology, to preserve cultural heritage.

As it explores the “appreciation and relevance of science” among selected Grades 3 to 6 pupils, the perception study could be the first institutional assessment of the new science program nine years after it was first implemented.

Bright prospects

IN their report titled, “Appreciating Science: A Project on Perception of Science Among Filipino K3 to K6 Students in the Philippines [Year 1],” the researchers found that schoolchildren had “a neutral to positive attitude, awareness and knowledge” of science.

“When you talk of prospects, of course, there are,” UPCMCFI Board Secretary Dr. Lourdes M. Portus said at the online roundtable discussion titled, “Kuwela pa ba ang Siyensya [Is science still cool]?" presented by the DOST-SEI on August 26.

Portus was part of the UPCMCFI research team that presented its findings in the forum, which included its president and UP College of Mass Communication Dean Dr. Arminda V. Santiago and retired UPCMC professor Dr. Aleli A. Quirante.

They conducted the study from January 2020 to February 2021 using online strategies due to quarantine restrictions.

“As the study showed, there is no negative perception on science it is between neutral to positive. W hen we asked them about their inclination to science, there is a big area where they said they want to become a scientist. T hey a lso said that science has helped them not only in their daily lives, but a lso in the prospects of them becom ing sc ient ists,” Por t us ex plained.

In a survey of Grades 3 to 6 pupils, between 8 to 14 years old

UPCMCFI’s Dr. Arminda V. Santiago, Dr. Lourdes M. Portus and Dr. Aleli A. Quirante presented their findings on grade schoolers’ perception of science with UP Diliman’s Dr. Carlos Primo C. David, DepEd’s Dr. Samuel R. Soliven and Pres. Diosdado Macapagal High School’s Mary Grace F. Bumanlag.

from public and private schools in 11 regions, including Metro Manila, the researchers found that the schoolchildren expressed neutral to positive sentiments to 61 statements about science.

These statements measured their 1) perception about science, 2) attitude on science, 3) awareness of opportunities in science, 4) knowledge about science, 5) perceived competency of science teachers, 6) parental support in learning science and 7) inclination towards scientific opportunities.”

Key findings

HERE are some key findings in the study of the “awareness, knowledge, attitudes and experiences in studying science subjects” of the grade schoolers which were almost equally distributed between male (532) and female (549) and those from public (549) and private (532) schools.

More than half, or 55.6 percent, of the schoolchildren strongly agreed that science is useful in their everyday lives, while a majority or 67.9 percent recognized that science is important for them to study and learn.

Almost half or 49.1 percent strongly agreed that science is an exciting subject, with 39.1 percent of them answering that they always participated in class discussions.

While many pupils, or 30.2 percent, agreed that they discussed famous scientists and their contributions to the world, there is a need to increase their awareness of the works and accomplishments of these scientists, especially the

Filipino scientists.

Asked if their science education can help them land a job someday, almost half, or 48.5 percent, strongly agreed their scientific learnings can help them and only 1.3 percent disagreed.

Probed whether science made them aware of new and exciting jobs in the field, 33.2 percent strongly agreed that science opened their eyes to these jobs, while only 1.6 percent strongly disagreed.

The grade schoolers generally agreed that their teachers are competent based on their perception of, interactions with and how they teach them.

Higher grade pupils perceived their teachers as more competent because of the increased complexity of science concepts, skills and lessons being taught to them as they advance in their education.

More schoolchildren, or 25 percent, said they would pursue careers in the fields of medicine and healthcare, followed by those in the armed forces and military, and science and engineering.

A big majority, or 63 percent, agreed they would be interested in taking a science-related job, while 63.5 percent would focus more on their science education when they grow up.

Shallow understanding

IN t he eight d iscussion g roups he ld i n bot h publ ic a nd pr iv ate sc hool s i n Met ro M a n i l a a nd t h ree ot her reg ion s w it h a t o t a l o f 5 6 p a r t i c i p a nt s , t h e r e s e a r c h e r s f o u n d t h at schoolchi ld ren possessed on ly

a “sh a l low u nderst a nd i ng ” of sc ience.

“While most of them recalled terms that were taught inside the classroom, they did not know how to characterize, explain and even relate these with one another. They have difficulty in absorbing science concepts and thinking about them in creative and innovative ways,” the researchers noted.

The researchers found that the grade schoolers preferred a more learner-centered approach to teaching science, in which they are encouraged to ask questions and to seek answers for themselves.

They also underscored the need for a more interactive approach to teaching STEM, facilitated by competent and knowledgeable teachers, parental support and real-world examples.

“Both survey and [discussion group] results confirm that motivation and inclination of the [schoolchildren] to pursue science is not limited to the classroom,” the researchers said.

“W hat they really need is ex posure,” Por tus ex plained, pointing to experiments, field trips and knowing more Filipino scientists, among others, to “inspire the students.”

Making science ‘cool’

ALMOST one out of four pupils, or 24.4 percent, find science difficult to understand and this is aggravated by their poor command of the English language.

The study said that “[grade schoolers] need time to learn the language while learning science concepts.”

“There are cases when the environment is so difficult for them to really achieve this critical, scientific thinking, [such as] no parental support or the teachers do not have a good command of English or science specialization,” Portus said.

“But even if the children are not good or excellent as long as the teacher is very good, he can encourage them to really love science,” she explained.

Besides parents, Quirante also pointed out the importance of local government support to science education, citing a province where its officials consult the teachers in drafting ordinances or whatever is needed to improve education.

“It also gives financial support to [schoolchildren joining] contests, provides facilities and holds activities like science fairs—because the DepEd [Department of Education] cannot provide everything—and that will really give opportunities to [children] to pursue the STEM track,” Quirante said.

“It is the entire environment or the whole gamut of the context in which the child will really appreciate science,” Portus added.

Science culture

DURING the same forum, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña said, “DOST is always trying to find avenues for this kind of collaborative research that will help us make science work for the people.”

“We are particularly concerned about recent reports that Filipinos are not doing well in STEM, aggravated by the pandemic. We hope that this helps strengthen our approach in building a science culture where learning is prioritized and interest in science is maintained,” de la Peña added.

Meanwhile, DOST Undersecretary for Scientific and Technical Services Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr. said “it is very important to intensify our S&T promotions and invite the young generation to take on the STEM track.”

Solidum mentioned a study of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies which said that "S&T professions will remain to be in-demand, particularly in the fields of engineering and information technology."

He added: "Our S&T workforce constitutes only 5 percent of our total workforce, [which is] too small given the fast-paced developments in global industries.”

For her part, DOST-SEI Director Dr. Josette T. Biyo said that “to help [the next generation] appreciate science as a way of thinking, we need first to understand how they think and feel in the first place— about us and about the world that they will someday inherit.”

“By seeing the world through the eyes of our young [schoolchildren], we are better able to help them achieve their aspirations and see the world anew once more as we did in our own childhood— as a place of wonder, hope and infinite possibility,” Biyo said.

Faith A6

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Sunday

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

Halloween has pagan Celtic origin

prayers. W hile not all scholars agree, it is part of popular belief that this practice is echoed in the modern tradition of trickor-treating.

In Ireland, people would walk the streets carrying candles in a hollowed-out turnip, the precursor of today’s jack o’lantern, or the carved pumpkin.

When the tradition came to the US

The Santisima Trinidad Parish in Malate, Manila, led by Parish Priest Fr. Joselito Buenafe, has been holding a Parade of Saints to celebrate All Saints’ Day. Children garbed in costumes signifying their favorite saints participate in a procession around the parish community. Florence Sevillaga

O

ver the past few decades, Halloween celebrations have gained in popularity, not only with children and families, but with all those fascinated with the spooky and scary.

As a scholar of myth and religion in popular culture, I look at Halloween with particular interest—especially the ways in which today’s Halloween tradition came to evolve.

Pre-Christian tradition

Many practices associated with Halloween have origins in the pre-Christian, or pagan, religion of the Celts, the original inhabitants of the British Isles, as well as parts of France and Spain.

The Celts held a feast called Samhain—a celebration of the harvest, the end of summer and the turn of the year.

Samhain was separated by six months from Beltane, an observance of the beginning of summer, which took place on May 1 and is now known as May Day. Because Samhain led into the cold, fruitless and dark days of winter, the feast was also an opportunity to contemplate death and to remember those who had gone before.

The Celts believed that the veil bet ween t he l iv i ng a nd t he dead was thinner during this time, and that spirits of the dead could walk on Earth.

Bonfires were lit to ward off the coming winter darkness, but also to sacrifice livestock and crops as offerings to the gods and spirits.

Some scholars—because of the long historical association of the Celts with the Romans—have also linked the modern observance of Halloween to the Roman festival

honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees.

During that festival people practiced divination, which uses occult for gaining knowledge of the future.

One of the practices was similar to the modern-day Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples— a party game in which people attempt to use only their teeth to pick up apples floating in a tub or a bowl of water. Originally, it was believed that whoever could bite the apple first would get married the soonest.

Later influences

Many of the modern-day practices of Halloween and even its name were influenced by Christianity.

Ha l loween coi nc ides w it h Christian celebrations honoring the dead.

In the autumn, Christians celebrate All Saints’ Day—a day to honor martyrs who died for their faith and saints. They also celebrate All Souls’ Day—a day to remember the dead and to pray for souls more generally.

The history of how these dates came to coincide is worth noting: It suggests ways in which the pagan holiday may have been absorbed into Christian observance.

Starting around the seventh century A.D., Christians celebrated All Saints Day on May 13. In the mid-eighth century, however, Pope Gregory III moved All Saint’s Day from May 13 to November 1, so that it coincided with the date of Samhain.

Although there is disagreement about whether the move was made purposely so as to absorb the pagan practice, the fact is that from then on Christian

and pagan traditions did begin to merge.

(The Vatican News said that while some people have connected Halloween to earlier pagan celebrations of the new year, Halloween actually has significant Catholic roots. The name itself comes from All Hallow’s Eve—that is, the Vigil of All Saints’ Day, when Catholics remember those who have gone before us to enter our heavenly home.—Editor) In England, A ll Saints Day came to be known as All Hallows Day. The night before became A ll Hallows Eve, Hallowe’en, or Halloween, as it is now known.

Around A.D. 1000, November 2 was established as All Souls Day. Throughout the Middle Ages, this three-day period was celebrated with Masses. But the Pagan tradition of appeasing the spirits of the dead remained, including the Christian—now Catholic—practice of lighting candles for the souls in Purgatory.

People still light bonfires on October 31, especially those in regions where the Celts originally settled.

In Ireland, bonfires are lit on Ha l loween. In England, the bonfire tradition has been t r a n sfer re d to Novemb er 5.

This is known as Guy Fawkes Day a nd com memor ates t he Gunpowder Plot, a thwarted attempt by Catholics, led by Guy Fawkes, to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.

T here a re ot her prac t ices that continue today. In England, one of the practices on A ll Hallows Eve was to go door to door begging for small currant biscuits called soul cakes, which were offered in exchange for

H a l l ow e e n , ho w e v e r, d id not make its way to the United States until the 1840s, when waves of immigrants from the Celtic countries of Ireland and Scotland arrived.

The immigrants brought with them their tradition of Halloween, including dancing, masquerading, fortune-telling games and—in some places—the practice of parading the neighborhood asking for treats, such as nuts and fruits and coins.

By the late 19th century, some stores began offering commercially made candy for Halloween.

The North American observance of Halloween also included everything from minor pranks to some major vandalism, as well as a lot of drinking.

By the early 20th century, however, many municipalities and churches attempted to curb this behavior by turning Halloween into a family celebration with children’s parties and, eventually, trick-or-treating as we know it today.

Halloween today

Today, Halloween has become a multi-million-dollar industry.

Candy sales, costumes, decorations, seasonal theme parks, annual television specials and October horror movie premieres are some of the many ways North Americans spend their money on the holiday.

But Halloween has come to mean many things to many people.

Roman Catholics and many mainline Protestants, for example, continue to observe All Saints’ Day for its spiritual significance.

In the Catholic Church it is considered a holy day of obligation, when people are required to go to Mass.

All Souls’ Day is celebrated soon after. In fact, the entire month of November is set aside as a time to pray for the dead.

O n t he ot her h a nd , some people reject Halloween because of its pagan origins and its perceived association with witchcraft and the devil. Others see it as too commercial or primarily for children.

Nonetheless, whether people see it as a children’s holiday, a sacred ritual, a harvest festival, a night of mischief, a sophisticated adult celebration or a way to make money, Halloween has become an integral part of North A mer ican and other nations’ culture. Regina Hansen, Boston Univer-

sity/The Conversation (CC)

Priest gets ‘irreversible’ suspension for entering politics

A

Catholic priest in the Bicol region was suspended from his clerical duties for seeking public office.

Fr. Granwell Pitapit has served the Libmanan diocese’s social action ministry. But the laws of the Church say priests can’t play a role in politics.

Bishop Jose Rojas said canon law is clear on the issue and the priest’s action merits suspension.

Pitapit will run for the mayoralty in Libmanan, the largest town of Camarines Sur, in the May 2022 elections.

“Such suspension is deemed

ir reversible, thus preventing him permanently from returning to the priestly ministry,” Rojas said in a circular dated October 22 but was only made public on October 26.

The bishop informed the public that with Pitapit’s departure from the priestly ministry, he no longer represents the diocese and the Church “in any way.”

In particular, he said the priest will no longer be involved with the social action programs of the diocese.

“He is, therefore, not authorized to make any solicitations in

the name of the Church, and neither in relation to any pro-poor programs sponsored by the Church and the diocese,” Rojas added.

But the prelate, who also heads the doctrinal office of the episcocopal conference, stressed that the cleric’s suspension does not necessarily mean dispensation from his priestly vows such as celibacy.

“Such vows, therefore, continue to bind him and can only be completely suppressed through the process of laicization,” according to him.

“Nonetheless, Father Pitapit is now free, without incurring

further canonical censure, to engage in secular undertakings that do not violate his priestly vows,” he added.

Two other priests are also joining next year’s political race: Fr. Emmanuel Alparce of the Diocese of Sorsogon and Fr. Emerson Luego of the Diocese of Tagum.

Luego is seeking election as mayor of Davao de Oro province’s Mabini town, while Alparce is running for councilor of Bacacay town in Albay province.

Both priests also previously headed the social action ministry of their diocese. CBCP News

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle Vatican News

Tagle: Let St. Joseph inspire us in the synodal process

S

t. Joseph is a timely and fruitful figure not only for all fathers, but for all the baptized.

This was emphasized by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, in an interview with Vatican media on the Special Year desired by Pope Francis on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.

The Prefect of Propaganda Fide, the Congregation’s former name, also dwells on the Letter Patris Corde and indicates in St. Joseph—in his choice to be the guardian of Jesus and Mary, even if this requires “changing paths”—a figure that can inspire the Church in the synodal process initiated by Pope Francis.

Vatican Media (VM): Cardinal Tagle, we are living the Special Year that Pope Francis has called for St. Joseph. What are the fruits that, in your opinion, all the baptized—all of us—can receive from this Special Year?

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (CLAT): The figure of St. Joseph is rightly connected to fathers. I think you pointed out correctly that all of us baptized can benefit from this year.

Especially in the following areas: like St. Joseph, I hope that every baptized person will be attentive to God’s voice and leading. Especially in the confusing moments of life.

Also, that all the baptized will have the trust in God to pursue God’s project even when things are not always clear. Also, to be a good steward, a guardian, a custodian of the people that God entrusts to us.

VM: Pope Francis in his letter Patris Corde emphasizes the relevance of St. Joseph for today’s fathers. What do you most appreciate about this document?

CLAT: There are many, many things this document presents to us, especially to fathers. But one of the things that I really appreciate is, first, that he presents St. Joseph as someone who accepts reality.

Accepting reality does not mean being passive or just being tolerant of something. He accepts reality as it is, he lives by that reality and as he accepts it.

He sees what God wants him to do to transform that reality. Sometimes the temptation for us is that we do not accept reality.

We are living in a past that we have idealized, or we are living in a utopia that does not yet exist. And so, we don’t know how to transform the present.

But St. Joseph, according to the document, accepted reality and in that acceptance, heard the Word of God and courageously acted to transform that reality.

VM: Regarding reality, today we are used to the fact that we are only right if we speak, if we have the last word in the conversation. But St. Joseph shows his strength, remaining in silence—in the shadows. What does this attitude teach us?

CLAT: That’s true. When I was a seminarian, the name of our seminary was San José Seminary-St. Joseph seminary. This is one of the virtues of St. Joseph that was stressed to us.

The Gospels do not record any of his words but he preserved the Word of God in his silence. It is Jesus, who is able to speak in his silence, He preserved the Word of God from those who wanted to kill him and to silence the Word of God. And so, this teaches us a lesson.

First: our desire to speak, speak, speak. “Is it for myself or is it for the Word of God?” Secondly: sometimes silence is the most powerful speech. Jesus Himself, when He was being tried by Pilate, at a certain point, He kept quiet.

But in His silence, who was being judged? The corrupt system was exposed in the silence of Jesus. So, I think Jesus learned silence from St. Joseph.

VM: St. Joseph is also the father who goes forth, goes out of his way to protect his family. What does his faith say to the Church, now engaged in the synodal process?

CLAT:The synodal process is an invitation for us to walk together, to journey together.

There is a walking that St. Joseph shows us. He walked dangerous paths with Mary and Jesus, guided by the direction of the angel of God. It is a walking that means protection, that means caring.

We hope that during the synodal process, we may develop this capacity to love Jesus, to love the Church. And even if we have some observations that are not always positive, we must do so out of caring, out of loving, so that the name of Jesus will be proclaimed and preserved.

VM: A final question, more personal for you. You are very devoted to St. Joseph. You have also declared this devotion on several occasions.

What impresses you the most about this saint?

CLAT: This devotion allows me to turn to him in different situations.

Especially when there are difficult moments and I feel threatened and I say “I don’t know what to do.” Then, (I ask for) protection from St. Joseph.

But most especially, the courage to be in the shadows.

It requires courage, especially when you feel you have the right idea and you want to propose it. You think you have the right solution but then you purify your intentions and you say “wait a minute, am I promoting myself or am I seeking good?”

If it is not so much for the good of others, then it’s good to be in the shadows and let God and God’s angel work his wonders.

Alessandro Gisotti/Vatican News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A7

World Migratory Bird Day 2021

Understanding the vanishing migratory birds

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

B

irds travel thousands of kilometers across oceans and continents to escape the cold winter and move to warmer areas in search of food for survival and to breed.

In the Philippines, this natural phenomenon happens between the months of September to April when f locks of birds start arriving in September.

They find a suitable place to feed and roost, and leave in March or April the following year to return to their place of origin when the temperature becomes tolerable.

Global campaign

The Convention on Migratory Species and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds on October 26, 2017, announced an innovative partnership to increase awareness of the plight of migratory birds around the world.

It put together two of the world ’s largest bird education campaigns— the International Migratory Bird Day and World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD)—to strengthen the global recognition and appreciation of migratory birds and highlight the urgent need for their conservation.

Hence, starting in 2018, the new joint campaign adopted the single name of “World Migratory Bird Day.” Major events to celebrate the day are organized twice a year, on the second Saturday in May and in October.

This year’s theme, “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like A Bird!,” focused on the phenomena of “ bird song” and “ bird f light” to inspire and connect people of all ages around the globe in their shared desire to protect and celebrate migratory birds.

Seabird forum

In the Philippines, a few days following the WMBD celebration on October 9, the National Seabird Forum and Action Planning Workshop was conducted from October 13 to 15.

The three-day event was organized by the Department of Environment and Natural ResourcesBiodiversity Management Bureau, Tubbataha Management Office, Isla Biodiversity Conservation, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines,

Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc., and Wetlands International Philippines.

Supported by the W WF Dr. Lew Young Grant, East Asian-Australasian Fly way Par tnership Sma l l Grants Fund, and the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), the forum brought together 110 participants from government agencies, the academe, seabird conservation practitioners, site managers and seabird enthusiasts in the country and in other Southeast Asian countries.

W BCP President Mike Lu, who was inter v iewed by the BusinessMirror on October 25, highlighted the importance of birds to the ecosystem.

“Birds are environmental indicators. The presence or absence, or the diversity of birds in an area indicates the overall health of the environment.

Birds have different needs and food requirements, hence, the presence of more species in an ecosystem means there are diverse food choices for the birds,” Lu said.

Sadly, Lu said the current situation in the country is bleak due to environment degradation, illegal logging or mining, and even real estate development, land reclamation and infrastructure development that does not take into consideration their environmental impact.

“Add to that is the increase in wildlife trade due to the ease of online selling and market clamor due to the pandemic,” he said.

Highlighting seabirds

The event highlighted seabirds as a very different species from other birds.

They are highly pelagic, spending most of their life in the open ocean and visiting land only to breed and rear their young.

A ccord i ng to t he AC B, t here are 34 species of know n seabirds in the Philippines, 20 of them are regularly occurring and the rest are accidental sightings.

During the event, seabird specialist Arne Jensen, said there are 120 islets, rocks and outcroppings spread throughout the Philippine archipelago that are potential or known breeding or roosting habitats for seabirds.

Seabird habitats, status

Site presentations highlighted the status of seabirds and habitats, threats, data gaps and challenges, and current monitoring and conservation efforts.

He said that sadly there is no regular monitoring scheme in most of the known seabird sites in the Philippines which bird enthusiasts visited only occasionally.

This calls for training of field staff and birders on seabird identification and monitoring.

Among the threats identified in most of the sites—include marine litter, human intrusion and exploitation (e.g., egg collection, tourism, shipping), land conversion, presence of predators and other invasive species (e.g., rats, cats, monitor lizard), and climate change.

Plan of action

T he pa r t ic ipa nt s i n t he for u m agreed to craft a five-year National Seabird Action Plan, which includes

Don’t catch ‘em birds

Hundreds of migratory black-winged stilts escape the cold winter months in Europe and enjoy the warm weather in Canarem Lake in Victoria, Tarlac. MIKE LU photo strategies on policy formulation; management and enforcement; research and monitoring; communication, education and public awareness; knowledge management; and capacity building.

The participants agreed to gather baseline data in 100 of the 120 known or potential breeding sites, monitor priority sites and species regularly, establish areas for seabird conser vation, develop a national communication strategy, including communication and education materials, and a seabird database.

Vanishing species

AC B Executive Director T heresa Mundita S. Lim warned against the extinction of seabirds species not only in the Philippines, but also in the Asean.

“Ou r seabird s a re va n ish ing.

In the Asean region, 70 migrator y bird species from a total of 510 have been listed by the International Union for Conser vation of Nature as critically endangered,

endangered, v ulnerable, and near threatened,” Lim said at the forum.

A former DENR-BMB director, Lim said hunting, illegal wildlife trade, habitat destruction, and even plastic pollution, are major drivers of increasing seabird mortality.

Citing studies conducted by Peter Ryan, the director of the Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, she said about 40 percent of seabirds have consumed plastic waste, which can kill them, or more likely, cause severe injuries.

Losing ecological connectors

“Losing the birds of the sea means losing our ecological connectors, those that connect remote island ecosystems to larger ecological networks,” she said.

According to Lim, Asean has a huge contribution to the world ’s overall biodiversity, being at the center of the East-Asian Australasian Flyway, which is home to over 50 million migratory birds.

“Considering the need for stron-

ger regional collaboration among Asean member-states, f lyway site managers and partners from local, national and international organisations, the Asean Flyway Network was created, primarily to help improve knowledge, increase capacity, and enhance communication on wetlands and migratory birds in the region,” she said.

Finally, she said that through the Asean Flyway Network and the Asean Heritage Parks Programme, the Asean member-states, which include the Philippines, and the ACB are working together to protect and manage the ecosystems that serve as important feeding and watering sites of migratory birds, such as the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park.

Saving birds

The Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) is among organizations that helps save birds. Its members help raise awareness about birds through photography, which they share through social media.

‘Health and environment must go together for healthy citizens’

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

H

ealth and the environment must go together to produce a healthy citizenry in order to ensure the country and the world as well will have a sustainable future, as environmental degradation remains a huge threat that cause many deaths, according to a medical doctor and cultural anthropologist.

“The environment needs to be healthy. Without a healthy environment, there would be no healthy people,” Dr. Gideon Lasco said during a webinar on the launching of the Healthy Pilipinas web site on October 26.

Lasco, also a medical anthropologist, pointed out that it is important for the country to put premium both on the environment and health as it continues to grapple with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added that env ironmental degradation will also cause deaths, especially among the poor, the children, people with disabilities and the immigrants.

“Filipinos need health information that is accurate, accessible and culturally contextualized. Healthy Pilipinas is a platform that can cater to this need.

This launch is just the beginning, and I hope we can collaborate with institutions and individuals within and beyond the public-health community to realize the web site’s full potential,” added Lasco, also a consultant of the Healthy Pilipinas editorial team.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),

it is of paramount importance for countries to invest in environmental sustainability because this can serve as an insurance for health and human well-being.

“The degradation of the environment—the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and the ecosystems which sustain us—is estimated to be responsible for at least a quarter of the global total burden of disease,” the UNEP said in its latest report titled, “Healthy Environment, Healthy People.”

Furthermore, the UNEP pointed out that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) articulate the universal understanding that a healthy environment is essential to the full enjoyment of basic human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation and quality of life.

Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, Director IV of the Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, said the vision of the web site is to become a “unified data platform for health promotion” for the Filipino digital public, backed by the guiding principles of accuracy, inclusivity, collaboration, responsiveness, and user-friendliness.”

Internet use, Ho said, continues to be one of the biggest pastimes in the country, which underscores the need to reach Filipinos online in a world becoming more and more digital.

Ho added that the Healthy Pilipinas web site will be aligned with existing and future Department of Health (DOH) efforts.

One section featured is the Seven Healthy Habits campaign that teaches the public different health-promoting actions and behaviors. It is also linked to the Covid-19 and ResBakuna campaign pages of the main DOH web site for unified messaging and information regarding the pandemic and vaccination efforts.

“There is a need to provide timely and accurate health information, especially now, not just because of the pandemic, but because it is too easy to be misinformed on social media,” Ho explained. “The Healthy Pilipinas web site will be a credible source that you can turn to. I envision this endeavor to reach even more Filipinos as it expands and becomes part of our everyday life.”

The web site will also leverage social media to allow the sharing of longform articles on existing platforms like the Healthy Pilipinas Facebook page, DOH Twitter account and DOH Viber community among others.

Ho noted that the web site will also enable supportive environments for health promotion. This would include tips, articles and downloadable materials for local implementers “PHAP [Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines] is honored to collaborate with the [DOH] in its efforts to provide the Filipino people with verified information and slow the spread of misinformation,” PHAP Executive Director Teodoro Padilla.

He said that health misinformation is a serious threat to public health as it can cause confusion, harm people’s health and undermine public health efforts.

‘Klimathon’ contest urges youth to participate in climate action

F

ighting climate change needs a concerted effort of all sectors, including the youth, to save the planet Earth from its deteriorating condition. “ It i s i mp e r at i v e t o w or k with all sectors—including the youth—in taking a whole of government and whole of society approach in view of intergenerational responsibility. Their future will be paved by the actions we take today,” Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) said during a recent webinar announcing the partnership between the agency and food manufactur ing conglomerate, Nestlé Philippines, for the joint project, “Klimathon: Our

Race Towards a Net-Zero Reality.”

De Guzman said the main objective of the project is to empower the youth to develop and implement meaningful climate actions to address climate-change issues.

He added that Klimathon will be a platform for the Filipino youth to spur the development of innovative and sustainabilityfocused solutions.

Participants are asked to develop creative solutions among the following pillars: tackling plastic problems; lowering greenhouse-gas emissions; and improving food security.

Kais Marzouki, chairman and CEO of Nestlé Philippines, said the youth in the Philippines and all over the world can be a potent

Accor ding to Lu, most people see birds as good for cages only, and fail to see their importance in pest control, in pollination and propagation of forest trees.

He said while there may be an increase in awareness about the existence of birds during the pandemic since most people stay at home and begin noticing birds in their gardens, there is also an increase in people wanting to keep w ild birds as pets.

“People need to appreciate the role birds play in the balance of nature. For example, insect-eating birds keep insect populations down, fruit-eating birds disperse the seeds of fruit trees far and wide, while other birds help pollinate flowers,” he said.

According to Lu, there is a need for stricter enforcement of the Wildlife Conservation Act, which prohibits hunting and poaching of wildlife.

Most people do not even know that hunting is illegal. Worse, even law enforcement officers are ignorant or turn a blind eye to illegal acts. “ T he gover nment itself must lead in environment protection and awareness instead of just paying lip service during Earth Day, Coastal Clean-Up Day and other such [proenvironment] activities,” he said.

force in facing the challenges of climate change.

“Half of the world’s population consists of the youth. The Philippines today has the largest generation of young people in its history, comprising 28 percent of our population,” he said.

“Those of you who are young, who are here today, have a crucial and necessary role in tackling climate change. The Klimathon is a creative platform for you to participate in climate action, to help ensure a livable future on the planet that you will inherit,” Marzouki said.

Participating teams of Filipino students and young professionals will have to present a project concept paper based on one of the three focus pillars.

From among the proposals, 10 finalists will undergo a mentorship program with industry and field experts to refine and further develop their respective project design. Cash prizes and recognition await the winning teams.

Submission of proposals for Klimathon is open until November 10, 11:59 p.m. Interested participants can check Nes.tl/ Klimathon or the Climate Change Commission’s web site to view the full competition mechanics and how they can join. You may also check out CCC’s and Nestlé Philippines’s social-media pages for more details and updates.

Rizal Raoul Reyes

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, October 31, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Former rugby league players to sue over brain injury claims

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THIS combination of photos show (from left) snowboarder Jamie Anderson, bobsledder Aja Evans and alpine skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle modeling the Team USA Beijing Winter Olympics closing ceremony uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren on Wednesday in New York. AP

COMPETING IN STYLE

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EW YORK—With a buffalo plaid design and a nod to sustainability, Ralph Lauren on Thursday unveiled navy blue uniforms for Team USA to wear during the closing ceremonies of the winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing.

Just six months after the summer games closed in Tokyo, winter athletes are gearing up for China in February. After competition ends, they’ll be parading in a hooded puffer jacket with the red-and-blue plaid front and back. It’s made of recycled polyester and recycled down.

A white fleece pant for the men and fleece-lined leggings in navy for the women, along with gloves and sturdy boots, were also made with recycled polyester. The athletes will wear a turtleneck sweater in the same blue adorned with the American flag and the Olympic rings in white.

The sweater is made of responsibly sourced US wool,

the company said. That effort goes in hand with a Ralph Lauren promise to use only recycled wool or US wool certified to meet the Responsible Wool Standard by 2025.

“We are highly invested in scaling sustainability solutions that have the potential to significantly reduce our and the wider industry’s impact,” chief branding and innovation officer David Lauren said in a statement.

In all, every piece was made in the US Ralph Lauren has been an official outfitter of Team USA since 2008.

The closing ceremony uniforms were unveiled 100 days out from the start of the Beijing Games.

The gear for fans evoking the Beijing designs went on sale Thursday at Ralphlauren.com, from red plaid duffels and backpacks to white puffer jackets in a bold Olympic ring print.

There are tracksuits in the same graphic print and a range of hats, warmup gear and the same tie ankle boots in red or white that will be on the feet of Team USA.

A portion of proceeds from consumer sales of the collection supports the US teams. More will go on sale pegged to the design of opening

ceremony uniforms, to be rolled out after the new year.

Two-time gold medalist Jamie Anderson, a snowboarder who is among Ralph Lauren’s athlete ambassadors, was thrilled with the parade look as she prepares for an attempted three-peat. She also has a silver medal.

“I was just saying how cozy this jacket is,” the 31-year-old told The Associated Press at Ralph Lauren’s Madison Avenue showroom. “It just feels really good. Like, quality. You know they’re going to last forever, which is awesome.”

The jacket’s inside pocket was a hit.

Anderson spent her pandemic year cross-training in Whistler, Canada—her base. The down time helped her dig into surfing, mountain biking and skateboarding.

“Beijing doesn’t have the best snow in the world, unfortunately, but you kind of work with what you have and do your best,” she said. “Hopefully, the snow gods will come through.”

For slopestyle, she’ll head to runs she can’t wait to try at the Genting Resort Secret Garden in the mountain town of Zhangjiakou City.

Bobsledder Aja Evans, who earned bronze

GLOVER TEIXEIRA (right) will take on Jan Błachowicz for the light heavyweight belt at UFC 267. AP

One for the aged: Teixeira challenges Błachowicz at UFC 267

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OT many people get to celebrate their 42nd birthday by making their final preparations for a UFC title fight.

Glover Teixeira had that honor Thursday, and the Brazilian mixed martial arts veteran is marking the milestone by thinking about the obstacles he surmounted to get to the brink of an unlikely championship.

“I’m a fan of this sport as well, and I love when people overcome situations and break the rules doing something that not many people have done,” Teixeira said. “If I win this title right now, who did that before? Only one guy in the UFC: Randy Couture. It’s a hard thing to do, and I’m glad that I’m here and I’m going to get it Saturday night.”

A remarkable career that began in 2002 and appeared to be on the wane only four years ago reaches another peak Saturday at the Etihad

Arena in Abu Dhabi, where Teixeira (32-7) will take on Jan Błachowicz (28-8) for the light heavyweight belt at UFC 267.

Teixeira will be the UFC’s oldest first-time champion if he can upset Błachowicz, no fresh-faced kid himself at 38. Couture was 43 when he reclaimed the UFC heavyweight title in 2007, but the famed MMA pioneer didn’t face quite the same obstacles as Teixeira to reach this point.

While preparing to take on the hard-hitting, well-rounded Błachowicz in recent weeks, Teixeira has also spoken at length for the first time about his journey as a teenage illegal immigrant who found his way to the Connecticut gyms where he fell in love with the sport and made it his life’s work.

In opening up, Teixeira said he has felt the love of MMA fans who might not have paid attention to him earlier in his career.

“Lately a lot of people say, ‘Got to get that belt, make that movie!’”

Teixeira said.

UFC 267 is the first numbered UFC event not on pay-per-view in the US in a decade, although it’s still on ESPN+. The show takes place in the Middle East in the evening, making it an afternoon event in Europe and a morning spectacle for North American viewers.

Former bantamweight champion Petr Yan takes on Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event for a curious interim title belt created by the UFC because champ Aljamain Sterling wasn’t quite ready to return from neck surgery. Rising lightweight star Islam Makhachev also fights Dan Hooker, and unbeaten welterweight Khamzat Chimaev returns for his first bout of 2021 against Li Jingliang.

But many worldwide viewers will be tuning in for the main

in Sochi in 2014, retired after competing in 2018 in Pyeongchang, but she couldn’t stay away.

“In retiring I needed to take a step back and just figure out who I was as a person,” said the 33-year-old Evans.

“So much of my adult life had been tied to my Olympic journey, and you get a little kind of confused as far as what you want to do.”

What she wants to do, she said, is continue to work with the children in her community on the south side of Chicago as she lives out her passion.

“I want to inspire and uplift,” Evans said.

As for the uniforms, she said: “I’m loving the plaid. It gives me a sort of ski resort vibe.”

Skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who competes in alpine, is heading to his second Olympics in search of his first medal. Skiing, the Vermonter said, is in his blood.

“My whole family, we were all skiers growing up. My grandfather had a small little ski area, just a tow rope and a T-bar. I was the youngest of my cousins and we all just kind of grew up loving it,” he said.

The plaid, said the 29-year-old, speaks to home.

“Yeah, in Vermont we have a good variety of plaid,” Cochran-Siegle smiled. “I have a good number of flannels.” AP

event—the second-oldest combined championship fight in UFC history.

Teixeira got his first UFC title shot back in April 2014 when he took a 20-fight winning streak into the cage against Jon Jones, the most dominant and leastfocused light heavyweight in UFC history. Jones won a comfortable decision, and Teixeira entered a 5-5 stretch in which his best days appeared to be behind him.

But Teixeira refocused his life and training with help from the resources at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.

He has since won five straight fights to earn another title shot.

Teixeira credits his surge to “passion for this sport. Lately, more discipline about it. More focus on what I have to do to become a champion. Of course, it didn’t work before, so I was doing something wrong.... I had to trust in my coaches and put in my discipline and say, ‘How much do I want this?’” AP

ONDON—A group of former rugby league players is planning to sue England’s governing body of the sport for negligence over what they say was a failure to protect them from the risks of concussion during their careers.

The group is represented by a firm, Rylands Law, which has also launched an action on behalf of ex-rugby union players against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.

Former Wigan and Britain player Bobbie Goulding is part of a test group of 10 former rugby league professionals involved in the action against the Rugby Football League (RFL).

Goulding has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and probable CTE—chronic traumatic encephalopathy—which is a progressive brain condition thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head.

The players allege in a letter being sent to the RFL that, given the significant risk of serious or permanent brain damage caused by concussions, the governing body “owed them, as individual professional players, a duty to take reasonable care for their safety by establishing and implementing rules in respect of the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of actual or suspected concussive and subconcussive injuries.”

Rylands Law said it represents a wider group of more than 50 rugby league players, ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s, many of whom are showing symptoms associated with neurological complications.

The RFL said in a statement it has been contacted by solicitors representing a number of former players.

“The RFL takes player safety and welfare extremely seriously, and has been saddened to hear about some of the former players’ difficulties,” the governing body said. “Rugby League is a contact sport and while there is an element of risk to playing any sport, player welfare is always of paramount importance. As a result of scientific knowledge, the sport of Rugby League continues to improve and develop its approach to concussion, head injury assessment, education, management and prevention across the whole game.”

The RFL said it “will continue to use medical evidence and research to reinforce and enhance our approach.”

TOUR LINE NO OTHER

IT’S an endurance battle that might prove tougher than what the All Blacks encounter on the field during their end-of-year rugby tour.

Players from the world’s most famous rugby team are into their 11th straight week away from New Zealand, and the challenges keep coming on a tour like no other.

From playing Rugby Championship matches in Australia in September and early October to a oneoff match in the United States last week, the All Blacks are now in Europe ahead of four tests

against some of the top teams in the northern hemisphere over the next month.

First up was a match on Saturday against Wales, which currently has the highest Covid-19 case rate of all the nations in Britain. Indeed, a player in Wales’ squad—New Zealand-born center Willis Halaholo—has been forced out of the match after testing positive for the virus on Tuesday.

The All Blacks didn’t need that withdrawal to ram home the stark realities of touring during a pandemic.

Players and management wear face masks everywhere and have their own elevator and back entrance at the team hotel outside Cardiff.

Hotel staff aren’t allowed into their rooms or even in the dining hall after dishing up the food at lunch and dinner. The arrival of a coffee van in front of the hotel at 7 a.m. is one of the “simple pleasures that keep us going,” New Zealand Assistant Coach John Plumtree said Wednesday of the bubble in which the touring party is operating.

“If you came into our environment and you saw how the players were coping, you’d admire them, because it’s not easy,” Plumtree said. “They’re all sticking really tight and they all understand the importance of being grateful that we can play on a world stage right now in these types of conditions.”

Playing in front of more than 70,000 spectators at the Principality Stadium on Saturday will seem like a world away from what is going on back in New Zealand, which has pursued an unusual zero-tolerance approach to the virus through strict lockdowns and aggressive contact tracing since early in the pandemic. Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, has been in lockdown for more than two months after an outbreak of the delta variant.

There have been 28 recorded deaths related to the coronavirus in New Zealand since the outbreak early in 2020. In the latest figures from Public Health Wales, released Tuesday, there were 31 deaths related to Covid-19 reported in the most recent 72-hour period of registered cases. The number of coronavirus-related deaths registered in England and Wales is back on the rise.

New Zealand’s players all have to test negative before being allowed to play.

“We understand the risk,” Plumtree said. “We have come from Washington where the risk was probably a bit lower but we were still in the same bubble. But here with the amount of cases per day, the players understand the risk that is involved and they are heightened to it.”

Plumtree added: “It’s way out of what we are used to doing when on tour, certainly in any rugby environment that I’ve been in.” AP NEW ZEALAND captain Sam Whitelock (left) leads the haka ahead of the international between the All Blacks and the USA Eagles at the FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, recently. AP

BusinessMirror

October 31, 2021

From Tarantino to ‘Squid Game’:

Why do so many people enjoy violence?

2

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YOUR MUSI

TAKING BACK THE NARRATIVE Jeremy Zucker on sophomore album being an ‘expression of anger’

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By Stephanie Joy Ching

FTER the hopeful tone of his debut album, “love is not dying”, American singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker lets his experiences marinate in a different way with his sophomore album, CRUSHER.

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

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: Lourdes M. Fernandez

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: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

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

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

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

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

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According to the 25-year old New Jersey native, his sophomore album came after “months of digestion” of his past relationship, which was the inspiration of his first album.

“With ‘love is not dying’ there was a lot of sympathy and a lot of empathy, a lot of ‘where do I fit in all this?’ and when I put that out, I got to live with it for four months before I started making music again,” he said.

After admitting to “feeling lost” after the first album and having to deal with the isolation of the pandemic, Jeremy came to the conclusion that he was not treated well at all in his past.

“A lot of it came from introspection and spending time by myself. I didn’t experience any new things, but this album comes off as mature because I’ve spent more time marinating and analyzing things instead of writing about them when the emotions are really raw,” he explained.

Prior to its release, Jeremy had been teasing about the themes of his sophomore album, dropping the singles “Cry for You”, “HONEST” and “18”. For him, these singles were “a solid mix” of what the album is. With a lot of somber angry tunes, ‘CRUSHER’ is a “purposely jumbled” album that serves as a cathartic release of pent up emotions. However, Jeremy clarifies that CRUSHER is

not, in fact, a revenge album.

“I’ve been dropping little hints here and there, and I’m writing about the same situations and I’m writing after having a couple of months to sit down and digest it. There’s a lot of anger in the project, but it’s not really a revenge album. It’s an expression of anger and it’s not designed to hurt anyone,” he clarified.

JEREMY Zucker Photo from his Instagram page

Moreover, he called the album a “response” and a way for him to “take back what I said.” Taking inspiration from early 2000s alternative rock and post punk, the album shows off a Jeremy Zucker who is raw, confident and unapologetic.

“It’s no longer about us, or me. It’s about you. During the writing process of this album, I became more myself than ever.

I focused on more energy driven elements of music production: live drums, saturation, and a bit of yelling. ‘CRUSHER’ is a word that describes something or someone that ‘crushes’–in my case, it was the aforementioned person who crushed me. It felt right to be front and center visually to support the music, instead of putting the music in front of me like I feel I’ve done in the past,” he stated.

CRUSHER is currently available on all major streaming platforms nationwide.

IC

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | OCTOBER 31, 2021

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BUSINESS

LOOKING FORWARD Rock icon Tom Morello on the future of the electric guitar

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By Edwin P. Sallan

IGHLY regarded for his innovative style of guitar playing, rock icon and two-time Grammy winner Tom Morello is also best known for his stints with several bands, most notably Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave and Prophets of Rage.

The 57-year old New York native has been releasing one critically acclaimed album after another as a solo act under the alter ego, The Nighwatchman since 2007 and under his own name since 2018. That year, Morello released the well-received The Atlas Undeground.

The 12-track album is particularly noteworthy for Tom's collaborations with guest artists identified from different genres namely Knife Party, Bassnectar, Big Boi, Killer Mike, Portugal.

The Man, Whethan, Vic Mensa, Marcus Mumford, Steve Aoki, Tim McIlrath, K.Flay, Pretty Lights, Carl Restivo, Gary Clark Jr., Nico Stadi, Leikeli47, GZA, RZA and Herobust.

Standout track, “Battle Sirens” was released as a single officially credited to Knife Party featuring Tom Morello.

Three years has since then, Tom has just released his muchawaited follow-up album, entitled The Atlas Underground Fire, a sequel of sorts to the 2018 release.

Featuring a jaw dropping cast of collaborators including Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Chris Stapleton, Mike Posner, Damian Marley and more, the album once again highlights Morello’s intricate licks, trademark shredding and all the spaced out reverb, delay and distortion effects that typify his mastery of the instrument.

In a recent, exclusive interview with SoundStrip, Morello talked

about The Atlas Underground Fire starting with its most familiar track, a remake of AC/DC’s rock classic, “Highway to Hell” which incidentally Tom first performed live with Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and the E Street Band way back in 2014.

“I was touring with the E Street Band in Perth, Australia. It was the home of Bon Scott, the original singer of AC/DC. While I was there, I went to his grave to pay my respects and discovered that there was an actual highway in Perth known as the Highway to Hell,” he recalled.

“So while rehearsing ‘Highway to Hell’ during soundcheck for our show at this big football stadium in Melbourne, Eddie Vedder, who was doing a solo tour, happened to be at the show, So I knocked on Bruce's door and said, ‘We’re in Australia, where AC/DC is king, where ‘Highway to Hell’ is the unofficial national anthem, why don’t we open the show with the song with Eddie Vedder singing?’

And Bruce was like, “That sounds like a pretty good idea.’ So we did, and it was an exciting moment in rock and roll as I experienced.”

Fast forward to present day, Morello was almost done working on The Atlas Underground Fire which included collaborations with emerging young artists like Bring Me The Horizon, Sama’ Abdulhadi, Damian Marley, Grandson, Phantogram and more, he thought

TOM Morello Photo from his Instagram page of doing something with some of his “rock brothers.”

“I reflected to that night when one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time was sung by two of the greatest rock and roll singers of all time, Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder and I thought, let's do that. And fortunately, Bruce and Eddie were into it,” Morello further shared.

In terms of a unifying theme, Morello said that as of his past release, his guitar playing is once again front and center in The Atlas Underground Fire, “the thread that ties all of the (12) songs together.”

“I believe the electric guitar is the greatest (musical) instrument mankind has ever invented. But the electric guitar has a future, not just a past. And so the theme of this record is to take my playing of the electric guitar and to unite it with a variety of artists from EDM to country and western to punk rock to techno DJs and find (out) what the electric guitar is going to sound like in the future,” he elaborated.

Asked what his favorite tracks are in the new album, Morello points to “Let’s Get The Party Started” with Bring Me The Horizon as something “really heavy” and loves that his collaborators there are “unapologetically heavy.”

“There's also the second single, ‘Driving to Texas’ with Phantogram which is really haunting and spooky. ‘Naraka’ which I made with Mike Posner is special

because between the beginning and the end of the recording, he summitted to Mt. Everest and some of those vocals were recorded at 25,000 feet in Nepal,” Morello revealed.

“And then there’s ‘On The Shore of Eternity’ with Sama’ Abdulhadi, a great, young Palestinian DJ who was mixing that song during Israel's bombing of Palestine so it's a song borne out of his hectic, chaotic moment. ‘The Achilles List’ with Damian Marley harkens back to my political work and writing.

Damian is one of my favorite artists and I'm so glad I that we work together.”

But even as he cited specific songs, Morello is very proud all the tracks in The Atlas Underground Fire and considers them as “all his babies.”

Obviously considered a guitar hero not only by his peers but also by budding musicians, Morello has this advice to those who want to follow in his footsteps.

“Play the guitar, not work the guitar. It should always be fun. From the first you pick it up, you should be writing songs.

You should be doing what you want with the instrument. Make it something that you can't wait to play every day rather than something you had to play every day,” he quipped.

Tom Morello’s The Atlas Underground Fire is now available in all major streaming platforms.

From Tarantino to ‘Squid Game’: Why do so many people enjoy violence?

By Simon McCarthy-Jones

L

Trinity College Dublin

ast month, more than 100 million people watched the gory Netflix show, Squid Game. Whether or not screen violence is bad for us has been extensively studied. The consensus is that it can have negative effects.

But the question of why we are drawn to watch violence has received much less attention.

Death, blood and violence have always pulled a crowd. Ancient Romans flocked to carnage in the Colosseum. In later centuries, public executions were big box office. In the modern era, the film director Quentin Tarantino believes that: “In movies, violence is cool. I like it.”

Many of us seem to agree with him. A study of high-grossing movies found 90 percent had a segment where the main character was involved in violence. Similarly, most Americans enjoy horror films and watch them several times a year.

Who is watching this stuff?

Some people are more likely to enjoy violent

Squid Game, Netflix’s critically acclaimed South Korean drama, became the streaming platform’s mostwatched show after hitting 111 million views less than a month after its premiere. media than others. Being male, aggressive and having less empathy all make you more likely to enjoy watching screen violence.

There are also certain personality traits associated liking violent media. Extroverted people, who seek excitement, and people who are more open to aesthetic experiences, like watching violent movies more.

Conversely, people high in agreeableness—characterized by humility and sympathy for others—tend to like violent media less.

One theory is that watching violence is cathartic, draining out our excess aggression. However, this idea is not well supported by evidence. When angry people watch violent content, they tend to get angrier.

More recent research, derived from studies of horror films, suggests there may be three categories of people who enjoy watching violence, each with their own reasons.

First are “adrenaline junkies,” or sensation seekers who want new and intense

experiences, and are more likely to get a rush from watching violence. Next are “white knucklers.” They enjoy watching violence because they feel they learn something from it, like how to survive. A final group seems to get both sets of benefits. They enjoy the sensations generated by watching violence and feel they learn something. In the horror genre, such people have been called “dark copers.”

Is it really the violence we like?

There are reasons to reconsider how much we like watching violence per se.

For example, in one study, researchers showed two groups of people the 1993 movie, The Fugitive. One group were shown an unedited movie, while another saw a version with all violence edited out.

Despite this, both groups liked the film equally.

This finding has been supported by other studies which have also found that

removing graphic violence from a film does not make people like it less. There is even evidence that people enjoy non-violent versions of films more than violent versions.

Many people may be enjoying something that coincides with violence, rather than violence itself. For example, violence creates tension and suspense, which may be what people find appealing.

Another possibility is that it is action, not violence, which people enjoy. Watching violence also offers a great chance for making meaning about finding meaning in life.

Seeing violence allows us to reflect on the human condition, an experience we value.

Political motives?

All this suggests that media companies may be giving us violence that many of us don’t want or need. We should hence consider what other corporate, political or ideological pressures may be encouraging onscreen violence globally.

For example, the US government has a close interest in, and influence over Hollywood. Portrayals of violence can manufacture our consent with government policies, encourage us to endorse the legitimacy of state power and state violence, and help determine who are “worthy victims.”

The American political scientist Samuel Huntington once wrote that, “The west won the world not by the superiority of its ideas… but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”

We should be constantly aware of how fake violence on our screens serves real violence in our world. The Conversation

The best Halloween scares recommended by a horror expert

H

alloween is back and, with it, a whole host of horrors and ghastly treats to haunt our screens. The horror movie has been around since the earliest days of cinema—with silent classics such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) and Nosferatu (1922). And this witching season, the genre’s appeal remains just as strong for audiences across the world.

Whether you’re looking for some classic scares, a spooky cult tale or something a little more intelligent and sinister, they’ll be something to suit, whatever your taste.

Blockbuster gore Zack Snyder’s zombie epic Army of the Dead is action-packed, funny, entertaining and, although long at two hours and 28 minutes, it doesn’t feel absurdly so. Released in May straight onto Netflix, it’s no 28 Days Later, but it’s what World War Z should have been if it hadn’t taken itself so seriously.

It’s enthrallingly gory and features some surprisingly sympathetic performances, as well as the dumbest premise for a heist

movie (robbing a Las Vegas casino that is crawling with the ravenous undead) since Now You See Me 2.

Netflix fans should also check out the recently released, There’s Someone Inside Your House, a teen slasher horror from the makers of the hit fantasy series Stranger Things.

unlike Spiral, which is the ninth, and Halloween Kills, which is the twelfth. It combines the talents of the series veteran actor, Tony Todd, as the infamous Candyman, and screenwriter Jordan Peele, writer and director of both Get Out and Us—two of the most satisfying horror movies to come out of the US in the last five years.

Scary sequels

Small screen screams

Spiral, Halloween Kills and Candyman are this year’s most prominent Hollywood horror franchise flicks.

Spiral is a rather disappointing reimagination of the Saw series, masterminded by Chris Rock, with a decent turn from actor Samuel L. Jackson.

Halloween Kills sees the return, again, of Jamie Lee Curtis to the role in the movie Halloween that made her famous in 1978. This latest film in the Halloween franchise is disappointing in quality and doesn’t work as well as the 2018 reboot—also called Halloween.

Though fear not, for a fine evening of

The new season of Doctor Who (sadly, Jodie Whittaker’s last) is set to launch on the evening of Halloween. And fans have been excited to learn of the long-awaited return of the show’s most gothic of horrors, the Weeping Angels. These murderous statues are only able to come alive—and kill— when you’re not looking at them.

Their return to our screens offers an opportunity to revisit their finest hour, in “Blink,” the tenth episode of the third series of Doctor Who, which aired in 2007. The episode features a prestardom Carey Mulligan and is scripted

by Steven Moffat. The Conversation

4 BusinessMirror

slasher gore, you might try looking into a mirror and invoking the urban myth of the Candyman (the legend has it he appears if you chant his name repeatedly). This is the fifth film in the Candyman franchise, October 31, 2021